Today Rural Simplicity is bringing you a Reading Challenge for the new year!
25 Books in 2025.
This is a very personalized list that came about when my favorite reading challenge people didn't put out a reading challenge for next year. I plopped myself down in front of my large TBR (to be read) stack and started making a list of categories.
I am going to walk you through my list in comparison to my TBR stack to give you an idea of where you could start. But like any good reading challenge you will nudge it this way and that to fit your needs and lifestyle. One thing I would not recommend is fitting it to your likes. One point of a reading challenge is to broaden your perspective and get you out of your comfort zone. One last point to address is that it's okay to not finish the challenge by December 31st. Again your goal is to read, not finish, or rush, or stress out. Just read and enjoy. Let it soak in slowly and consistently.
1. Finish a Book You Set Aside
Every year I say I'm going to finish David Copperfield. Maybe this will be the year! I also have several books on my nightstand that have been shoved aside for other books. Home Economics by Wendell Berry, A Praying Life by Paul Miller, and Louisa May Alcott by Madeleine Stern.
2. A Book You Received for Christmas
I do hope to receive one or more books for Christmas, but I also have books from a past Christmas I haven't gotten to yet. Inexpressible by Michael Card, Culture Care and Faith + Art by Makoto Fujimura
3. A Book You Borrowed (and then give it back!)
An Ordinary Woman's Extraordinary Faith by Patricia St. John
7. A Book of Letters
The Major and the Missionary by Diana Pavlov Glyer This is a book of letters written between Warnie Lewis and Blanche Biggs a Missionary in Papua New Guinea after C.S. Lewis had died and Warnie was living at the Kilns alone. I've been anxious to get to this one!
8. A Sequel
Apparently I misspelled that word on the reading list. ugh. Maybe I should read a book on the English language instead. The Princess and the Curdie by George MacDonald, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis,
9. Reread an Old Favorite
Jaybor Crow by Wendell Berry. I borrowed this book from the library the first time. I am the proud owner of the book now and have recently finished Dante's Comedy and was hoping to re read Jaybor Crow on the heels of finishing that trilogy as I've heard it mirrors Dante.
10. A Book About Books
This is a favorite category of mine and I recently purchased How the Heather Looks by Joan Bodger from a book sale. I've heard wonderful things about this book for so long.
11. An Elizabeth Goudge Novel
The only Goudge book I've read is The Little White Horse with a child for school. I have now collected The Dean's Watch and Gentian Hill.
12. A Book About Art
I recently listened to a lecture by Makoto Fujimura and loved it so much I watched it two more times in a row. His books Culture Care and Faith + Art are waiting patiently to be read.
13. A Book About Writing
I have a book called The Living Page by Laurie Bestvater that walks you through keeping a notebook. That includes things like nature journaling, commonplace notebook, Book of Centuries (a kind of timeline history) etc. I also have several writing books on my wishlist some of them being On Writing by Stephen King, and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.
14. An Annie Dillard Novel
I hear about Annie Dillard a lot among bookish people and I've recently picked up two of her books at secondhand shops. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and The Living. If you have an opinion on where I should or should not start please tell.
15. A Book of Poetry
I don't have a plan for this one. Which is a sure way of not getting it done. I have a lot of "Complete works of..." books which feel too big and overwhelming for a reading challenge. I wouldn't mind reading In Memorium by Alfred Lord Tennyson but all the pretty books cost too much. The best thing to do is start early and read a little bit each day. Always read your poetry out loud and when possible with a friend.
16. A Lent Book
I have two books I've used over the last few years. I would be wise to do one a year and rotate but when the time comes I can't decide and I end up reading both. Journey to the Cross by Paul Tripp, and The Word in the Wilderness by Malcolm Guite. This year Lent starts on Ash Wednesday March 5th.
17. An Advent Book
I have worked through several different books over the last few years. I love that Advent and Lent books never grow old. We need the slow thoughtful devotions every year. Hallelujah by Cindy Rollins takes you through Handel's Messiah slowly and thoughtfully with music, scripture, and traditions. The Advent of the Lamb of God by Russ Ramsey is like reading a paraphrased Bible story of Christmas. Russ Ramsey is a wonderful story teller and what better story to read than the Bible. Waiting on the Word by Malcolm Guite, laid out just like his lent book it takes you through ancient and modern poetry aligning with the season with Guite's commentary on each poem. Emmanuel by Ruth Chou Simons combines beautiful art, devotional, carols, and scripture.
18. A Detective Novel
I purchsed a large box of Agatha Christie novels at the library sale and I am slowly working my way through them. I also have a growing collection of Dorthoy L. Sayers detective novels.
19. A Book of Essays
I need to finish Home Economics by Wendell Berry and I just bought a book of essay by Karen Glass called Much May Be Done With Sparrows full of the wisdom of Charlotte Mason.
20. A Novel Over 700 Pages
If I just picked one of these a year and started January 1st I would get through these in a few years. But instead I procrastinate about how I don't have time. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Although I have less than 700 pages to finish this one. Middlemarch by George Elliot, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
21. A Clarkson Book
This is referring to the Clay and Sally Clarkson family and may include their Children Joy, Sarah, Nathan and Joel. My Favorite Sally books are here Life-Giving books. Everything I've read by Sarah has been beautiful Caught up in a Story, Book Girl, and This Beautiful Truth by Sarah Clarkson as well as Aggressively Happy by Joy Clarkson and her new one which is on my TBR stack for the year. You Are a Tree.
22. A Schaeffer Book
This is referring to Francis and Edith Schaeffer and family. The one on my stack this year is True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer and the two on my wishlist are Affliction and What is a Family? by Edith Schaeffer. Their Daughter Susan Schaeffer Macauly would also fall under this category.
23. A Missionary Biography
In the Prescence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham
24. Friends Pick from Your TBR Stack
Another typo found. I should hire an editor next I guess. Well whether you have freinds or friends have them peruse your TBR shelf and pick your next read. Don't have a TBR shelf? Have them offer a suggestion of a favorite book.
25. A Book About Education
At my first homeschool conference I went a little wild and bought over $100 in books. I was so excited to find the books I'd had my eye on by the ladies leading our Charlotte Mason community. A Thinking Love by Karen Glass, Mind to Mind by Karen Glass, Much May be Done With Sparrows by Karen Glass, The Living Page by Laurie Bestvater. Some other books I've picked up here and there that are less about formal education and more about life education Smart Moves by Carla Hanford, Are My Kids on Track by Goff, Thomas, and Trevathan. Education shouldn't just be about the school years. Education begins at birth and lasts all through ones life.
Follow this link to Print the Reading Challenge for yourself. I've added a line under each suggestion to write in which book you've read for that category. Sometimes I will pencil in what I hope to read for a category and then when I've finished a book (often not what was penciled in at all) I write it in ink. Come back at the end of the year and we will see how many books we've been able to get through. Check in throughout the year in the comments.
Happy Reading,
~Sarah
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