The 52 Book Club: 2026 Challenge discussion

(since Goodreads has a character limit, I'm breaking up the mini challenge lists.
Click HERE for 2020-2025)


If you are finished the mini challenges, we would love to see what your list looks like! If you're not done but would still like to share part of your list, we'd love to see that too!

Please just edit your list to add more books instead of re-posting the list each time.

You can copy and paste this list into the comments -- just add what book you read for each category beside it!

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2/26 - Scarlet or Letter
2/26 - Crime or Punishment
2/26 - Fourth or Wing
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts
4/26 - A Rhymeless Word In The Title
4/26 - Author's Photo: Smiling With Teeth
4/26 - Knock, Knock. Who's There?
5/26 - A Coffee Shop Scene
5/26 - Character Has A Roommate
5/26 - "I'll Be There For You"

Mine:
✅Read 🟨Currently reading 🟥 TBR

✅2/26 - Scarlet or Letter: Scarlet: Defender of the Universe and The Letter
✅2/26 - Crime or Punishment: Real Pigeons Fight Crime and The Magic Misfits
✅2/26 - Fourth or Wing: The Fourth Suit and On the Wing
✅3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge: The Thursday Murder Club
✅3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge: The First Time I Saw Him
✅3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge: Gone Before Goodbye
✅4/26 - A Rhymeless Word In The Title: The Secret Christmas Library
✅4/26 - Author's Photo: Smiling With Teeth: The Busybody Book Club
✅4/26 - Knock, Knock. Who's There?: Lady Tremaine
✅5/26 - A Coffee Shop Scene - First-Time Caller
✅5/26 - Character Has A Roommate - Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating
✅5/26 - "I'll Be There For You" - The Border Lord's Bride

2026 Mini's

I don't post the title until I've completed it. My goal is always to read it, or at least begin it, within the month the challenge is given.


🤷🏻‍♀️2/26 - Scarlet: Scarlet Morning
🤷🏻‍♀️2/26 - Letter: The ABC Murders
🤷🏻‍♀️2/26 - Crime: The Murder at World's End
🤷🏻‍♀️2/26 - Punishment: All of Us Murderers
🤷🏻‍♀️2/26 - Fourth: The Sign of Four
🤷🏻‍♀️2/26 - Wing:The Dutch House

🔍3/26 Case #7 an Unsettling read: King of Ashes
🔍3/26 Case #1 Classic Mystery: Whose Body?
🔍3/26 Case #8 TITLE INCLUDES THE WORD “DEATH” OR “DEAD”Lord Edgware Dies

🙃4/26 - Author’s photo: smiling with teethAnybody Can Do Anything
🙃4/26 - A rhymeless word in the title; My Sweet Orange Tree
🙃4/26 - Knock, knock. Who’s there? The Lady of Shadows

☕5/26 A coffee shop scene: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
☕5/26 Character has a roommate: Cherry Baby
☕5/26 “I’ll be there for you.”: Letters to the Lost

📙9/26 - Book Title #1: "The ____ "The Ginghams
📙9/26 - Book Title #2: "The _____ of _____" The Quiche of Death
📙9/26 - Book Title #3: "The ____ of ____ and ____ " The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan

✅ Completed 🟥DNF 🌟Reading Soon ☕ Waiting for Release

February 2026 Mini - FINISHED
✅Scarlet/Letter: Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block⭐️⭐️1/2
✅Crime/Punishment: Against the Loveless World ⭐️⭐️1/2
✅4th/Wing: Crow Mary ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

March Mini - FINISHED
✅Case 1: The Same Backward as Forward ⭐️⭐️
✅Case 2:The Method⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Case 3: Little White Lies ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Summer Challenge 17/24
✅Author from somewhere I have vacationed:Seascraper⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Even/odd (Odd): The Scholar ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Chance (TBR Pile): Deadly Little Scandals ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅More than (100) pages: Earth⭐️⭐️
✅Author with 2 books: The Calamity Club⭐️⭐️
✅Author's Last Name starts with (S): Daughters of the Sun and Moon⭐️1/2
✅Related to the word Destination: The Forget-Me-Not Library ⭐️⭐️
✅Gritty Read:Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅A (2) word Title: Bad Blood⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Character with a Unique career: (Apothecary)The Verdant Cage ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Chance: (Author Acknowledges Elizabeth): Twelve ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Retails for within $5 of last read (originally $17): The Midnight Train ($20) ⭐️
✅Item on cover: a thing you would find on a beach: (bird) The List of Suspicious Things ⭐️⭐️
✅Features an Island Country:The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Book Published within 5 years of previous author's birth: Schindler’s List⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅Book with red spine: Mad Mabel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅A hidden gem a non-popular read:Our Last Night⭐️⭐️
✅Publisher you haven't read in this challenge yet: A Flicker in the Dark
✅Flip Flop: Let coin decide which book: The Gilded Blade
✅Book Published in 2023: Murdle: Volume 1, 100 Elementary to Impossible Mysteries to Solve Using Logic, Skill, and the Power of Deduction ⭐️ --I didn't realize this was only a book of easy logic problems (w/no real story), but I had ordered this book specifically for this challenge so I am using it.
✅Chance: choose an author whose last name starts with the same letter as your previous author:It's Not Her
✅A Watery Scene: Mazywood
✅First word in the book is (1) letter long: Hidden Pictures
✅Chance (backlist): The Marriage of Opposites//The Unknown

