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A. Introduction

The longer I've been on GR, the bigger my TBR seems to be and the more preferable that reading challenges to be flexible so I can fit as many books from my TBR instead of new ones. That's not to say that I don't read new books; I do... all the time. And that's half the problem. This challenge is to, hopefully, primarily topple the top of TBR with a bit of new shiny loves.

Official Start date of this challenge is January 1, 2025. Challenge will run up to December 31, 2025.

B. Your Books

At the start of each month, you will pick your 3 - 5 top reads from the month before last (so for January, you will pick from November 2024 reads) depending on your preference. 3 is the minimum picks and 5 maximum however please keep the same number (of books) for each month.

C. Like for Like (L4L)

For each of Your Books, you will pick one shelf from their top 3-5 shelves (aside from "to-read", "currently-reading"). If you have 5 books, you will have 5 shelves (they may end up being duplicated if you are a genre reader).

You will read a book from each of these shelves (preferably those already on your TBR).

D. Your Options

For this section, you may choose to either read purely from your TBR or new books* or BOTH! There are separate tasks as per below options:

*the definition of new books here is quite liberal; it could literally be a new book you've brought home or newly published book which you've put on your TBR last year or new-to-you... whichever works for you

Each of the books you read for L4L are to be used as starting point for each of below prompts (ie. 1 book cannot be used for more than 1 prompt per option).

D.1. Your TBR
1. Date: Using one of your books, read from closest date added (could be the month and even if it was a new book you read/added in January 2025, read another book you added in January 2025)

2. Series (maybe): Using one of your books, read the next book in the series or (for stand alone book) read another book by the same author

3. Author: Using one of your books, read a book from an author with the same initials (first & last only in the same position)

4. Title: Using one of your books, read a book with an identical^ word in title
^we're not going to be super strict here, it could be exactly identical, found intact or just of similar nature (eg. monster - monstrous is acceptable)

5. Pages: Using one of your books, read a book with at least 50 pages more.


D.2. new books
1. Date: Using one of your books, read a book published in the same year.

2. Series (maybe): Using one of your books, read a book from a series by a new-to-you author OR (for stand alone book) read another book by a new-to-you author

3. Author: Using one of your books, read a book from an author with the same initials (first & last only in a flipped position)

4. Title: Using one of your book titles, read from a shelf with a word* in title
www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/[INSERT WORD IN TITLE HERE]
*word cannot be articles, preposition, or connective

5. Pages: Using one of your books, read a book where the first number of pages is that of your book's last number of pages

E. Completion

There is no limitation on planning or time to complete the month's challenge (you can finish off your January in December, if you like).

The month's challenge is completed when you have read a total of minimum 6 (3 books plus 1 option) to a maximum of 15 (5 books plus 2 options) books

To claim Completion, please post in this thread

E. Housekeeping

1. Each book read can only be claimed once throughout the challenge

2. There is no page limit for books read

4. Please post your plan/s in the monthly threads

5. Clarification: 1 of L4L book can be used as starting point for 1 prompt in option D1 and 1 prompt in option D2 -if you are doing BOTH options

6. If you wish to mix & match between D1 & D2, that is also an option but note all of your L4L books must be used as a starting point for these prompts. That is, you cannot use 1 book as starting point for 2 prompts and left another unused.

7. Please note, the goal is flexibility so read a book from your TBR or not, that's up to you.

EXAMPLE

My Top 5 reads:
The Place on Dalhousie by Melina Marchetta
East of Croydon: Travels through India and South East Asia by Sue Perkins
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Like 4 Like
The Place on Dalhousie by Melina Marchetta
Top Shelf: contemporary
Book 1: Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #3) by Jenny Han

East of Croydon: Travels through India and South East Asia by Sue Perkins
Top Shelf: non-fiction
Book 2: Rose: The extraordinary story of Rose de Freycinet by Suzanne Falkiner

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
Top Shelf: fantasy
Book 3: Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida
Top Shelf: fiction
Book 4: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Top Shelf: historical-fiction
Book 5: Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1) by C.J. Sansom

D.1. Your TBR (all these books are on my TBR)
1. Date: Using one of your books, read from closest date added (could be the month and even if it was a new book you read/added in January 2025, read another book you added in January 2025)
Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #3) by Jenny Han >> added Dec 2019 << The Lady of the Lake (The Witcher #5) by Andrzej Sapkowski

