Fun reading challenge ideas to shake up your reading year
A reading challenge isn’t about hitting a number — it’s a gentle nudge to wander outside your usual shelf. The best ones turn picking your next book into a little game and send you home with something you’d never have chosen on your own. Here are a handful we love, from low-effort to gloriously ambitious.
Genre bingo
Draw a five-by-five grid and fill the squares with categories: a debut novel, a book in translation, something over 500 pages, a graphic novel, a reread, a book recommended by a stranger. Cross one off each time you finish a match. It’s the easiest way to break out of a one-genre rut without committing to anything rigid.
Read the alphabet
Work your way from A to Z using the first letter of titles — or authors’ last names, if you want a challenge. The fun is in the tricky letters: hunting down a worthy X or Q sends you into corners of the store you’d normally breeze past. Twenty-six books, no pressure on timing.
Around the world
Pick a different country or region for each book and read your way across the map. It’s a wonderful excuse to discover translated fiction, travel writing, and authors well beyond the usual bestseller shelf. Even five or six stops will stretch your reading in directions a year of defaults never would.
The backlist challenge
New releases get all the attention, but the real treasures are often a decade or two old. Commit to reading only backlist titles — books published before, say, 2015 — for a season. Used shelves are perfect for this, and you’ll rediscover modern classics everyone else has already moved past.
A seasonal TBR
Instead of one giant yearly list, build a small stack for each season: four or five books that match the mood. Cozy mysteries and big novels for winter, fast and bright reads for summer — start with our summer beach reads and build out from there. A short, seasonal pile feels like a treat, not a homework assignment.
Make it social
Challenges are more fun with company. Rope in a friend, compare notes, or turn it into a year of book-club picks — our list of great book club books is a good place to start. And if a square has you stumped, our guide to choosing your next book can help you fill it.
Ready to gather your stack? Come browse the shelves in Milwaukie or shop online, and let the Next Read Matchmakersuggest a title for that one square you just can’t crack.