Reading Challenges for 2016

I adore reading challenges. They give me an excuse to indulge in one of my favorite activities, reading books! They also help me expand my reading scope, and let me try out different authors or genres that I wouldn’t necessarily come to on my own.

I’m about to successfully complete the 2015 TBR Pile Challenge I signed up for. Woohoo! Look at all these books I’m going to finish reading thanks to this fun challenge!

Now I’m looking forward to next year’s challenges. I’ve picked out two new ones as the Roof Beam Reader blog won’t be hosting the TBR Pile Challenge anymore.

#RockMyTBR 2016 Reading Challenge – I had so much fun participating in a TBR Pile challenge last year, that I wanted to try another reading challenge that had to do with TBRs this year. I fear I will never run out of books for this type of challenge, and it helps me pull books from the bottom of my TBR pile at least once a month. This year’s TBR reading challenge promises more interaction with Twitter chats, and also encourages you to read with a buddy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge – This reading challenge wants you to expand your reading tastes, or at least sample things from other menus. “We encourage you to push yourself, to take advantage of this challenge as a way to explore topics or formats or genres that you otherwise wouldn’t try. But this isn’t a test. No one is keeping score and there are no points to post. We like books because they allow us to see the world from a new perspective, and sometimes we all need help to even know which perspectives to try out. That’s what this is – a perspective shift – but one for which you’ll only be accountable to yourself.”

There are 24 tasks to accomplish in this challenge. (See chart below.) You can add to the challenge experience by joining in social media discussions either on Book Riot’s Goodreads Read Harder Group or by following the Twitter hashtag #ReadHarder.

I’m already planning out the books I’ll be reading. The interaction on the Goodreads site is really helpful in giving you ideas for books to choose for each task. I’m very excited about this one!

 

If a reading challenge sounds like something you might enjoy, there are a wide variety to choose from, including:

The Cloak and Dagger Challenge – A challenge for mystery, crime, suspense, and thriller book enthusiasts.

Banned Books Challenge – This challenge encourages you to read books that have been banned or challenged.

Around the World Challenge – The goal of this challenge is to visit as many different and unusual places around the world through books as possible.

2016 Debut Author Challenge – The goal of this challenge is to introduce readers to this year’s wonderful group of debut authors.

And there are so many more – I found some challenges for Jane Austen readers, readers of comic books, horror, romance, steampunk, you name it. Whatever you’re interested in, I’m sure there’s a challenge out there just waiting for you.

So what are you waiting for? Set some reading goals for 2016 and have some fun doing it!