Stuck in a reading rut? Consider a Reading Challenge!
While not a book club in the usual sense, a reading challenge can add a fresh twist to your reading life. Whether done alone or as part of a group, a reading challenge encourages participants to choose books that fit a specific prompt. One month, readers might be asked to read a book with a yellow cover. The next month calls for stories set in cities that have hosted the Olympics.
While many challenges begin in January and continue through the year, most are informal and allow participants to join in at any time. You can find reading challenges online, through sites like Goodreads and Facebook, and though smaller sites devoted to specific genres. Some offer a theme, others take a more free-form approach. And your local public library is a great place to find books that fit reading challenge prompts, no matter how unusual they might be!
Here are few Reading Challenges to try:
The Diverse Reads Reading Challenge – sponsored by Overdrive/Libby, this challenge encourages readers to select books written by authors from marginalized groups, featuring characters and stories about non-Western people and places. Choose ebooks, print or audiobooks, and read at your own pace. If you’d like a suggestion to get started, Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved are both written by Black authors and feature main characters of color.
The Pop Sugar Reading Challenge– The Popsugar.com entertainment website offers a reading challenge each year and this one is all about 20s. Characters in their 20s, authors in their 20s, books set in the 1920s, 20-20 vision, and more. The challenge includes 40 standard reading prompts, plus an Advanced list of 20s-themed prompts. Not sure of a book with an AI character, or a cover with a picture of a bird? Ask an Adult Services librarian!
The Goodreads Reading Challenge- The simplest challenge of all! No prompts, no schedule. Just decide how many books you want to read for the rest of 2020, enter your number, and go! Then hop over to AAPLD’s Recommend Me A Book page, and fill out a form for customized reading recommendations.