The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #45

 

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by The Classics Club asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 16^th August 2026, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 4^th October 2026 to read it.

This time, I only read the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #44) (The Hive). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
2. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
3. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
4. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
5. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
6. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
7. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
8. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
9. Zweig, Stefan "The Royal Game/Chess" (Schachnovelle) - 1942
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
12. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
13. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
14. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
15. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
16. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
17. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
18. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
19. Zweig, Stefan "The Royal Game/Chess" (Schachnovelle) - 1942
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, we received #18:
Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.

And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday

My blogger friend CyberKitten posted this here:

Apparently there's an 'Internet trend' to post pictures of phones from the date you were born. This is mine.... Needless to say that we didn't have one at the time and not for another 15 years or so. 

Same as his family, mine didn't have a phone back then (we got one about twenty years later) so I had to use my good old friend, the Internet, in order to find a picture from that time. This is the kind of phone I remember our neighbours had.

Thank you Bernd from Pixabay whose picture I found on Canva.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #44

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 17^th May 2026, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 7^th July 2026 to read it.

This time, I only read the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #43) (Fathers and Sons). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
2. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
3. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
4. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
5. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
6. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
7. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
8. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
9. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
12. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
13. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
14. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
15. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
16. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
17. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
18. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
19. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, we received #9:
Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.

And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

What's in a Name 2026 Reading Challenge

I have been participating in "What's in a Name?" ages ago (2014 and 2020) but then the person who did it finished and I somehow lost touch.

Now I found this on Margaret's page BooksPlease and decided to join again. This is currently hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. It was started by Annie, who was ten or eleven at the time, on her blog Words by Annie. First Beth @ Beth Fish Reads and then Charlie @ The Worm Hole took over hosting before handing it over to Andrea.

So, this is a ‘must‘ challenge for me!

The words we need to find this year are:

Six/6:
Titles for this category need to include the word "six" or number "6" somewhere in the title, even if they are part of another word or number.

Cold weather:
Your title for this category should include a word that describes cold weather such as "snow," "ice," "blizzard," "frozen," etc.

Peace:
Titles for this category need to include a word that describes peace: "peace," "serenity," "still," "calm," etc, even if it doesn’t directly mean "peace."

Pathways:
Titles for this category need to include a words that are types of paths: "trail," "road," "avenue," "sidewalk," etc.

Terrain:
Titles for this category need to include a word for a type of topographic terrain or the name of a particular part of terrain.
Lanschot, Reinier van "We are Europe" (NL: Wij zijn Europa: een nieuw Europees verhaal) - 2024

Flower:

Titles for this category need to include a type of flower or the word "flower."

I don't know whether I will manage to fill all the challenges but, as you say, have already done one.

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2026

I have taken part in this reading challenge since 2013. The moment I saw that post, I know this was the most interesting challenge for me. I signed up for the highest of the four levels "Mor-book-ly Obese" which meant eight or more chunksters (books over 450 pages) of which three must be 750 pages or more.

I have carried on with that challenge without setting goals, I love big books and I will always read some. And I am more than willing to tell my friends about them.

If you are interested in the challenge, check out this link. They discontinued their challenge in 2015.
You can still find suggestions by page number, in case you can't find any chunksters yourself. 😉

Or you can check out my lists from the previous years (below), maybe you are interested in a couple of them.

I read in
2013: 38 chunky books, 13 of them chunksters
2014: 37 chunky books, 15 of them chunksters
2015: 26 chunky books, 8 of which chunksters
2016: 28 chunky books, 3 of which chunksters
2017: 35 chunky books, 6 of which chunksters
2018: 29 chunky books, 6 of which chunksters
2019: 20 chunky books, 7 of which chunksters
2020: 18 chunky books, 7 of which chunksters
2021: 24 chunky books, 10 of which chunksters
2022: 11 chunky books, 3 of which chunksters
2023: 12 chunky books, 3 of which chunksters
2024: 16 chunky books, 4 of which chunksters
2025: 17 chunky books, 4 of which chunksters

I will be posting the books I have read here:
(I add the German title, if available, for my German friends)
[I add my own translation of a foreign book title if it's not available in English.]

