Reading Challenge 2025

Hello, people of the HLTB community! Welcome to the Reading Challenge 2025, inspired by the yearly gaming challenges!

To start off, there will be a total of 30 challenges
- The book must be completed in 2025 to be used as an entry.
- Each book can only be used as entry for one challenge.
- Some challenges will have alternatives (X-A, X-B). Only one alternative needs to be accounted for, but both can be done if you wish to.

Tiers: Not everyone's got enough time for 30 books. That's fine! The reading challenge will have 3 tiers of completions:
Main -10 books
Main+ - 10+ books
100% - All 30 books!

The Storygraph collection for the HLTB Reading Challenge

At the end of each month, post a progress report and discuss the books you read!
Most importantly, remember to have fun!

The Challenge List
Gaming Adjacent challenges - This is HowLongToBeat.com! Of course we need to have some game related topics!
01. A book published by Boss Fight Books.
02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame. [Examples]
03. A book based on a videogame. [Examples]
04-A. A book based on a table-top game (DnD, Warhammer, Shadowrun, Magic, BattleTech, etc) [Examples. More examples.]
04-B. a Gamebook (e.g. Choose-Your-Own-Adventures, single-player RPGs). [Examples. More examples.]
05. A non-fiction book about videogames. [Examples]

Regular challenges
06. A book published since the start of 2024.
07. A "classic" / literary cornerstone. [Examples]
08. A short story or novella.
09. A doorstopper (Approx. 700 pages).
10. A play.
11. A graphic novel or manga.
12. A memoir or (auto-)biography.
13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series.
14. A self-published book.
15. A book from a genre you don’t normally read.
16. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore.
17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school.
18. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series.
19. A “hopeful non-fiction” book. [Can filter with The StoryGraph Search]
20. An animal xenofiction novel. [Examples]
21. A novel set in your city/state/country. [Helpful: Mappit and TripFiction]
22. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US”.
23. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop.
24. One of the oldest books in your backlog.
25. A book in your mother tongue.
26. A book about a character engaging with a hobby of yours.
27-A. A book set before medieval times.
27-B. A book set in the far future.
28-A. The debut book by an up-and-coming author (They must not have any other books out at the moment, unless releasing in 2025).
28-B. The first book by a famous/pre-established author.
29. A book that has at least two of the following words in the title: How Long To Beat.
30. The Discussion Challenge - Choose upto 5 books that you would like to discuss with the people of the forums, and then select one book from someone else's recommendations that you'd like to discuss with them.

Discussion Challenge Collection - List of all the entries to for the discussion challenge by folks participating.
To find a particular user, just ctrl-f (if on pc) and search for "{username}"

{bohemu}
The Tetris Effect (Dan Ackerman)
Leslie F*cking Jones (Leslie Jones)
Scurry (Mac Smith)
The Chosen and the Beautiful (Nghi Vo)
Starlight Universe: Moments of Transition (Chris Adamek)

{Cock}
Earth (David Brin)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
Through The Black Hole (Edward Packard)

{NoOne}
20th Century Boys (Naoki Urasawa)
Norwegian Wood (Haruki Murakami)
It Ends With Us (Colleen Hoover)
The Poppy War R. F. Kuang
Batman (New 52) - Year Zero Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo

{Siver}
Small Gods (Terry Pratchett)
Piranesi (Susanna Clarke)
To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis)

{Uvehj}
The Kindly Ones (Jonathan Littell)
Salammbo (Gustave Flaubert)
House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque)
Fictions (Jorge Luis Borges)

We'll also be discussing the challenge on the HLTB discord! Feel free to hop in and join the discussion on there too!

Hey NoOne,

I love this idea, very cool! Also nicely done list. I like the challenges that you chose and the examples that were provided.

These kind of challenges and achievements are really fun to me. I was already happy that Goodreads extended their Reading challenge 2025 by including 15 sub-achievements (read a book in month x, read a book in every month of 2025, meet your reading goal, read more than last year). Even though it makes no actual difference I enjoy this kind of gamification.

I'm not sure if I'm going to participate, though. My reading interest is quite limited these days. Currently, I'm only really interested in reading W40k, with small exceptions here and there. I would only tick off 2 or 3 boxes.

"A book from Wikipedia’s list of 'Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US'" is a great idea! Funny that "Encouraging poor spelling" put a book on the list (even as high as 41 out of 100).

Hey NoOne,

I love this idea, very cool! Also nicely done list. I like the challenges that you chose and the examples that were provided.

These kind of challenges and achievements are really fun to me. I was already happy that Goodreads extended their Reading challenge 2025 by including 15 sub-achievements (read a book in month x, read a book in every month of 2025, meet your reading goal, read more than last year). Even though it makes no actual difference I enjoy this kind of gamification.

I'm not sure if I'm going to participate, though. My reading interest is quite limited these days. Currently, I'm only really interested in reading W40k, with small exceptions here and there. I would only tick off 2 or 3 boxes.

