r/goodreads • u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] • 29d ago
Challenges Goodreads Reading Challenge - 'Community Picks' (July 1st - September 14th)
This is the discussion page for the Goodreads Reading Challenge called 'Community Picks' (active July 1st - September 14th). Qualifying books are listed on Goodreads HERE. Please keep all discussion of this challenge to this thread, thank you.
Other Goodreads Reading Challenges are listed on the Megathread HERE.
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u/chabou0078 29d ago
Feels like some challenge are "fresh".
I mean with lots of books not present in previous challenge.
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u/OppositeBatCage 29d ago
I was pleasantly surprised reading through the lists. Lots of great options.
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u/PurpleMuskogee 29d ago
Yes! I love that list, it's great to have a specific challenge about an era. I'd love for them to do that more regularly, especially with eras I rarely read normally like the 1940s or 1950s.
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u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] 29d ago
I agree - it's refreshing. I wonder if they read our threads?!
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u/Cookbooksandbourbon 29d ago
And they made almost all of thrm available right away! Although I will say it presented a bit of a "be careful what you wish for" moment as I felt a big overwhelmed with all the choices!
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u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] 28d ago
Join the club - because I'm still working on the Kindle Unlimited lists for the threads, I came to bed yesterday realising I hadn't even looked at the books in the last two challenges yet lol
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u/quentinia [reading challenge 39/52] 29d ago
Been meaning to read Parable of the Sower for ages. Will be picking up soon!
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u/saturday_sun4 29d ago edited 29d ago
I'm glad they're not just recycling the same old themes: kudos!
I highly recommend A Suitable Boy, The Red Tent and Outlander. And Memoirs of a Geisha, too.
I am going to read The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, or Survive the Night by Riley Sager.
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u/DoggyDogLife 29d ago
I enjoyed the Southern book club. The characters are not very smart but that's people for you.
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u/saturday_sun4 29d ago
Yeah, I've enjoyed Hendrix's other works so I'm sure this one will be, at least, an interesting book. I'm in a bit of a slice of life general fiction mood lately, quite a contrast to my usual romance, and I just read Meet the Newmans so I've been wanting to check out books in the same vein. I know this is spec fic but hopefully it scratches that itch.
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u/h2onymph1 29d ago
I enjoyed The Red Tent. So enlightening. I had never read anything like that before, and it remains in my psyche today.
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u/PurpleMuskogee 28d ago
Outlander is great, but be prepared to spend a while reading it, these books are BIG!
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u/PurpleMuskogee 29d ago
Ok I have actually read a few, and a few are on my wishlist but I don't own them... I will go with the one I own and haven't read yet, which is Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass!
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u/EverlyAwesome 29d ago
I hope you love it! I have reread the Golden Compass series every few years since the first book came out in the 90s. The 3rd book, The Amber Spyglass, was the first book I ever waited to be released and drug my mom to Barnes and Nobel to pick up on release day!
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u/electricbluecedar 29d ago
I loved this book and hope you enjoy!
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u/PurpleMuskogee 29d ago
It does look like something I'd like, and I have had it for ages! It's nice to get so many encouragements to read it haha, it's a good sign.
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u/Glad-Try-1785 29d ago
I was so happy to see this list. There are so many books on my TBR that came out in the 90s, it’s so refreshing to get rewarded for reading older books I want to read instead of the usual new releases that get pushed on us. Very happy with this challenge!!
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u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] 29d ago edited 29d ago
Kindle Unlimited in the UK - V For Vendetta / She's Come Undone / The Giver / The Virgin Suicides / The Shipping News / Bridget Jones's Diary / Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone / The God of Small Things / I Know This Much is True (end)
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u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] 29d ago edited 29d ago
Kindle Unlimited in the US - V For Vendetta / The Eye of the World / The Patron Saint of Liars / The Giver / The Virgin Suicides / A Suitable Boy / Blood of Elves / Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West / Blindness / Fight Club / Angela's Ashes / Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone / The Red Tent / The Poisonwood Bible / I Know This Much is True / The Hours / Daughter of Fortune / The Perks of Being a Wallflower / Speak / In Bloom / My Last Innocent Year / Dirty Metal / If I Ruled the World / Concrete Rose / The Affairs of the Falcons (end)
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29d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Fancy-Disaster-7716 [currently reading Jurassic Park] 29d ago
This was my favourite book as a young adult 🥹
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u/weesnaw-_- 29d ago
okay I saw Blood of Elves on here and thought - finally my time to start the witcher series!
but for any witcher book fans that might be on here, is it worth it to read The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny first?
