Happy Thanksgiving! We are enjoying time with those most important to us and I hope you have the same opportunity. However, I’m taking a short break this morning to launch the 2026 Read With Lindsey Reading Challenge: Genres! This challenge is going to be all about our favorite genres with a new category every month, and corresponding weekly prompts to help you dig in a little more. As in past years, we’re offering two different challenges: the monthly (12 prompts) and the weekly (52 prompts). You can choose either, or both, as long as you are having fun and spending time in the pages of a good book!
I hope you will join us this year and explore pages unread with these prompts. All challenges begin on January 1st, but I’m posting today to help you add your books to your holiday wish lists and look out for great sales at your local bookstores, too!
The StoryGraph
Are we connected on The StoryGraph yet? Our account is @ReadWithLindsey over there and it’s where we will be hosting interactive challenge communities for both the weekly and monthly challenges. I invite you to connect and join the challenges there! I’m still learning the ropes and finding all the amazing features. Drop me a note if you have any suggestions on how I can make our challenges better on that platform.
The Monthly Challenge
StoryGraph Link: Read With Lindsey 2026 Monthly Reading Challenge
In past years, we’ve had monthly challenges that included holidays and cover colors, but I wanted to do something different this year. With the focus on our public funding for libraries and reading literacy programs in 2025, I am choosing to honor our librarians and the work they do for us by focusing on genres of literature. One of my favorite things to do when I’m working on a challenge like this is to ask my librarians for their favorite books in the category to see what they would recommend. They often surprise me with books and authors I’ve never heard of, or with a twist on the prompt I never would have imagined.
In choosing these genres, I wanted to find wide berths for your creativity. I also wanted to line up our weekly challenges with these monthly prompts this year to help you dive in deeper to explore the possibilities of each category. This monthly challenge is meant to be a simple and easy flow to follow – just 1 book each month, read at your own pace.
You can find the interactive challenge at the StoryGraph link above – feel free to add your favorite books in these categories to help out your fellow readers!
The Weekly Challenge
StoryGraph Link: Read With Lindsey 2026 Weekly Reading Challenge
If you’re like me, reading the genres is something a little new. I have my favorites like Magical Realism and Westerns, but this reading challenge is going to have us exploring deeper cuts you may not have even known existed. For me, that includes things like Afrofuturism and Portal Fantasy.
As in previous years, if you don’t enjoy one of our weekly prompts or find yourself not loving the book you’ve chosen, I encourage you to make a change. Reading should be all about fun and enjoyment, not painfully trying to finish a book you just don’t love. Feel free to skip a prompt or replace it with something you enjoy.
You can download a printable PDF of the weekly prompts here, but I encourage you to join us at StoryGraph for an interactive challenge. Feel free to add your favorite books to the prompts and share your feedback on the books you’ve read!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: The Escapes of David George, Gregory E. O’Malley
- Current audio book: The Wild Card, Carolyn Brown
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Cold Zero, Brad Thor
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