"A book from Wikipedia’s list of 'Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US'" is a great idea! Funny that "Encouraging poor spelling" put a book on the list (even as high as 41 out of 100).

Hey, thanks! The list was a collaborative effort between a few of us on the HLTB Discord server! I was basically thinking about how people've said that having a gaming challenge helped motivate them to play games, and I wanted to read more books this year too, so I decided to ask if people would be interested!
If you've got any recommendations, I'd be glad if you shared them! We're still missing a fair few challenges to complete the 30, and I do also want to make a few alternatives to make the challenge more accessible.

I'm not sure if I'm going to participate, though. My reading interest is quite limited these days. Currently, I'm only really interested in reading W40k, with small exceptions here and there. I would only tick off 2 or 3 boxes.

It doesn't really matter if you can't finish. The point is simply to get all of us reading, and if the challenge gets us to do that, I'd consider that a form of completing it too!
I've actually been wanting to get into the WH40K books, been really into the series recently. Got any recommendations for me to start with?

As for the "challenged books" idea, my original idea was "A book notorious for being out of touch or by a problematic person" but I think it was Roach who modified it into the challenged books idea, and it was for the best. It's a lot less vague this way and a lot easier to choose a book for.
The challenged list in itself is fascinatingly moronic, though, to the point that it's kind of the opposite of my original idea for the challenge. Instead of writers being out of touch, here it's the people who made that list (I'm not sure how it works, not from the U.S.) that are the ones being out of touch. It's honestly worth applauding how utterly non-sensical the list is. There are very, very few books on the list whose presence I actually agree with ;_;

Hey, thanks! The list was a collaborative effort between a few of us on the HLTB Discord server! I was basically thinking about how people've said that having a gaming challenge helped motivate them to play games, and I wanted to read more books this year too, so I decided to ask if people would be interested!
If you've got any recommendations, I'd be glad if you shared them! We're still missing a fair few challenges to complete the 30, and I do also want to make a few alternatives to make the challenge more accessible.

I'm not sure if I'm going to participate, though. My reading interest is quite limited these days. Currently, I'm only really interested in reading W40k, with small exceptions here and there. I would only tick off 2 or 3 boxes.

It doesn't really matter if you can't finish. The point is simply to get all of us reading, and if the challenge gets us to do that, I'd consider that a form of completing it too!
I've actually been wanting to get into the WH40K books, been really into the series recently. Got any recommendations for me to start with?

As for the "challenged books" idea, my original idea was "A book notorious for being out of touch or by a problematic person" but I think it was Roach who modified it into the challenged books idea, and it was for the best. It's a lot less vague this way and a lot easier to choose a book for.
The challenged list in itself is fascinatingly moronic, though, to the point that it's kind of the opposite of my original idea for the challenge. Instead of writers being out of touch, here it's the people who made that list (I'm not sure how it works, not from the U.S.) that are the ones being out of touch. It's honestly worth applauding how utterly non-sensical the list is. There are very, very few books on the list whose presence I actually agree with ;_;

The list was a collaborative effort between a few of us on the HLTB Discord server!

Thanks for bringing the challenge to the forum too!

I've actually been wanting to get into the WH40K books, been really into the series recently. Got any recommendations for me to start with?

Oh, I could go on for hours about this topic :)

Many people recommend The Eisenhorn Trilogy by Abnett for beginners. I think these are interesting and good novels and they cover many aspects of W40k, Chaos, daemons, xenos, psykers, the Inquisition, Imperium politics, etc. But I think there are still better ones out there.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1009259.Xenos

I would recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series, also by Abnett. This is a band of brothers' type of story. As a reader you follow a regiment of Imperial Guardsmen and their leader, Ibram Gaunt, through various adventures. It's perfect for beginners because the stories are very independent from the rest of the W40k universe. You don't need to know all about various actors and storylines. You just follow a group of soldiers trying to survive the horrors of W40k.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220741.First_and_Only

Also fantastic and much darker and involving (Chaos) Space Marines (Space Marines being the poster child of W40k) is the Night Lords' trilogy by Dembski-Bowden. Many people, including me, would put these books into their top 5 W40 lists. These are truly grim dark books, though, including torture, and therefore not for everyone.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7000922-soul-hunter

Abnett and Dembski-Bowden are often named as some of the best authors of W40k and they both have written many novels in this universe.

When I started reading W40k I used this guide: https://wh40kbookclub.com/beginners-guide-to-warhammer-40000/
However, I need to say that I think both the Uriel Ventries and the Ciaphas Cain series are really not all that great in my opinion. I'm the outlier here though, at least with Ciaphas Cain which many people enjoy (Uriel Ventries trilogy does have a rather low rating on Goodreads).
Btw: this W40k book club is also on YouTube and Goodreads.

