Book-It '23! Book #6: "House of Dolls" by Francesca Lia Block, illustrated by Barbara McClintock

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

Book-It '23! Book #5: "Astrology" by Carole Taylor

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

Book-It '23! Book #4: "The Forbidden Garden" by Ellen Herrick

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

Book-It '23! Book #3: "The Sparrow Sisters" by Ellen Herrick

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

Book-It '23! Book #2: "Mysterious Messages from Beyond" by Von Braschler

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

Book-It '23! Book #1: "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage" by Sydney Padua

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

Fifty Books Challenge 2023!

 

Art by ButterflyBooksCo
Tempus fugit, even in the 2020s it seems a bit different. But this year marks the THIRD anniversary of this blog! There was 2020, 2021, last year and now here we are!

Same rules as usual: I don't count books I've read before, and I don't count books I don't finish.

I've been fortunate enough to have my readership be bigger than ever, and I'm incredibly grateful to all of you, including you, you here reading this right now! I've also added a FAQ page which hopefully clears some things up, especially for new readers.

WELCOME TO THE NEW FIFTY BOOKS CHALLENGE!

Fifty Books Challenge FAQ

 

Art by Simply Make Studio

So at the time of this writing, I'm about to celebrate the third anniversary of my bringing back the Fifty Books Challenge! I have a feeling that I'll be updating this post from time to time, so I'll time stamp it accordingly.

I've had a wonderful influx of readers and given the questions that seem to come up a lot, I think it's time I did a FAQ post, so here we are.

(Finally!) Wrapping Up the 2022 Fifty Books Challenge!

 

"Enclosed Content Chatting Away In The Colour Invisibility" by Anouk Kruithof, 2009

I logged more reviews in 2022 than in 2021, but still didn't quite make it to fifty, but still, what a year in books!

I'm shocked because more people are reading now than ever and I've realized I'm going to have to make a FAQ page (that will come eventually!) now and I'm just so grateful for all of you. This is a long-form blog in the 2020s and yet I seem to strangely be gaining readers and believe me when I say I don't take it for granted even for a second. You reach out to me on social media, you leave comments here, and you help fulfill part of what I wanted in this project, which is to talk about the books I've read (and books in general) with other people. Even if you don't talk to me, either through social media, elsewhere, or leaving a comment here, I still appreciate your reading more than you possibly ever know. Of all the places to spend time on this here internet, you chose here. Thank you so much!

What a year! Alice Hoffman was lovely about my reviews of her work on social media again (I don't post about reviews to get the attention of authors, but it's still quite dazzling whenever it happens), one of the books featured (notice I said featured, not reviewed) was by a dear friend (!!!!!), and there were so many wonderful stories I read that informed me and captured my attention and were wonderful and made me think, and I'm delighted to revisit them again here. I also got to read many I've been wanting to read forever, and even if some books weren't worth the wait, some really were and they're the ones that matter.

I also want to shout out some books that I read this year that didn't make it here, in part because some of them I've read before and some I wasn't sure I'd read, but there were also plenty that were new to me, and all were incredibly entertaining. I'm talking about the amazingly prolific Mary Downing Hahn, who's talented enough to write scary stories for a YA audience that will still frighten a jaded, true crime-consuming adult. I loved her books as a child and I'm happy to report they hold up wonderfully well as an adult and she's vastly added to her resume.

And there were some books that absolutely frustrated me in a way that feels historic and that I'm going to remark upon separately, books so bad they convinced me I could write a better book, so I am (!!!!!). That in and of itself is something for which to be grateful, certainly. That and I think some of you out there love the ones I hate more than you do the ones I love (and I'm not going to lie; sometimes it's satisfying to rip into a bad book, at least it makes up for wasting my valuable time with the book itself).

I should say in the interests of fairness, I am excluding a book from consideration that was a special edition, as it was written by a friend of mine (a fact I will keep mentioning and you can't stop me) and thus wouldn't be fair to categorize it.

But without any further ado, let's get down to it!

Book-It '22! SPECIAL EDITION!

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

This is not a typical review, but a special edition and I saved it to be the last book of the year for that reason. I explain below!

Book-It '22! Book #39: "Barack and Joe" by Steven Levingston

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The all new 50 Books Challenge!

Book-It '22! Book #38: "Educated" by Tara Westover

 THANK YOU UNDERSTANDING ABOUT PROJECT DELAYS AND THANK YOU FOR LEAVING A COMMENT IF YOU'RE READING! LOVE AND THANKS TO ALL MY READERS!

The all new 50 Books Challenge!