Happy Bookish New Year!
Happy New Year!
Were you awake for the arrival of 2026? We have an annual New Year’s Eve party at church filled with board games, so we managed to see the clock strike midnight. Then we headed home to bed. Except . . . on the way way I realized that my blog post was due TODAY! Yikes! So, here I am at 12:54 in my pajamas writing a blog post. Guess I’m keeping it authentic. Ha!
One of my favorite things about starting a new year is selecting the reading challenge categories I will use in my annual Posse Reading Challenge. When I first started the challenges back in 2020, I hoped it would be a fun way to engage my fans in my Posse Facebook Group. I never expected that I would come to love it so much just for myself.
As a book lover, you would think that making time to read is not a challenge for me. However, with a day job, a writing career, family and church activites, and all the normal business of life, reading often ends up taking a back seat in my schedule. Which is terrible! I love books. That’s the whole reason I got into writing. These reading challenges have held me accountable to read at least one novel every month and have helped me fall in love with reading all over again!
At first, I resisted reading challenges. I am a notoriously picky reader, and I worried that I’d be stuck reading books I didn’t like, and with so little reading time, I worried that would make reading a chore and suck the joy out of it. But then I realized that if the challenge was broad enough, any number of books/genres/authors could fulfill the monthly challenge if one showed a little creativity. Surely, I could make this work.
Hence, every reading challenge we tackle in my Posse contains broad categories or themes that readers should be able to achieve easily, no matter their reading preferences.
Now I adore reading challenges because they give me an excuse to dig through my TBR piles and Kindle folders to find the perfect book for the month. Books that have languished unread for weeks or months are suddenly prized possessions moved to the top of the pile!
If you are interested in joining our Posse Reading Challenge, click here to join the Posse. At the end of each month, I create a post where everyone can share what they read. Also, we send out reminders at the first of each month about that month’s challenge. And if it is one that might be a little tricky, we ask for recommendations and get tons of wonderful book suggestions.
Other groups do reading challenges as well. The Avid Readers of Christian Fiction Facebook group is doing one too.
You can find more details in their post here.
Each of their themes have a more specific challenge attached. Here are a few samples that look super fun:
- January – New Beginnings = Read the first book in a series to start the year.
- April – Pastel Colors= Read a CF with a Pastel Cover
- June – Candy Crush = Pick up a CF book where the cover reminds you of candy in color or style.
- July – Bookshelf Roulette= Close your eyes and pick from a shelf of CF (or on your eReader) at random to read.
I’m taking notes for a future Posse challenge!
Whether you have a resolution to read more or just enjoy the idea of reading in community while still having the freedom to read books of your own choosing, I encourage you to try a reading challenge in 2026.
Do you enjoy reading challenges?
What challenge categories from the ones above look the most fun to you?
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Happy new year, Karen! It shows your commitment to blogging that you were doing so early in the wee hours of this morning. 🙂 The reading challenge you’ve put together for The Posse looks like so much fun. I can see how these categories are just right for making the process of selecting a book that fits the prompt into a fun task.
Thanks, Becky! I wish I had remembered a little earlier, but I was still glad to jump in and get it done. I’ve really come to enjoy our Posse challenges. Sometimes they are exactly the spur I need to reach for another book instead of the streaming remote. 🙂
I had so much fun doing your reading challenge last year! You are right–it does make you dig farther into the TBR pile, which is a good thing! Sometimes I forget what’s in there, lol!
It’s been so fun having you join in, D’Ann! I’m with you – I often have to review my pile just to refresh my memory on what is there. it’s easier with my print books. The Kindle collection is much harder to remember.
Lol! Yes, things get lost on my kindle. My “Next” collection currently contains 114 books! 😬
I love this reading challenge! My sisters and I each participated in this last year and enjoyed it. I have a question about May: A book written by an author who’s first and last name are in alphabetical order. Does it mean an author like Julie Klassen, where the first name’s letter (J) comes directly before the last name’s letter (K) or just that the first name’s letter comes somewhere in the alphabet before the last name’s letter, like Karen Witemeyer?
I love that you do the challenge with your sisters, Sylvia! And great question on the alphabetical challenge. We typically define broadly instead of narrowly – so my intention is for any alphabetical arrangement to work, no matter how far the spacing is between letters. So Becky Wade would fit but Tessa Afshar would not. Looking forward to having you join us again in 2026!
I love the Posse challenge and have been a member since the beginning. It helps me look carefully through my TBR pile. I especially like Jan, May, and July for this year.
Happy New Year!
I love having you participate with us, Betty! 2026 is going to be a great reading year!
I have never done a reading challenge, probably because I have the same reservations you had. Maybe I’ll do it this year….
We also have a tradition of spending New Year’s Eve at church. We start with a service at 7, then a potluck (mostly consisting of snacks) and then play board games till midnight. It’s so much fun! I probably wouldn’t be able to make it to midnight otherwise. Happy New Year!
That’s sounds exactly like our event, Sherry! And like you, I’d never make it midnight otherwise. I’m an in-bed-by-ten girl. 🙂