Then there's also the whole Horus Heresy, that's the story line that happened 10,000 years before W40k, leading to the quasi-death of the Emperor and the downfall of the Imperium into a bureaucratic hellhole, besieged by enemies on all sides. There are many guides on how to start with the Horus Heresy (there are over 50 books, you can't read all, some are stand-alones, others need to be read in order). This is a very cool website: https://www.heresyomnibus.com/ to find some orientation.
You could certainly start with the (first four books of the) Horus Heresy. However, my advise would be to first read a handful of books in the W40k timeline. It makes you appreciate certain things more, I would claim.

If you've got any recommendations, I'd be glad if you shared them! We're still missing a fair few challenges to complete the 30

Thanks! If I can come up with a good recommendation I will write you.

It doesn't really matter if you can't finish. The point is simply to get all of us reading, and if the challenge gets us to do that, I'd consider that a form of completing it too!

Good point. I'm going to participate then, at least for the fun of discussing books!

The list was a collaborative effort between a few of us on the HLTB Discord server!

Thanks for bringing the challenge to the forum too!

I've actually been wanting to get into the WH40K books, been really into the series recently. Got any recommendations for me to start with?

Oh, I could go on for hours about this topic :)

Many people recommend The Eisenhorn Trilogy by Abnett for beginners. I think these are interesting and good novels and they cover many aspects of W40k, Chaos, daemons, xenos, psykers, the Inquisition, Imperium politics, etc. But I think there are still better ones out there.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1009259.Xenos

I would recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series, also by Abnett. This is a band of brothers' type of story. As a reader you follow a regiment of Imperial Guardsmen and their leader, Ibram Gaunt, through various adventures. It's perfect for beginners because the stories are very independent from the rest of the W40k universe. You don't need to know all about various actors and storylines. You just follow a group of soldiers trying to survive the horrors of W40k.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220741.First_and_Only

Also fantastic and much darker and involving (Chaos) Space Marines (Space Marines being the poster child of W40k) is the Night Lords' trilogy by Dembski-Bowden. Many people, including me, would put these books into their top 5 W40 lists. These are truly grim dark books, though, including torture, and therefore not for everyone.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7000922-soul-hunter

Abnett and Dembski-Bowden are often named as some of the best authors of W40k and they both have written many novels in this universe.

When I started reading W40k I used this guide: https://wh40kbookclub.com/beginners-guide-to-warhammer-40000/
However, I need to say that I think both the Uriel Ventries and the Ciaphas Cain series are really not all that great in my opinion. I'm the outlier here though, at least with Ciaphas Cain which many people enjoy (Uriel Ventries trilogy does have a rather low rating on Goodreads).
Btw: this W40k book club is also on YouTube and Goodreads.

Then there's also the whole Horus Heresy, that's the story line that happened 10,000 years before W40k, leading to the quasi-death of the Emperor and the downfall of the Imperium into a bureaucratic hellhole, besieged by enemies on all sides. There are many guides on how to start with the Horus Heresy (there are over 50 books, you can't read all, some are stand-alones, others need to be read in order). This is a very cool website: https://www.heresyomnibus.com/ to find some orientation.
You could certainly start with the (first four books of the) Horus Heresy. However, my advise would be to first read a handful of books in the W40k timeline. It makes you appreciate certain things more, I would claim.

If you've got any recommendations, I'd be glad if you shared them! We're still missing a fair few challenges to complete the 30

Thanks! If I can come up with a good recommendation I will write you.

It doesn't really matter if you can't finish. The point is simply to get all of us reading, and if the challenge gets us to do that, I'd consider that a form of completing it too!

Good point. I'm going to participate then, at least for the fun of discussing books!

Good point. I'm going to participate then, at least for the fun of discussing books!

Yay! Welcome to the club!

As for bringing it to the forums, that was always my plan, I just decided to discuss it with the others (thanks to Roach, Bohemu, Ericb, Siver and Uvehj) and flesh it out a bit before posting about it here.

Also, thanks a bunch for all the recommendations! I've heard really good things about the Eisenhorn Trilogy. I've watched basically all the lore videos I could find about the Horus Heresy but I definitely want to read the books too 🫡.

Since I'm one of the other people planning this thing behind the scenes, I'm obviously gonna participate as well. lol

My personal point of view on this is also that it's gonna be a rather casual challenge where people can pick and choose how much they wanna do. Like No One said, there will probably be 30 categories, but the basic goal is completing 10 of them with anything else being extra points.

We're still thinking of more categories. Currently we got like 24 of them pretty much settled.
Probably won't take too long to finish the category list though. Maybe having it all up on the weekend?

Either way, I'm gonna make a challenge page on StoryGraph as well for anyone who uses that website for their book logging.
An early draft is already up that you can already join if you got an account on that site. But just like this thread, it's still under construction.

- Matt

Talked about it on the server but here too. I tend not to join book challenges but there's some here that fit with what I've already been meaning to do, so that works out very nicely and I intend to be very casual about it too.

I'll start making my list. For now, I'll have some categories with multiple options.