Baldursdóttir, Kristín Marja "Die Eismalerin" (Karitas án titils/Karitas untitled) - 2004 - 463 pages
Godfrey, Jennie "The List of Suspicious Things" (Unser Buch der seltsamen Dinge) - 2024
Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois" (Die Liebeslieder von W.E.B. Du Bois) - 2021 - 816 pages

I read 3 chunky books in 2026 of which 0 are considered a chunkster.

If you want to do this challenge or just check at the end of the year what category you are, here is the list:

    The Chubby Chunkster - this option is for the readers who want to dabble in large tomes, but really doesn't want to commit to much more than that. FOUR Chunksters is all you need to finish this challenge.
    The Plump Primer - this option is for the slightly heavier reader who wants to commit to SIX Chunksters over the next twelve months.
    Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? - this option is for the reader who can't resist bigger and bigger books and wants to commit to SIX Chunksters from the following categories: 2 books which are between 450 - 550 pages in length; 2 books which are 551 - 750 pages in length; 2 books which are GREATER than 750 pages in length (for ideas, please refer to the book suggestions page for some books which fit into these categories).
    Mor-book-ly Obese - This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to EIGHT or more Chunksters of which three tomes MUST be 750 pages or more. You know you want to.....go on and give in to your cravings. 

Looks like I've always been "more book-ly obese". 😂

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #43

 

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 8^th February 2026, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 29^th March 2026 to read it.

This time, I read two books from my old list (Classics Spin #42) (The Sound and the Fury" and "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II"). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
2. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
3. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
4. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
5. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
6. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
7. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
8. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
9. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
12. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
13. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
14. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
15. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
16. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
17. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
18. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
19. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, we received #2:
Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.

And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Statistics 2025

     

My statistics for the last years are here:
2009-12, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 

2023, 2024  

* Statistics 2025 *

 

I did 235 posts in 2025 which was 57 more than last year.

And these are the results of my reading lists for 2025:

My regular posts are either weekly (Book Quotes, Top Ten Tuesday, ThrowBack Thursday, Wordless Wednesday) or monthly (Happy Month, Six Degrees of Separation, Spell the Month in Books), so I posted more or less the amount of weeks or months in a year. I didn't do them all regularly, though. Especially the Top Ten Tuesday, I've participated so long and have done a lot of the topics already, so I just do them from time to time.

Book Quotes of the Week (12 posts)

Happy Month (12)
Top 5 Tuesday (26)
Top Ten Tuesday (18)

ThrowBack Thursday (45)
Wordless Wednesday (2)
Six Degrees of Separation (12)
Spell the Month in Books (12)

I also did a few lists that are more or less statistics about half of the year and a comparison to ten years ago:

Mid Year Freak-Out Tag

I also participated in Non-fiction November.

******

And then there are, of course, all the challenges I have done over the years.
I read books that contributed to the following challenges. Some of them count for more than one category:

Challenges (number of books read for the challenges in brackets)

The 10 Greatest Books Ever (1)
The 100 best Non-fiction Books of All Time as Chosen by The Guardian (1)

100 Books by the BBC (2)
100 Greatest Fiction Books as Chosen by the Guardian (1)

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel (1)

2025 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (23)

Anti-Racism Books (3)

I read more on this topic but they were not on this list.

Barack Obama Reading Lists (2)

Thanks to a present by my son and a loan from a book club member, I was able to add two more books to the list.
Best European Literature (2)

Bildungsroman (2)

Children's Books (2)

The Classics Spin (5)

Dutch and French Books (1 Dutch, 3 French)

German Books (30)

My Favourite Books Ever (24)

Every year I find some more books I can add to my list of favourite books. 24 this year. Not too bad, I guess.

Nobel Prize Winners and Their Books (3)

Oscar Winning Books (1)

Paris in July (4)

Some books taking place in France or written in French.

Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1)

(German: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels)

Read the Year Club (2)

We read 1925 and 1952 this year. It's a good idea to add some reads from former years that we might not have touched before.

