In 2026, I plan to read at least 52 books for one per week, and this coming year, I am trying out some reading challenges.
Well, like a dozen of them.
Because if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. Right? Bahaha! I am also planning to tackle 26 specific books either in hard copy or e-book on my shelves. I hope, hope, hope, that these 26 will help with the challenges.
If you’re not familiar with reading challenges, I’ll explain. The bookish community loves to tackle their book backlog in the form of a challenge. Depending on the challenge, you usually get a book a month, or a book a week, or maybe a BINGO board for the whole year. The challenges include themed prompts to help you pick books off your backlist, or find new books you might not have tried otherwise. It makes it fun, or at least more interesting than grabbing the first book you pick up.
There are Thriller challenges. Romance Challenges. Winnie the Pooh Challenges. Princess Bride Challenges. Bookopoly. TBRathon. You name it.
Go to YouTube and search for reading challenges and you’ll find a deep rabbit hole, just like I did.
This sounded like a ton of fun to me, so I am doing a bunch of them. Now, there’s no way I can complete every prompt in all the challenges I picked to try. I have to be realistic. Every book in every challenge is probably a couple hundred books, maybe more. So I am allowing myself to use the same book for multiple challenges, and I will probably also end up (cheating) and using the same book for multiple prompts in the same challenge. If I complete a full challenge that’s great. If not, I am not going to get heartburn. But hey, it’s all for fun and to tackle my TBR list, so I don’t plan to be strict about it.
For January, I settled on seven books. That’s ambitious, but I want to start out strong. Two of these books are not already on my shelves, so that leaves five coming off my backlog. The two new ones are from favorite authors I would pick up regardless.
So what’s on my list?
- The NFL Gameday Cookbook by Ray Lampe
Yes, it’s a cookbook. It may not work for reading challenges, and I most likely won’t include it in my overall 52 book total for the year, unless I am limping into the finish and desperate. But I am putting cookbooks on my TBR because I also want to focus on eating better this coming year. If I read through a cookbook and find a healthy recipe to make, it will help with that goal too. Plus, it’s playoff month, so the recipes from each team will be fun to review and maybe try. Doing it during playoff month will motivate me to do it now. I want to unhaul some cookbooks since I don’t use as many as I’d like, so I also want to check if this is a candidate for donation. I don’t think so, but it’s worth revisiting since I haven’t dipped into it lately.
- Eat to Beat Disease by William W. Li, MD
Notice the theme here? Healthy eating. As a retired pharmacist, I have a real appreciation for the science of health. Health and nutrition related reads are one of my favorite nonfiction categories and I read this category frequently. This book is pretty thick, but there’s some science that I may be able to skim since I am already familiar with it, and it has a lot of recipes included, adding to the page count. Bonus here if I find more healthy recipes to try.
- One by One by Ruth Ware [a new one]
I grabbed this one because Ruth Ware is a favorite thriller writer. After all the nonfiction, I will want an escapist read. This one also fits a couple of challenge prompts with a title that starts with ‘O’ and the ‘and then there were none trope’ it contains. Ruth Ware rarely disappoints, and she uses some surprising twists.
- Whispers At Midnight by DD Black [another new one, already pre-ordered]
I’ve met DD Black at a writer’s conference (great speaker by the way) and I enjoy his two crime thriller series set in the Pacific Northwest. I moved away from the PNW in January 2025 and reading about it is nostalgic for me. This book releases on January 6, so I can catch up with what his FBI team is up to now. It will be another quick escapist read for me. It meets a couple of prompts around thrillers. I expect the included author bio will mention his dog, Pearl, also–that’s another prompt I can fill. I never miss a book by DD Black, and I highly recommend him.
- You Only Live Nine Times by Gwen Cooper
This is a fictional follow on to Gwen’s hugely popular bestselling memoir about her blind cat (Homer’s Odyssey). In this new story, Homer is a detective. A cozy mystery with a cat detective will be a fun read. It’s set in Florida, which I just visited in December, so it’s giving warm winter break vibes. It fits a few prompts, including ‘suspension of disbelief,’ ‘life or death in the title,’ and ‘a story with animals.’ All of Gwen’s books are lovely, and I highly recommend them.
- Casters and Crowns by Elizabeth Lowham
I met Elizabeth recently at a book event I attended and was excited to pick up her fantasy book, because of the fairytale retelling aspect. It’s a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty. It’s great for fans of romantic fantasy, it has a high stakes curse, and it has enemies to lovers vibes. I am not a big romantic fantasy/romantasy girl in general, because a lot of them are spicier than I care for, and I like my fantasy books to be fantasy forward with the romance in the B story. But this year, I resolved to read a few and see what the fuss is about. They are so popular, and I feel behind the times. This is a nice clean pick to start me off. I am looking forward to it.
- Remnants of a Scarlet Flame by Cindy L. Sell
I needed another fantasy pick to balance out my thrillers. This one is a fantasy set in a world where dragons are believed extinct and sorcerers rule. It’s full of political intrigue and has a detailed magic system. In other words, it may or may not have some things in common with my own book coming out this year, and I want to see what those things are. It is also an award winner (like mine), including an indie award. I have high hopes for this being a solid hit for me. Fingers crossed.
Here’s a graphic with the covers if you want to take a look.
That’s all I have planned to read in January, though I may end up reading more if I have time. And if I can’t finish all of these, oh well. If I get four read, I am on track for my overall most important goal for the year of 52 books total.
If you have a favorite read from 2025 to recommend, or a favorite book challenge for 2026, be sure to comment!
Thanks for reading!