The Challenge List
Gaming Adjacent challenges
❌01. A book published by Boss Fight Books - Silent Hill 2 (Mike Drucker) - One of my favorite games of all time.
❌02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame - Inferno (Dante Alighieri); I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (Harlan Ellison)
❌03. A book based on a videogame - Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants (Matthew J. Kirby); Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future (Jun Eishima); Dead Space: Martyr (B.K. Evenson)
❌04. A non-fiction book about videogames - Blood, Sweat, and Pixels + Play Nice (Jason Schreier) - Heard about his books on the Friends Per Second podcast.

Regular challenges
❌05. A book published since the start of 2024 - Percy Jackson: Wrath of the Triple Goddess (Rick Riordan) - My favorite series from middle school, gonna have to read the one that came out before this one too. I thought that the ending to the series (Book 5, The Last Olympian) was perfect, so I'm interested in seeing where it goes.
❌06. A "classic" / literary cornerstone - TOO MANY OPTIONS. I'll just pick whichever one I read first.
❌07. A short story or novella - The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
❌08. A graphic novel or manga - Again, TOO MANY OPTIONS. Here, I'll pick whichever one I like the most.
❌09. A memoir or (auto-)biography - Bad as I Wanna Be (Dennis Rodman)
❌10. A book adapted into a movie / TV series - The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) - Didn't really like the film but my friend keeps raving about it.
❌11. A self-published book - Starlight Universe: Moments of Transition (Chris Adamek)
❌12. A book from a genre you don’t normally read - The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
❌13. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore - Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami) - I'm not sure that ❌I'll not like it, but I do feel like my opinion on it won't be the same.
❌14. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school - The Tempest (Shakespeare)
❌15. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series - Sacred and Terrible Air (Robert Kurvitz) - From the world and by the writer of Disco Elysium, currently my favorite game of all time, and also a dead series. Nobody said the series in question had to be a book :]
❌16. A “hopeful non-fiction” book - You're Never Weird on the Internet (Felicia Day)
❌17. An animal xenofiction novel - Watership Down (Richard Adams) - Roach (Matt on the forums) was raving about this one a while back.
❌18. A novel set in your city/state/country - The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy) - Set in India.
❌19. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US” - Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
❌20. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop - Foundation (Asimov)
❌21. One of the oldest books in your backlog - Tombland (C. J. Sansom)
❌22. A book in your mother tongue - I'll think about this one some more.
...
❌30. The Discussion Challenge - Pending

My nominations for The Discussion Challenge:
- 20th Century Boy - Naoki Urasawa's magnum opus.
- Norwegian Wood - Widely considered to be one of Haruki Murakami's most popular and most sexist works, but I'd argue that's missing the bigger picture. It's not just mysoginistic, it hates everyone equally, the protagonist included.
- It Ends With Us - I do not like this book. I think its representation of love, toxicity, responsibility, etc etc is moronic and irresponsible and juvenile. I'd still love to discuss it.
- The Poppy War - I've got no idea what this book is about but i've heard a lot.
- Batman Year Zero - widely considered to be one of the best volumes from the one of the only good New 52 run of the DC comics. I prefer some other volumes but that's a topic for later.

I'm intending to participate very casually (unless a stubborn streak kicks in XD), but some tentative plans I have so far, subject to change:

Gaming Adjacent challenges
❌01. A book published by Boss Fight Books. - Mega Man 3 (Salvatore Pane) or preferably Day of the Tentacle (Bob Mackey) but I'll need to buy it
❌02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame. - The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
❌03. A book based on a videogame. - King's Quest The Floating Castle (Craig Mills)
❌04-A. A book based on a table-top game (DnD, Warhammer, Shadowrun, Magic, BattleTech, etc)
❌04-B. a Gamebook (e.g. Choose-Your-Own-Adventures, single-player RPGs).
❌05. A non-fiction book about videogames. - 50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon (Aaron A. Reed)

Regular challenges
✅06. A book published since the start of 2024 - Something in the Waters (Kim M. Watt)
❌07. A "classic" / literary cornerstone. - Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen)
❌08. A short story or novella. - Thornhedge (T. Kingfisher)
❌09. A doorstopper (Approx. 700 pages). - The Master of Heathcrest Hall (Galen Beckett)
❌10. A play
❌11. A graphic novel or manga. - Bone: The Complete Edition (Jeff Smith)
❌12. A memoir or (auto-)biography.
❌13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - The Fellowship of the Ring (audiobook) (Tolkien, narrated by Andy Serkis) - listened to the other two but not Fellowship (tentative) OR Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne)
❌14. A self-published book. - Gobbelino London & a Collision of Catastrophes (Kim M. Watt)
❌15. A book from a genre you don’t normally read.
❌16. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore. - Alphabet of Thorn OR The Bell at Sealy Head (Patricia A. McKillip)
❌17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school.
❌18. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series. - Trouble Brewing in Harrogate (Kim M. Watt)
❌19. A “hopeful non-fiction” book.
❌20. An animal xenofiction novel. - To Visit the Queen (Diane Duane)
❌21. A novel set in your city/state/country.
❌22. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US”.
❌23. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop.
❌24. One of the oldest books in your backlog.
❌25. A book in your mother tongue.
❌26. A book about a character engaging with a hobby of yours.
❌27-A. A book set before medieval times.
❌27-B. A book set in the far future. - Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers)
❌28-A. The debut book by an up-and-coming author (They must not have any other books out at the moment).
❌28-B. The first book by a famous/pre-established author.
❌29. A book that has at least two of the following words in the title: How Long To Beat.
❌30. The Discussion Challenge -

