Guide · Reading challenge
Reading challenge ideas for 2027
Number goals, theme goals and gentle goals, and how to choose one you'll still be enjoying in December.
A reading challenge is a promise you make to yourself in January. The good ones make the year's reading more fun. The bad ones turn into guilt by March. The difference is almost always in how the challenge was chosen, so start there before picking a number.
First, choose the right size
Look at last year honestly. If you finished eight books, a challenge of fifty is not a challenge, it's a wish. A good target is somewhere between last year and half again: eight becomes ten or twelve.
Better still, build it from the day rather than the year. Decide how much you can read on an ordinary day, and let that set the number. At about 300 pages a book, ten pages a day comes to roughly twelve books a year, twenty pages to about twenty-four, and forty-three pages to fifty-two. The reading goal calculator works it out for your own books and reading speed.
Number challenges
- A book a month. Twelve books. The classic first challenge, and very doable at around ten pages a day.
- Two a month. Twenty-four books, for readers who already read most days.
- The 52 book challenge. A book a week. Ambitious; best for people who already read daily and count audiobooks.
- Pages, not books. 5,000 or 10,000 pages in a year. Fairer to long books, so you never avoid a big one to keep your count up.
- Minutes, not pages. Ten thousand minutes of reading and listening. Ideal if audiobooks are a big part of your reading.
Theme challenges
These make the year more varied rather than longer. Choose six or twelve and tick them off in any order.
- A book from every continent.
- A classic you've always pretended to have read.
- A book published the year you were born.
- A book a friend loves and you've never tried.
- A book in translation.
- A debut novel.
- A memoir or biography.
- A book over 500 pages.
- A book of poems or short stories.
- A book set in your own city or region.
- A reread of a childhood favourite.
- A book chosen only by its cover.
Gentle challenges
For readers who'd rather build a habit than chase a number:
- Read every day. Even five pages. Count the days, not the books.
- Fifteen minutes a day. About ninety hours over the year.
- Finish what you start, or quit it on purpose. No more half-read books on the nightstand.
- Clear the to-read pile. Read the books you already own before buying more.
How to keep a reading challenge going
- Watch your pace, not just the total. Knowing you are two books ahead in May is far more useful than knowing you've read nine.
- Let every format count. Paper, ebook and audiobook. A challenge that ignores listening punishes your busiest months.
- Expect a slow month. Holidays and summer usually make it up. Falling behind in February means nothing.
- Change the goal if life changes. It's your challenge. Lowering it in September is wiser than abandoning it.
- Celebrate each book. Tick it off, share it, put it on the shelf. The small moment of finishing is the fuel.
In BookWorm, the reading challenge is built from your daily goal: each finished book stands on a shelf for the year, and a gold flag shows where today's pace says you should be.
A simple plan for 1 January
- Count last year's books, or estimate them.
- Pick a number a little above it, or pick a gentle challenge instead.
- Turn it into pages or minutes a day.
- Choose your first book tonight, so the year starts with something you want to read.
