Top 10 Reading Challenges for Adults 2024

Quick List

1. GoodReads Reading Challenge
2. PopSugar Reading Challenge
3. Storygraph Reading Challenge
4. Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge
5. Barnes & Noble’s Reading Challenge
6. BookRiot’s Read Harder Challenge
7. EpicReads’s Epic Reading Challenge
8. Libro.fm’s Audiobook Listening Challenge
9. Summer Reading Challenge
10. Global Reading Challenge

Details of the Best Reading Challenges for Adults

As an avid reader of 100+ books per year, full-time book blogger, and long-time participant in many reading challenges, below are the details of some of my favorite reading challenges for adults to help you work on your reading habits.

GoodReads Reading Challenge

GoodReads is the prevailing social media platform of the book world. Their reading challenge is best for those who want to track how many books they are reading in a particular year, and exactly which books they read.

This is my seventh year participating in this reading challenge, and I find it so motivating and easy to track my reads throughout the year.

Additionally, at the end of the year, they provide you with an overview of different statistics like how many pages you read, your shortest book, your longest book, your most popular book, your average rating, and more.

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

Here at The Literary Lifestyle, each year I host the popular Rory Gilmore Book Club Reading Challenge. Each month, we utilize a general prompt, like “a classic book” or “a book adaptation” and then readers choose pick or picks for the prompt from the full list of books mentioned on the Gilmore Girls.

We share our reads and book reviews on Instagram @TheRoryGilmoreBookClub, and it’s a great, very engaged group of bookish Gilmore Girls fans. Head on over there and follow us to join! I specifically created easy prompts for the first few months so latecomers can catch up in no time.

Barnes & Noble’s Reading Challenge

Retailer Barnes & Noble’s Reading Challenge contains 52 prompts (one for each week of the year) and is split into two parts: Books that have X (nouns — dogs, music, mountains, etc.) and books that make you Y (verbs — smile, swear, think, etc.) It’s a great way to learn about things and feel emotions all year long.

BookRiot’s Read Harder Challenge

BookRiot’s Read Harder Challenge is in its tenth year of pushing readers of its large book news website to diversify their reading and read outside their comfort zones with 24 annual reading “tasks,” along with a PDF and newsletter to help you perform the tasks and track your progress.

EpicReads’s Epic Reading Challenge

Another large book news site, EpicReads is hosting the Epic Reading Challenge, which is unique in that it has both reading and real-life challenges. Each month, there is one reading prompt to meet, as well as one “off the page” task, like sharing a book with a friend and visiting your local library. They give lots of recommendations to guide you along your way as well.

Global Reading Challenge

Or, you can challenge yourself to read books from across the globe to inspire diverse reading, education, and even wanderlust. I created a world reading challenge post to track my own reading across the many countries of the world and, I have got to say, even as an avid reader, it’s shocking how FEW countries about which I have yet to read even one book.

One thing that’s especially great about this kind of reading challenge is that you can perform it over any amount of time, and you can perform it along with other challenges too.

My particular global reading challenge contains a master list of countries you can download and fill in as you read books from various countries.

(Similarly, you can challenge yourself to read a book from each of the United States of America. I am almost done with my own Read Across America challenge and have lots of book recommendations as well as a printable PDF tracker for you.)