2024 wasn’t a particularly good year for my reading: seems that I’ve only recorded 13 books in Epilogue (I also completed two Finnish language books not in the database. The theme was “year of the re-read”, plenty of Ann Leckie, The Hobbit, and Leviathan Wakes. Good times, great books

2025 my plan is to go outside my comfort zone, read books that I would not normally consider. There are two parts here, one is genres and one is borrowed from a Finnish reading challenge (see the Finnish language post here Mitä luimme kerran: LUE MAAILMA VUODESSA )

1. A book written by a North African author
2. A book written by a Central or South African author

3. A book written by an indigenous author

4. A book written by an author from a Middle Eastern country

5. A work translated from Japanese, Korean or Chinese

6. The book deals with immigration or is diaspora literature

7. A book written by a South or Southeast Asian author

8. The author is from an Asian country that has a name that ends in -stan

9. The author is from a non-English speaking island nation

10. A book written by an author from a Central American or Caribbean country

11. A book written by a South American author

12. A book by an author who belongs to a nation whose state is not (fully) recognised

There is a lot here, considering the 13 books in 2024, but I’ve promised myself to have more time for reading in 2025. I’ll be happy to read six from this list, twelve would be awesome.

Other part of this theme to read genres I usually don’t touch, I’ve not yet completed the list of potential genres to visit but at least following:

• Spy stories
• Romance
• Detective stories, true crime, cozy crime
• Biography of a politician
• Biography of a pop musician, celebrity or an athlete
• Books related to a franchise: Star Wars, Star Trek, D&D

Anything you can recommend from these genres, and I will be happy.

And, finally, I plan to read Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey. Not part of the challenge but will read it this year.