2026 Reading Challenge discussion

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026



Expanding on a crowd favorite monthly challenge, Read & Roam is an open-ended yearly challenge that takes readers on a journey through the pages of books that are linked by Award, Genre, or Reader recommendation. Feel free to travel on one long adventure, or take multiple smaller excursions throughout the year. Set a goal and book your travel plans!

🔹 Begin your trip by reading any Award Winner.
🔹 Visit its Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: one of its Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or a book that won the same Literary Award. (See note.)
🔹 Continue toward your goal using one of the travel styles below, repeating until you reach your destination.

🗺️ Staycation Style: Each book is selected from the starting book's page in day trip or weekender fashion.
🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Note: The Goodreads features used for this challenge are available on the website, but not in the mobile app. If you don't have access to a computer, try visiting Goodreads using a browser on your device.
Genres are located below the book blurb.
Readers Also Enjoyed is located below About the Author and is scrollable.
Literary Awards are listed below the First published date.

To see a sample Goodreads page showing where these features are located, (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)].

How to Participate:

1. Post here telling the challenge leader how many books you plan to read.
You may choose your books at the beginning, or add them as you go. You may join any time during the year, and may change your goal whenever needed.

2. When you finish books for the challenge, edit your original post or member’s corner thread to add them.
Instructions are in the how-to link below.

3. To have your progress updated, post a new comment here to let the challenge leader know.
Every time you post an update, be sure to include your original (sign-up) message number, the number of books you have completed, and your goal. We use your original message number to identify you, since multiple members may have the same profile name.
Example:
Update to message 32: 2/25 books read!

For more information about how our challenges work, visit this how-to thread or ask your challenge leader.

P.S. Please do not delete posts! It changes the message numbers, complicating the update process for both leaders and participants. If you wish to leave the challenge, simply post a comment here to let us know. You may edit your original post to say {deleted}. Thank you!

Participants

Amanda #41 - 0/12
Amy #16 - 2/12
Angel **Book Junkie** #11 - 0/60
BarbaraBrubru_gingertiger #27 - 0/10
Beth #30 - 0/0
Brianna #57 - 0/15
Bubbles #39 - 0/12
Caraina #31 - 12/12
Carolyn #19 - 0/12
Carrie #49 - 0/36
Charlston #71 - 0/26
Chrissie #40 - 0/5
Cordelia #6 - 0/10
D.L. #21 - 0/6
Debra Diggs #7 - 0/10
Denise #29 - 0/10
Ela (Mouse333) #22 - 0/12
GailW #13 - 0/12
Gina Marie #12 - 2/6
Janine #14 - 6/50
JennH #9 - 1/36
Jill #17 - 0/12
Kristina #18 - 5/36
Lina #28 - 0/10
LinaVer #56 - 0/6
Linda #68 - 1/12
Margie #48 - 4/25
Michelle #5 - 0/10
Min #43 - 0/12
Missy #33 - 1/17
Nat #20 - 0/20
Pat #46 - 3/12
Rachael #8 - 0/12
Rachel #42 - 0/25
Renee #51 - 0/10
Sarah #26 - 1/10
Serenity #15 - 1/12
Shari #25 - 0/30
Susan #10 - 1/30
Syd #34 - 0/10
TerryJane #24 - 0/30
Vanessa #52 - 0/12

STATS
Participants: 42
Books Read: 40
Books Pledged: 717
Challenges Completed: 0

Updated through Message #76 on Feb 03, 2026.

Reserved by backup moderator

I'm in! This looks like fun. I'll go for 10.

Goal: 10
Progress 0/10 (0%)

0/10

Read & Roam

1/10

Road Trip Style - Readers Also Enjoyed

✔ 1. Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak (Goodreads Choice Award, Readers' Favorite Horror)
2. That's Not My Name by Megan Lally
3. Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W. Ihli
4. Guess Again by Charlie Donlea
5. Too Old for This by Samantha Downing
6.
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9.
10.
............................................
Might do 2 short road trips.

Road Trip Style - Readers Also Enjoyed


1. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (Edgar Award, Best Novel)
2. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
3. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
4.

Please sign me up for 12 books.

COMPLETED: 0/12

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion
1. Award Winner: tbd
Genre/Readers Also Enjoyed/Literary Awards

Please sign me up for 36.