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2025 (17)

I read 17 chunky books in 2025 of which 4 are considered a chunkster. Mor-book-ly Obese again.

Suggestions from Friends (lots)

I read suggestions from friends all the time, just haven't kept up with who recommended which book.

Voracious (1)

Book Clubs:

International Online Book Club 2017 etc. (7)
One of the books was not available in English or German and I had read four of the others.

German Book Club (10)

We took a break in the summer and at Christmas, so only read 10 books this year.

******

Some of the challenges are older and I only add to them if I happen to read one of the books. No new books on these lists:

100 Greatest Fiction Books as Chosen by the Guardian 

101 Best Selling Books of All Times 

20 Classic and Important Books 

I already said this last year. Only three more books on my list, maybe I'll get to "Slaughterhouse Five" one day.

7 Books That Will Radically Shift Your Perspectives 

Books That Changed the World 

A Century of Books 

Emma's Book Club - Our shared shelf 

Esperanto Books 
Here we mostly read short stories.

Favourite (German) Independent Books

(Das Lieblingsbuch der Unabhängigen = The Favourite Book of the Independents)
When they are German books, it usually takes a couple of years until they appear in paperback. So, this year, I didn't get to read the newest one:
Nelio Biedermann "Lázár"

Le Monde - The 100 Books of the Century 

Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century 
Nobel Peace Prize 
Unfortunately, I didn't get to read any of the peace prize winners this year, but I read many by people who would have deserved it (not the one who was so keen on being awarded only to start a war right after that).

Oprah's Book Club

Reading the World 

The non-western books that every student should read 
The only thing I miss from our old place is the library that would get me any book I wanted. Not so easy here where we only have a small church library and they only get the biggest best-sellers. And all of them in German only, of course.

Travel the World Through Books 

******

Books Read: 88
Pages read: 26.884 which results in 306 pages/book, 73 pages/day, 7 books/month

Last year (2024), I read 73 books with 25,412 pages which resulted in 348 pages/book, 73 pages/day, 7 books/month. So, it looks like I read a little more in 2025.

The average novel contains between 140 and 320 pages, i.e. 230 which would make 117 average books (compared to 116 last year, so not that much better, just shorter books).

Books dating from which year:

Pre 1800s: 3

1800s: 12

1900-1949: 7

1950-1999: 14

2000s: 52 (3 of which from 25)

Male Authors: 48 + 1

Female Authors: 40 +1

Nobel Prize Winners: 3

Fiction: 62
Non-Fiction: 26

I might have to include some of the reference books I read and use.

Chunky Books - more than 450 pages: 17, of which more than 750: 4
Library/Borrowed: 7
Re-Read: 6 (all Jane Austen)
TBR Pile: 23

Oldest Book: 411 BC
Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (GR: Λυσιστράτη, Lysistrátē) - 411 BC
Newest Book: 2025

Harris, Kamala "107 Days" - 2025

Longest book: 1,022 pages

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (Goethe German) - "Faust I + II" (GE: Urfaust. Faust: Erster und zweiter Teil) - 1772-1808

Shortest book: 52 pages
Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946

Longest book title: 57 letters

Kaminer, Wladimir "Little Red Riding Hood smokes on the balcony … and other family stories" (GE: Rotkäppchen raucht auf dem Balkon … und andere Familiengeschichten) - 2020

Shortest Book Title: 2 letters
Schöfer, Maike "Nope: An incitement to say no" (GE: Nö: Eine Anstiftung zum Neinsagen) - 2025

Funniest Book:

Schnoy, Sebastian "Learn from Napoleon how to avoid doing the dishes" (GE: Von Napoleon lernen, wie man sich vorm Abwasch drückt) - 2013

Saddest Book:

Rushdie, Salman "Knife" - 2024

Weirdest Book:

Thoreau, Henry David "Walden; or, Life in the Woods" - 1854

Most disappointing:

Hopmann, Sophie/Heidelore Mais "Cucumber Sandwich in the Glove Compartment" (GE: Gurkensandwich im Handschuhfach) - 2019

