It’s finally time to kick off the year with some reading challenges! This year I’m repeating two of last year’s challenges, and I’m adding two new ones. I’m also going to attempt some sort of TBR Jar challenge (which I failed at miserably last year!), so keep reading for more info. I’m linking up with Top Ten Tuesday, which was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog.
1. 2026 Goodreads goal:
I’ve set my reading goal for 75 books for the past few years, and it works well for me. I hope to read at least 100 books, and I’ll adjust the challenge once I hit 75 books. I also want to mention I’m trying StoryGraph this year alongside Goodreads. I’m curious to compare the two, so at the end of the year I’ll give my feedback. I do like the stats graphics that StoryGraph has, but I’m still trying to figure out the rest of it.
2. Bookforager’s Picture Prompt Bingo:
I love having a fresh bingo board for this fun, creative challenge! The goal is read books that relate to the pictures above, but you can get as creative as you want with the interpretation.
Check out Mayri’s post here for more information if you’d like to join in!
3. Alphabet Reading Challenge:
This is an easy, passive challenge, and I mostly just slot in books I’m already planning to read. Although I would like to tackle some of the harder letters this year!
4. 2026 Speccy Fiction Challenge:
This is a new challenge started and hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out, and there are (12) categories and four levels of play. I’m going for the “Survey” level and hope to read a book for each of these categories:
Published in 2026
A speculative novella (less than 250pgs)
A translated speculative novel
The first book in a speculative fiction duology/trilogy/series
Romantic speculative fiction
Speculative fiction that features a creature (animal/monster)
A cozy fantasy novel
Dark Fantasy
A fantasy based on myth, legend or folklore
A scifi that takes place on a spaceship or space station
Dystopian
A scifi featuring conscious technology
Check out Shelleyrae’s post here if you’d like to join too:-D
5. This Challenge Killed the Bookworm:
This is another new to me challenge, hosted by Ellie at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm, and it sounds like a blast! It’s another bingo card type challenge with 25 fun, quirky prompts.
Check out the kick-off post here if you’d like to participate too:-D
Read my Purchased Books/Past Due ARCs:
I’m throwing this up, even though the books above are simply possible choices for this challenge. Last year I selected ten specific owned or backlist books that I wanted to read, and only managed one, lol. I figure if I give myself room to make spur of the moment choices, the challenge will go better! This is a mix of recent purchases and 2025 ARCs I just didn’t get to. Let me know which one I should read first!
Get ready for:
Not really a challenge, but I did want to announce that I will be hosting Summer of Horror once again! It’s a ways off, but I’m already thinking about it. I’m hoping to do a sign up sheet this year to keep things more organized, so stay tuned!
I left Goodreads after they messed up my book records with a bug and refused to fix it (they lost all my read dates and told me to put them back myself if I wanted them). So I’ve landed on StoryGraph and I do like the stats and graphs and stuff, but I kinda miss some of the social aspects from Goodreads…
I should settle down and pick some reading challenges, even if I don’t end up sticking to them. There’s no harm in trying things out after all. Good luck with these (and thanks for sharing them)!
Oh that’s awful! I don’t even know how to find people on Storygraph, I will have to look into that.
You do so many challenges and I already get overwhelmed by doing one: the history and mythology bingo. But I’ve already read one book for it at least. Good luck!!
Thanks Stephanie1 It’s so hard to resist them in January.
These reading challenges look like so much fun! TBR jars are fun but if you grab something that you’re absolutely not in the mood for it gets self-defeating ♀️
Agreed, that’s why I’d rather choose the TBR Jar book, lol.
The picture bingo challenge looks fun, and of course I’m delighted you have joined the Speccy Fiction challenge.
Thanks for sharing your #TTT and good luck with your goals!
I need to go link up at the Speccy Fiction challenge page, thanks for reminding me:-)
I’ve added these to my blog to remind me which ones I want to take part in. Thanks for sharing.
Good luck if you decide to try any!
OMG Tammy I am always amazed at how many challenges you enter! Good luck!
I’m sure there will be lots of crossover, so I can use the same book on different challenges.
Very ambitious to participate in so many challenges! Regarding your purchased/ARCs to read, I’ve read four and loved them all! I’d put The Sirens or Bury Our Bones at the top of the list, although God of the Woods is also excellent and (obviously) I highly recommend the Kelley Armstrong book. Good luck!
Thanks Lisa! I’m determined to start the Rockton series this year, even if I only read one book:-)
I’ve got a ‘fear’ of challenges these days, but then I saw the alphabet one and… hmm! 😉
Yes, go for it! Even if you don’t get all the letters, it’s fun.
Good luck with all of these!! I stepped back a lot from challenges this year.
They can get overwhelming for sure. I always have big plans in January, but often they fall by the wayside. We shall see!
That’s a lot of challenges. I’m kind of lowkey on challenges this year. I think Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop should be your first read off that group. Good luck!
