Tis a truth universally acknowledged that in the second week of January, resolutions made in earnest over champagne toasts fizzle out like fireworks. This is the rubber meet road week, when we (or, I) start to crave structure around pledges to practice daily pilates, or “prepare healthy meals.”
The institutionally hosted reading challenge has become a popular support for those of us who wrote “read more” in our journals every December 31st. And though I have a vexed relationship with “the challenge” personally—reading being one of the few realms in my life that doesn’t foster a competitive spirit—I admire a good prompt as much as the next library goblin.
For those of you seeking a guide to the guides, here’s a list of the year’s most popular reading challenges. Athletic prowess may vary, so I’ve taken the liberty of ranking by (brain) weight class.
Featherbrain:
StoryGraph Genre Challenge
The stalwart StoryGraph is an independent book tracking platform that’s been quietly coming for Goodreads’ corner of the sky. The site allows users to design, develop and host their own challenges. The best one for chill readers looks to be the Genre Challenge.
The ten prompts in this challenge are broad enough to cover a big tent. You can pick up a “translated classic,” a new release, or a philosophy book to make your bingo card. Plus, ten is reasonable. I believe you personally can beat the odds and read ten books.
Lightbrain:
Popsugar Reading Challenge
This challenge considers itself akin to a “virtual book club,” which is very sweet. Also, it’s themed! The name of the game this year is gardens. As in, growth.
The Popsugar challenge has the benefit of pliability. There are 40 regular prompts, plus an additional ten for the “advanced” reader. I appreciate the commitment to whimsy. (See: “A book that makes you want to travel to Italy” or “A book with any type of fruit on the cover or in the title.”) This challenge makes a race look more like a stroll.
Welterbrain:
Book Riot’s 2026 Read Harder Challenge
Now in its 12th year, this challenge has the benefit of being time-tested. Its relatively modest 26 prompts ask readers to expand their stacks into new genres. (Always a good thing.)
The Book Riot architects also place a premium on diverse writers, via prompts to read work by intersex, deaf, and/or African authors. But I also love the prompts that invite readers to challenge assumptions around genre. Like my favorite pull from the list: “Read a nonviolent true crime book.”
Heavybrain:
The 52 Book Challenge
As you can likely infer, the 52 Book Challenge is all about quantity. You sign up for this bad boy, you’re gunning for at least a book a week.
Individual prompts can be vague on this list—see: “provokes strong emotion” or “requires suspension of disbelief”—but that’s not necessarily bad for a numbers game. There’s also a pleasant puzzly quality that can reward the type of math head reader who also loves a scavenger hunt. (See: “[a book set] in the 800s of the Dewey Decimal system” or “[a book by] two or more authors, with one pseudonym.”)
Craving some personal coaching? Chances are, your local library has a challenge of its own—and one complete with an IRL accountability group. San Luis Obispo residents, for instance, can work off an actual bingo card. Springfield readers on a time crunch can join the city’s month long winter break challenge via this handy list.
Readers in Upper Michigan can turn reviews into prizes. And if you’re close to the Fargo Public Library you can join one of two ongoing challenges for adults.
If you’re looking for the like-minded? Identity-based challenges abound on Storygraph. My personal favorite remains the Free Black Women’s Library Reading Challenge.
Godspeed and read.
