325 Reading Challenge Launch
A glimpse of the 325 Reading Challenge
A new book challenge has entered the arena.
The 325 Reading Challenge is super simple.
In 2025, read
25 Fiction books
25 Non-fiction books
That’s three lots of twenty-five.
3 25s = 325 Reading Challenge
This challenge was born from a desire to stretch my own reading goals and make time for the books that have been waiting (impatiently) on my TBR for years. It’s also to give myself something predictable to look forward to.
The future seems pretty unpredictable right now.
Why name it? 325 is catchy and easy to make into a hashtag and challenge name…
Because I’m going public with this.
Why I’m sharing a personal reading challenge
At first, I was just going to track my own reading online for added accountability. I make content and posts daily, especially about books, so why not add my reading to the mix.
Then I thought, maybe others would like to join in. Stranger things have happened.
The book community is vast. There is something for everyone and folks enjoy a challenge. I love supporting various book-related communities; hello authors, librarians, booksellers, publishers, editors, cover designers, readers, and book collectors. Creating something many of us could potentially enjoy would be a pretty epic bonus.
I also know folks who read lots of fiction and want to read more non-fiction, while some non-fiction fans are seeking out more fiction.
This helps both of these reader types out. And it will help authors too. (Authors are also readers, I see you!)
How to take part in the 325 Reading Challenge
If you want to take part in this reading challenge, all you have to do is:
Read 25 fiction books and 25 non-fiction books in 2025. Simple.
325 Reading Challenge Rules
So we’re all on the same page (pun intended) there are five core rules within this challenge.
Everything else is flexible.
Read twenty-five fiction books and twenty-five non-fiction books between January 2025 and December 2025. Anything you want.
Plan what to read at least a month ahead.
If you DNF (Do Not Finish) a book, you can replace it with another book.
If you can’t read a chosen book for whatever reason, you can replace it with another book.
Don’t pirate or steal a book.
Optional Reading Challenge Goals
This is for the readers who like to make the challenge even more challenging with mini goals.
Here are a few ideas, but feel free to create your own.
[number] translated works
[number] from each section of the Dewey Decimal System
[number] books from previous centuries
[number] memoirs/autobiographies/biographies
[number] books with over 500 pages (The Chonk Challenge)
What’s your favorite mini-goal? What goal would you create for this reading challenge?
The StoryGraph 325 Reading Challenge
I’ve made the challenge official on The StoryGraph.
If you have an account, you can join the challenge by searching for 325 Reading Challenge in ‘Challenges’ or visiting The StoryGraph 325 Reading Challenge page.
I’m on The StoryGraph as mary_wyrd if you’d like to ‘follow’ or ‘add friend’.
Social Media Book and Reading Community
If you choose to share your goals and reading on social media, you can use the hashtag #325ReadingChallenge
This is so we can connect, celebrate those reading wins, and share reading recommendations.
The hashtag is already live on Bluesky and Facebook.
Maybe make a friend or three and discover books we wouldn’t otherwise read.
Social Media Templates
If you plan to share your progress on social media or your own blog, you can display the books however you want. If you use Canva and would like to replicate my Book List designs and progress updates, you can!
I’ve created a Canva Template for you.
Five steps to your 325 Reading Challenge templates
Log in to your Canva account (if you don’t have one, you can make one for free)
Click on this link: 325 Reading Challenge Templates
Select “Use template”
The templates should open as a new design in your Canva account
Add your book covers and edit your copy of the designs
Personalize your copy of the templates, but please keep the hashtag and reference to my website so more people can join in. If you’re writing a blog to track your reading, please include a link to this blog post.
One of the templates available. Update your Monthly Reading update to share your reading journey throughout the #325ReadingChallenge
Mary’s 325 Reading Challenge Book List
“Mary is very organized and proactive,” says almost every boss and client I’ve ever had.
You bet I am! So you know I’ve already sourced and selected my books.
“But Mary, it’s only November” (as of posting this).
My TBR pile (To Be Read pile) is a tower. A vast and expansive tower with a belfry and bats. There may also be a moat. The hard part was choosing just 50 books.
