12 book reading challenge

Cover photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

This is a 12 book annual reading challenge that uses interesting prompts to help build a flexible to-be-read (tbr) pile. A book a month is a very good sweet spot for a more experienced reader with a busy schedule. I’ve added recommendations based on books I’ve read (the great and the meh), books I want to read plus some from my friends Dytodo Vox and its_zique. Many of the titles could fit multiple prompts including those in other challenges, but I tried to avoid repeats to give you more range and options. This list is just a guide. Feel free to swap in your own choices, and read however works for you.

If you are looking for other annual prompts check out my 6 book challenge and my 24 book challenge.

1. A book with an unreliable narrator

• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

2. A book with complicated friendships

• Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard
• Precious Thing by Colette McBeth

3. A book with multiple POVs

• Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
• My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

4. A book that’s been adapted to film

As recommended by Dytodo Vox (who has both watched and read these)

• The Martian by Andy Weir — I loved the movie
• Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick — personally enjoyed the movie more
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë — I’ve neither watched nor read

5. A debut novel

• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• Stay with Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

6. A self-help book

I don’t read self-help books but from my conversations with itszique I believe these are some good ones

• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
• How to Make Friends and Influence People by  Dale Carnegie

7. A book told in second-person POV

• Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

8. An epistolary novel

Epistolary books are books told through letters, emails, transcripts, etc.

• Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern
• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

9) A book narrated by someone below 13

• Room by Emma Donoghue
• Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
• Wonder by  R. J. Palacio – (I’ve watched the movie but the book is on my tbr)

10) A book that’s part of a trilogy

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness – (I’ve never read but Dytodo recommends)
• The Fire Thief by Terry Deary

11) Comics / Graphic Novels

As recommended by Dytodo Vox

• Sabrina by Nick Drnaso
• Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang
• Something Is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV & Werther Dell’Edera

12) A book about Sisters or Sisterhood

• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares
• My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite