Reading Challenges Helped Expand My Reading Book Selection

Reading challenges have helped me expand my reading habits over the last few years. Being a Kindle owner, I found the Kindle Reading Challenges by accident while scrolling down the home page looking for books to read. It started with simply wanting to get credit for reading each day. Then I started wanting all the “virtual bookmarks” associated with their challenges. All of a sudden, I was participating in the yearly challenges in the group I joined on Goodreads, as well as the Goodreads yearly challenge.

A – Z Book Title Challenge

This yearly challenge opened me up to authors and genres I would never have tried before because I had to actively seek book titles beginning with each letter of the alphabet. That’s more difficult than you might think for certain letters. As a result, I found myself giving thrillers, dystopian and fantasy titles a chance.

A- Z Author Challenge

Another yearly challenge that I had to actively think about. Of all the challenges I participate in each year, this one that truly opens me up to new options. I now have a list of authors that I truly enjoy and authors I won’t ever read again and that’s ok.

50 State Road Trip Challenge

So this particular challenge is rewarding and irritating for me at the same time. And this may be the last year I participate in it. Have I complete this challenge before? Yes, I have completed this challenge for the last 5 years. However, if it weren’t for the fact I can use the same book for more than one state, I doubt I would have been able to complete the challenge. My favorite part of this challenge is the 2026 Reading Map I created in Google Maps to keep track of all the place I visit in books.

I’ve covered the three main yearly reading challenges I participate in every year. Do you participate in reading challenges? If so, what challenges do you participate in each year? Have they helped you expand your reading preferences? Let me know. And come back for a more in depth post on each individual challenge I am participating in this year and how I keep track of all my reading.