Ready to diversify your reading this year? Join the best Reading Challenge of 2026 and read a book a week with the Booklist Queen!
Want to up your reading game in 2026? Then I have the ultimate goal for you – The Booklist Queen 2026 Reading Challenge.
Join thousands of others as we read a book a week in 2026. That’s right, this 2026 Reading Challenge has 52 different categories to expand your reading selection.
When I originally launched the reading challenge a few years ago, I worried I would be the only one crazy enough to want to do a 52 book challenge. Oh, I was so wrong.
Since then, I’ve been joined by thousands of readers who are just as crazy as me.
If you feel overwhelmed by 52 categories, don’t worry. It’s okay if you don’t finish the challenge. I want this Reading Challenge for 2026 to be aspirational. I want to push you to read more – whether that’s 12 books a year or 52. I want you to get out of your reading rut and try new genres.
However, to help out those who know they have no chance of finishing a 52 book challenge, this year I’ve created the Booklist Queen Mini Challenge. With only 12 prompts, you only have to read a book a month instead of a book a week.
Don’t like one of the categories in the 2026 Reading Challenge? Change it or skip it. Double count a book for multiple prompts. Interpret the prompts any way you like. Do what you want to make this reading challenge your own.
As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.
Enjoy!
Reading Challenge 2026
A Book A Week with The Booklist Queen
1. You Meant to Read Last Year
2. Goodreads Winner in 2025
3. Book Becoming Movie/Show in 2026
4. Odd Cover
5. Longer Than 400 Pages
6. Historical Romance
7. Audiobook Read by the Author
8. Five-Star Read
9. About Injustice
10. Book Everyone Is Talking About
11. Set in the Spring
12. Animal Narrator or Protagonist
13. Time in the Title
14. About a Musician
15. Alternate History
16. About Female Friendship
17. Yellow Cover
18. About Artificial Intelligence
19. Book That Makes You Happy
20. 2025 Bestseller
21. Set in a Major City
22. First Person POV
23. Popular Book You’ve Never Read
24. Two Authors
25. About Dragons
26. Set in the 1970s
27. Title Starts with “D”
28. 2026 New Release
29. Crazy Premise
30. Classic You’ve Meant to Read
31. Fiction Written by a Celebrity
32. Set in India
33. Debut Novel
34. Bottom of Your To-Read List
35. Set at a School
36. Next Book in a Series
37. Underdog Story
38. Biography
39. Children’s Book
40. Author You Love
41. Locked Room Mystery
42. Two Books with Similar Titles (1)
43. Two Books with Similar Titles (2)
44. Published in 2016
45. Nonfiction Bestseller
46. European Author
47. Out of Your Comfort Zone
48. Discussion-Worthy Read
49. Map on the Inside Cover
50. Alliterative Title
51. You Own But Haven’t Read
52. Reread a Favorite
Sharing on Social Media? Use the hashtag #blqchallenge26
Mini Reading Challenge 2026
A Book A Month with The Booklist Queen
1. Odd Cover
2. Audiobook Read by the Author
3. Book Everyone Is Talking About
4. About Female Friendship
5. Book That Makes You Happy
6. About Dragons
7. Crazy Premise
8. Set in India
9. Underdog Story
10. Locked Room Mystery
11. Nonfiction Bestseller
12. Discussion-Worthy Read
Sharing on Social Media? Use the hashtag #blqminichallenge26
Free Bookmark
Free Mini Challenge Bookmark
Printable Reading Challenge
While the bookmark is great for Pinterest, it’s way too small to write your book selections on. I would know because I’ve witnessed my husband try it.
That’s why, exclusively for my newsletter subscribers, I’ve created an awesome printable handout for the 2026 Reading Challenge that has space for all your book selections.
Not a subscriber yet? Just enter your email below to join the weekly newsletter. You’ll stay up to date on the reading challenge, my blog posts, and receive exclusive content just for you. Every week I highlight one of the reading challenge’s prompts with book suggestions just for my favorite readers.
Social Media Templates
Want to share your progress on social media with amazing graphics?
Newsletter subscribers also get access to a collection of social media templates through Canva. Canva is a free online graphic design program that is extremely easy to use. I pay for a pro account for my blog, but most people will be perfectly happy with the free version.
Whether you want the full checklists, monthly challenges, single book reviews, or to share your monthly wrap-up, I’ve got you covered with easy-to-use templates. Just throw in your book covers and share them on your social media accounts.
Monthly Challenges
If the full 2026 Reading Challenge feels like too much, you can break it down into monthly segments. Feel free to do the Reading Challenge in order or skip around. If 52 books are too many, just try one of these monthly challenges and do it instead. That’s only 4 or 5 books to read in a year.
Need a little more challenge than that but not ready for the full Reading Challenge 2026? Try the Booklist Queen Mini Challenge with one prompt from each month for a 12 book challenge.
Personalize my 2026 Reading Challenge as much as you want. The goal is for you to read more and to have fun doing it!
Join the Discussion
Let’s chat about the books you’ve been reading!
Come join the discussion of the Booklist Queen 2026 Reading Challenge on Facebook. Share what you’ve been reading, ask for recommendations to fill in the prompts, and see what others are reading. Or if you prefer, you can follow along in our Goodreads group.
If you use Storygraph instead, track your progress with the 2026 Reading Challenge and the 2026 Mini Reading Challenge on Storygraph. See how far you’ve come and spy on what books others are reading for each prompt.
Read Along with Me
Be sure you don’t miss a thing. Sign up for my weekly newsletter. I’ll keep you up-to-date on the reading challenge, my blog posts, and provide exclusive content just for you. Every week I highlight one of the reading challenge prompts with book suggestions just for my favorite readers. Plus, only subscribers get the printable version of my Reading Challenge 2026 with space to fill in your selections.
Have fun reading in 2026! Be sure to let me know what books you pick for the 2026 Reading Challenge.
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English (US) · 