New author (for me) that I would like to read more from: 8
Michel Bergmann, William Deresiewicz, Tahsim Durgun, Michael Köhlmeier, Benjamin Monferat, Jasmin Schreiber, Yuta Takahashi, Lucy Worsley

Translated Books:

7 from 7 languages

1 ea from Finnisch, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish

Books read in another language:

Dutch: 1

French: 3

German: 30

Numbers in Book Titles: Sixth, Seven, Ten, 107
Place Names in Book Titles: Brüssel, England, Europe, Mansfield, Mariana Trench, Northanger Abbey, Walden

Names in Book Titles: Artemisia, Austen, Bovary, Britt-Marie, Chekhov, Chibineko, Chuzzlewit, Emma, Faust, Feld, Felix Krull, Gretchen, Hamnet, Jane, Judith,Katherine, Klee, Luzie, Lysistrata, Mann, Mariana, Martin, Mary, Max, Moormann, Napoleon, Parr, Peanuts, Psmith, Rose, Rotkäppchen, Sonneborn, Thomas, Tiffany, Tolstoy, Unrat, Wunder

Colours in Book Titles: Rot (red)

My Favourite Books: 24

Austen, Jane "Emma" - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)

- "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791
- "Mansfield Park" - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
- "Persuasion" - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) *
- "Pride & Prejudice" - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 

- "Sense & Sensibility" - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 

Brooks, Geraldine "Year of Wonders" - 2001

Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011

Heidenreich, Elke "Dr. Moormann & I" (GE: Frau Dr. Moormann & ich) - 2023

Hyun, Martin; Kaminer, Wladimir "Instructions for neighbours" - (GE: Gebrauchsanweisung für Nachbarn) - 2024  

Hislop, Victoria "The Figurine" - 2023

Kaminer, Wladimir "Little Red Riding Hood smokes on the balcony … and other family stories" (GE: Rotkäppchen raucht auf dem Balkon … und andere Familiengeschichten) - 2020

- "Tolstoy's beard and Chekhov's shoes, excursions through Russian literature" (GE: Tolstois Bart und Tschechows Schuhe, Streifzüge durch die russische Literatur - 2019)

Loriot "The Yodeling School and other dramatic works" (GE: Die Jodelschule und andere dramatische Werke) - 1981

Monferat, Benjamin (Stephan Rother) "World in Flames" (GE: Welt in Flammen) - 2014

Schreiber, Jasmin "Mariana Trench" (GE: Marianengraben) - 2020

Stelter, Bernd "Fashion, murder, and the sound of the sea. Camping crime thriller" (GE: Mode, Mord und Meeresrauschen. Camping-Krimi) - 2024

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007

Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katharine Parr. The Sixth Wife" - 2021

Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017

Added  after an idea by Emma:

Adjectives in Book Titles: brilliant, crazy, dull, last, weird; dramatische, gut, klein

Adverbs in Book Titles: andere. hier

Animals in Book Titles: Penguin, Snail, Whale

Nationality in Book Titles: French

Preposition in Book Titles: about, as, at, for, from, in, of, on, out, to; auf, durch, für, im, mit, nach, oder, vom, von, über, zur
Questions in Book Titles: 

Brandreth, Gyles "Have You Eaten Grandma?" - 2017

With my books, I visited places in the following countries:

Africa (5):Botswana, Cameroon, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe

Arctic (1):

Asia (9):

Armenia, Dubai, India, Israel/Palestine, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Syria, Turkey, Vietnam

Australia/Oceania (2):
Australia, New Zealand
Europe (19):
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Yugoslavia
North America (4):

Canada, Caribbean, St. Lucia, USA

South America (3):

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay

Countries "visited" in total: 43

Authors come from:

Africa (2):
South Africa, Zimbabwe
Asia (7):
India, Israel/Palestine, Japan, Korea, Syria, Turkey, Vietnam

Australia/Oceania (2):

Australia, New Zealand
Europe (10):
Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom

North America (2):

Canada, USA
South America (1):

Uruguay
Author countries in total: 24

See also "My Year in Books" (and here on Goodreads).

You may find some even greater statistics by better bloggers than me, e.g. at "Stuck in a Book".

