2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

2026 Member Challenge Ideas

Do you have a fun idea for a challenge? Please tell us about it! We count on our members’ creativity to help us bring dozens of challenges to the group each year!

🏆 Our 2026 Yearly Theme is Award Winners! 🏆

Generally, we offer a pair of challenges for each month and quarter.
▪ One theme based; one either on- or off-theme
▪ One with prompts; one open ended
▪ About 8-10 prompts per monthly; about 18-20 prompts per quarterly

Post your challenge idea when you see that we are Seeking ideas for a particular theme. Please refrain from submitting ideas outside the 2-3 themes (4-6 challenges) on which the challenge mods are currently focused. Thank you kindly!

Quarterly Themes
⏳ 1st Quarter: Literary Legacy – Awards through time
💎 2nd Quarter: Genre Gems – Awards by reading taste* <-- Seeking ideas
🌎 3rd Quarter: Global Glory – Regional and national awards*
👧 4th Quarter: Audience Accolades – Age-specific awards*

Monthly Themes
January: Self
February: Gold <-- Seeking ideas
March: Birds <-- Seeking ideas
April: Daisy
May: Patterns
June: Isolation
July: Rust
August: Heroes
September: Forest
October: Supernatural
November: Names
December: Doors

* Notes on 2026 Quarterly Challenges
◾ Our open quarterly for Q1 has a "Build Your Own Hall of Fame" theme, which we will continue throughout the year by adding additional rooms to our Halls of Fame.
◾ Please don't spend your time creating open challenges that won't be used.
◾ We do need prompt-based challenges for Q2, Q3, and Q4 (and both open and prompt-based challenges for each month), so focus your creative efforts on those. Thank you!

Important: Please make sure that your Goodreads privacy settings allow you to receive messages from anyone, so that we can contact you if your challenge idea is selected.

FAQs

When are challenges posted and unlocked?
▪ Around a month in advance, challenges are posted for viewing only so that members may plan their reading.
▪ Challenges are unlocked about one week prior to their start date, usually around the 25th of the preceding month.

What happens if my challenge idea is chosen?
▪ We can't use every idea submitted, but we do use many of them.
▪ If we choose your challenge, you may lead it if you wish.
▪ If you'd rather not lead, we can seek a volunteer leader, so no pressure!
▪ When posting a challenge idea, please let us know whether or not you’d like to lead your challenge, if selected.

May I volunteer to lead a challenge that I didn’t suggest?
▪ Absolutely! When a new quarterly or monthly challenge is posted, you might see a note at the bottom indicating that we need a volunteer challenge leader.
▪ Leading a challenge is a great way to get to know fellow book lovers in this group!
▪ New leaders are welcome.
▪ If interested, send a message to the moderator who posted the challenge.

What does a challenge leader do?
▪ A challenge leader has three responsibilities:
(1.) Make an alphabetized list of participants.
(2.) Check comments to update participants’ progress.
(3.) Encourage and congratulate participants.
▪ Leaders may use our challenge spreadsheet if they wish.
Follow this link to the Google Sheets file, and open the How to Use tab. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
▪ Please update weekly for a monthly challenge, and two or three times per month for a quarterly challenge. Also, post an update one week after the challenge ends.

What if a participant posts their progress after the challenge ends?
▪ There may be a few stragglers who post their final progress update after the challenge ends.
▪ One week after your monthly or quarterly challenge ends, please check your challenge thread to congratulate any late finishers.
▪ After that week, whether you do further updates of your Participants List is up to you.

- - -

We look forward to hearing your brilliant challenge ideas for 2026!

Here's some possible prompts for February - Gold. I can lead if chosen.

