Every month I like to reflect back on the books I have read and pick a favorite book of the month. Then every 3 months I narrow the list down to contenders for Top Read of the Year! I have challenged myself not to change the list after I have made it, my mind might change throughout the year but the list can't. Since the first 6 months of the year have passed I thought I'd share my process and my first contender! My favorite monthly reads: January: The Handmaids Tale February: Beloved March: The Color Purple April: My Year of Rest and Relaxation May: The Radium Girls June: Blood on her Tongue

The Color Purple won the first 3 months and The Radium Girls won the next 3. MY first contender for Top Read of the 2026 is The Color Purple!

Does anyone else bracket out their favorite reads to reach a Top Read of the Year? If you do what were your favorite reads so far this year and what is your first contender for Top Read of 2026? Does your list of favorites change throughout the year? If you haven't done this before I'd love to hear your monthly favorites and your first contender! Are you surprised by your results? Is it difficult or easy to choose?

hello all and welcome!!! i dedicate this quest to the animal kingdom! 🐈🐶🦥🐇🦔🐿️🦊🐻🐖🐃🦋🐐🐍🐝🦍🦅🐟🐢🐯🐓🐅🐙🐑🐘🦎🦌🐺🦉🐳🦇🐌🦒🦞🦘🐊🦫🪱

i’m so excited to share “through the eyes of animals” w/ you all!

if you’ve got recommendations i’m all ears!! please comment any suggestions you’ve got on this post, but first check to make sure it matches my criteria! i’d also love any further info or thoughts you have on the book you’re submitting for consideration!

some notes on my criteria:

• books must (obviously) feature animal main characters whose thoughts and experiences guide the story + frame the world. this can be through first or third person narration as long as it’s clear that an animal or multiple animals are the lens through which we’re experiencing the story.
• multiple povs / non-animal povs are okay! as long as the portion of the book told through an animal pov is significant! one or two chapters isn’t really enough - ideally i’d say like i’m looking for at least 30/40% animal pov or higher. if it’s less than that, the animal pov section would have to make quite an impact on the story to be considered!
• talking animals ≠ animal pov. if the animals just talk to people but are not the protagonists or narrators the book won’t be a good fit!
• while there are lots of awesome animal narrators in the realm of children’s literature, i am trying to steer clear of children’s lit and middle grade as much as possible + instead prioritize YA and adult. you’ll see i have a few books on here that are borderline children’s or middle grade, but i’ve included them bc they’ve got some more adult themes and are classics among adults as well!
• i want to have a diverse array of animals represented here! right now, for example, i’ve got a lot of dogs and foxes, so i am more inclined towards adding books that feature other animal povs (feel free to still suggest titles ofc!). similarly, since there is a cat pov quest, i will probably only add one or two more cat books to this quest over time - and no more books from ehawley’s awesome quest will be considered to lessen the crossover!!

I use Giphy, cuz it's the only one working for me. If I paste a link from Tenor or other sites, the gif doesn't appear. It'd be a blank space.