This year, I’m doing something a little different from the last couple of years. Instead of choosing 20+ random books from my TBR to read this year, I’m going to see how many of my past Aardvark Book Club and Book of the Month books I can clear off my TBR. Every month, I add to these piles, and they’re getting out of control. I’m hoping to reduce the backload as much as possible this year. Here’s what I have on my pile in no particular order. I’ll check them off and link to the reviews as I go.

I’ve decided to try my hand at creating a reading prompt list. I’d love to see your picks if you join. Use #JRIA25 on Instagram when posting so I can follow along! Here are the prompts. (I will link the review of the book that I read for each as I go.)

1. A book with a dragon in it
2. A speculative fiction book
3. A banned book
4. A book set in a country you’d love to visit
5. A book about or involving social media
6. A book with an unreliable narrator
7. A book told from the villain’s POV
8. A book about books, bookshops, libraries or writing
9. A book set in the workplace
10. A memoir written by an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar or Tony-award nominee
11. A book that won a Pulitzer
12. A book about chosen family

For those of you interested in extra prompts, I will also be doing “pop-up prompts” each month. Keep an eye on the blog and/or Instagram to find out what the prompt of the month is. Below are a list of the prompts thus far:

• January’s Prompts
  • Read a book about second chances or new beginnings.
  • Read a book that has been on your TBR for at least two years.
• February’s Prompts
  • Read a book about a relationship doomed from the start.
  • Read an anti-romance book where things are messy and may not work out
• March’s Prompts
  • Read a book that has ties to Ireland
  • Read a book about a betrayal
• April’s Prompts
  • Read a book with flowers or a botanical element on the cover
  • Read a book of poetry or one written entirely in verse