I knew you would vote for Turns of Fate!
It’s always interesting to see the different challenges you enter. Fun stuff. I’m doing the goodreads challenge again. I’ve been curious about StoryGraph and I really like most of what I’ve heard about it, just haven’t really had the time to put into it yet. I’m very curious to read your thoughts if you do.
It’s definitely different from Goodreads, pluses and minuses. We shall see!
Fun challenges! I love the picture one and horror summer. Best of luck!
Thank you!
Shoot me an email when you post the Summer of Horror event and I will share on my Sunday Post.
Thanks Kimberly, I will definitely let you know:-)
Oh, these all look a lot of fun! I’ve not heard of any except the Book Picture Bingo. I’ll have to check them all out.
I love finding new challenges!
Excellent challenges. Good luck with them all – I might try the A-Z challenge and see how I get on.
Lynn 😀
It’s an easy challenge, especially if you don’t take it too seriously.
Good luck with your goals and challenges!
Thanks Bree!
Ouuuuh, some pretty cool challenges to take on. Good luck, Tammy ! 😀
Thanks Lashaan!
Great challenges, have fun!
Mine are: https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/01/04/2026-reading-plans-and-challenges/
Thanks Emma!
Great challenges and goals! I also love having a fresh picture prompt bingo card to start the year with.
I think Picture Prompt Bingo is my favorite, you can really get creative.
Have fun with your challenges!
Thanks Stormi, I will:-)
2026 Speccy Fiction Challenge sounds like a great challenge. Of course, looking forward to this summer. I can’t wait to see what you have in store. Best of luck with these!
Thanks Alicia!
Good luck on these. And I’m looking forward to Summer of Horror.
Me too, glad you’re going to participate:-)
Good luck! I think I’ll try the picture prompt book bingo this year.
It’s a lot of fun!
Hm, you’re really tempting me to try out some reading challenges this year (other than the Goodreds goal)! I fear I wouldn’t stick to them, but they also seem really fun so I may just have to try one… Good luck with all of these, and thanks for sharing them–I feel very inspired now, haha!
I’m glad you found some interesting challenges!
I see two here I want to add to my list. Thanks for sharing them. And of course I will be participating in Summer of Horror 2026! In fact, I can’t wait.
Yay! I can’t wait.
The picture prompt challenge looks interesting! Good luck with all these.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
It’s a lot of fun, I think this is the third year I’ve done the Picture Prompt Bingo:-)
That picture bingo board looks fun. Good luck with all these!
Thank you!
These are some really fun challenges! Especially the picture bingo one. I hope you achieve all your goals .
If you’d like to visit, here’s my TTT: https://thebooklorefairyreads.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/top-ten-tuesday-goals-for-2026/
Thanks Marwah!
I’m also doing Goodreads of course, and an Alphabet challenge. Good luck on all your goals too!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/01/06/2026-challenge-sign-up-post-and-other-new-year-goals/
Thanks Lisa!
Im very happy to hear that you’re doing Summer Of Horror again this year and look forward to joining in. Some of your challenges are new to me and very tempting. Although I have a lot in my sign up draft already so I’ll see if I decide to add those in two or not lol. We have the alphabet and picture prompt bingo in common though.
I loved two of the books that you’ve mentioned and am very curious about a few of the others. I hope you manage to get to some of them. Good luck getting the hang of Storygraph too. I think im going to try and create my account before the months out.
I hope I manage to get to some of my owned books too. Hopefully we will both figure out StoryGraph!
I was just checking out Shelleyrae’s posts earlier about the Speccy Fic challenge and even though I’m quite terrible at completing more than 1-2 challenges a year, I’m so tempted to give this one a go! It looks like heaps of fun 🙂 Although I have SG, I still mostly use GR, although last year was a bust for both sites. I’m hoping to get better with SG cos I love all the stats graphics they make! I hope you enjoy it too and good luck with all of these challenges!
I’m also trying to figure out SG, it will just take some time. I have no idea how you find other readers though! LOL
I’m full of awe for folks who set themselves reading challenges at the start of the year! It’s all I can do to keep up with my arcs:)). And I just keep a list on Word of all the books I read with my own shorthand for the various categories and use the Find function for the stats. Best of luck with all your reading challenges, Tammy – they all sound like loads of fun and I SHOULD take part in those that encourage me to wittle away at my backlog!
Thank you Sarah! I literally just fit the books I’m already into these challenges, so it’s very low key:-)
All these challenges sound like a lot of fun!! I never heard of the Speccy one and This Challenge Killed The Bookworm but I will check them out because they sound fun!
And I love The StoryGraph graphic and the fact that you can give .5 or .25 ranking to books but on the whole I still prefer Goodreads to keep track of everything
Yeay for reading challenges. I’m also doing Picture Prompt Book Bingo of course. I like the sound of the others but I don’t want to do too many challenges this year and I am working on some things myself. 🙂