2025 Reading Challenges
I’ll be challenging myself with my fairly large To-Be-Read pile in my house to fit books to various challenges this year. I may not complete them all, or I may extend them beyond 2025 just because, but I’ll give them my best shot. 🙂 These are the ones that looked particularly interesting to me.
I freely admit that many books may be shared across multiple challenges. Sometimes the challenges have the same prompts, so why not?!?
The Bibliolifestyle’s 2025 Reading Challenge
Hosted by: www.bibliolifestyle.com
Completed: 0/12
Hashtags: #bibliolifestylechallenge
- January: Read a book with “new” in the title.
- February: Pick a book featuring an unusual friendship.
- March: Read a book with a floral cover or nature theme.
- April: Explore a book set in a place you’d like to visit.
- May: Find a book that won a notable award.
- June: Choose a book by a debut author.
- July: Select a book with a journey or road trip.
- August: Read a translated book.
- September: Discover a book recommended by a librarian.
- October: Pick a spooky or atmospheric mystery.
- November: Read a memoir or biography.
- December: Enjoy a classic or a book published over 50 years ago.
Beat the Backlist 2025
Hosted by: https://beatthebacklist.com/
Completed: 0/24
Hashtags: #beatthebacklist2025
- Title includes a type of flower
- Less than 100 pages
- On your TBR for over a year
- Title starts with “V”
- More than 30 chapters
- Standalone debut
- Tiniest on the TBR
- Celebrity book club pick
- Way back in 2020
- As seen on social media
- A chapter by any other name
- Prequel/sequel
- Between 275-325 pages
- Beyond your perspective
- Originally written in another language
- Oldie but a goodie
- Extra, extra!
- Companion novel
- Silhouette on the cover
- Not first, nor last
- More than 600 pages
- Not your typical genre
- Childhood favorite re-read
- Librarian rec
Rose City Reader’s TBR 25 in ’25 Challenge
Hosted by: https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-tbr-25-in-25-challenge.html
Completed: 0/25
Hashtags: #TBR25in25
- Book One
- Book Two
- Book Three
- Book Four
- Book Five
- Book Six
- Book Seven
- Book Eight
- Book Nine
- Book Ten
- Book Eleven
- Book Twelve
- Book Thirteen
- Book Fourteen
- Book Fifteen
- Book Sixteen
- Book Seventeen
- Book Eighteen
- Book Nineteen
- Book Twenty
- Book Twenty-One
- Book Twenty-Two
- Book Twenty-Three
- Book Twenty-Four
- Book Twenty-Five
The League of Extraordinary Penpals – 2025 Challenge
Hosted by: https://extraordinarypenpal.com/ (via Facebook group)
Completed: 0/52
Requirements: Post in the Challenge Facebook Group.
- Genre Challenges
- Mystery
- Romance
- Fantasy
- Historical fiction
- Memoir/biography
- Nonfiction that’s not a memoir/biography
- A 3-genre crossover (any genres, not just ones listed here)
- Randomly grab a book with your eyes closed from your favorite section at the bookstore/library
- Read a genre you don’t typically read
- Cover Challenges
- Chose a book solely based on the cover
- Has a number in the title
- Has a book on the cover
- Has a door on the cover
- Has a body of water on the cover
- Setting Challenges
- Set in Africa (not your home country)
- Set in Europe (not your home country)
- Set in North America (not your home country)
- Set in South America (not your home country)
- Set in Asia (not your home country)
- Set in Australia, New Zealand, or Oceania (not your home country)
- Set in winter
- Set in summer
- Set around a holiday
- Tropes/Themes Challenges
- Character owns a small business
- Includes your favorite trope
- Includes a trope you don’t normally like
- Includes a recipe (bonus points if you make the recipe)
- Multiple POV
- Retelling of a fairy tale/fable/classic work
- Takes place in two or more different time periods
- Format Challenges
- Short stories
- YA book
- Poetry/novel in verse
- Epistolary novel or diary format
- Graphic novel
- Contains a map
- A book in translation
- A book longer than 400 pages
- Awards and Recommendations Challenges
- Won a book award of your choice
- A winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction or Nonfiction [Listed Here]
- A winner of a genre book award (Edgar, Rita, Stoker etc) [Full list of genre awards]
- Winner of a Los Angeles Times book prize [Listed Here]
- Author has won a Pulitzer prize (doesn’t have to be for literature)
- A book featured on a “Best of” list in 2024 [could be any list]
- A book someone else read for an LEP challenge (this year or last)
- Rereads/Books You Own Challenges
- Book you’ve owned the longest that you haven’t read
- Reread a favorite book
- Try to read a book you started but never finished (*you do not actually have to finish this time either, but make an attempt!)
- A book you bought before 2025
- Social Categories
- Post about one of your favorite books of all time
- Post a favorite quote from a book
- In December, post about your favorite 2025 read
Book Lover’s Challenge
Hosted by: https://bookgirlsguide.com/book-lovers-challenge/
Completed: 0/12
Hashtags: #BookLoversChallenge
- January: Characters Connecting Through Books
- February: Books about Bookstores
- March: Modern Retellings
- April: Characters Becoming Part of the Story
- May: Books about Writers & Editors
- June: Favorite Audiobook Narrators
- July: Books About Book Clubs
- August: Books Written Under Pen Names (Including Writing Duos)
- September: Books About Libraries and Librarians
- October: Characters Interacting With Real Authors
- November: Holiday Novels for Book Lovers
- December: Re-Read a Favorite or Choose One of Our Favs