The 2026 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread

[pdurrant]

2026 Reading Challenge List Thread

Welcome to our 17th Annual Reading Challenge!

The Annual Reading Challenge is not a race, nor an “exclusive club”, anyone can join! This is just a fun activity that some of us have enjoyed doing in the past. Many of us have found reading challenges to be an entertaining way to set goals for ourselves, get ideas for books, and see what others are reading.

This thread is for you to keep a running tally for your chosen challenge. Please state your goals at the top of your post (in the title line if you can), and then start your list in the body of your post. As you read books, edit your post to update your list of books read, or other challenge status.

Please Remember: No discussion posts in this thread. Please use the other thread for that. Non-List posts will be deleted or moved to the other thread.

Discussions & Ideas can be found here:

2026 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

Post #2 of this thread is dedicated to a Table of Contents for all participants in this thread. Names will be added to this TOC in alphabetical order with a link to that individual’s post number from this thread.

Previous threads were for
2025, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 and 2010

[pdurrant]

Table of Participants

• afv011 - Post #19
• astrangerhere - Post #21
• bdub - Post #24
• BelleZora - Post #7
• bookaho!ic - Post #8
• CAFlanny - Post #9
• Dazrin - Post #10
• DJUNGELSKOG - Post #13
• DrNefario - Post #6
• HLS - Post #26
• Hollow Man - Post #15
• Indio777 - Post #25
• issybird - Post #5
• JSWolf - Post #4
• library addict - Post #14
• Loosheesh - Post #11
• magiun - Post #27
• Musicman - Post #18
• nana77 - Post #12
• pdurrant - Post #3
• sakura-panda - Post #20
• Tarana - Post #17
• ucfgrad93 - Post #16
• WashWest - Post #22
• Waylander - Post #23
  

25 Participants .

[pdurrant]

Last year I failed to reduce my TBR pile. In fact it increased by 55!

I start 2026 with 726 books on my TBR pile.

This year I aim to end with under 670 books on my TBR pile.

Books removed from TBR

Read and Reading

1. January 1st: You Don't Have to Have a Dream by Tim Minchin - £1.79 - 3/5 - 49pp
   Three speeches, with commentary. Interesting.
2. January 1st: Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones - £0.99 - 4/5 - 195pp (re-read)
   The first written, and an excellent story/
3. January 2nd: Mixed Magics by Diana Wynne Jones - £0.99 - 4/5 - 99pp
   A collection of short stories. Good fun.
4. January 2nd: The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones - £0.99 - 4/5 - 173pp
5. January 3rd: Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones - £0.99 - 4/5 - 204pp
6. January 4th: The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones - £0.99 - 4/5 - 242pp
   Enjoyable magic adventures
7. January 6th: No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes - £0.99 - 3/5 - 301pp
   Good retelling of Jason & Medea mostly from Medea's POV
8. January 10th: When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between by Ruth Jones and James Corden - £1.99 - 5/5 - 200pp
   Fascinating insight into these two and their work on Gavin & Stacey
9. January 11th: Sharpe's Storm by Bernard Cornwell - £0.99 - 4/5 - 227pp
   Compelling historical Military fiction
10. January 14th: New Under the Sun by Nancy Kress - Free - 3/5 - 162pp
    A novelette that should have had more depth at the end.
11. January 16th: Birds of Prey by David Drake - £3.37 - 4/5 - 306pp
    Enjoyable ancient rome with aliens and time travel
12. January 18th: Slow Time Between the Stars - £1.00 - 5/5 - 21pp
    Brilliant short story
13. January 19th: Murder in Norfolk - Free - 3/5 - 233pp
    It grew on me, but not enough to get any more.
14. January 21st: The Biography of Florence Nightingale by Lytton Strachey - Free - 3/5 - 26pp
    Feels more like anecdote than biography
15. January 22nd: The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield - Free - 1/5 - 158pp
    Literary Genre short stories about awful people
16. January 25th: Into The Thinking Kingdoms by Alan Dean Foster - £0.66 - 4/5 - 309pp
    Fun fantasy epic journey
17. January 30th: A Triumph of Souls by Alan Dean Foster - £0.66 - 4/5 - 300pp
    A good conclusion.
18. February 1st: The Samurai Detectives by Shōtarō Ikenami - £0.99 - 3/5 - 178pp
    Interesting, but the translation isn't good enough
19. February 3rd: An Amateur Corpse by Simon Brett - £2.33 - 4/5 - 182pp
    Charles gets there in the end.
20. February 4th: Spies by Michael Frayn - Free - 2/5 - 168pp (not on unread list)
    Well done, but not for me.
21. February 8th: Death of a Gossip by M. C. Beaton - 0.89 - 5/5 - 96pp
    Most enjoyable
22. February 10th: Crossfire by Dick Francis and Felix Frances - £0.89 - 5/5 - 259pp
    Excellent
23. February 11th: No Man's Land Volume 1 by Sarah A. Hoyt - £0.66 - 5/5- 288pp
    Really splendid SF
24. February 13th: When the Moon hits your Eye by John Scalzi - £0.89 - 3/5 - 319pp
    A bit of light fun. I'd like more story, rather than scattered incidents
25. February 16th: Reflections by Diana Wynne Jones - £0.89 - 4/5 - 309pp
    Fascinating insight into the author and her work
26. February 22nd: No Man's Land Volume 2 by Sarah A. Hoyt - £0.66 - 5/5- 250pp
27. February 23rd: No Man's Land Volume 3 by Sarah A. Hoyt - £0.66 - 5/5- 285pp
    An excellent middle and conclusion to the story.
28. February 24th: Translation State by Ann Leckie - £0.99 - 4/5 - 280pp
    I found the multiplicity of pronounces confusing. But it was good.
29. February 27th: Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson - £0.02 - 3/5 - 59pp
    Some interesting, many just weird.
30. March 1st: Some of the Best of Tor.com 2020 by various authors - Free - - 680pp
    