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026

6/36

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Genres, Readers Also Enjoyed, or Literary Award

1. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden 1/12/26 - ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original Novel (2023)
2. Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley 1/17/26 - Genre: Mystery
3. Rain Dogs: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel by Adrian McKinty 1/22/26 - Readers Also Enjoyed
4. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara 1/22/26 - Literary Award
5. The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis 1/24/26 - Genre: Mystery
6. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 1/26/26 - Readers Also Enjoyed

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026

Progress: 1/30

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Readers Also Enjoyed
1. Too Old for This - Finished 1/15/26

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026
Completion: 5/60
I would like to set a goal of 60 with a goal of 5 Per month
🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or Literary Award

January
1. The Girls in the Cabin | Caleb Stephens | 01.01 🌟🌟🌟
Readers Also Enjoyed...
2. The Butcher | Jennifer Hillier | 01.07 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Readers Also Enjoyed ...
3. A Happy Marriage | A.R. Torre | 01.12 | 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Readers Also Enjoyed...
3. You Must Be New Here | Katie Sise | 01.17 | 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Readers Also Enjoyed...
4. The Fix | Mia Sheridan | 01.18 | 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Readers Also Enjoyed...
5. Please Don't Lie | Christina Baker Kline | 01.22 | 🌟🌟🌟

❤️‍🔥February❤️‍🔥 1/5
1. The Memory Watcher | Minka Kent | 02.02 | 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Readers also enjoyed:
2. The Ex |

Please sign me up for 6 to start. I may add more as I go.

🗺️Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Progress = 2/6

I'm going to track my progress in my 2026 Reading Corner.

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026
Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion. Linked by Award, Genre, Reader recommendation.

☀ Progress 3 / 12 (to start)

☀ 1. All the Colors of the Dark, linkage: mystery genre
☀ 2. Gone Before Goodbye, linkage: mystery genre
☀ 3. Symphony of Secrets, linkage: "Readers Also Enjoyed"
4. the Correspondent OR Heartwood

I really enjoyed the Sisterhood of the Travelling Books challenge so I'm thrilled to see this.

Sign me up for 30. I'll be doing it road trip style.

Goal 1/12

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

January: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder GoodReads Choice Award

Readers Also Enjoyed
February: Plan: Abundance

I will read 12 books!
2/12

Road Trip Style

Starting Book: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Stop 1: Wild Dark Shore

I’m signing for 12. Road Trip style.

READ & ROAM
January 01 - December 31, 2026
Progress: 5/36

Sign me up for 36!

Member Corner Tracking Post

I will join the staycation and start with 12 books.
1. Atmosphere
2. My Friends
3. One Golden Summer
4. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
5. An Eye for an Eye
6. Remarkably Bright Creatures
7. Good Spirits
8. First-Time Caller
9. The Women
10. We All Live Here
11. Beach Read
12. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House
, , , , , , , , , ,

I'm in for 20!

Completed: 3/20

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Lit:
1. Prophet Song (Booker Prize)
2. The Bone People (award)
3. Heart Lamp: Selected Stories (genre - fiction)
4. Time Shelter (award - International Booker)
5. The Safekeep (award - fiction)

SFF:
6. A Sorceress Comes to Call (Locus Award)
7. Jade Legacy (award)
8. Rakesfall (genre - fantasy) 1/20
9. It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over (award - Ursula K Le Guin Prize)
10. No One Will Come Back For Us and Other Stories (genre - fantasy)

Horror/Mystery
11. The Eyes Are the Best Part (Bram Stoker Award) 1/17
12. Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (award)
13. Where I End (genre - horror)
14. Song for the Unraveling of the World: Stories (award - Shirley Jackson Award) 1/3
15. The Book of X (award - Shirley Jackson Award)

Nonfiction
16. A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters (Royal Society Science Book Prize)
17. There Is No Blue (genre - nonfiction)
18. Ordinary Notes (award - Hilary Weston Prize)
19. A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon (genre - nonfiction)
20. Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman (readers also enjoyed)

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion (Readers Also Enjoyed)

COMPLETED: 0/6

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Road Trip Style (probably Readers Also Enjoyed) - 2/12

1. Goodnight
2. Truth and Tinsel: A Marriage In Crisis Romance
3.

D.L. wrote: "But I am not sure I understand the staycation vs. road trip style. What's the difference?"

A real life Staycation has "home" as its base, taking multiple day trips and returning to stay at home each night.
home --> zoo --> home --> hike --> home -->museum --> home --> amusement park

The Staycation option in this challenge means that all secondary books are based on the first book (A).
A --> B
A --> C
A --> D

For a real life Road Trip, once you leave home, you stay in various places as you make your way cross-country to a destination, or maybe a big loop back to home. In the original Vacation movie, the Griswolds stayed at a motel, Cousin Eddie's house, a campground, and a hotel on their Road Trip to Wally World.
home --> town 1 --> town 2--> town 3

For the Road Trip option in this challenge, each book after the first is based on the previous book.
A --> B --> C --> D

Glad you came back to join! Hope this helps explain it better.