2. Series (maybe): Using one of your books, read the next book in the series or (for stand alone book) read another book by the same author
Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1) by C.J. Sansom >> Dark Fire (Matthew Shardlake #2)

3. Author: Using one of your books, read a book from an author with the same initials (first & last only in the same position)
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo >> Fortune by Lenny Bartulin

4. Title: Using one of your books, read a book with an identical^ word in title
^we're not going to be super strict here, it could be exactly identical, found intact or just of similar nature (eg. monster - monstrous is acceptable)
Rose: The extraordinary story of Rose de Freycinet by Suzanne Falkiner >> The Rose & the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn #2) by Renée Ahdieh

5. Pages: Using one of your books, read a book with at least 50 pages more.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens >> 374 + 50 = 424 << In a Garden Burning Gold (Argyrosi #1) by Rory Power


D.2. new books
1. Date: Using one of your books, read a book published in the same year.
Rose: The extraordinary story of Rose de Freycinet by Suzanne Falkiner >> 2022 << The Do-Over (The Do-Over #1) by Lynn Painter

2. Series (maybe): Using one of your books, read a book from a series by a new-to-you author OR (for stand alone book) read another book by a new-to-you author
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo >> The Shadow Revolution (Crown & Key #1) by Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

3. Author: Using one of your books, read a book from an author with the same initials (first & last only in a flipped position)
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens >> Spoiler Alert (Spoiler Alert #1) by Olivia Dade

4. Title: Using one of your book titles, read from a shelf with a word* in title
www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/[INSERT WORD IN TITLE HERE]
*word cannot be articles, preposition, or connective
Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #3) by Jenny Han >> forever >> A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (Ladies Most Scandalous #1) by Manda Collins

5. Pages: Using one of your books, read a book where the first number of pages is that of your book's last number of pages
Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1) by C.J. Sansom >> 443 pages >> 381 pages >> The Goldminer's Sister (Maiden's Creek #2) by Alison Stuart

PS if you see something similar on social media... that could be me posting

I had a very slim reading in November. Is it alright to use October books as my starting point for January?

Vanessa wrote: "I had a very slim reading in November. Is it alright to use October books as my starting point for January?"

when you say "slim reading", is it less than 3? If you've got at least 3 books in November, I'd say to use them - it doesn't necessarily mean that the books you'd read off from those will not be enjoyable...

Above, in E. Completion, the link is missing to post the completion. :)

(I think I've finished, but as it's the first month of this, I hope you will check my completion post when I post it to see if I did this correctly!)

I wonder if this question has come up (and I might be overthinking things), but as we move along in the year, should we avoid picking our Top 3 (or 5) books from books we read for L4L or D1/D2 options?

For instance, if I read Passions in Death as a L4L in January (based on a book I read in November), should I not choose Passions in Death as a Top book come March (when we look back 2 months for top books)?

Or, as I said, am I overthinking things and it doesn't really matter?

Can I read a book from my February list in January or do books have to be read in the month they are listed? Thanks

LaurLa wrote: "I wonder if this question has come up (and I might be overthinking things), but as we move along in the year, should we avoid picking our Top 3 (or 5) books from books we read for L4L or D1/D2 opti..."

Lol yes overthinking. It doesn't matter if you use a book you've read for the challenge as a the prompt for the next one.

Lauren wrote: "Can I read a book from my February list in January or do books have to be read in the month they are listed? Thanks"

Do you mean: a book you've listed to read in February [as per prompts] being read in January? That's fine too. No strict rules this time around. Just get those books off the TBR :D

LynnB wrote: "Above, in E. Completion, the link is missing to post the completion. :)

(I think I've finished, but as it's the first month of this, I hope you will check my completion post when I post it to see ..."

My apologies, Lynn - I've forgotten!! I'm not liking this feature where we can only do 3 threads at a time

Tien wrote: "Do you mean: a book you've listed to read in February [as per prompts] being read in January? That's fine too. No strict rules this time around. Just get those books off the TBR :D
.."

Yes, that's exactly it.
Thanks!

Tien - I got it into my head that the planning stopped with June... and then the rest of the year was to complete the challenge. I don't know where that came from, I must have dreamt it because I can't find anywhere that actually says that. But thought I'd confirm just in case - we will have new planning threads all the way through to December?

I post monthly planning threads one month at a time - for example, I started June's thread in April so you can start listing your April reads as your starting point for your June's reads.

But yes, there will be one all the way up to December