For as long as I can remember, every January I set myself a new reading challenge. It’s never binding, nor is there any reward attached upon its completion, it just is. Though, I will admit, in recent years it’s been near impossible to reach my reading goal. The year always starts on a high and the moment I find myself in a slump, I give up on the things I enjoy because in my (flawed) version of logic, if I cannot do the things I need to do well, then I don’t need to let myself indulge in things that aren’t a necessity. And yes, I am aware of just how flawed this version of logic is, and yes, I am working on it. But, I digress.

This year I set myself the challenge of reading 40 books – the temptation to set 52 was very strong, but I knew there would be off weeks – and as of today, 10 June 2020, I am exactly 31 books into this list. Below is a list of the books I’ve read so far, and where possible, direct links to the publisher’s site (otherwise Amazon) where it can be purchased:

1. With the Heart in Mind – Mikaeel Ahmed Smith
2. Letter to a Disciple – Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali
3. Ayesha at Last – Uzma Jalaluddin
4. Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
5. A Treasury of Rumi – Muhammad Isa Waley
6. The Tafsir of Surah Yusuf – Abdul Raheem Limbada
7. The Forty Rules of Love – Elif Shafak
8. The Man Who Didn’t Call – Rosie Walsh
9. Never Greener – Ruth Jones
10. Room 101 and Other Stories – Ahmad Bassam Saeh
11. Lost Islamic History – Firas AlKhateeb
12. The Heart of the Qur’an – Asim Khan
13. Prayers of the Pious – Omar Suleiman
14. Persian Poems – Peter Washington
15. The Essential Gibran – Suheil Bushrui
16. The Book of Wisdoms – Ibn Ata’illah Al-Iskandari
17. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
18. Khadijah – Fatima Barakatullah
19. Love, Longing, Intimacy, and Contentment – Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali
20. Splitting the Moon – Joel Hayward
21. Shades of Islam – Rafey Habib
22. Prophet of Mercy – Abul-Hasan Ali Nadwi
23. Al-Shamail Al-Muhammadiyya – Al-Tirmidhi
24. The Book of Remembrances – Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi
25. Imam Bukhari: Al-Adab Al-Mufrad – Adil Salahi
26. The Beginning of Guidance – Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali
27. Riyadh Us-Saliheen – Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi
28. After the End – Clare Mackintosh
29. Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell
30. The Collection of Forty Hadith – Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi
31. CURRENTLY READING: Killing Comendatore – Haruki Murakami

I’m hoping to hit far beyond the 40 for this year, so if you have any recommendations, as always, they are very welcome. I am trying to dip into books outside of my comfort zone so there are no genre restraints!