 

If you want more information on any of the lists mentioned, please, let me know.

What's in a Name 2025 Reading Challenge

What's in a Name 2025 Reading Challenge

Have a look at Carolina Book Nook. The blogger Andrea posted about this year's reading challenge "What's in a Name". According to Andrea, this challenge was hosted by Charlie at The Worm Hole in years past. She took over in 2019 and I’m very grateful that she did.

I had first found this ages ago on Emma's page at Words and Peace (like so many other interesting challenges) and then participated in 2014 and 2020 and included all the books with a name in the title in my statistics ever since.

So, I was happy to find this again the other day and just in time to join for this past year.

The challenge runs from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. You can sign up any time, but only count books that you read between those dates.

These are her conditions:

Read a book in any format (hard copy, ebook, audio) with a title that fits into each category.

Don’t use the same book for more than one category.

Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!

You can choose your books as you go or make a list ahead of time.

Sign up using the Mr Linky on Andrea's page (here) with a link to your WIAN challenge page/post, not your main blog URL. Feel free to save and use the graphic at the top of the page! Also, link back to her sign up page in your challenge post so others can join too.

The categories below are links to each category sign up link.  Add your book review for each category so we can see what you’ve read and discover ideas as needed.

In 2025, choose 6 books that have titles that contain:

(Andrea gives links with more examples and info)

1. Cardinal direction
2. Wanderlust
3. First & last name
4. Alliteration
5. Deity
6. Crime

And here are my books:

Category 1: 

Cardinal direction
Mason, Daniel "North Woods" - 2023

Category 2:

Wanderlust
Mak, Geert "The Dream of Europe. Travels in a Troubled Continent" (NL: Grote verwachtingen. In Europa 1999-2019) - 2019

Category 3:

First & last name
Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017

Category 4:

Allilteration
Austen, Jane "Pride & Prejudice" - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
And yes, even though I wrote this review ages ago, I re-read the book this year.

Category 5:

Deity
I doubt that I will be able to include a book for this challenge. I might have found one had I known about this earlier but I really couldn't finish another one before the end of the year.

Category 6:
Crime
Osman, Richard "We Solve Murders" - 2024

Nonfiction November 2025

November is almost over and so are the Nonfiction November challenges. As last year, I have not had the time and energy to participate every week but I want to do a little overview over my nonfiction year.

This is the schedule and the hosts for 2025:

Week 1 (10/27-11/2) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Heather @ Based on a True Story 

Week 2 (11/3-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
Frances @ Volatile Rune 

Week 3 (11/11-11/18) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. You can be as creative as you like!
Liz – Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home 

Week 4 (11/18-11/25) Worldview Shapers: One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone? (Rebekah)

Rebekah – She Seeks Nonfiction 

Week 5 (11/26-12/2) New To My TBR: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! 
Deb – Readerbuzz 

I like reading novels but I also read a lot of non-fiction, mainly biographies and history. And I'd like to draw the attention to the books I read this year, so therefore, here is my list.

Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England: How our ancestors lived two centuries ago" (aka "Jane Austen's England) - 2013

Campbell, Jen "Weird Things Customers say in Bookshops" - 2012 

Clarke, Stephen "Talk to the Snail. Ten Commandments for Understanding the French" - 2006
Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011

Durgun, Tahsim "Mum, please learn German" (GE: Mama, bitte lern Deutsch: Unser Eingliederungsversuch in eine geschlossene Gesellschaft) - 2025

Ephron, Nora "Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women" - 1975

Hammond, Richard "As You Do: Adventures With Evil, Oliver And The Vice President Of Botswana" - 2008
Hartlieb, Petra "Christmas in the Wonderful Bookshop" (GE: Weihnachten in der wundervollen Buchhandlung) - 2018

Hyun, Martin; Kaminer, Wladimir "Instructions for neighbours" - (GE: Gebrauchsanweisung für Nachbarn) - 2024  
Kaminer, Wladimir "Little Red Riding Hood smokes on the balcony … and other family stories" (GE: Rotkäppchen raucht auf dem Balkon … und andere Familiengeschichten) - 2020

