Carol's Notebook

By the end of the year, I will have completed 2025's 52 Books in 52 Weeks main challenge. (I did not do so great at the mini-challenges.) I read a lot of books I enjoyed, some of which I wouldn't usually have picked up, so I'm signing up again this year. Here's the list: Set in an ancient civilization Kangaroo word on the cover Written without quotation marks Has a dust jacket Featuring a conspiracy Title starts with the letter “O” Title starts with the letter “P” A three-syllable word in the title Featuring a natural disaster Spans a decade or more Requires suspension of disbelief A genre-defining read Bookface Includes a character list A subtitle with commas Deus Ex Machina Author’s bio mentions their dog Provokes strong emotion A nosy neighbour character Day of the week in the title Written in the 1800s Spotted in a TV series or movie Grumpy sunshine trope Uneven number of chapters Includes a red herring Title in a serif font Two or more authors, one pseudonym From a series at least eight books long Set in the Arctic or Antarctic Author related to...

We all know I love cozies, so of course I'm signing up for the Cruisin’ thru the Cozies Reading Challenge again. It's hosted by Yvonne at Socrates’ Book Reviews. I’m aiming at being an investigator, reading 20 cozy mysteries of my choice hopefully including one from each of the categories below. One from culinary –  One from animal-related –  One from craft related –  One from paranormal –  One from cozy mysteries based outside the US –  One career-based cozy mystery –  One holiday based –  One travel mystery –  One historical mystery –  One is your choice! –  Books read:...

I am signing up for the Nonfiction reader challenge again this year. It's hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out. The hashtag is #ReadNonFicChal. The challenge is to read nonfiction books from twelve different categories. I’m going with the Nonfiction Nipper option again this year, reading three from any three categories. The categories are: History Memoir/Biography True Crime Science Health Food South East Asia Humour (Humor) Lost or found Television Subculture Published in 2026 Books read:...