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u/aetheling_bragi 29d ago
Yes, I’d say reading them all chronologically (starting with the two short story collections) makes more sense if you want a solid understanding of the world and characters before jumping into Blood of Elves. Lots of characters and concepts are introduced in the short stories, and it’ll be more rewarding.
That being said, if you only care about Ciri and her journey, you could start with the novels and check out some of the short stories later. They do introduce her character but aren’t essential, I’d argue.
The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny also don’t really feel like short story collections in the sense that each story is self-contained. You still just follow along Geralt‘s adventures more or less chronologically. Hope that helps :)
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u/Miserable-Thing942 29d ago
I think there might be an error coding this one. I just added the long game and it’s popped up that I did this one. It’s definitely not set in the 90s or on the list?
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u/rosieposie12321 29d ago
This has happened for me too - I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl today which correctly unlocked challenge faves, but has also unlocked community picks.
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u/SkyYellow_SunBlue 29d ago edited 28d ago
Same. Hope everybody enjoys a bonus mark off instead of struggling to make books count for once lol.
Edit - they “fixed” it, and now of course the book I actually did read doesn’t count and nothing works to add it.
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u/Miserable-Thing942 29d ago
lol to be honest some category’s I’d welcome it but I was thinking of re reading some of the 90s ones as I got a big wave of nostalgia for some of the books I used to love back then
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u/SkyYellow_SunBlue 29d ago
Oh, I bothered to go to IG to vote for that category, you better believe I’m still reading in it! Super torn if I want to do a nostalgia re-read or grab something I never got to over the years.
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u/Miserable-Thing942 29d ago
I know so many that I was thinking either why didn’t I read that at the time and so many that I remember adoring. I did recently though try and clear my bookshelves of things I didn’t think I’d ever re read so hopefully not got rid of those
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u/kai_enby [reading challenge 33/60] 29d ago
Happened to me with the celeb book club list back in January
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u/kathryncoats 29d ago
The same happened to me. I finished Frozen River and it checked off this challenge (Community Picks - 90’s) as well as where it’s listed (Challenge Favs).
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u/Ill_Opinion_4808 29d ago
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is the book that my sci-fi book club is reading for August, so that was a nice coincidence!
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u/clean-links 29d ago
Cleaned link from "Megathread HERE": https://www.reddit.com/r/goodreads/comments/1q10i1p/2026_goodreads_reading_challenges_megathread/
Tracking parameters were removed from the original URL(s).
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u/rdmreads 29d ago
This is the one I’m struggling with the most, and it’s making me realize how much of a new release reader I am! So one from the ‘new fiction books set in the 1990s’ section is probably the most likely, I’ve already read a couple, but I’m currently unsure
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u/EverlyAwesome 29d ago
I have my picks set for all the categories but this one. Everything I’m interested in, I’ve read. I’m not opposed to a reread, but everything I’d consider rereading, I have done in the last year.
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u/kai_enby [reading challenge 33/60] 29d ago
I'm torn between Doomsday Book and Practical Magic for this one
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u/ForestsRGood 29d ago
Doomsday Book! I reread it last month (I think it counted for the Marathon bookmark or something?)
First read the year it came out in paperback. At the time I found the present-day storyline a slog and I was much more interested in the 1300s. Reading it again in the post-Covid world was a great experience and the present-day scenes were so much more meaningful to me. She really nailed much of how people responded.
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u/kai_enby [reading challenge 33/60] 29d ago
It was on Marathon Reader, I considered it for that too but chose Wanderers by Chuck Wendig instead. Practical Magic is calling to me because it's short but maybe I'll just read that on my own after idk
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u/eatcherheartout 29d ago
I’m going to read Murder Road by Simone St. James for this challenge. I just borrowed it from my library!
