We're not even going to try to play it cool. The sixth annual POPSUGAR Reading Challenge is about to up your 2020 reading game in a big way. In addition to the 40 standard book challenge prompts, we're bringing back the 10 "advanced" prompts for those bibliophiles out there looking for something extra. Are you ready for a plot twist? This year, the advanced section is all 2020-themed, from "a book set in the 1920s" to "a book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision)."
Another way the 2020 reading challenge is better than ever is that we now have an exclusive POPSUGAR Book Club on Facebook [1]! Join this well-read community of POPSUGAR editors and fellow readers from around the world to swap reading recs for the challenge, reach out when you're stumped on a prompt, share bullet-journaling ideas, or just chat about the latest page-turner you're obsessed with. In fact, one of the prompts is "a book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club," and our members have been actively sharing their reading recs in the group [2]. (Join the group to see the recs!)
We hope this year's challenge broadens your horizons and reboots your love of reading in 2020, maybe even pushing you to read something you never would have picked up before purely based on the "a book you picked up because the title caught your attention" or "a book with a great first line" prompts. Who knows, you may uncover a new favorite genre like bildungsroman [4], get a fresh perspective from "a book by a trans or nonbinary author," [5] learn something about "a subject you know nothing about," or be transported to "a country beginning with 'C'" that you've always wanted to visit.
Whatever path you take in 2020, we've said it before, and we'll say it again: the point of the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge is to have fun! So who's ready to get started?
Download our printable list here [6], checking off the books as you go, and pin the handy graphic ahead for reference. Share your progress on Instagram with #popsugarreadingchallenge [7].
If you're looking for an easy way to digitally track and rate the books you've read for the challenge, we'd suggest also joining this Goodreads group [8] made up of readers who participate in the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge [9] every year.
To help you get started, we're also sharing hand-picked suggestions from our editors and Facebook book club members for what to read for all 50 prompts that make up the 2020 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge!
— Additional reporting by Lilli Boice
2020 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
- A book that's published in 2020
- A book by a trans or nonbinary author
- A book with a great first line
- A book about a book club
- A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics
- A bildungsroman
- The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed
- A book with an upside-down image on the cover
- A book with a map
- A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club
- An anthology
- A book that passes the Bechdel test
- A book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it
- A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name
- A book about or involving social media
- A book that has a book on the cover
- A medical thriller
- A book with a made-up language
- A book set in a country beginning with "C"
- A book you picked because the title caught your attention
- A book published the month of your birthday
- A book about or by a woman in STEM
- A book that won an award in 2019
- A book on a subject you know nothing about
- A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics
- A book with a pun in the title
- A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins
- A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character
- A book with a bird on the cover
- A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader
- A book with "gold," "silver," or "bronze" in the title
- A book by a WOC
- A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads
- A book you meant to read in 2019
- A book with a three-word title
- A book with a pink cover
- A Western
- A book by or about a journalist
- Read a banned book during Banned Books Week
- Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
Advanced
- A book written by an author in their 20s
- A book with "20" or "twenty" in the title
- A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision)
- A book set in the 1920s
- A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics
- A book by an author who has written more than 20 books
- A book with more than 20 letters in its title
- A book published in the 20th century
- A book from a series with more than 20 books
- A book with a main character in their 20s
A book that's published in 2020
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett [10]
A book by a trans or nonbinary author
Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith [11]
A book with a great first line
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng [12]
First line: "Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that Summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down."
A book about a book club
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler [13]
A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides [14]
A bildungsroman
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo [15]
A book with an upside-down image on the cover
Less by Andrew Sean Greer [16]
A book with a map
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton [17]
A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai [18]
"The Great Believers recommended by The Girly BookClub [19]! I follow most of the book clubs out there but always seem to like their picks and Reese Witherspoon [20]'s! Especially this one!!" — Kristine [21]
An anthology
Smitten edited by Candice L. Daquin and Hallelujah R. Huston [22]
A book that passes the Bechdel test
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood [23]
A book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it
Euphoria by Lily King [24]
A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name
Say You're Sorry by Karen Rose [25]
A book about or involving social media
So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson [26]
A book that has a book on the cover
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin [27]
A medical thriller
The Price of Time by Tim Tigner [28]
A book with a made-up language
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin [29]
A book set in a country beginning with "C"
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez [30]
Setting: Colombia
A book you picked because the title caught your attention
Run Away by Harlan Coben [31]
A book about or by a woman in STEM
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang [32]
A book that won an award in 2019
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi [33]
Winner of the 2019 International Booker Prize
A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics
Room by Emma Donoghue [34]
A book with a pun in the title
Some Like It Hawk by Donna Andrews [35]
A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins: greed
The Pearl by John Steinbeck [36]
A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character
Neuromancer by William Gibson [37]
A book with a bird on the cover
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren [38]
A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela [39]
A book with "gold," "silver," or "bronze" in the title
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick [40]
A book by a woman of color
Fumbled by Alexa Martin [41]
A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane [42]
A book you meant to read in 2019
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams [43]
A book with a three-word title
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert [44]
A book with a pink cover
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston [45]
A western
Inland by Téa Obreht [46]
A book by or about a journalist
A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan [47]
Read a banned book during Banned Books Week
Looking For Alaska by John Green [48]
Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster [49]
"Reading a childhood classic you've never read. I can't believe how many I haven't read." — Katrina [50]
A book written by an author in their 20s
Know My Name by Chanel Miller [51]
A book written by an author in their 20s
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah [52]
A book with "20" or "twenty" in the title
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton [53]
A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr [54]
A book set in the 1920s
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler [55]
A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami [56]
A book by an author who has written more than 20 books
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson [57]
A book with more than 20 letters in its title
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher [58]
A book published in the 20th century
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller [59]
A book from a series with more than 20 books
Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce [60]
A book with a main character in their 20s
Lullabies For Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill [61]