Best Books of Mini Challenge 2026:

I have now started to post the title that I intend to read, and add the cover when I'm finished.

2/26 - Scarlet or Letter - The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy

2/26 - Crime or Punishment - Var det mord? - En jysk retssag fra 1855 by Søren Manøe

2/26 - Fourth or Wing - www.goodreads.com/series/239012-monst...


3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts - Murder Houses of Edinburgh by Jan Bondeson for Case #47

3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts - Palmemordet: de tio spåren by Erik Magnusson for Case #50

3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts - Skalleknus by Arne Svingen for Case #20



4/26 - A Rhymeless Word In The Title - The London Monster: Terror on the Streets in 1790 by Jan Bondeson

4/26 - Author's Photo: Smiling With Teeth - Austlandet : 88 fabelaktige reisetips by Gunnar Garfors

4/26 - Knock, Knock. Who's There? - The Night She Died by Dorothy Simpson


5/26 - A Coffee Shop Scene

5/26 - Character Has A Roommate

5/26 - "I'll Be There For You"

9/26 - Book Title #1: "The ____ " - The Mythology of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill

9/26 - Book Title #2: "The _____ of _____" - The Mythology of the 'Princes in the Tower' by John Ashdown-Hill

9/26 - Book Title #3: "The ____ of ____ and ____ " - The Last Days of Richard III and the Fate of His DNA: The Book That Inspired the Dig by John Ashdown-Hill


10/26 Prompt 1: Set in Germany - Stasi: Östtysklands hemliga polis by Daniel Rydén

10/26 Prompt 2: Title would make an excellent name for a craft beer - Utopia by Merlin Coverley

10/26 Prompt 3: A thirsty read - Sveriges ölkrogar by Peter M. Eronson

2/26 - Scarlet Holy Bible: Book 02: Exodus Chater 39 verse 1 "From the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn they made woven garments…" 7 Feb 2026

or Letter Holy Bible: Book 65: Jude letter to the church 7 Feb 2026

2/26 - Crime Auld Lang Crime 15 Feb 2026

or Punishment Paws and Punishment 23 Feb 2026

2/26 - Fourth 84, Charing Cross Road 12 Feb 2026

or Wing Worst Wingman Ever 12 Feb 2026

3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts prompt #10 Without a Clue 9 March 2026
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts prompt # 21 Arsenic in the Azaleas 10 March
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts prompt #6
The Rise and Fall of Miss Fannie’s Biscuits 21 March 2026

4/26 - A Rhymeless Word In The Title Love with a Few Hairs 6 April 2026
4/26 - Author's Photo: Smiling With Teeth True Sisters 8 April 2026
4/26 - Knock, Knock. Who's There? Coffee Shop Girl 18 April 2026

5/26 - A Coffee Shop Scene Driftwood Dreams 14 May
5/26 - Character Has A Roommate Toby, Granny and George 15 May 2026
5/26 - "I'll Be There For You" We Are in a Book! 19 May 2026

Ah I didn't notice there was a separate thread for the minis so here's my list so far. Going to attempt them all.
~
✅2/26 - Scarlet or Letter My Ex, the Antichrist
2/26 - Crime or Punishment Between Two Fires
✅2/26 - Fourth or Wing The Book of Azrael
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts Dead Space (prompt 8)
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts A Treacherous Curse (Prompt 33)
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality (Prompt 12)
4/26 - A Rhymeless Word In The Title For the Wolf
✅4/26 - Author's Photo: Smiling With Teeth Japanese Gothic
✅4/26 - Knock, Knock. Who's There? Mistborn: The Final Empire
5/26 - A Coffee Shop Scene The Full Moon Coffee Shop (2020)
5/26 - Character Has A Roommate The Summoning (2008)
5/26 - "I'll Be There For You" Sentinel (2013)

2/26 - Scarlet or Letter - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
2/26 - Crime or Punishment - Weyward by Emilia Hart
2/26 - Fourth or Wing - A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 1 of 50 prompts - Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 2 of 50 prompts - Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
3/26 - Mystery Genre Challenge Pick 3 of 50 prompts - Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie
5/26 - Character has a roommate - The Deal by Elle Kennedy