Discarded (0)


Books added to TBR

Freebies (Unread)

1. January 1st: The Rings of Grissom by Julia Huni
2. January 1st: The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield
3. January 2nd: The Biography of Florence Nightingale by Lytton Strachey
4. January 16th: Murder in Norfolk by Sadie Norman
5. February 10th: Bones at the Manor House by Emma Jameson
6. February 16th: The Voyage Out, Two Stories, Night and Day, Monday or Tuesday, Jacob's Room, Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Dalloway, The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf (not added to TBR)

Bought (Unread)

• January (7/£9.22): Agatha Raising and the Love from Hell, Planetary Spin Cycle, Waxing the Moon of Lewei, City of Blades, Birds of Prey, Slow Time Between the Stars, The Samurai Detectives
• February (12/£19.12): Death of a Gossip, Crossfire, Reflections, When the Moon hits your Eye, No Man's Land v1, Translation State, Bones in the Blackout, A Sorceress Comes to Call, Nettle and Bone, No Man's Land v2, No Man's Land v3, Locklands
• March (3/£2.87): Crampton Hodnet, Femina, Swordheart
• April (0/£0.00):
• May (0/£0.00):
• June (0/£0.00):
• July (0/£0.00):
• August (0/£0.00):
• September (0/£0.00):
• October (0/£0.00):
• November (0/£0.00):
• December (0/£0.00):

Analysis
TBR: 726
Books read: 29 (includes 5 freebies, 2 not on TBR, 0 abandoned)
Books otherwise removed from TBR pile: 0 (0 duplicates, 0 discarded, 0 already read)

Books removed from TBR pile: 27
Books added to TBR pile: 27 (includes 5 freebies, 0 omnibuses counted as 0)
Removed/Added: 1.00
Net reduction for 2025: 0

Non-free books read: 22 (includes 1 re-read)
Total cost of books read: £25.37
Average cost of books read: £1.15

Non-free books bought: 22 (includes 0 not added to TBR, 0 omnibuses counted as 0)
Total cost of books bought: £32.21
Average cost of books bought: £1.46

Rating System:
1: Bad
2: Only OK-ish (Or not to my taste.)
3: OK to good
4: Excellent
5: Wonderful

Pages are as given by the ADE algorithm in Calibre, or from the Amazon web page.

[JSWolf]

To be edited later

[issybird]

I'm struggling to get started this year, so I think I'll set a goal of nine apiece for history by the ancients and the dark ages plus two doorstops. As ever, I'm setting a benchmark of 120 books total on the year. I'm linking to my shelves at Goodreads for my goals.

History by the ancients

Dark Ages

Doorstops

120 books

[DrNefario]

Read more than I buy.