I'll join with a goal of 30 for now.

Please sign me up for 30.

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026

Progress: 0 / 30

🔹 Begin your trip by reading any Award Winner.
🔹 Visit its Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: the Readers Also Enjoyed
🔹 Continue toward your goal using one of the travel styles below, repeating until you reach your destination.

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Progress: 0 / 30

Sign me up for 10 books

1/10

Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book’s page in a linear or cross-country fashion. - Readers Also Enjoyed

✅1. All the Light We Cannot See (3/1/26)
2. The Book Thief
3. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
4. The Giver
5. The Giving Tree
6. Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Lost Christmas!
7. Walt Disney's Peter Pan
8. Disney's Sleeping Beauty
9. Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
10. Lady and the Tramp

Hi,
I am in for 10, road trip style :), thanks !

Starting with Kolkhoze : Medicis Prize 2025
Staycation style :
Then

I am in for 10 as well, road trip style, thanks!

🗺️ Read & Roam - Yearly Challenge 🗺️
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026

🗺️ Progress: /10 🗺️ -

Tracking my books read for this challenge in my corner

🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️

I'll try for 10
1. The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht 9 Jan

Goal and books tbd. I'll be back!

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1, 2026 - December 31, 2026

🔹 Begin your trip by reading any Award Winner.
🔹 Visit its Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: one of its Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or a book that won the same Literary Award. (See note.)
🔹 Continue toward your goal using one of the travel styles below, repeating until you reach your destination.

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Completed: 12/12

1. The Project - Courtney Summers 1/1/26 (ITW Thriller Award for Young Adult Novel – 2022)
2. The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice 1/2/26 (Genre: Horror)
3. The Seed Keeper - Diane Wilson 1/2/25 (Genre: Historical Fiction)
4. The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen 1/4/26 (Genre: Contemporary)
5. Lover Awakened - J.R. Ward 1/5/26 (Genre: Fantasy)
6. Lover Revealed - J.R. Ward 1/5/26 (Genre: Romance)
7. Brambleberry Bay Murder Club - Addison Moore 1/6/26 (Genre: Paranormal)
8. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver 1/6/26 (Genre: Book Club)
9. My Christmas Fiancé - Serenity Woods 1/7/26 (Genre: Fiction)
10. Cream Puff Murder - Joanne Fluke 1/8/26 (Genre: Adult)
11. Sweet Little Lies - Caz Frear 1/9/26 (Genre: Mystery)
12. The Compound - Aisling Rawle 1/10/26 (Genre: Thriller)

Welcome, everyone! 👋

I'm so excited for a new year of reading! Just two more weeks until we can hit the road. 😎

Please check the Participant List and let me know if there are errors in your name, goal, or original post number.

Sign me up for 5 for now. I'll try it.

The Last Cuentista is my starter book (Newbery Medal Award). If I'm reading the explanation comment right, then I'm going Road Trip Style. I don't want to keep returning back to LC just for newer books. I'll search the Genre/Readers Also Enjoyed/Literary Awards section for books I might already own or fall on a list I have.

The Last Cuentista (Newbery Medal Award)
-> The Dragonet Prophecy vol 1 (Middle Grade genre)
-> Where the Red Fern Grows (Childrens genre)
-> One of Us is Lying (School genre)
-> The House of the Scorpion (South Carolina Book Award)
[all 5 are from my TBR Jar list - took some searching to find something from that]

Hmmm sign me up for 10 please.

Member's Corner

Update to msg 33 (back on mobile). Change my number from 5 to 17 please. Managed to find links for the other 12 from my TBR Jar list. I tried not to repeat genres or awards for these which took awhile.

From previous: The House of the Scorpion (South Carolina Book Award)
-> Scythe (Rhode Island Teen Book Award)
-> Dread Nation (Gateway Readers Award)
-> Lovely War (Historical Fiction genre)
-> Samurai Rising (Historical genre)
-> The Whydah (YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction)
Prismatic site says most of this cover is grey even though it was clearly blue and green in color boxes
-> The Orpheus Plot (Adventure genre)
-> The Unidentified (Science Fiction genre)
-> The Story That Cannot be Told (Fiction genre)
-> The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora (Vermont Golden Dome Book Award)
-> The Wednesday Wars (Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award)
-> Illusionarium (Young Adult genre)
-> A Soul as Cold as Frost (Magic genre)

Question from msg 33: if I decide to do a second round later in the year, would I pick up from book 17 or start over with a new chain?

Missy wrote: "Question from msg 33: if I decide to do a second round later in the year, would I pick up from book 17 or start over with a new chain?"

