Litsy

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

A few excellently spooky stories for October. It's Edith Wharton, so even the boring stories were well-crafted.

#12booksof2025

BarbaraBB You‘ve been reading a lot of contemporary literature! 20h

Liz_M @BarbaraBB that and I didn't like most of the #1001Books and #192025 books I read last year. 🤷‍♀️😂😂😂 17h

23 likes2 comments

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Betty Smith

pick

October's best book was another classic read for #192025 and I'm glad I chose it. This YA book is focused on Francie, a girl coming of age in the early 1900s. We also spend some time with her mother and the rest of her family, too. It's slow, just a glimpse at a simple life in Brooklyn, their struggles, and the little happy moments but it's good.

#12Booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

ImperfectCJ This one is on my Cavalcade of Classics list that I started this year. (So are Proust and Moby-Dick, so it might take me a while to get to this one, but it's on the list!) 1d

TheBookHippie I love this book. 1d

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @ImperfectCJ I think you're in for a treat when you do get to it. I also found the writing easily accessible. Sometimes the older books feel stodgy or dated. 1d

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Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @TheBookHippie 💛 I enjoyed it more than I expected. It didn't feel too young. 1d

TheBookHippie @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick it‘s an underrated classic for sure. 1d

kspenmoll Loved this book as a young girl! 1d

Bookwormjillk One of my favorites. I usually read it around Christmas but I missed it this year. 1d

TheEllieMo Another modern classic I haven‘t read yet😩 23h

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @TheEllieMo There are many that I'm only just reading for the first time in my 40s thanks to the 192025 challenge. I'll get to more now thanks to 192030. 18h

TheEllieMo @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick I didn‘t know about the 192025 challenge 😔 but have signed up for 192030☺️ I‘ve already been eyeing up Boxall‘s 1001 Books… for a few ideas 16h

50 likes2 stack adds10 comments

BarbaraJean

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2 | Beth Brower

First #5JoysFriday of 2026!

1. Monday—Wednesday I had NOTHING on the calendar and I just read and puzzled
2. Reading Emma M. Lion Volumes 1 & 2 in the last couple days of the year
3. Finishing #BookSpin and #192025 challenges on NYE
4. Husband and I made a delicious New Year‘s Eve dinner (Everything-crusted tuna steaks with snap peas and tahini-gochujang sauce)
5. Coffee hangout today with my husband and a good friend

DebinHawaii

DebinHawaii Lovely joys! 💛💛💛 Days when you can relax are the best & I have been seeing this series a lot lately! 2d

Daisey This sounds like an amazing and relaxing week! 2d

AnnCrystal 💝💝💝💝💝. 2d

29 likes3 comments

kwmg40

Untitled | Untitled

I managed to fill 93 of the 106 slots for the #192025 challenge. I had wanted to make the challenge extra hard by allowing at most one book by any author, but I guess I made it a little too difficult to complete in time! 😂

The best part of this challenge was discovering a lot of new authors. Thank you, @Librarybelle, for hosting and I'm ready to start the #192030 challenge!

Librarybelle Really great job!!! 2d

dabbe 👏🏻♥️👏🏻 1d

39 likes2 comments

Liz_M

The Winners | Julio Cort�zar

Another year, another #BookSpinBingo board.

I have a selection of books for #192025 (yes, I am using the old hashtag -- this is the version I want to finish), #EuropaCollective, #Paraguay, #HashtagBrigade, #Roll100

29 likes

LitsyEvents

2030: A Day in the Life of Tomorrow's Kids | Amy Zuckerman, James Daly

repost for @Librarybelle

Today starts the new #192030 challenge!

Thanks to everyone who participated in #192025 . It was so much fun that I brought it back. The only rule is to read one book originally published each year, from 1920 to 2030.

Feel free to use the official hashtag. I also hashtag the pub year on Litsy in case anyone wants inspiration.

Link to the Storygraph tracker is below.

