52 Book Challenge 2024

Years ago, I undertook a challenge to read one book a week for an entire year. I managed to do it! I loved the challenge and all the books that I’d read, and I’ve been wanting to do something similar for years. This is the year! I decided that since there are a ton of fantasy and science fiction books that I haven’t read (and I happen to be a fantasy and sci-fi writer), I will attempt to read fifty-two fantasy and science fiction books by the end of 2024. I also am hoping to write up a brief review of the books as I finish them.

A Beginning

The first book that I’m going to read is A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin. I know absolutely nothing about the book except that there’s a bird of prey on the cover and there might be dragons in this story.

The paperback version of A Wizard of Earthsea is 266 pages long. I hope to finish it by midnight January 6.

Wish me luck! If you’d like to join me, you can find A Wizard of Earthsea for free on Amazon Kindle Unlimited or at your local library. Let me know how you like the book!

Planned Reading Order:

• A Wizard of Earthsea (Finished 01/05/2024)
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (Finished 01/12/2024)
• The Dragon’s Keeper
• Elantris (Finished 2/23/2024)
• Ender’s Game
• American Gods
• Norse Mythology
• Maze Runner
• Legends and Lattes
• Eregon
• Gentleman Bastards
• The Puppet Masters (Finished 2/15/2024)
• Keeper of the Lost Cities
• Foundation by Asimov
• Dune
• The Name of the Wind
• Shadow of the Torturer
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
• Fablehaven
• Five Kingdoms by Brandon Muil
• The Maze Runner
• Dungeon Crawler Carl
• The Dragon Lords
• Babel
• Dandelion Wine
• The Illustrated Man
• The Golden Apples of the Sun
• I, Robot
• I Am Legend
• Dracula
• The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

You’ll notice that many of these are the first books in a trilogy or series and that I haven’t listed off fifty-two books. As of right now, I’m planning on reading the first books in a series and if I like it, I’ll read further. You’ll also notice that this list isn’t a “top books in science fiction and fantasy” list. The reason is that I’ve already read quite a few of those. I’ve read The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Dragonriders of Pern, plenty of Brandon Sanderson, and a billion Star Wars books, as well as other classics like Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Frankenstein. This is a list of the books that I’d like to read to take a deeper dive into the science fiction and fantasy genres as well as mop up some of the popular series that I’ve missed over the years.

Your list of books you’d like to read probably looks different than mine. If you’d like to join me in this 52 book challenge, I encourage you to come up with a list of books you’d like to read this year. I’m hoping to write up a list of the most popular, famous, and influential sci-fi and fantasy books soon to give you some ideas on what books you might like to try.

Lastly, I put together a free “Books I’ve Read” printable bookmark that you can download for free to help keep track of the books you read, whether or not you decide to participate in the challenge.

Happy reading!