2026 Reading Challenge discussion

FROM THE MODS

Happy August!

👋 It’s time to bid a fond farewell to our moderator, Carri Carey. She has been amazing, but needs to leave the mod team to further pursue her education and career goals. She will be staying on as a reader, and will also continue to create our fabulous challenge badges, so we’ll still see her around the group. We wish you all the best, Carri!

👀 We are currently seeking a new Challenge Moderator to join the mod team before we begin our 2027 planning. Read about the requirements, responsibilities, and how to apply here.

🏆 Congratulations, participants, on a successful summer readathon! The Readathon Awards will be available soon. You can find them here.

📃 Please be sure you have read our group rules. Spam and book promotion posts will be deleted and the user will be removed from the group. We love having you as a member, so please follow the rules.

📩 Messaging is no longer available on Goodreads. You may communicate with the mods in the Questions and Comments for Mods thread.

GAMES & EVENTS
Welcome to a brand-new month of fun and games! Don’t forget to join in on the fun with the older games as well! There’s plenty of fun to be had, so jump in and keep the good times going!

Our new August game is a word search based on the monthly theme of Rust. How many words can you find?
The following older games are still available to enjoy:
▪ Alphabetical Add-On Story
▪ Five Letters
▪ Guess a Letter
▪ Last Two Letters
▪ Scattergories (Round 1)
▪ Scattergories (Round 2)
▪ Scattergories (Round 3)
▪ Word Chain (Book Edition)
Do you have an idea for a fun forum game? Please share your Game Suggestions with us!

GROUP READ
Our August theme is Rust, and our group read for this month is Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider , a romantasy involving rivals from land and sea, the manipulation of metal, espionage, and magic.

You can join the discussion or post your review of the book!

You can also vote for our September book with the theme of Forest, as well as nominate a book for October with the theme of Supernatural!

CHALLENGES
August brings new monthly challenges with the theme of Rust, and we’ll continue our third quarter challenges with the theme of Global Glory.

Monthly Challenges
The Patina Paradox is an open challenge to read classics and/or neglected books that have been lingering on your shelves.
Rust & Ruin is a prompt based challenge inspired by rust in our environment, pop culture, and more.

Quarterly Challenges
Build Your Own Hall of Fame: Global Glory is an open challenge to add new international, regional, and independent exhibits to your literary museum.
Glory of the Globe has prompts that encourage you to read award winning books from all over the world.

Yearly Challenges can help you reach your reading goals for the year. Check out A Guide to the 2026 Yearly Challenges to learn more about our year-long challenges!

Do you have an idea for a challenge or would you like to learn about leading a challenge? Visit the Member Challenge Ideas thread. Most of our quarterly and monthly challenges grow from our members’ suggestions. We would love to hear your creative ideas!

TBR TWINS
Share a book with an online friend while knocking off a read from your TBR list!

If you’ve signed up for August, find your TBR Twin here. Please reach out to your twin and choose a book to read together!

You can also sign up for September TBR Twins here, and we'll pair you with someone to read a book with next month.

BUDDY READS
Let’s read some books together! Buddy reads are a great way to read and discuss a book together with fellow group members. Feel free to join any discussion, even if you didn’t sign up!

We are reading the following books:
The Bloodsworn Saga #2: The Hunger of the Gods
Civilizations
Crescent City #1: House of Earth and Blood
The Fionavar Tapestry #1: The Summer Tree
First Lie Wins
Good Omens
Guardians of Dawn #1: Zhara
Hide
Hawthorne & Horowitz # 6: A Deadly Episode
Land
Marion
The Measure
Shadow and Bone #2: Siege and Storm
Shadows on the Tundra
Station Eleven
Throne of Glass #6: Tower of Dawn
Untold Legends: Mermaids Never Drown
The Wax Child
You Dreamed of Empires

If you would like to join any, please follow the link and let your buddies know you will join the read! Would you like to suggest a future Buddy Read or join a future one? You can sign up on our current Buddy Reads - Sign Up thread.

Finally, welcome to all of our new members! We can't wait to get to know you. We encourage you to stop by the Start Here thread, which provides useful information on how everything within the group works. And be sure to say hello in the introduce yourself thread. See you there!

Happy Reading, everyone!
Winter, SarahKat, TerryJane, Carri Carey, Blagica, Theresa, JennH, and Susan

Thanks for all you've done for us here, Carri! I'm glad you'll be sticking around as a reader.