LitsyEvents #REadingChallenge

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/21ea33cb-5478-4318-881b-5f8e286... 3d

Librarybelle Thanks for reposting! 3d

32 likes2 comments

Librarybelle

Untitled | Unknown

Today starts the new #192030 challenge!

Thanks to everyone who participated in #192025 . It was so much fun that I brought it back. The only rule is to read one book originally published each year, from 1920 to 2030.

Feel free to use the official hashtag. I also hashtag the pub year on Litsy in case anyone wants inspiration.

Link to the Storygraph tracker is below.

If you wish to be added/removed from the tag list, let me know!

mabell, Maggie4483, Daisey, Kitta, BarkingMadRead, TheBookHippie, BarbaraJean, Amiable, Lizpixie, AnneCecilie, Gissy, Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick, Suet624, jenniferw88, llwheeler, Deblovestoread, thebacklistbook, triplem80, Bookwormjillk, Read4life, Sace, KT1432, kwmg40, Mollyanna, dabbe, tdrosebud, MaGoose, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair, AllDebooks, AnishaInkspill, jmgwis, rebcamuse

Librarybelle StoryGraph link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/21ea33cb-5478-4318-881b-5f8e286... 4d

Librarybelle @LitsyEvents 4d

Amiable Thank you! I think I only hit about 43% in the previous challenge. 😖 Deep breath… and let‘s start again! (edited) 4d

See All 32 Comments

BookishPiper I am excited about this. 4d

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick I'm 11 books from finishing 192025 so I'm going to focus on getting that done. I'm too close to call it quits. 🤣 Now I know I need to pace myself a little better for this next one. 4d

Daisey I‘m looking forward to this! 4d

BarbaraJean Thanks for organizing this—I‘m excited to dive into the new challenge! In the next few weeks I plan to go through my 192025 notes and transfer books I ended up not using into the appropriate years for 192030 😁 4d

Bookwormjillk I‘m two away on #192025 but I think I messed up some of the dates for Nancy Drew so I‘m excited to start over. 4d

dabbe Updated the new #LELH (#LitsyEventsLittleHelper) spreadsheet! 🤩

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xB17c0YZ6-IcngwWteNPyWiwoLn3bvcb7kjtqOLu... 4d

TheAromaofBooks YAY! I am so stoked about this challenge!! 4d

rebcamuse I‘ve been having fun adding my books to the challenge on Storygraph—prioritizing TBRs and then Pulitzer winners, with the occasional National Book Award winner 4d

julieclair Yay! I‘m so excited about this! 4d

AnishaInkspill thanks for putting this together, I've signed up and one book read, a short story, Agatha Christie, a real nice way to start the year 4d

Kitta @dabbe wow! I think it‘s missing the one from @Kenyazero which I‘m assuming will be #lgbtqia2026? 4d

Kitta Excited for this!! What‘s the best way to tackle the challenge? 4d

Librarybelle So glad to see so much excitement for this! @Amiable @BookishPiper @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @Daisey @BarbaraJean @Bookwormjillk @TheAromaofBooks @rebcamuse @julieclair @AnishaInkspill @Kitta 3d

Librarybelle @Kitta Everyone tackles it a bit differently. I started by randomly picking up books and accruing the years that way. Then, I started looking at lists of prize winners, best sellers, etc. for years I did not have. Several of the book discussion groups on here read books that fall into this challenge, so that was an easy way for me to read a year. 3d

Librarybelle @dabbe 😁 3d

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @Kitta I'm a spreadsheet girl, so I created one with each year listed then went through my extensive Goodreads TBR for what I own. (I like to list many options in case there's overlap down the road with other challenges.) Then where I had none or 1, I did a web search for "Literature of 19xx" (rec the Wiki pages) for each year to look for popular books or ones that just stood out. Then I would choose on mood, season, challenges, etc. 3d

