30 Days, 30 Books Challenge | One Honest Learning Challenge
I’ve collected many books over the last two months. Now I’m starting a 30-day challenge.
One book a day. One video a day.
The goal is not just to finish books, but to understand, learn, and apply key ideas.
#30DayChallenge #30Books30Days
Two Marguerite Henry books, Black Gold and King of the Wind. Black Gold features a black colt laying down in green grass with a sunset sky behind. King of the Wind centers a bay Arabian horse in profile, with tassels and decoration in his elaborate bridle, his mane fluttering in the wind.
Day 28, book 27 and you really can't go home again. It turns out that Black Gold, early childhood fave, features not only 1950s racism but also celebrates the death of a horse as some kind of icon of Western stoicism when the trainer could've just fixed his dang hoof! Nostalgia sux #30books30days 💙📚
The cover of Willideen by Katherine Applegate. The entire background is the face of a blue-furred, warthog-like creature, with title text in bright green below her eyes and and even cuter creature -- a tiny bear with dragonfly wings -- perched iron her forehead.
The cover of Rose/House by Arkady Martine, featuring a triangular maze pattern background with oversized orange text. A tiny human silhouette stands in the triangular opening at the center.
Books 25/26 could not be more different and yet have complementary messages for readers. 1 is a scifi novella for adults that uses thriller elements to make you question tech systems. The other is an early MG novel that uses magic to help you think about ecosystems. Read both! #30books30days 💙📚
An illustration page from East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Jackie Morris, featuring a short inset of text surrounded by lush watercolor portrayals of a birch wood with a bobcat and a red squirrel in profile, the back of what looks like a wolf's ears in the foreground, and a girl riding a white bear in the background.
The elegant cover of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, a fairy tale retelling by Jackie Morris, featuring a central gold and blue compass with sun and moon motifs on a dark background.
Last night's book (Day 25, book 24) was one I really wanted to love, a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales (it's the bear), but while Jackie Morris does gorgeous watercolors that pull you in, the story inconsistencies bounced me back out. Still, a beautiful book! #30books30days 💙📚
A copy of the Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst, showing green sprayed edges and, on the cover, a fantastical winter landscape, a greenhouse with glowing windows, and in the foreground, a winged cat.
The cover of the Tower at the End of Time by Amy Sparkes, with a multi-tiered and -turreted tower occupied by small character figures, including the silhouette of a troll in one window, evoking colorful and magical circumstances.
I forgot to add #22, The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst, which is as delightful, vivid, and sweet as its predecessor, and #23, The Tower at the End of Time by Amy Sparkes, which is not. And I was too tired to finish a book a day ago so now I'm behind. But still reading! #30books30days 💙📚
The cover of But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo, with a pale pink, elaborately designed tile pattern as the backdrop, the title in oversized Gothic font, and a blue tarantula right in the center.
Still reading a book a day but #16-20 were all Murderbot all the time. Today tho was something very different: a Brazilian Gothic sapphic monster romantasy mystery novella.
Yeah, I didn't think all those words went together either. But it works!
Also, there are a LOT of spiders.
#30books30days 💙📚
The cover of the second volume in the Murderbot Diaries, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells, featuring an armored human-robot figure standing on an industrial platform with a massive spaceship hovering behind, against a orange-brown dust-clouded sky.
Day 15, book 15 is more Murderbot! Truth is, once I start rereading a series, I really cannot stop until the end. Which is not a problem because I love these books! Especially this one, in which Murderbot begins to understand itself and choose who it wants to be. And we meet ART! #30books30days 💙📚
The cover of All Systems Red by Martha Wells, in which a helmeted and armored robot-like figure is centered on a scifi greyscale backdrop, the red title text overlaid.
Was so tired last night that I forgot to post. Day 14, book 14 is Murderbot #1, a fave reread of mine. Rereading is a joy akin to visiting old friends and a familiar comfort in troubled times. And the Murderbot novellas are short, fast-paced, and awesome, way better than the show. #30books30days 💙📚
The Shelterings by Sarah Beth Durst, the cover of which centers a soaring barn owl with a small gray squirrel riding on his back. In the background, a snowy mountain looms with a dragon silhouetted at its peak.
Day 13, book 13 and I've finally got a recentish kids book that actually sparks joy. It's earnest and adorable and stars a talking magic squirrel who leads the way at The Shelter for Rejected Familiars. I mean, with a premise like that, you really can't go wrong!
#30books30days 💙📚
The cover of Katherine Rundell's bound essay, "Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise" -- a red cover with the image of an owl's face centered, his eyebrow plumage made of the edge of a book.
Day 12, book 12 is a lovely little essay, with history of children's literature and literary theory all strung together with a reminder that to read books for children reminds us of who we are and who we wanted to be. And that's no bad thing. Read it.
#30books30days 💙📚
The cover of The Dragon's Apprentice by James Riley, featuring a grumpy looking black dragon towering over an excited red-haired girl who seems to be making a sparkle of magic emerge from the spellbook in front of her.
