Sunday Salon: 2026 Reading Challenges

The end of one reading year and the beginning of a new one means thinking about which challenges you are going to be participating in. So today I am sharing the challenges that I will be participating in for 2026, and some I am contemplating joining. I am very much committed to making the challenges fit my reading as opposed to specifically reading for a challenge. The ones that I am thinking about joining would be more things that I would have to find books to read for it. 

Of course I am going to start with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. All the sign up details are in this post. If you love historical fiction or if you are just exploring the genre, we would love to have you join us as we read through history. 

New Release Reading Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog - Do you love reading new releases or older books. I love both! When you do review a new release book, all you need to do is add your link to the link post! This year I read just under 100 new releases, so I think I am going to aim for New Release Veteran, which is 61-100 books per year! All the sign up details are here. 

Bookish Books Reading Challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books- I love reading books about books, so this is another challenge I enjoy. This year I read 17 books which counted towards this challenge, so I am going to aim for the Picking and Perusing level which is for between 11 and 20 books! All the details are here. 

Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza - The Japanese Literature Challenge runs through out January and February and I am going to try and read a couple of books at least. I am also going to try and do my own January in Japan theme, but I am not sure how well that will go! Here's the link for the review site.

Tying in nicely with that is the Books in Translation challenge hosted at Introverted Reader. I will be aiming for the Bilingual level which is 7 to 9 books. This year I read 9 books, most of which were Japanese but with a couple of French ones thrown in for good measure. You can find all the details for this challenge here. 

In terms of the challenges I am contemplating joining, top of the list is Classics Spin. I did a Top Ten Tuesday post recently of Classics I Haven't Read so that would be 10 of the 20. Just need to add another 10 to the list. 

I am going to try and do the additional Goodreads challenges, depending on the themes that are chosen. In terms of my goal for how many books to read, I am going to choose 104 again. This year I read a lot more than that but it was mostly thanks to the fact that I wasn't working for the first half of the year. 

I am also still thinking about joining two of the challenges that Shelleyrae from Book'd Out is hosting. One is the Non-Fiction Reading Challenge. I read very little non-fiction. This year I only read three, but I am half way through another at the moment, which would fit with one of the categories! You can find all the details here.

The other one is the 2026 Speccy Fiction Challenge. Again, I don't read a lot of pure sci-fi or full on fantasy but I do love some magical realism and do read a bit of that, particularly in food related fiction. I just had a look at the categories and one is called Spectator where you are invited to "Read & review any speculative fiction book. Set your own goal, or none at all, just share what you read through the year". This sounds perfect for me, so no more contemplating. I am joining up for this one! Here are the details

I feel like I should add some kind of bingo type reading challenge but if I do it will probably by the Rachael Johns book club one.

In terms of other events of course I am going to be joining in on Paris in July. I am also going to be reading and cooking for Cook the Books, linking up to Foodies Read whenever I read something relevant and participating in events like Six Degrees of Separation, Sunday Salon and Top Ten Tuesday. I really enjoyed being part of Twenty Books of Summer/Winter this year so I will join up for that one again. I will also try to read something for Aussie Author August, Women in Translation and probably something for November (novella/non-fiction etc) on Instagram

I feel like that will keep me busy enough for the year.

Do you like reading challenges? What ones are you doing in 2026?

 I will be sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and with A good book & Cup of tea monthly link party hosted at Boondock Ramblings