Reading challenge ideas: book bingo, A–Z and goals you'll keep

A reading challenge is a game you play with your own reading. A good one nudges you towards books you would otherwise never pick up. A bad one turns reading into homework by March. Here are the main kinds of challenge, ideas for each, and a few rules that keep them fun for a whole year.

Pick the kind of challenge that suits you

• A number goal. A number of books in a year. Simple and motivating, and also the one most likely to turn into pressure. If you set one, choose a number a little below last year's.
• A book bingo. A card of 25 squares, each with a prompt. You get variety without a fixed reading list, and you choose the order.
• An A–Z. One book for each letter of the alphabet, by title or by author. Twenty-six books, and a good excuse to look beyond your usual shelves.
• A streak. Read something every day, even ten pages. It builds a habit rather than a number.
• A theme of your own. Only books already on your shelves, one classic a month, a translated book every month, a series finished at last.

You do not have to pick one. A book can fill a bingo square and a letter of the alphabet and count towards your goal, all at once.

25 book bingo prompts

A card that works for almost any reader. Swap any square for one of your own.

1. Set somewhere you have never been
2. Translated from another language
3. A debut
4. Over 500 pages
5. Under 200 pages
6. Recommended by a friend
7. On your TBR for more than a year
8. A classic you have always meant to read
9. Published the year you were born
10. An audiobook
11. A map at the front
12. A one-word title
13. Free square: anything you like
14. First in a series
15. A standalone
16. A reread
17. Non-fiction about something you know nothing about
18. Two points of view
19. Set in winter
20. A retelling of a myth or a fairy tale
21. By an independent author
22. Published this year
23. Recommended by a bookseller or a librarian
24. Poetry or short stories
25. A book you expect to make you cry

For romance and fantasy readers, a card of tropes is more fun: enemies to lovers, found family, forced proximity, slow burn, dragons, a fae court, a morally grey hero, a second chance.

A–Z ideas

• Titles A–Z: the classic version. Decide at the start whether a title beginning with "The" goes under T or under the next word, and stick to it.
• Authors A–Z: one author for each letter, by first name or by surname. It is the version that most widens your reading.
• The hard letters: Q, X and Z. Leave them open from the start and collect candidates as you go. Fantasy titles with "Queen" help with Q; for X and Z, first names do the work, as with Xiran Jay Zhao or Zadie Smith.
• A themed alphabet: an A–Z of only translated books, or only books from your own shelves.

Make the goal the right size

• Start from last year. Count what you read and set the goal a little below it. Beating a modest goal feels better than chasing a big one.
• Change it halfway through. If June comes and the number is impossible, lower it. A goal is a tool, not a promise.
• Let yourself not finish books. Abandoning a book you are not enjoying is how you make room for one you will.
• Count days, not only books. A streak rewards the habit of reading on ordinary days, which is what a year of reading is made of.

Rules that keep it fun

1. Choose prompts that lead to books you want to read. If a square only fits books you dread, change the square.
2. Let one book count for several challenges. Nobody is checking.
3. Look at it once a month. Ten minutes to see what is filled and what you might read next.
4. Keep what each book made you feel. At the end of the year, a full card is nice. A full card where you remember every book is better.

Setting it up in Storyfeel

• Games → Book Bingo: a 25-square card for each year. Click a square to write its Category and choose the book that fills it: the square is complete as soon as that book is Completed. Random fill deals you a card from a list of tropes and prompts.
• Games → A-Z Challenge: 26 letters for each year. Click a letter to add a book or an author; the books you have read this year appear as suggestions.
• My Journey: the Reading challenge card holds your goal for the year and counts the books you finish, and the Reading streak has a ✓ I read today button. Forgot a day? Tap it to mark it.
• Every year keeps its own card, so in December you can look back at the whole year, and start a new one in January.

Book Bingo, the A–Z, the goal and the streak are all in the free plan. Start your reading year in Storyfeel, or read how to keep a reading journal to remember every book on the card.