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#192025
review
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
Too Loud a Solitude | Bohumil Hrabal
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Pickpick

I'm calling it a pick. This works because of its short length. It starts out with some really beautiful thoughts from a book lover. Haňťa has been a compactor is warehousing and books in a Czech police state for 35 years. He loves books so much that he rescues some from his basement workplace and had literally filled his home too the brim worth salvaged books. Technology threatens to make him obsolete. This gets a little weird with ⬇️

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick anecdotes about fecal matter and the such, but I like weird. For about 100 pages, I can deal with the odd juxtaposition of topics discussed, but if would grow repetitive and tiresome for a full length novel.
(Finishing up the last few books for #192025 #1976)
@Librarybelle and my first book finished in 2026.
1d
45 likes1 comment
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kwmg40
Untitled | Untitled
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For the #192025 challenge, I gave myself the extra challenge of reading at most one book from any one author. For the new #192030 challenge, I'm going to relax that requirement, but I'm going to try to do the years roughly in order, working on a couple of decades at a time before reading from the next ones. I expect my 1920's and 1930's will be filled with a lot of Golden Age mystery novels!
@Librarybelle

Librarybelle That sounds like a good plan! And, I‘m eyeing my Golden Age mysteries too—I suspect I‘ll be reading a good portion of them the next few years. 2d
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick I used some of the Series of Unfortunate Events books because I wanted to read them and pass them along to a friend's son. Other than that, I did try to choose a variety of authors and I think there were a few with two entries. I'll likely do the same for this next round. 21h
38 likes2 comments
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Liz_M
Ghosts | Edith Wharton
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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! 1w
Liz_M @BarbaraBB that and I didn't like most of the #1001Books and #192025 books I read last year. 🤷‍♀️😂😂😂 1w
27 likes2 comments
review
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
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Pickpick

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!) 1w
TheBookHippie I love this book. 1w
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. 1w
See All 10 Comments
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @TheBookHippie 💛 I enjoyed it more than I expected. It didn't feel too young. 1w
TheBookHippie @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick it‘s an underrated classic for sure. 1w
kspenmoll Loved this book as a young girl! 1w
Bookwormjillk One of my favorites. I usually read it around Christmas but I missed it this year. 1w
TheEllieMo Another modern classic I haven‘t read yet😩 1w
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. 1w
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 1w
51 likes2 stack adds10 comments
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BarbaraJean
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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 Lovely joys! 💛💛💛 Days when you can relax are the best & I have been seeing this series a lot lately! 1w
Daisey This sounds like an amazing and relaxing week! 1w
AnnCrystal 💝💝💝💝💝. 1w
31 likes3 comments
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kwmg40
Untitled | Untitled
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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!!! 1w
dabbe 👏🏻♥️👏🏻 1w
41 likes2 comments
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Liz_M
The Winners | Julio Cortzar
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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

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

32 likes2 comments
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Librarybelle
Untitled | Unknown
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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!

Amiable Thank you! I think I only hit about 43% in the previous challenge. 😖 Deep breath… and let‘s start again! (edited) 2w
See All 34 Comments
BookishPiper I am excited about this. 2w
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. 2w
Daisey I‘m looking forward to this! 2w
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 😁 2w
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. 2w
TheAromaofBooks YAY! I am so stoked about this challenge!! 2w
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 2w
julieclair Yay! I‘m so excited about this! 2w
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 2w
Kitta @dabbe wow! I think it‘s missing the one from @Kenyazero which I‘m assuming will be #lgbtqia2026? 2w
Kitta Excited for this!! What‘s the best way to tackle the challenge? 2w
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. 2w
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. 2w
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. 2w
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 2w
Kitta @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick id love to get a copy of the spreadsheet!! I‘ll email you. 1w
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 ⬇ 1w
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! 1w
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. 1w
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 1w
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 😂 1w
llwheeler Hurray! I'm looking forward to it 🙂 1w
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). 1w
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! 😂 1w
Librarybelle That‘s a good start, @AnishaInkspill ! 1w
OutsmartYourShelf Only just saw this post. Add me to tag please as I was carrying on the Christie Challenge so can use them for this challenge. Completed 57% of #192025 so hoping to beat that with #192030 6d
Librarybelle Will do, @OutsmartYourShelf ! And great job for #192025 ! 5d
52 likes34 comments