Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Book Bingo and Reading Challenge: #ReadQueerly2025

 Will be doing this again, getting as many books and filing as many squares as I can.


The goal, as always: read books focusing on LGBTQ+ characters and stories. New releases, upcoming releases, backlist titles, fiction, nonfiction—these are all okay as long as they feature queer main characters/cast and fit our prompts!

Of course, there’s a book bingo and review template waiting for you! For the prompts this year, there’s a bit more focus on new themes and topics (Robots and mechas, anyone?). Different prompts for authors of color are still here! (“SWANA” in the SWANA Author prompt refers to Southwest Asia and North Africa).

Here’s a full list of the #ReadQueerly2025 prompts!

  1. Food: Mad Honey--Jodi Picoult
  2. API Author: This One Summer--Jillian Tamaki
  3. Poetry/Novel in verse: Tricks--Ellen Hopkins
  4. Religious trauma
  5. Music: Under the Same Stars--Libba Bray
  6. Novella: Borderline--Lawrence Block
  7. Sports: Openly Straight--Bill Konigsberg
  8. Graphic novel/manga: Banned Book Club--Kim Hyun Sook
  9. Death/Necromancy/Reincarnation: Beautiful Creatures--Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
  10. Latinx/Latine Author: Cantoras--Carolina de Robertis
  11. Black Author: Nightcrawling--Leila Mottley
  12. Plus size/fat rep
  13. FREE: An ABC of Equality--Chana Ginelle Ewing
  14. Time travel: Cloud Atlas--David Mitchell
  15. Disability/Neurodiversity rep: Cursed--Karol Ruth Silverstein
  16. New-to-You Author: Hello Beautiful--Ann Napolitano
  17. Robots/Mechas/AI: Tweet Cute--Emma Lord
  18. Anthology: Whiteout--Dhonielle Clayton
  19. Roadtrip/Traveling: Are You Listening?--Tillie Walden
  20. Indigenous Author: A Snake Falls to Earth--Darcie Little Badger
  21. Winter holiday romance: For Never & Always--Helena Greer
  22. Indie Author/Book: The Only Woman in the Room--Eileen Pollack
  23. SWANA Author
  24. Genre-bending Book: The Music of What Happens--Bill Konigsberg
  25. Drag: Martin McLean, Middle School Queen--Alyssa Zaczek
Other Books Read:
  1. The Guncle Abroad--Steven Rowley
  2. Maya and the Rising Dark--Rena Barron
  3. Ace of Shades--Amanda Foody
  4. Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books--Kirsten Miller
  5. Fingersmith--Sarah Waters
  6. The Beach House--Jane Green
  7. Summer Island--Kristin Hannah
  8. Before I Let Go--Marieke Nijkamp
  9. Ninth House--Leigh Bardugo
  10. Whiskers in the Dark--Rita Mae Brown
  11. A Spark of Light--Jodi Picoult
  12. Starry Eyes--Jenn Bennett
  13. Acts of Violet--Margarita Montimore
  14. The Short History of a Prince--Jane Hamilton
  15. The Summer Pact--Emily Giffin
  16. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea--Axie Oh
  17. True Biz--Sara Novic
  18. Three Junes--Julia Glass
  19. More Happy Than Not--Adam Silvera
  20. King of Fools--Amanda Foody
  21. Queen of Volts--Amanda Foody
  22. Fourth Wing--Rebecca Yarros
  23. Summer in the City of Roses--Michelle Ruiz Keil
  24. Girl, Serpent, Thorn--Melissa Bashardoust
  25. The Bone Houses--Emily Lloyd-Jones
  26. The Best of Enemies--Jen Lancaster (re-read)

Calling challenge complete on December 28

13 Moons Reading Challenge 2025

This was a new one to me this year, and I can't resist joining again. I will try to get one at least one book for each category, then see how much farther I can go with the list.


Rules & Levels

The rules for this reading challenge are simple. First of all, this is just for fun so no need to feel pressured into doing anything or reading anything you don’t want to. You can also be flexible with the prompts if you choose to do so. The challenge will run from January 1st, 2025 till December 31st, 2025.

There are a total of 104 reading prompts divided into 13 categories. There is a list of levels given and you can choose which level you wish to participate in based on your preference. The levels you can participate in are as follows:

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 13 books — fulfill one prompt from each category 

Partial Lunar Eclipse: 26 books — fulfill at least one prompt from each category

Central Lunar Eclipse: 52 books — fulfill at least one prompt from each category

Total Lunar Eclipse: 104 books — fulfill all the prompts

The reading challenge is given below. You can choose which level you want to go for and choose your prompts accordingly. So without further ado, here is the 13 Moons reading challenge 2025.

Wolf Moon

Snow Moon

Worm Moon

Pink Moon

Flower Moon

Strawberry Moon

Buck Moon

Sturgeon Moon

Harvest Moon

Hunter’s Moon

Beaver Moon

Cold Moon

Blue Moon


Calling challenge complete on December 31

16 Years of Blogging

I just now remembered that I started this blog on December 15, 2008, 16 years this past Sunday. I can't believe it's been that long and that I'm still here! Many of my early posts were seemingly ignored, with no comments. M=y posts were often just random stuff (which I still do today). But it got better once the years went on. Now I have some regular commenters/visitors. And many blogs I read and comment on as well. Some blogs I read early on have disappeared, or are still out there but haven't been updated in years. I stopped following many of those blogs at some point. But there are many I follow now.

This soon-to-be past year, I began participating in two new-to-me blogging events. One is the Book Blogging Challenge. After years of looking at the sites that co-host this event (and perusing through some of the participants' posts), I decided to join this year.  


Since this was my first time, I aimed for the first level (see below), but as of now  have reached the third one. I plan to do at least one more post this year. It's been fun and I will join again. The sign up post at the host blogs will be up later this month.

The Levels:

1-10 – Discussion Dabbler  ⬅️ My Goal
11-20 – Creative Conversationalist
21-30 – Chatty Kathy
31-40 – Terrifically Talkative
41+ – Gift of the Gab

Another new blogging challenge I discovered this year is The Thursday 13. I found about it at the beginning of the year, but didn't begin participating until June. I've been going at since then, though I missed some weeks in September and November.  I already have my post for this week scheduled. I've even combined the Thursday 13 with the Book Discussion Challenge a few times. I like how the Thursday 13 allows bloggers to choose a topic for their posts.  Since they don't have any official graphics for Thursday 13 posts, I made one myself because I felt my posts need one. I plan to do this one again in 2025, whether or not I get to it each week.



And since 2021, I've been doing the A to Z Blogging each April. It wasn't until that year, that I got brave enough to take the plunge into this yearly challenge. I'd seen A to Z posts on there people's blogs and wondered if I would ever join them. I plan to join in 2025, if I can find a theme. I have some in mind, I just have to narrow them down by March, when the theme reveals and the signups begin. The host blog already has the theme reveal graphics for next year!

It wasn't until 2013 that I began getting into various reading challenge. I began hosting my own around 2016. For those of you who might be wondering, books can cross over between challenges.  I already have "Sunrise or sunset on the cover" twice for the coming year, for example, so I plan to use the same book for both. 

See you again in 2025.  How many years have you been on your blogs?