by Iris
A brand new year is here! Happy 2026, everyone! For many people, this is the moment they set themselves a reading challenge for the upcoming year. We have gathered a few fun ones for you to check out.
The yearly Goodreads Reading Challenge is a classic: all you do is set an amount of books you want to have read by the end of the year. As you track your reading, the Reading Challenge widget in your account tells you not only how many books you’ve read, but also how far behind or ahead you are. (One thing to keep in mind: Goodreads is owned by Amazon, so unfortunately Mr. Bezos is also keeping track of your reading habits.)
A great alternative is The Storygraph, whose reading challenge features options for books, pages, and hours. You can disable the feature that tells you how far behind or ahead you are, which is great for those of us who get stressed out by that kind of thing. Users can also set up their own (prompt-based, usually) challenges that others can participate in, so there’s plenty to choose from!
The Dutchies among us might be familiar with Hebban, which leans into the same “social media for book lovers” vibe that The Storygraph and Goodreads do. And they also have a reading challenge! In addition to setting yourself a number of books to read, you can also create personal challenges for specific titles you want to read in 2026.
For the past few years, I’ve low-key been participating in the Read Queerly bingo by @obscure.pages on Instagram. Not only is the classic bingo format a lot of fun, but the broadness of the prompts also lets you customize the reading experience to fit your own tastes. In my experience, the creator remains very involved throughout the year and shares bingo updates from participants, which is a great way to feel connected to other readers.
Another well-known one is the annual Popsugar Reading Challenge. It consists of a list of 40 prompts, with an extra 10 for those voracious readers who want to hit the “advanced” level). The 2026 edition is loosely centered around a garden theme.
The 52 Book Club does an annual reading challenge consisting of 52 prompts: one for every week of the year. As they mention in their FAQ, though, you are absolutely free to double up on books (use one title for multiple prompts), if you want to! People who want to stay connected while participating can follow them on social or sign up for emails. They’ve even published an elaborate Challenge Guide to talk you through every prompt on the list.
Of course this is just a small sample of the great variety of reading challenges out there, and by no means an exhaustive list. But if you’re looking for a challenge to join, we hope this will point you in the right direction. Happy reading!