You don’t have to pick all your books straight away. You can plan month by month or plan every quarter year. You just have to have that book listed down before you tick it off as read.
Fifty books to read in 2025 for #325ReadingChallenge
Mary’s Fiction Reading List
These are my chosen twenty-five fiction picks in alphabetical order by the author’s last name:
Full Immersion - Gemma Amor
Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield
Bunny - Mona Awad
Wise Children - Angela Carter
The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo
A Winter’s Promise - Christelle Dabos
The Gilda Stories - Jewelle Gomez
Poor Things - Alasdair Gray
The Well of Loneliness - Radclyffe Hall
Black Sheep - Rachel Harrison
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires - Grady Hendrix
The Lantern of Lost Memories - Sanaka Hiiragi
House of Bone and Rain - Gabino Iglesias
We Have Always Lived In the Castle - Shirley Jackson
Tales from the Cafe - Toshikazu Kawaguchi
A House with Good Bones - T. Kingfisher
The Fisherman - John Langan
Lone Women - Victor LaValle
Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado
Alanna: The First Adventure - Tamora Pierce
The Black Lizard - Edogawa Rampo
Some Prefer Nettles - Junichiro Tanizaki
The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward
All the White Spaces - Ally Wilkes
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
It’s a mixture of literary fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, weird fiction, a lot of horror, and a few classics. These are some of my favorite genres with some favorite authors and a lot of new to me authors to read.
Twenty-five fiction books to read in 2025
Mary’s Non-Fiction Reading List
These are the chosen twenty-five non-fiction picks in alphabetical order by the author’s last name:
Gather Together In My Name - Maya Angelou
Men Who Hate Women - Laura Bates
The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir
Abroad in Japan - Chris Broad
Create Dangerously - Albert Camus
In Defence of Witches - Mona Chollet
Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez
The Anarchy - William Dalrymple
An Autobiography - Angela Y. Davis
The Furies - Elizabeth Flock
Made In Manchester - Brian Groom
All About Love - bell hooks
Sister Outsider - Audre Lorde
In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado
Guest House for Young Widows - Azadeh Moaveni
Rental Person Who Does Nothing - Shoji Morimoto
How to Be Right In A World Gone Wrong - James O’Brien
102 Ways to Write A Novel - Alex Quick
Femina - Janina Ramirez
The Book Makers - Adam Smyth
Hope in the Dark - Rebecca Solnit
Men We Reaped - Jesmyn Ward
Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey - Frances Wilson
Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner
A mixture of social sciences, history, feminism, memoir, autobiography, and books about books.
Overall, these are books I’ve wanted to read for a while. I have only read books by six of the authors on the list, so who knows how this will go. I’m excited to find out.
Twenty-five non-fiction books to read in 2025
How to source your books
For my selection, I just looked at the long list of books I’ve had my eye on for a while and picked the ones I have access to. Yes, I have a long list of books I want to read squirreled away in a notebook.
I will be reading the physical books I already own. I will borrow the rest from my local library. Shout out to you wonderful librarians and library assistants! We need to keep our libraries thriving, so please show them some love and utilize them. Authors also get some money each time you borrow their book from the library.
If your TBR is mostly fiction or nonfiction and you’re looking for recommendations, ask your librarian or a fellow reader.
Ask me for book recommendations, because I can’t not recommend books. Seriously. It’s my ideal icebreaker at social events. Or just random interactions. It’s not a problem and I won’t stop.
There are great YouTubers making videos full of recommendations across all types of books. I plan to share my sources and reading recommendations as the year progresses.
How to read your books
Reading should be accessible. Any way you choose to read will count toward this goal.
I’m choosing to read physical books and ebooks.
I can’t read with audiobooks, they just don’t work for me because I fall asleep or lose track of what’s going on. I need to see the words when I read. But if you love audiobooks, go for it! Audiobooks absolutely count as reading. And if you want to read aloud to a friend or book club, that’s downright beautiful.
Failure is an option: When things don’t go to plan
Full transparency. I’ve never completed a prepared-in-advance reading challenge before. Shocker.
