Prompts: 2026 For The Love of Reading Challenge
About the Challenge
If you’re not already familiar with this challenge, the ultimate goal is to really fall back in love with reading. The term “Challenge” is a bit misleading because it makes it sound like a chore or homework. However, in this case, it’s also about pushing ourselves to read more outside of our comfort zones “for the love of reading.” That said, if you’re not loving a book, feel free to DNF (do not finish) it! There are no hard and fast rules to this challenge.
I got the idea for starting my own reading challenge in September 2020 when I was spending A LOT of time tracking my reading habits and progress for other challenges for the 2nd year in a row. Challenges that I knew I wouldn’t complete AGAIN because, you know, life gets in the way. Coming to that unfortunate conclusion broke my uber competitive heart, and I was having a difficult time finding resources to help me find books to match the prompts. So, after bouncing the idea around with a friend and then on Instagram, I finally decided to give it a go. Then came the naming stage, and so after yet a little more market research, I settled on the name of For The Love of Reading when it won the vote in Instagram polls. It’s also a play on one of my favorite all time movies, For Love of the Game.
How Does This Work?
These prompts can be fulfilled at any time, whether you read everything in the first month, throughout the year, or scramble in December to read everything. I don’t suggest waiting until the end of the year because that can be stressful to rush to read 12 books, which defeats the purpose of the comfort theme.
Follow Books, Interrupted on social media. You can find the Challenge on Facebook, Goodreads or Storygraph, and Instagram.
Using the list below, match a book to each of the 12 prompts to equal 12 books total. The prompts are open to interpretation - be creative!
When January 1, 2026 rolls around, start reading! Though, anything that’s technically finished in 2026 counts even if you started reading it in 2025.
Once you’ve finished one of the prompts, check it off the list! You’ll find printables later in this post.
Then, share your read on social media and make sure to tag @booksinterrupted and use the hashtags #ForTheLoveOfReading and #ForTheLoveOfReading2026. Using those helps us find everyone.
Since the Goodreads group, StoryGraph challenge, and the Facebook group are minimally active and slowly growing, I invite you to please join, participate, and share with friends to help this challenge community grow!!
How often you share is up to you! You can share when you start a book, during a read, once you finish and fulfill a prompt, and/or share all of your reads at the end of the month, or even just at the end of the year! Some participants chose to track their reads privately and simply follow along in the groups to find amazing recommendations. How you decide to participate is up to you - whatever is more comfortable for you!
Prompts
A book in the folklore genre. I have a very specific book in mind for this prompt, The Bear and the Nightingaleby Katherine Arden. Though I also think I may read a different book since I already read that one and am trying to get into the fae and folklore genre a little more.
A collection of short stories or poetry. This one can be any length! I know this is genre isn’t really everyone’s cup of tea, which is quite honestly the point of this challenge. And, selfishly, I have so many unread books that fit this category/prompt that I decided that this one will help me get through that shelf. Yes, I have a shelf dedicated just to poetry and short stories.
A classic novel you’ve been meaning to read. Oh, so many classics! What constitutes a classic book though? When I think of classic, I think of books published before 1950 that were, or still are, required books in many public schools. Think Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, and Pride and Prejudice.
A book from a series. This can be a book in any part of the series, whether it’s the first, last, or somewhere in between, it doesn’t matter. You also don’t need to finish the series this year, or ever for that matter if you don’t want to! I know I had Onyx Storm in mind when I wrote this prompt because I want to finish the series this year. I was also thinking about the Outlander series, but I know that’s going to take me years to finally finish.
A Sci-Fi or Fantasy novel. Again, this is a genre that isn’t really a favorite for some people, myself included, which is the reason why I included it in this challenge. I’m trying to venture out of my comfort zone with this prompt and overall challenge. You can easily find books that may fit this challenge through googling or looking at lists on Storygraph and Goodreads.
A debut novel published in 2026. This is meant to support new authors, especially indie authors. Let’s give them some love and celebrate them for all the hard work that it takes to getting attention in this overally saturated world of publishing and social media. Search social media for debut authors, or go to your local bookshop and ask for any debut author books. You can also find lists online via googling or on Storygraph or Goodreads.
A book in a format you don’t normally read. For me, this will be an e-book. I don’t enjoy ebooks primarily because it means being on the screen more when reading for me is more of a way to disconnect from the digital world. That said, the format for you could be very different whether it’s audiobooks or physical books. And honestly, I would even count hardcovers vs paperbacks being a different format from each other too as some people have a strong preference for one or the other or neither.
A book translated into more than one language. This can be any combination of languages. It can be translated into your native language or into any other language. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s at least 2 or more other languages.
A book on your TBR you’ve put off reading. TBR stands for “to be read.” You know, that book that’s been collecting dust on your shelf for the last few months or years? Yeah, that one. Or the one that’s been on your digital TBR shelf that you don’t have a copy of yet? Maybe you spent some good money on it or it was gifted to you or you’ve been eyeing it on your list for a long time? Either way, if it had feelings, it’d be lonely and deserves to be read!! Ideally, this book will be one if you’ve been meaning to read for several years, but this is your challenge and I want you to be as comfortable as you can be with this challenge!
A book set in the current season. I had Prague Spring by Simon Mawer in mind for this book because it’s been on my TBR for a long time. That said, it can be any book set in any season as long as it’s read in the season that it’s set in. If it’s a Christmas or holiday themed book, that could work too - for example, if it’s Valentine’s Day or the American Independence Day, and the season is a minor plot point, then it still counts.
A book by an author you’ve wanted to read. This is similar to prompt #9 in that this is more about the author vs the actual book. Maybe it’s a backlist book of an author, which means it’s a book by an author you’ve read before but haven’t in a long time and you’ve been wanting to read one of their old books. Or, it could be more of the original meaning of the prompt in that it’s a new to you author that you’ve never read anything by. I imagine I’ll read another folklore or sci-fi or fantasy book because those are genres that I’ve been wanting to read and there’s also a higher probability of me not reading any books by an author.
A book set in a place you want to visit. I’ve been wanting to read books set in Europe, though it could be a book set in the next town over if that’s a place you want to visit! It could even be a fictional place like Narnia!
Strategies
Take some time to figure out what you might want to read for each prompt. For example, for the first prompt, I’d like to visit India and Ireland someday so I now I know to look for books that are set in either country. I’ll post on social media - primarily my personal Facebook account, this challenge’s group, and on Instagram, and also do a Google search and then narrow it down from there. Then, I’ll make a note in my bullet journal and/or on my PDF printable for this challenge (found below!).
Check this blog often for recommendations, suggest some of your own and share your reading progress in the comments, or on social media using #ForTheLoveOfReading and #ForTheLoveOfReading2024. Don’t forget to also join the Goodreads group, Facebook group, StoryGraph, and follow on Instagram for recommendations and more interactive community fun!!
When you share on social media, be sure to share the graphics found in the next section.
2026 Challenge Downloads
COMING SOON!!
Click on the links below to download your graphics to share on your socials or use to track on your own.
2026 Shareable Graphic for Posts - JPG
2026 Shareable Graphic for Stories - JPG
2026 Printable One-Pager - PDF
2026 Printable for Tracking - PDF