Some recs for Challenge #30 Discussion:
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett - shameless attempt to get in some Discworld and it's not really part of any arcs so very stand-alone. Some people here may enjoy it
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Could be interesting to talk about. May need to reread it myself
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - just a fun time travel mystery and humourous book that I love

Dumping my in-progress list as well. Super excited to see how this turns out!

Also linking my Storygraph.

Gaming Adjacent challenges
❌ 01. A book published by Boss Fight Books. [Bible Adventures by Gabe Durham]
❌ 02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame. [Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber]
❌ 03. A book based on a videogame. [Uncharted The Fourth Labyrinth by Christopher Golden]
❌ 04-A. A book based on a table-top game.
❌ 04-B. a Gamebook (e.g. Choose-Your-Own-Adventures, single-player RPGs). [Jake Goes Bananas (Which Way, Dude? #2) by Max Brallier]
❌ 05. A non-fiction book about videogames. [The Secret History of Mac Gaming by Richard Moss]

Regular challenges
❌ 06. A book published since the start of 2024. [Lucky Girl by Lottie Tomlinson]
✅ 07. A "classic" / literary cornerstone. [The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway]
✅ 08. A short story or novella. [Mona and Other Tales by Reinaldo Arenas]
❌ 09. A doorstopper [Where the Gods Left Off by Sara Raztresen]
✅ 10. A play. [Tom Stoppard: Plays 5 (Arcadia) by Tom Stoppard]
✅ 11. A graphic novel or manga. [Mice Templar Vol. 1 by Bryan J. L. Glass]
❌ 12. A memoir or (auto-)biography. [Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas]
❌ 13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. [Mickey7 by Edward Ashton]
❌ 14. A self-published book. [Wolf of Withervale by Joaquin Baldwin]
❌ 15. A book from a genre you don’t normally read. [The Spectacular by Fiona Davis]
❌ 16. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore. [Clue Jr. The Case of the Clubhouse Thief by Parker C. Hinter]
❌ 17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school. [A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess]
❌ 18. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series. [The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera]
✅ 19. A “hopeful non-fiction” book. [The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer]
❌ 20. An animal xenofiction novel. [The Capture by Kathryn Lasky]
❌ 21. A novel set in your city/state/country. [Just Kids From The Bronx by Arlene Alda] *not a novel but tbh all novels set in the BX are crime novels and I'm tired of the stereotype.
✅ 22. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US”. [Fun Home by Alison Bechdel]
❌ 23. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop. [Why Am I Like This? by Gemma Styles]
✅ 24. One of the oldest books in your backlog. [Rejected Princesses by Jason Porath]
❌ 25. A book in your mother tongue. [Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams]
❌ 26. A book about a character engaging with a hobby of yours. [The House Witch by Delemhach]
✅ 27. A book set before medieval times OR the far future. [Cosmoknights: Book Two by Hannah Templer]
❌ 28. The debut book by an up-and-coming author OR the first book by a famous/pre-established author. [Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut]
✅ 29. A book that has at least two of the following words in the title: How Long To Beat. [The Witch's Guide to the Paranormal: How to Investigate, Communicate, and Clear Spirits by J Allen Cross]
...
30. The Discussion Challenge - Choose up to 5 books that you would like to discuss with the people of the forums, and then select one book from someone else's recommendations that you'd like to discuss with them.

The Tetris Effect by Dan Ackerman
Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones
Scurry by Mac Smith
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
Starlight Universe: Moments of Transition by Chris Adamek

Ayo, we finally completed the category list so I'm gonna put down my "Master Post" here.

The StoryGraph Challenge page is also up to date and complete now for anyone who wants to link that to their StoryGraph profile and track their progress that way.

My accounts if anyone wants to connect: StoryGraph | Goodreads

Progress:

Gaming Adjacent challenges
❌ 01. A book published by Boss Fight Books.
❌ 02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame.
❌ 03. A book based on a videogame.
❌ 04-A. A book based on a table-top game
❌ 04-B. a Gamebook
❌ 05. A non-fiction book about videogames.

Regular challenges
✅️ 06. A book published since the start of 2024: Feuer by Ron Leshem
❌ 07. A "classic" / literary cornerstone.
❌ 08. A short story or novella.
❌ 09. A doorstopper (Approx. 700 pages).
❌ 10. A play.
❌ 11. A graphic novel or manga.
❌ 12. A memoir or (auto-)biography.
❌ 13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series.
❌ 14. A self-published book.
❌ 15. A book from a genre you don’t normally read.
❌ 16. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore.
❌ 17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school.
❌ 18. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series.
❌ 19. A “hopeful non-fiction” book.
❌ 20. An animal xenofiction novel.
❌ 21. A novel set in your city/state/country.
❌ 22. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US”.
❌ 23. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop.
❌ 24. One of the oldest books in your backlog.
❌ 25. A book in your mother tongue.
❌ 26. A book about a character engaging with a hobby of yours.
❌ 27-A. A book set before medieval times.
❌ 27-B. A book set in the far future.
❌ 28-A. The debut book by an up-and-coming author (They must not have any other books out at the moment).
❌ 28-B. The first book by a famous/pre-established author.
❌ 29. A book that has at least two of the following words in the title: How Long To Beat.
❌ 30. The Discussion Challenge - Choose upto 5 books that you would like to discuss with the people of the forums, and then select one book from someone else's recommendations that you'd like to discuss with them.

Planning:

Gaming Adjacent challenges

01. A book published by Boss Fight Books.
Minesweeper by Kyle Orland

02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame.
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky

03. A book based on a videogame.
---

04-A. A book based on a table-top game.
Magic: The Gathering - Arena by William R. Forstchen
Magic: The Gathering - The Gathering Dark by Jeff Grubb

04-B. a Gamebook.
Zurück in die Eiszeit by Franz S. Sklenitzka

05. A non-fiction book about videogames.
Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero
Masters of Doom by David Kushner


Regular challenges

06. A book published since the start of 2024.
---

07. A "classic" / literary cornerstone.
Das Schloss by Franz Kafka

08. A short story or novella.
---

09. A doorstopper (Approx. 700 pages).
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Ulysses by James Joyce

10. A play.
---

11. A graphic novel or manga.
REAL, Volume 2 by Takehiko Inoue

12. A memoir or (auto-)biography.
My Threatening Poem - Memoir of a Poet in Occupation Prisons by Dareen Tatour

13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series.
---

14. A self-published book.
Starlight Universe: Moments of Transition by Chris Adamek

15. A book from a genre you don’t normally read.
---

16. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore.
The Dreamwalker's Child (aka Moskito) by Steve Voake
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Die drei ???. Spur ins Nichts by André Marx
Blackout by Gianluca Morozzi
The Ring by Kōji Suzuki

17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school.
Tauben im Gras by Wolfgang Koeppen
Richter und sein Henker by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

18. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series.
---

19. A “hopeful non-fiction” book.
Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom

20. An animal xenofiction novel.
---

21. A novel set in your city/state/country.
Aus dem Nichts by Irene Scharenberg

22. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US”.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

23. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop.
---

24. One of the oldest books in your backlog.
---

25. A book in your mother tongue.
---

26. A book about a character engaging with a hobby of yours.
---

27-A. A book set before medieval times.
---

27-B. A book set in the far future.
---

28-A. The debut book by an up-and-coming author (They must not have any other books out at the moment).
---

28-B. The first book by a famous/pre-established author.
---

29. A book that has at least two of the following words in the title: How Long To Beat.
---

30. The Discussion Challenge.
---

My books for the "Discussion Challenge":

Earth by David Brin - One of my favorite reading experiences and the longest book I read to date. lol Super creative global warming eco-scifi and globe-spanning plot.

Watership Down by Richard Adams - I miss the time I spent with these rabbits every single day. It's like a fantasy quest story except its all set in the regular countryside and the characters are rabbits dying left and right. Badass shit.

Through the Black Hole by Edward Packard - This is a standard Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book for kids. I want you to read this and tell me if I'm crazy for thinking it kicks ass. lol

I've joined the HLTB Challenge on Storygraph.

I'm new to the Storygraph. One thing I like is that there's better/more statistics in comparison to Goodreads and I find it easier to find the proper edition. On Goodreads I often just pick a random edition. I imported all my shelves/books from Goodread without any issues and might actually put in the effort to change editions for my 2024 reads to get proper statistics. I think I'm going to use both, Goodreads and Storygraph, from now on. The former for my day-to-day, the latter for better statistics. Shouldn't be much more cataloguing.

My plans so far:

04-A. A book based on a table-top game - The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow - W40k - currently reading
09. A doorstopper - Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson - 1087 pages or 48h 13m as an audio book
11. A graphic novel or manga. - Goodnight Punpun Vol. 5 by Inio Asano - currently reading
13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - Dune by Frank Herbert - currently listening to
17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school. - Das Parfüm by Patrick Süßkind

24. One of the oldest books in your backlog.
On the Storygraph Challenge this description is a bit different:
"A book you’ve been meaning to read for a long time (or one of the oldest books on your backlog)" which would allow me to take a book I've been eagerly waiting to read for like 2 years but I do not yet own. But I guess the proper challenge is "(one of the) oldest on backlog" and in that case I choose:
Lucius: The Faultless Blade by Ian St. Martin
I haven't been keeping track of my backlog for very long but this is the oldest that I've marked as owned (in May 2023).