Bought: 7
Bundles: 1 (40 books)
Free: 8

Read: 13

Books read:
1. The Thief of Legacy - Andrew Simpson (k) - 590 b
2. Charmed Life - Diana Wynn Jones (k) - 215
3. Facing the Music - Hannah Spearritt (p) - 223
4. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood (k) - 522
5. Zero Car - Alex Knowles (k) - 352
6. The Warrior Who Carried Life - Geoff Ryman (k) - 214
---
7. Mage Tank - Cornman (k) - 736
8. The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry (anthology) - Sean Wallace (ed) (k) - 504
9. Warrior: En Garde - Michael A Stackpole (e) - 342
10. The Magicians of Caprona - Diana Wynn Jones (k) - 213
11. Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things? - Pierre Novellie (k) - 291 b
12. Bloodmage - Stephen Aryan (k) - 482
13. The Warhog Paladins - Jer Patch (k) - 350
---

Monthly Breakdown:

Spoiler:

January
Bought: 1 (£0.99)
Free: 4
Read: 6 (£4.62)
Pages: 2116

February
Bought: 5 (£4.73)
Bundles: 1 (40 books @ £13.02)
Free: 4
Read: 7 (£9.69)
Pages: 2918

March
Bought: 1 (£0.99)

Achievements:

1. Buy It, Read It. Start at least 50% of the books I buy.
Current total: 0/7 (0%)

2. King of the Mountains. My 5 longest books should total over 3000 pages.
Current total: 2834

Spoiler:

736 - Mage Tank - Cornman
590 - The Thief of Legacy - Andrew Simpson
522 - The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
504 - The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry - Sean Wallace (ed)
482 - Bloodmage - Stephen Aryan

3. Paper Chase. Reduce my unread paper book collection.
Out: 1
In: 0
Net reduction: 1

4. Never Gonna Be Respectable. Read a classic or literary-award-adjacent book. COMPLETED
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood - Booker winner

5. He Scores. Read a book by Nevil Shute. This is a bit of an annual tradition since I inherited my father's collection, so I thought I would make it official.

6. Bundleer. Ongoing attempt to get value-for-money from bundles by spreading the cost over books read. OK is under £5 (the price of an average ebook), Good is under £2 per book.

Spoiler:

Storybundle Video Games (Dec 2020) - £23.24 - Read: 12 - Cost per book read: £1.94 - Value: Good
Storybundle Video Games 2 (Feb 2022) - £11.50 - Read: 5 - Cost per book read: £2.30 - Value: OK
Humble SF (Jul 2014) - £7.24 - Read: 3 - Cost per book read: £2.41 - Value: OK
Humble 1 (Oct 2012) - £9.66 - Read: 4 - Cost per book read: £2.42 - Value: OK
Humble Post-Apocalypse (Mar 2015) - £10.43 - Read: 4 - Cost per book read: £2.60 - Value: OK
Poisoned Pen (Feb 2012) - £5.94 - Read: 2 - Cost per book read: £2.97 - Value: OK
Humble 2 (Jul 2013) - £6.87 - Read: 2 - Cost per book read: £3.44 - Value: OK
Humble Battletech (Apr 2024) - £23.78 - Read: 4 - Cost per book read: £5.95 - Value: Poor
Young Wizards (Jan 2012) - £21.55 - Read: 2 - Cost per book read: £10.78 - Value: Poor
Humble Martha Wells (Aug 2025) - £13.37 - Read: 1 - Cost per book read: £13.37 - Value: Poor
Humble Dragonlance (Mar 2025) - £14.27 - Read: 1 - Cost per book read: £14.27 - Value: Poor
Humble Modesitt (Sep 2023) - £14.42 - Read: 1 - Cost per book read: £14.42 - Value: Poor
Humble Forgotten Realms (Feb 2026) - £13.02 - Read: 0 - Cost per book read: infinite - Value: Poor
Humble Tchaikovsky (Dec 2025) - £13.63 - Read: 0 - Cost per book read: infinite - Value: Poor

7. The Wonder Years. Re-read 1 formative SF/F work published in each year from 1970. An exercise I am doing elsewhere that I think I will also track here.
Last completed year: 1987

Spoiler:

Read in 2024:
1970 - Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny
1971 - Trillions - Nicholas Fisk
1972 - An Alien Heat - Michael Moorcock
1973 - Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clarke (not reread)
1974 - Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion - Terrance Dicks
1975 - Crisis on Conshelf Ten - Monica Hughes
1976 - Gate of Ivrel - C J Cherryh
1977 - Gateway - Frederik Pohl
1978 - The Moon Raiders - Patrick Moore
Read in 2025:
1979 - The 2000ad Annual 1980 - Various
1980 - Starstormers - Nicholas Fisk
1981 - Downbelow Station - C J Cherryh
1982 - Pawn of Prophecy - David Eddings
1983 - On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony
1984 - Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
1985 - The Postman - David Brin
1986 - A Blackbird in Silver - Freda Warrington
1987 - Wolf in Shadow - David Gemmell
Read in 2026:

8. Return of Alphablast. Read a novel whose title begins with each letter of the alphabet, in reverse order, Z-A.
Last completed letter: Z

Spoiler:

Z - Zero Car - Alex Knowles
Y
X
W
V
U
T
S
R
Q
P
O
N
M
L
K
J
I
H
G
F
E
D
C
B
A

9. 2025 Catch-up. I failed my main purchase goals for 2025, so I'm going to attempt a catch-up in 2026. Read 25 books purchased in 2025.
Books read: 7/25

Spoiler:

Charmed Life - Diana Wynn Jones
Facing the Music - Hannah Spearritt
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Mage Tank - Cornman
Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry - Sean Wallace (ed)
Magicians of Caprona - Diana Wynn Jones
Bloodmage - Stephen Aryan

2026 changes: No longer recording Borrowed and Expired counts, and will instead mark borrowed books with a b when read.

Legend:
(p) paperback, (h) hardback, (k) kindle, (e) epub, (i) ibook, (f) pdf, (a) audio, (w) web, r reread, b borrowed
On target, Off target, Completed

[BelleZora]

In 2026 I plan to read at least 60 books set around the world starting with Africa.

1. Morocco - The Spider's House by Paul Bowles 4/5
2. Algeria - The Stranger by Albert Camus 4/5
3. Tunisia - The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai 4/5
4. Libya - The Bleeding of the Stone by Ibrahim al-Koni 3/5
5. Egypt - Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi 4/5
6. Sudan - Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela 4/5
7. Morocco - Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami 3/5
8. Algeria - The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles 3/5
9. Benin - The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin 2/5
10. Nigeria - The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré 5/5
11. Nigeria - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 4/5
12. Ghana - His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie 3/5
13. Burkina Faso - American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson 4/5
14. Cabo Verde - The Trade by Chris Thrall 3/5
15. Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone - Allah is Not Obliged by Ahmadou Kourouma 3/5
16. Gambia, US - Roots by Alex Haley 5/5
17. Guinea-Bissau – The Ultimate Tragedy by Abdulai Sila 2/5
18. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee 4/5
19. Uganda, South Sudan - All the Glimmering Stars by Mark Sullivan 4/5
20. Nigeria - Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 4/5
21. Mauritania - The Desert and the Drum by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk 3/5
22. São Tomé and Príncipe - Native Dance: An African Story by Gervasio Kaiser 1/5
23. South Africa - When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith (reading)

[bookaho!ic]

Count me in wont hit my 2025 100 this year. So 2026. Let's set it at 75

March
Dead Memories by Angela Marsons

February 7 Read
Play Dead by Angela Marsons
Blood Lines by Angela Marsons
Their Deadly Truth by Carla Kovach
Dead Souls by Angela Marsons
Broken Bones by Angela Marsons
Dying Truth by Angela Marsons
Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons

JANUARY 9 Read
Long Shadows by David Baldacci
The Book Club Killer by Ross Greenwood
Hold your Tongue by Deborah Masson
Out For Blood by Deborah Masson
From the Ashes by Deborah Masson
First Blood by Angela Marsons
Silent Scream by Angela Marsons
Evil Games By Angela Marsons
Lost Girls by Angela Marsons

[CAFlanny]

Goals for 2026:

• Read 20,000 pages

• StoryGraph Mobileread Reading Challenge

• Reduce TBR: 50% of read books from owned TBR - 9/15

• 12 Nonfiction books - 2/12

• 6 Classics - 2/6

I start the year with a TBR of 266.
Pages Read: 4,161/20,000
Current TBR: 258

TBR: 9
Kindle Unlimited: 1
Kobo Plus: 2
Library: 1
Borrowed: 0
Freebie: 2

MR StoryGraph Challenge:
January: COMPLETED
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:

[Dazrin]

Same goal for 2026 at 12,000 pages. This has worked well the last few years, although if I meet this as early as I did last year I will probably increase it.