Kishon, Ephraim (english) "So sorry we won" (GE: Pardon, wir haben gewonnen. Vom Sechstagekrieg bis zur Siegesparade ein Jahr danach) - 1967

Lovenberg, Felicitas von "Praise for the Good Bookshop" (GE: Lob der guten Buchhandlung) - 2020

Mak, Geert "The Dream of Europe. Travels in a Troubled Continent" (NL: Grote verwachtingen. In Europa 1999-2019) - 2019
Michell, Tom "The Penguin Lesson: What I Learned from a Remarkable Bird" - 2015

Pierce, Patricia "Jurassic Mary: Mary Anning and the primeval monsters" - 2006

Rushdie, Salman "Knife. Meditations after an attempted murder" - 2024
Schnoy, Sebastian "Learn from Napoleon how to avoid doing the dishes" (GE: Von Napoleon lernen, wie man sich vorm Abwasch drückt) - 2013
Schöfer, Maike "Nope: An incitement to say no" (GE: Nö: Eine Anstiftung zum Neinsagen) - 2025
Sonneborn, Martin "Mr. Sonneborn goes to Brussels" (GE: Herr Sonneborn geht nach Brüssel) - 2019

Stelter, Bernd "As you get older, you need to enjoy life" (GE: Wer älter wird, braucht Spaß am Leben) - 2022

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007
Thoreau, Henry David "Walden; or, Life in the Woods" - 1854
Weidermann, Volker "Man from the Sea. Thomas Mann and the Love of His Life" (GE: Mann vom Meer. Thomas Mann und die Liebe seines Lebens) - 2023

Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katharine Parr. The Sixth Wife" - 2021

Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946

Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017

And here are my posts from the previous years:
2020-2021 

2022  

2023 

2024 

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #42

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 19^th October 2025, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 21^st December 2025 to read it.

This time, I read two books from my old list (Classics Spin #41) ("Lysistrata"  and "Martin Chuzzlewit"). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
2. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
3. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
4. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
5. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
6. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
7. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
8. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
9. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
12. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
13. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
14. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
15. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
16. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
17. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
18. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
19. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, the number that has been picked is #17. That means for me:
Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.

And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

The 1925 Club

This book challenge takes place twice a year and concentrates on one year and one year only. I call it "Read the Year Club". This time, 1925 was picked. For more information, see Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings (here is Karen's invite and here is Simon's). If you are looking for inspiration, there are a few books from that year that I read already:

de Man, Herman "The Growing Water" (NL: Het wassende water) - 1925

Feuchtwanger, Lion "Jew Suss" (GE: Jud Süß) - 1925
Fitzgerald, F. Scott "The Great Gatsby" - 1925

Ford, Ford Madox "Parade's End" (Tetraology: Some Do Not - 1924, No More Parades, 1925, A Man Could Stand Up 1926, Last Post 1928) - 1924-28
H., A. "My Struggle" (Notes by some megalomanic who thought he could rule the world, GE: M. K.) - 1925/26

Mandelstam, Ossip "The Din of Time" (RUS: Шум времени/Shum vremeni) - 1925

Wodehouse, P.G. "Carry On, Jeeves" - 1925

Woolf, Virginia "Mrs. Dalloway" - 1925

I also found some other ideas, if you are looking for more:
Christie, Agatha "The Secret of Chimneys"

Dos Passos, John "Manhattan Transfer"

Dreiser, Theodore "An American Tragedy"
Gorky, Maxim" The Artamonov Business" (RUS: Дело Артамоновых/Delo Artamonovykh)

Kafka, Franz "The Trial" (GE: Der Prozess)

Lewis, Sinclair "Arrowsmith"
Maugham, W. Somerset "The Painted Veil"
Stein, Gertrude "The Making of Americans"
Undset, Sigrid "The Master of Hestviken, vol. 1: The Axe" (NO: Olav Audunssøn i Hestviken)
Wells, H.G. "Christina Alberta's Father"

This challenge takes place from 20 to 26 October 2025.

I have picked a story by a fascinating author of whom I always wanted to read more:
Hemingway, Ernest "In Our Time" - 1925