I've joined the HLTB Challenge on Storygraph.

I'm new to the Storygraph. One thing I like is that there's better/more statistics in comparison to Goodreads and I find it easier to find the proper edition. On Goodreads I often just pick a random edition. I imported all my shelves/books from Goodread without any issues and might actually put in the effort to change editions for my 2024 reads to get proper statistics. I think I'm going to use both, Goodreads and Storygraph, from now on. The former for my day-to-day, the latter for better statistics. Shouldn't be much more cataloguing.

My plans so far:

04-A. A book based on a table-top game - The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow - W40k - currently reading
09. A doorstopper - Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson - 1087 pages or 48h 13m as an audio book
11. A graphic novel or manga. - Goodnight Punpun Vol. 5 by Inio Asano - currently reading
13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - Dune by Frank Herbert - currently listening to
17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school. - Das Parfüm by Patrick Süßkind

24. One of the oldest books in your backlog.
On the Storygraph Challenge this description is a bit different:
"A book you’ve been meaning to read for a long time (or one of the oldest books on your backlog)" which would allow me to take a book I've been eagerly waiting to read for like 2 years but I do not yet own. But I guess the proper challenge is "(one of the) oldest on backlog" and in that case I choose:
Lucius: The Faultless Blade by Ian St. Martin
I haven't been keeping track of my backlog for very long but this is the oldest that I've marked as owned (in May 2023).

Oyasumi Punpun is incredible, have fun!

I've finished Dune, here's where I wrote down a few of my notes: https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/856/19#post120230

This book could easily be put into various categories. I'm going to use it for "13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series."

04-A. A book based on a table-top game - The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow - W40k - currently reading
09. A doorstopper - Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson - 1087 pages or 48h 13m as an audio book
11. A graphic novel or manga. - Goodnight Punpun Vol. 5 by Inio Asano - currently reading
✅️ 13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - Dune by Frank Herbert
17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school. - Das Parfüm by Patrick Süßkind

I finished Goodnight Punpun Volume 5 - here are some of my notes about it:
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/856/19#post120443

04-A. A book based on a table-top game - The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow - W40k - currently reading
09. A doorstopper - Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson - 1087 pages or 48h 13m as an audio book
✅️ 11. A graphic novel or manga. - Goodnight Punpun Vol. 5 by Inio Asano
✅️ 13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - Dune by Frank Herbert
17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school. - Das Parfüm by Patrick Süßkind

Update time with 5 completed

Gaming Adjacent challenges
❌01. A book published by Boss Fight Books. - Mega Man 3 (Salvatore Pane) or preferably Day of the Tentacle (Bob Mackey) but I'll need to buy it
✅02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame. - The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
❌03. A book based on a videogame. - King's Quest The Floating Castle (Craig Mills) - In Progress
❌04-A. A book based on a table-top game (DnD, Warhammer, Shadowrun, Magic, BattleTech, etc)
❌04-B. a Gamebook (e.g. Choose-Your-Own-Adventures, single-player RPGs).
❌05. A non-fiction book about videogames. - 50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon (Aaron A. Reed)

Regular challenges
✅06. A book published since the start of 2024 - Something in the Waters (Kim M. Watt)
❌07. A "classic" / literary cornerstone. - Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen)
✅08. A short story or novella. - Thornhedge (T. Kingfisher)
❌09. A doorstopper (Approx. 700 pages). - The Master of Heathcrest Hall (Galen Beckett)
❌10. A play
❌11. A graphic novel or manga. - Bone: The Complete Edition (Jeff Smith)
❌12. A memoir or (auto-)biography.
❌13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - The Fellowship of the Ring (audiobook) (Tolkien, narrated by Andy Serkis) - listened to the other two but not Fellowship (tentative) OR Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne)
✅14. A self-published book. - Gobbelino London & a Collision of Catastrophes (Kim M. Watt)
❌15. A book from a genre you don’t normally read.
❌16. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore. - Alphabet of Thorn OR The Bell at Sealy Head (Patricia A. McKillip)
❌17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school.
✅18. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series. - Trouble Brewing in Harrogate (Kim M. Watt)
❌19. A “hopeful non-fiction” book.
❌20. An animal xenofiction novel. - To Visit the Queen (Diane Duane)
❌21. A novel set in your city/state/country.
❌22. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US”.
❌23. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop.
❌24. One of the oldest books in your backlog.
❌25. A book in your mother tongue.
❌26. A book about a character engaging with a hobby of yours.
❌27-A. A book set before medieval times.
❌27-B. A book set in the far future. - Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers)
❌28-A. The debut book by an up-and-coming author (They must not have any other books out at the moment).
❌28-B. The first book by a famous/pre-established author.
❌29. A book that has at least two of the following words in the title: How Long To Beat.
❌30. The Discussion Challenge -

I'd been behind on Kim Watt's books, so I wanted to get caught up which I've now accomplished. I also had been meaning to read Thornhedge for a while too--to the point it had been sitting on my desk for at least two months--so it's nice to finally have done that as well. I may slow down this month depending on what distracts me, like if I decide to continue to take the plunge into morbid curiosity and read the other two King's Quest novels (different author, so more fuel for the curiosity...).