One of the main reasons is that I DNF books. That is, there are books I plan to read that I Do Not Finish, for whatever reason. So there’s a chance that I will DNF books in this challenge too. There is a chance that I will not read all the fifty books I’m sharing here in 2024. And that is okay.
My main goal is to read books that I’ve wanted to read for a while. It isn’t to force myself to finish books when I’m not gaining anything from them. I’ve completed books I didn’t like in the past and it did nothing positive. I wasted time I could have spent elsewhere just to tick it as complete.
And I never read those authors again. That’s kind of unfair to them and to me. Sometimes a book just won’t work for me, and that is okay.
In life there are things we might not enjoy but that we have to do. Adulting, am I right. But reading for fun shouldn’t be a chore. So I’m making DNF a part of my reading journey. It’s baked-in.
Also, as I’m relying a lot on my local library, some books might become unavailable. It happens. So I’m giving myself space to change my reading list as the year progresses.
Flexibility will be a core part of this challenge.
Mary’s 325 Reading Challenge Book List
For those who want the full book list, here they are in alphabetical order by the author’s last name:
Full Immersion - Gemma Amor
Gather Together In My Name - Maya Angelou
Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield
Bunny - Mona Awad
Men Who Hate Women - Laura Bates
The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir
Abroad in Japan - Chris Broad
Create Dangerously - Albert Camus
Wise Children - Angela Carter
In Defence of Witches - Mona Chollet
The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo
Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez
A Winter’s Promise - Christelle Dabos
The Anarchy - William Dalrymple
An Autobiography - Angela Y. Davis
The Furies - Elizabeth Flock
The Gilda Stories - Jewelle Gomez
Poor Things - Alasdair Gray
Made In Manchester - Brian Groom
The Well of Loneliness - Radclyffe Hall
Black Sheep - Rachel Harrison
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires - Grady Hendrix
The Lantern of Lost Memories - Sanaka Hiiragi
All About Love - bell hooks
House of Bone and Rain - Gabino Iglesias
We Have Always Lived In the Castle - Shirley Jackson
Tales from the Cafe - Toshikazu Kawaguchi
A House with Good Bones - T. Kingfisher
The Fisherman - John Langan
Lone Women - Victor LaValle
Sister Outsider - Audre Lorde
Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado
In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado
Guest House for Young Widows - Azadeh Moaveni
Rental Person Who Does Nothing - Shoji Morimoto
How to Be Right In A World Gone Wrong - James O’Brien
Alanna: The First Adventure - Tamora Pierce
102 Ways to Write A Novel - Alex Quick
Femina - Janina Ramirez
The Black Lizard - Edogawa Rampo
The Book Makers - Adam Smyth
Hope in the Dark - Rebecca Solnit
Some Prefer Nettles - Junichiro Tanizaki
The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward
Men We Reaped - Jesmyn Ward
All the White Spaces - Ally Wilkes
Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey - Frances Wilson
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner
The 325 Reading Challenge
TLDR? Here’s the rundown about the reading challenge and how you can take part.
Read 25 fiction books and 25 non-fiction books in 2025
Use the hashtag #325ReadingChallenge if you post about the challenge on social media
Join the challenge on The StoryGraph
Reference this blog post if you write online about the 325 Reading Challenge
Follow the core rules
Customize your challenge with additional goals (if you want to)
Read in whatever way works for you, physical book, ebook, audiobook, etc - they all count
DNF is allowed (Did Not Finish)
Replacing a book with another book is allowed
Get your Canva graphics template here: 325 Reading Challenge Templates
If you want to join or follow along with the fun, use and look for the hashtag #325ReadingChallenge across social media.
I’ll be tracking my progress and writing reviews on The StoryGraph, posting updates and recommendations on Facebook @marywyrd and Bluesky @marywyrd.bsky.social with a monthly update/overview on my blog at www.marywyrd.com
Come and join the 325 Reading Challenge!
Mary Wyrd: Creative Virtual Assistant and Author Assistant
The go-to for your to-do list and reading recommendations
Show me your books!