Have a Challenging Year…with These Fun Reading Challenges

By FPL_AmyG

With a new year, comes a brand-new set of reading challenges! Every year I try to read more books than last year and reading challenges help me reach my reading goals. They also help me get out of my reading comfort zone and try new genres and authors. Below are some of my favorite challenges for the upcoming year.

• 2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge, opens a new window

Still one of the best reading challenges around, this reading challenge always has a little bit of everything to keep your reading varied and interesting. We’ve got our eyes on prompt 15, A book recommended by a Librarian, and are eager to assist. 

• The StoryGraph Reading Challenge(s), opens a new window

I love making my own reading challenges, and The StoryGraph gives me all the tools I need to start my own challenge. I can also join in with other people’s reading challenges and choose books to read with a buddy. Reading with a friend, can sometimes add that extra push to finish books I’m currently reading.

Every year I make a challenge in The StoryGraph based on the music from my favorite group, BTS. Not only does it help me reach my reading goals, but it also acts as a musical soundtrack for the year.

Give The StoryGraph a try, especially if you like tracking your reading stats! This blog post explains how it works., opens a new window

• Book Riot’s 2024 Read Harder Book Challenge, opens a new window

This is one of my favorite reading challenges. It’s great if you want to read more diversely and from different perspectives. I’m especially excited for prompt 23, Read a “howdunit” or “whydunit” mystery. I’d heard of the “whodunit” but never the how or why versions.

• The 52 Book Club’s 2024 Reading Challenge, opens a new window

The is a new one to me. The premise is pretty straightforward. There are 52 prompts, one for each week of the year. The idea is to read at least one book a week, but you don’t have to stick to that schedule. They encourage you to “get as creative as you like with interpreting the prompts” which is a good thing for prompt number 2, Bibliosmia: A smelly book.

• The Traveling Book Challenge

Okay, so this is a challenge my friends and I have decided to do together this year. Each of us will pick a book and a pen color. As we’re reading our books, we’ll write down any thoughts, underline meaningful passages etc. and then when we’re finished, we’ll hand it off to another friend.

Once all of us have read the book, it will go back to the original reader with all of our thoughts and annotations. Think, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but with books instead. I’m doing this challenge with three other friends, so by the end of the year, I’ll have read four books from this challenge and at least three will be titles that I wouldn’t have normally picked up for myself.