Read from midnight to 2 am last night, which barely qualifies as Day 11 but counting it anyway. Book 11, The Dragon's Apprentice, has a cute cover and a clever premise and then proceeds to make it all... boring? Not a lot of sparkle there but, hey, they can't all be glitter. #30books30days 💙📚
A copy of Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yolen, the cover of which features a grey scale patch of narrow trees overlaid with a pair of human feet and legs walking away from the viewer, fading into the background.
Still reading a book every day. Day 10, book 10: another slim Tor volume but this one is a novella-in-verse: Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yolen, a modern subversion of a fairy tale wrapped in Russian folklore and written as a series of short poems. More unique than perfect. #30books30days 💙📚
Held in a partially visible hand is a copy of Flowers for the Sea by Zin Rocklyn. The cover of this novella features a painting of a women who seems to either be wrapped in or have tentacles, it's visually ambiguous, rendered in shades of purple with text overlaid.
Day 9, book 9 and who knew I'd still be doing this, right? Flowers For the Sea is a pregnancy horror story wrapped in the understandable anger of victims of racial violence, in which the main character starts out as frankly suicidal and goes from there. Tough read, but worth it.
#30books30days 💙📚
The cover of the children's novel, The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes, featuring the titular house with its double blue door and many colorful turrets, spires, and peaked roofs. Silhouetted in the windows are Eric, the troll housekeeper, and the figure of a witch. The main character, Nine, stands on a balcony with her trusty satchel slung across her.
Day 8, book 8 of reading with childish glee is an actual children's book: The House at the Edge of Magic. Solid for its target audience of 8 year olds who would giggle at the farting sugar bowl and the troll housekeeper (he's really very sweet). Full of mayhem, peril, and tea! #30books30days 💙📚
Held up, a copy of The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, fifth in the Singing Hills series, featuring a trio and sly looking foxes at the top over a dark background, the title written in the series' signature script in the center.
Day 7, book 7: The Brides of High Hill. I love everything Nghi Vo writes but these novellas are faves (this is #5 in the series). The details are lush, the worldbuilding exquisite in such a tight space, and the voice of Chih, as ever, comforts and intrigues at once. Read them!
#30books30days 💙📚
The fantasy novel "Never the Roses" by Jennifer Lambert, held at an angle to show not only the dark cover featuring a deep purple rose surrounded by thorns but also the purple sprayed edges.
This is what I'm talking about! Day 6, book 6 of a book a day takes me right back to the halcyon days of McKillip, McKinley, and other fantasists I have loved with its blend of fairy tale, introspection, magic, romance, and sorrow. I'm so glad to have read this but bring tissues! #30books30days 💙📚
The Picador edition of Jamaica Kincaid's story collection "At the Bottom of the River" featuring a pale beige background and a charcoal drawing of a crouching person, dark-skinned, wearing a light tank top and casting a deep shadow.
Reading a book a day and finding joy. Day 5, book 5: At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid. Ostensibly a collection of short stories but more prose-shaped poems spun from memories. As a literal-minded person, I crave story like a narcotic so I had to sip this one slowly. #30books30days 💙📚
The cover of Rosebud by Paul Cornell, which features the title and author's name in a big vintagey scifi font against a dark space-like background lit by thin red lines spiraling to a red sphere at the center of the title's O. Strong mysterious space vibes for sure!
20 minutes into tomorrow but better late, as they say. Day 4, book 4 is Rosebud by Paul Cornell and it's an experimental novella that's half absurdist space story and half meta-meditation on the things humans do to each other.
100% worth the read tho you won't come out cheerful.
#30books30days 💙📚
The cover of The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar, featuring three mum-like autumnal flowers interwoven with a glossy switchback line, symbolizing the titular River, on a white background.
Day 3, Book 3: Amal El-Mohtar might be the best fantasy prose stylist alive. Every word she writes feels like magic. This slim novella is so rich with language that I gobbled it up like a favorite dessert and now must read it again more slowly, to taste exactly how the words work.
#30books30days 💙📚
The cover of Behooved by M. Stevenson, a colorfully purple, blue, and aqua confection of an image featuring a white horse, a dark haired woman in a fairy tale gown and, reversed below her, a mysterious cloaked figure with long golden hair. The book also had pink sprayed edges, which can be seen just at the top.
Day 2, book 2 of reclaiming my whirlwind reading joy! Behooved is basically My Lady Jane meets Mercedes Lackey-style vintage fairy tale fantasy. It has all the feels of YA, with a couple of sex scenes added, and all the verbal flora of George Macdonald. And it's a dang DELIGHT.
#30books30days 💙📚
The cover of Brooms by Jasmine Walls, featuring a small group of women of Black, Indigenous, and Asian heritages, dressed in 1930s clothes against a blue background. Two of the characters are flying on broomsticks.
1st day, 1st book: Brooms by Jasmine Walls + Teo DuVall. Historical fantasy graphic novel in which America in the 1930s is touched with magic; focuses on BIPoC women. Feels genuine and grounded from the start, with rich yet uncomplicated illustrations.
Also broom racing! So cool!
#30books30days 📚💙
Remember when you were a kid and you read, like, a book every single day just for the sheer joy of it?
I think I'm gonna try doing that again and see if it helps me feel better about *waves around at the whole world*
#30books30days 📚💙
