What’s In a Name? Challenge 2025

This is hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The challenge runs from 1st January to 31st December 2025. You can sign up at any time but can only count books you read between those dates. Read a book in any format (hard copy, ebook, audio) with a title that fits into each category.

In 2025, choose 6 books that have titles that contain:

  • Cardinal direction – Titles for this category need to include at least one cardinal direction (North, East, South, West) in the title.
  • Wanderlust – Titles for this category need to include words or phrases related to wanderlust: wander, journey, trip, travel, explore, trek, tour, adventure, etc. Or the implication of traveling or exploring.
  • First & last name – Titles for this category need to include both a first name (given name) and last name (surname). The names don’t matter, as long as it’s the first and last of a real person or fictional character.
  • Alliteration – Titles for this category need to include at least two main words that begin with the same letter in the title.
  • Deity – Titles for this category need to include words associated with a deity of some sort. This can be the words “deity,” “god,” “goddess,” or a specific name of a deity. In your comment, please include the culture or religion of the deity (even if the deity isn’t being directly referenced.)
  • Crime – Titles for this category need to include the word “crime,” a specific type of crime, a specific type of criminal, or the name of an infamous criminal.

Possibilities:

  1. Cardinal Direction – North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, East West Street by Phillipe Sands, West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
  2. Wanderlust – The Long Journey Home by Edward Mark Taylor, The Grand Tour: Letters and photographs from the British Empire Expedition 1922 by Agatha Christie, Highland Journey by Mairi Hedderwick
  3. First and Last Name – Jane Austen’s World by Maggie Lane
  4. Alliteration – Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
  5. Deity – The Penguin Book of the Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings by Kevin Crossley-Holland
  6. Crime – lots of choice

Books Read:

  1. Cardinal Direction – West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
  2. Wanderlust – Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
  3. First and Last Name – Keir Starmer: the Biography by Tom Baldwin
  4. Alliteration – The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey
  5. Deity – Circe by Madeleine Miller
  6. Crime – One Dark Night by Hannah Richell