---

Page Goal: Read 12,000 Pages in 2026
Status as of March 3: 3,190 pages read, 14 books/short stories completed (18,780 projected)

2026 Stats:

• Novels/Novellas (>50 pages): 9 (64% books / 97% pages)
• Short Stories (< 50 pages): 5 (36% books / 3% pages)
• Audiobooks: 9 / 73h 14m (64%)
  • DarkGreen indicates hybrid e-book/audiobook.
• Library Books: 7 (50%)

---

Current and upcoming books:

• Antihero (Orphan X 11) - Gregg Hurwitz - Read by Scott Brick

Spoiler:

Completed books, ordered by finish date:

January: 7 book(s), 1,551 pages, 18,262 projected

• Halcyon Afternoon (Mongolian Wizard 10) - Michael Swanwick
• Dragons of Paris (Mongolian Wizard 11) - Michael Swanwick
• The Ministry of Time - Kaliane Bradley - Read by George Weightman, Katie Leung
• Nettle & Bone - Ursula Vernon - Read by Amara Jasper
• The Wee Free Men (Discworld 30) - Terry Pratchett
• Replaceable You - Mary Roach - Read by Mary Roach
• The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

February: 6 book(s), 1,127 pages
Total: 13 books, 2,678 pages, 16,568 projected

• Leviathan (Leviathan 1) - Scott Westerfeld - Read by Alan Cumming
• Wend-Way-Go - Pratt. Tim - Read by Wil Wheaton (Link)
• Swarm X1048 - Ethological Field Report: Canis Lupus Familiaris, '6' - F.E. Choe - Read by Wil Wheaton (Link)
• Lily, The Immortal - Kylie Lee Baker - Read by Wil Wheaton (Link)
• The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton
• Twelve Months (Dresden 18) - Jim Butcher - Read by James Marsters

March: 1 book(s), 512 pages
Total: 14 books, 3,190 pages, 18,780 projected

• The Relentless Legion (The Divide 3) - J.S. Dewes - Read by Andrew Eiden, Nicol Zanzarella, Anthony Rey Perez

---

My lists: 2011 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 2026

[Loosheesh]

I'm only listing counts with genres ...

Jan - 3 NF


Key

Spoiler:

F - Fiction
NF - Nonfiction

[nana77]

Inn.
I'll keep my personal goal low, so any book readed more feels a plus.
My challenge is to read the Urania (Mondadori) sci-fi monthly (3-4 ebooks), keep a reading on a comic/manga serie, and add something from others' lectures.
Thanks in advance.
Ps: some lists in there are abominable (not in a negative meaning), commends!

January
"Ascension", by Nicolas Binge (2023)
"Austral", by Paul McAuley (2017)
"Dream Dancer", by Janet Morris (1980)
"Aliens 4", by Sturgeon (from 1944 to 1962 in this translated edition)
"The Cosmic Rape", by Sturgeon (1977 edition)
"The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens", by L. Sprague de Camp (1953)
"The Genocides" by Thomas M. Disch (original was 1965, in here a new translation from 2025)
"Infinite Stars" (2017), by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

[DJUNGELSKOG]

Placeholder

[library addict]

Planning to take it easier in 2026 after reading a lot in the past few years, but still put more of a dent in my TBR. My goals include:

• Start two "in progress" series still being published (books released so far already in TBR).
• Pick 10 “Must Read” books for the year from my huge digital TBR mountain (not including any new releases)
• Keep up with all new releases by my favorite/autobuy authors

January 2026
Read 11 books.

February 2026
Read 13 books.

March 2026

April 2026

May 2026

June 2026

July 2026

August 2026

September 2026

October 2026

November 2026

December 2026

[Hollow Man]

Completed:

• The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle
• Pet Semetary - Stephen King
• The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan
• East of Eden - John Steinbeck
• Young Zaphod Plays It Safe - Douglas Adams
• Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Currently Reading:

• A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
• Pattern Recognition - William Gibson