Forgot to look into this earlier, so I've decided to do it now. Haven't managed to find a book that matches a category for most of them yet, although I haven't had the chance to look through my full to-read-pile yet. Can't really think of any books for the discussion challenge so I'll ponder on that for a bit longer.

Here's my StoryGraph profile in case anyone wants to link up.

Gaming Adjacent challenges
❌01. A book published by Boss Fight Books. -
❌02. A novel that was (directly) adapted into a videogame. -
❌03. A book based on a videogame. - Higurashi When They Cry: Abducted by Demons Arc (AKA Onikakushi), Vol. 1 - (Ryukishi07)
❌04-A. A book based on a table-top game (DnD, Warhammer, Shadowrun, Magic, BattleTech, etc)
❌04-B. a Gamebook (e.g. Choose-Your-Own-Adventures, single-player RPGs). - A Lone Wolf book. Can't quite remember which ones specifically I have in my to-read-pile.
❌05. A non-fiction book about videogames. - Hey! Listen!: A journey through the golden era of video games - (Steve McNeill)

Regular challenges
❌06. A book published since the start of 2024 - Thunder City - (Philip Reeve)
❌07. A "classic" / literary cornerstone. - The Shape of Things to Come - (H. G. Wells)
❌08. A short story or novella. - The Emperor's Soul - (Brandon Sanderson)
❌09. A doorstopper (Approx. 700 pages). - Ship of Magic - (Robin Hobb)
❌10. A play -
❌11. A graphic novel or manga. - Hope You're Happy, Lemon - (Mizuki Kishikawa)
❌12. A memoir or (auto-)biography. -
✅13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - Kokoro Connect Volume 1: Hito Random - (Sadanatsu Anda)
❌14. A self-published book. -
❌15. A book from a genre you don’t normally read. -
❌16. A book you have read before but remember nothing about/think you won't like anymore. -
❌17. (Reread) a book that was assigned in school. -
❌18. A book from an abandoned or currently unfinished series. - Red Seas Under Red Skies - (Scott Lynch)
❌19. A “hopeful non-fiction” book. -
❌20. An animal xenofiction novel. -
❌21. A novel set in your city/state/country. -
❌22. A book from Wikipedia’s list of “Most Commonly Challenged Books in the US”. -
❌23. A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop. - Higurashi When They Cry: GOU, Vol. 1 - (Ryukishi07)
❌24. One of the oldest books in your backlog. - Mortal Engines - (Philip Reeve)
❌25. A book in your mother tongue. -
❌26. A book about a character engaging with a hobby of yours. -
❌27-A. A book set before medieval times. -
❌27-B. A book set in the far future. - The Sunlit Man - Brandon Sanderson
❌28-A. The debut book by an up-and-coming author (They must not have any other books out at the moment). -
❌28-B. The first book by a famous/pre-established author. -
❌29. A book that has at least two of the following words in the title: How Long To Beat. -
❌30. The Discussion Challenge -

Last month I did manage finish one book though.

✅13. A book adapted into a movie / TV series. - Kokoro Connect Volume 1: Hito Random - (Sadanatsu Anda)

It was pretty good LN although it didn't have enough extra context to put it over the benefits provided by the anime adaptation. At least for this first volume.

I never did an update for my January progress, so here I go. (My Master List)

I ticked off one category with the book I was already reading anyway, Feuer by Ron Leshem.
It's a non-fiction book that came out last year in response to recent developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict, so I put it down for "A book published since the start of 2024."
If anyone's curious, I did write a review for it and I would even recommend it, but for some weird reason this thing is apparently currently only available in German, despite being written by a non-German author. I don't know how that happened.

Haven't made much progress since then. Still reading more books about that subject, but I don't think any of my current reads even apply to any categories. Probably gonna focus on an actual category contender again once I'm done with those., but I also just haven't been reading too much in recent couple of weeks.

I went to a book store recently to see if I could find a book for "A book actually purchased in your local walk-in book shop." But the only ones I found and was interested in, I would have preferred as an ebook rather than a physical copy. And I guess I could technically buy an ebook copy from them as well, but I don't know if I want that to count. I think for me I want to actually walk out of that book store with a physical book in hand.
But to justify me picking up a physical book, it would probably need to be one with a visual aspect that doesn't do well on my ebook device. So, that will have to wait for another day.

- Matt