Hey folks! This post is pretty much what it says on the tin: can you recommend me some reading challenges?

I’m a little bit picky: because I read based on whim, I don’t like anything with too many prompts that would constrain my reading to certain themes, so broad categories work best: prompts like “read a book you’ve owned for more than a year”, “read a book in translation”, “read a book from the library”, etc, rather than “read a book published in [year]” or “read a book with a character from your hometown”. That said, some such challenges work for me if they have a limited number of prompts or you can swap prompts around.

Monthly/yearly/one-off challenges all potentially work.

Challenges I’ve enjoyed in the past include @TheAromaOfBooks’ BookSpin, @Puddlejumper’s Haunted Shelf and Gotta Catch ‘Em All on Litsy, Runalong The Shelves’ TBR challenge, and my own ComicsBingo on Litsy/StoryGraph. You can assume I’m already in on those.

I’m interested in SF/F, classic mysteries, romance, danmei and other light novels, non-fiction, comics (including manga/manhwa/manhua), … there are few genres I actually avoid, though I’m not keen on memoirs/biographies, self-help or gory horror.

I don’t know if I’ll join anything new, but seeing other people’s posts about 2026 challenges makes me both curious and a bit overwhelmed… so I’m essentially asking people to filter it all a bit for me! Selfish, I know.

Which means, yes, please tell me about things you’ve sure I’ve seen already and maybe explain why you think it’d suit me. Please include links and maybe even explanations if it’s a bit complicated. And yep, feel free to boost your own challenges.

Thank you in advance!

(Obviously I may or may not join any or all of these challenges, depending on how the mood strikes me. Please don’t be offended if I don’t/can’t join your favourite challenge or participate in something you run, or if I don’t stick with it if I do join. It all depends on my energy levels and the fact that I am enthusiastically whim-driven in my reading. I try not to add anything that ends up feeling like a chore or like it stops me reading whatever I feel like.)