It's your choice, Missy. You can have one long chain if you wish, or create multiple shorter chains. Do whichever best suits your reading needs. 😊

Also, I've updated your goal to 17.

TerryJane wrote: "Missy wrote: "Question from msg 33: if I decide to do a second round later in the year, would I pick up from book 17 or start over with a new chain?"

It's your choice, Missy. You can have one long..."

Thank you for responding (and updating score)! I might do chains for each book list I try then. The 2026-27 ones usually get released around summer.

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or Literary Award

Completed: 0/12

1.

I'll try with 5.

🔹 Begin your trip by reading any Award Winner.
🔹 Visit its Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: one of its Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or a book that won the same Literary Award.
🔹 Continue toward your goal using one of the travel styles below, repeating until you reach your destination.

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Progress: 2/5

1. Lázár by Nelio Biedermann (Lieblingsbuch der Unabhängigen 2025) ✓ 01/23
2. Wenn sie wüsste (Fiction) ✓ 01/25

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1, 2026 - December 31, 2026

🔹 Begin your trip by reading any Award Winner.
🔹 Visit its Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: one of its Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or a book that won the same Literary Award. (See note.)
🔹 Continue toward your goal using one of the travel styles below, repeating until you reach your destination.

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.


Completed: 0/12

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READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026


🔹 Begin your trip by reading any Award Winner.
🔹 Visit its Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: one of its Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or a book that won the same Literary Award. (See note.)
🔹 Continue toward your goal using one of the travel styles below, repeating until you reach your destination.

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

0/25

1. How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing WomenBy Claire Mitchell

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Hello! Please sign me up for 12 books, road trip style.

🔹 Begin your trip by reading any Award Winner.
🔹 Visit its Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: one of its Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or a book that won the same Literary Award.
🔹 Continue toward your goal using one of the travel styles below, repeating until you reach your destination.

🗺️ Road Trip Style: Each book is selected from the prior book's page in a linear or cross-country fashion.

Progress: 0/12

1. Butter by Asako Yuzuki [British Book Award for Debut Fiction, 2025]
2. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney [Readers Also Enjoyed]
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I don't understand the difference between road trip and staycation selection styles. Can someone explain that to me please?

Thanks.

Pat, for Staycation, all book choices are based on your initial book. For Road Trip, each book is based on the previous book.

I explained it more thoroughly in post #23, I think, but I'm currently using the phone app and can't give you the link.

Scroll up and see if that post to D.L. helps. If not, I can try again when I'm back home and on my computer.

EDIT: Here's a link to the post I mentioned: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Message #46
ROAD TRIP OPTION

Goal ~ 12 Books
Current ~ 3/12

Book #1 (Award Winner)
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
Finished ~ 1.9.26
Pages ~ 306
Awards ~ Locus, Mythopoeic Fantasy, Andre Norton, & Lodestar Awards
Genre (Cozy Fantasy) >

Book #2 (New Releases Tagged Cozy Fantasy)
Snake-Eater
Finished ~ 1.18.26
Pages ~ 267
Genre (Paranormal) >

Book #3 (New Releases Tagged Paranormal)
Persephone's Curse
Finished ~ 1.22.26
Pages ~ 336
Genre (Magical Realism) >

Book #4 (New Releases Tagged Magical Realism)

TerryJane wrote: "D.L. wrote: "But I am not sure I understand the staycation vs. road trip style. What's the difference?"

A real life Staycation has "home" as its base, taking multiple day trips and returning to st..."

That explains it well - ty!

Please add me for 25 road trip books.

Visit book's Goodreads page and choose your next reading destination from: one of its Genres, the Readers Also Enjoyed area, or a book that won the same Literary Award.

Progress: 4/25

√1. Theft - Gurnah is a Nobel Prize laureate --> Africa genre

√2. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood - Africa genre --> Memoir genre

√3. Forest of Noise: Poems - Memoir genre -->History genre

√4. Wounded Tigris: A River Journey through the Cradle of Civilisation - History genre -->

Please sign me up for 36!
I will do 12 for three different styles using 3 different starting books (one for each style).

READ & ROAM
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2026
Progress 0/36

Road Trip Style - Readers Also Enjoyed
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Road Trip Style - Literary Awards
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Staycation Style -Readers Also Enjoyed
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It's almost time to head out on our trips. Yeehaw!

You may have heard by now, but Goodreads is doing away with DMs. If you spot an error in the participant list, or have a goal change, question, or problem, please leave a comment in this thread.

As we enter 2026, I wish each of you a healthy and happy year full of fabulous reads!
🎇📚🎇