💰1. Pot of Gold - Read a book involving money, a book with a form of currency on the cover or in the title, or a book involving cooking or food.
🥇2. Gold Medal - Read an award-winning book or a book that involves sports or a competition.
🤑3. Gold Digger - Read a book that involves a manipulative relationship or character, a book that involves gardening or yardwork, or a book that has a gardening tool on the cover or in the title.
🐠4. Goldfish - Read a book with an aquatic animal on the cover or in the title, or a book that is set in or near a body of water.
💎5. Fool's Gold - Read a book with a gem, mineral, or rock on the cover or in the title, or a book involving deception.
💛6. Heart of Gold - Read a book with a body part on the cover or in the title, or a book involving an act of kindness.
⛏️7. Gold Rush - Read a book set or written in the 1800s, a book involving mining, or a book involving a discovery.
🌷8. Rose Gold - Read a book with a pink cover, or a book with a flower in the title or on the cover.
🏖️9. Gold Coast - Read a book set in Australia, a book written by an Australian author, or a book set in a coastal town.
💍10. Five Gold Rings - Read a book with a number in the title, a book with jewelry in the title or on the cover, or a book involving the holidays.

For Gold - February maybe a song text based prompt challenge (kind of like the Time Warp one 2025 based on Golden from Demon Hunters?
I could try combining it in some way with book awards (if a theme based one is needed).

Here is an idea for March

For the Birds

1. Taking flight- Read a book about a life transition, or a book with wings or the sky on the cover.

2. Birds eye view- Read a book about a place far away, or a book about the future.

3. Finding a mate- Read a book about any kind of relationship or about falling in love.

4. Building a nest- Read a book about parenthood or about any kind of family.

5. Backyard birdfeeders- Read a book with an attractive cover or one that feeds your soul.

6. Birding- Read a book with any type of bird in the title, or a book with binoculars or a camera on the cover.

7. Conservation- Read a book about preserving the environment, about nature, or with a tree on the cover.

8. Migration- Read a book with a title that starts with V, or a book about a journey.

9./10. Birds of a feather- Read two books that go together in some way (i.e. matching titles, 2 parts of a series)

📢📢 We are doing something a little different with our open quarterlies this year, and want to make sure you all know. I added this note to post #1, but am copying it here as well in the hopes that all you challenge creators see it.

* Notes on 2026 Quarterly Challenges
◾ Our open quarterly for Q1 has a "Build Your Own Hall of Fame" theme, which we will continue throughout the year by adding additional rooms to our Halls of Fame.
◾ Please don't spend your time creating open challenges that won't be used.
◾ We do need prompt-based challenges for Q2, Q3, and Q4 (and both open and prompt-based challenges for each month), so focus your creative efforts on those. Thank you!

The Winter Olympics are in February. I think of "Going for the Gold" for this. Here are some possible ideas:

I. What about gold covers - or variations of the color (ie. yellow) or something in the title or cover that goes with these gold shades:

Metallic Gold (suggestions: So Let It Be Written: The Biography of Metallica's James Hetfield)
Champagne Gold: (suggestions: Champagne Problems or a cover with champagne glasses on it)
Old Gold (suggestions: Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson or a history non-fiction or historical fiction novel)
Goldenrod (suggestions: The Golden Road)
Pale Gold (suggestions: Pale Fire)

II. Sports-themed books or books, or books with covers showing sporting equipment on them.

III. Read 'golden' books, the best of the best. The cream of the crop. Books with at least four stars as an average GR rating or a book a friend rated 4 or higher.

I will be happy to lead if one of my prompts is chosen.

Birds (March) suggestion:

"Birds of a Feather" - Read books that go together, AKA series' reads, or have a common theme.

I am suggesting a « Victorian Lit/ Dickensian Lit » challenge; such as books like White Teeth by Zadie Smith or Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.
Some elements of this would be:
- poverty and social inequality
- atmosphere or setting that is bleak or grimy
- comically grotesque or exaggerated characters
- could suggest flowery language
- social commentary about injustice or social inequality

Kate wrote: "I am suggesting a « Victorian Lit/ Dickensian Lit » challenge; such as books like White Teeth by Zadie Smith or Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.
Some elements of this would be:
- poverty and social ine..."

Thank you, Kate. Which month or quarter did you have in mind for this challenge? I'm not seeing a connection to Gold or Birds, so maybe you were thinking about a Hall of Fame room for Q2's Genre Gems?