Kitta @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick that‘s a great idea. I‘m afraid most of what I own is recently published though! I think I‘m going to rely on the Wikipedia pages (thanks for the tip!), what others add to the StoryGraph challenge and prize winners - especially for the earlier years. I will have to look through my TBR as well. I‘ll try and double up with some challenges. I think I‘ve just realized how hard this will be. 3d

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @Kitta With 111 years, that is about 22 books per year, or 2 per month. The current years sort themselves out naturally, so you just need to make the effort to seek out the older ones. Absolutely use your library. This is a great reason to explore classics & known authors. It's far from perfect, but if you'd like me to send you my spreadsheet as a starting point, I'm happy to. (That goes for any of you! ) Email me kellyschnorrbusch @ gmail.com 3d

Kitta @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick id love to get a copy of the spreadsheet!! I‘ll email you. 3d

TheAromaofBooks @Kitta - I also try to think of older “classic“ authors that I enjoy or have wanted to try. Georgette Heyer, P.G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie - all very prolific, all writers of easy-to-read and enjoyable stories. It's a great time to think about books you read when you were younger and might want to pick up again, or ask a older friend/relative if they have childhood books they would recommend. You should also check out the #192025 challenge on ⬇ 3d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Storygraph and see what some of us read for that challenge. I can send you my list, too, if you want, although it's a bit eclectic 😂 I actually read quite a lot of older (pre-1960) books. The 1980s were my toughest decade to fill! 3d

Kitta @TheAromaofBooks Great idea! I‘d love to read some Agatha Christie. Definitely interested in people‘s lists, or following people on StoryGraph if that‘s okay! My username there is Kitta. 3d

TheAromaofBooks @Kitta - Yay!! I think I followed you on Storygraph - I'm terrible at the social part of that site 😂 Feel free to email me at itsthegoodlife15 at gmail if you want my completed list from the 192025 challenge. I mostly read happy books, mysteries, romances, some fantasy and sci fi... pretty much anything that has a happy ending haha 3d

bumpinthenight Oh this sounds super fun - I‘m going to join this (at first I thought it was all to be read this year and I was like what the heck lmfao) but now I see this is a 5 year challenge 😂 3d

llwheeler Hurray! I'm looking forward to it 🙂 2d

AnishaInkspill I'm not as organised as some of you, I'm just going to ad-lib it. So far for the earlier years I've read 2 short stories, one by Agatha Christie (1925) & another by Virginia Woolf (1921), and currently reading Brave New World (1932). 2d

Librarybelle Yay, @bumpinthenight ! And, can you imagine trying to do all of these in a year?!? If you waited until 2030 to read everything—oh my! 😂 2d

Librarybelle Yay, @llwheeler ! 2d

Librarybelle That‘s a good start, @AnishaInkspill ! 2d

51 likes32 comments

BarbaraJean

A Separate Peace | John Knowles

pick

Ooof. I don‘t know if I can let that be my last book of 2025. 😭

This is an American classic I‘d missed reading up till now, and I think I‘m still stunned by the ending. The characters and their friendship here are both masterfully written—an intimate portrait against the backdrop and looming dread of WWII.

BarbaraJean This was my April #BookSpin, my #192025 pick for 1959, and the last book on my #10BeforetheEnd list, completing all three of those challenges for the year!
@TheAromaofBooks @Librarybelle @ChaoticMissAdventures 4d

julieclair Congrats on completing all 3! 🎉🎊🎉 4d

Hooked_on_books I read this in high school in the early 90s and remember loving it. We read Catcher in the Rye the same year and I liked this one so much better. Not sure why Catcher gets all the attention. 4d

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Lcsmcat I don‘t think I got the whole “separate peace” aspect when I first read this in high school, until I studied the history of WWII. But I loved it just the same. 4d

dabbe A haunting novel. 🩶🤍🩵 4d

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Fabulous work on those challenges!! 4d

Librarybelle Yay!!! Congratulations! 4d

42 likes7 comments

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