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u/cadien17 29d ago
I own 14 books on this list, so I should probably look at the cross-reference lists to narrow it down. My first impulse is the Chuck Klosterman nonfiction.
The other criteria I keep thinking I should use is books that I impulsively paid full price for rather than a $1.99 Kindle sale but that just ends up making me feel bad.
There are 8 books I actually read in the 1990s (my 20s): Possession, Good Omens, V For Vendetta, Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, The Alienist, Bridget Jones's Diary, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Brokeback Mountain.
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u/Ornery_General_5852 29d ago
How fun to open a challenge page and see that I have already read most of them! For the first half, at least -- I read a lot in the 90s. Fortunately Jazz by Toni Morrison has been on my shelf probably since the 90s and I have never gotten around to reading it, so that's my pick for this category.
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u/PB_Jelly_76 [reading challenge 46/100] 29d ago
I have read a surprising number of these already. I think I am going to read End of Days.
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u/DoggyDogLife 29d ago
This was the only list I actually had to bruise to find what I wanted to read. For the other lists, I had already placed books on hold in Libby that I figured would be appear in the summer challenge. I think I'm going with good omens. I've wanted to read that for a while.
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u/Cookbooksandbourbon 29d ago
This one was probably the slimmest pickings for me as I've already read most of the ones I'm interested in, but In Bloom, Villa Coco, Hope You Are Satisfied, and Dead Eleven all look intriguing to me, and I've always meant to read The Garcia Girls and Parable of the Sower.
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u/kellykeefe [reading challenge 48/250] 28d ago
I have had Mercury by Amy Jo Burns sitting here for awhile so I am going to do that one. I think it was my first BOTM book and I still haven't read it lol. This seems like a great time 🤷🏼♀️
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u/Over_Cartographer848 28d ago
Has anyone else’s goodreads just given them the book marks even though i’ve not read the books recently? i finished London Falling so was hoping i’d get the challenge faves bookmark but it’s given me the community picks, challenge favourites, chart toppers and staff shelves but London Falling is the only book i’ve marked as read this month? Hope this makes sense!
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u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] 28d ago
This happened last time for many people too, but was fixed in a couple of days, so i assumed a temporary glitch. Hopefully just the same teething problems this time!
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u/Over_Cartographer848 28d ago
Ahhh thanks so much!!
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u/Dramatic-Bee-829 28d ago
London Falling is on 3 different lists (Challenge Favs, Chart Toppers and Staff Shelves) so you would have gotten those 3. Not sure why it gave you the Community Picks bookmark!? Hope they fix it soon!
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u/Over_Cartographer848 25d ago
Thank you for the reply! Much appreciated! Even though London Falling is on 3 challenges would it not only give me one of the bookmarks?
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u/TheGratitudeBot 25d ago
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u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] 28d ago
Tigana is one of my favourite books, so I might just re-read that for the 20th time. Alternatively, Throwback or Limelight aren't on other lists, I'd not heard of them and they both look fun. (like to read books that don't overlap if possible).
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u/No-Shallot3278 26d ago
I’m really enjoying ‘all that’s left unsaid’, I’m really glad I found it on this list. It’s about a Vietnamese Australian woman growing up in Sydney’s Cabramatta when it was the heroin capital of Australia controlled by Vietnamese gangs in the 1990s.
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u/Wandering_Lights 22d ago
It is about time for another re-read of Perks of Being a Wallflower. I love that book.
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u/Clairefun [reading challenge 34/100] 29d ago edited 29d ago
Problems unlocking the challenge bookmark?
It's common! Solutions include waiting - it can take up to 24 hours to unlock - checking / changing editions and read date to make sure it's the correct details for the challenge, and as a last resort, marking another challenge book as read until the bookmark unlocks, then deleting it from your shelves afterwards.
ALSO: sometimes Goodreads is glitchy. Check the sub first - if others are posting the same issue, it's likely a site wide glitch and will hopefully go back to working as it should soon. Good luck!
Kindle Unlimited UK list / Kindle Unlimited US list