Hey! So I wanted to make a list of books I hope to read this year that can fit the categories for the POPSUGAR reading challenge. I don’t have all of the prompts filled as I might find other books to fit the prompts, plus I’m giving myself options since my goal is to read 25 books this year, not 52. (But if I do all of these challenges, then yay for me!)

I won’t necessarily be reading these in the order listed, either, since I’m such a mood reader. I also picked as many books as I could already on my shelves, on my kindle, or on audible that I already own.

So anyway, here’s the official list with my choices for books, and here’s where you can find their pretty printable list on their site!

2020 Challenge – Regular prompts

1. A book that’s published in 2020 – Remembrance by Rita Woods
2. A book by a trans or nonbinary author – The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
3. A book with a great first line – An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
4. A book about a book club – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
5. A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
6. A bildungsroman – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
7. The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed – All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (I had my husband pick with his eyes closed)
8. A book with an upside-down image on the cover – Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust
9. A book with a map – The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
10. A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club – The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
11. An anthology – The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
12. A book that passes the Bechdel test – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
13. A book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it – Renegades by Marissa Meyer
14. A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name – The Wicked King by Holly Black
15. A book about or involving social media – Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
16. A book that has a book on the cover – Persuasion by Jane Austen
17. A medical thriller – The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
18. A book with a made-up language – Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
19. A book set in a country beginning with “C” – Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
20. A book you picked because the title caught your attention – The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
21. A book published the month of your birthday – The Color Project by Sierra Abrams
22. A book about or by a woman in STEM – Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
23. A book that won an award in 2019 – Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
24. A book on a subject you know nothing about – The Morrigan: Celtic Goddess of Magick and Might by Courtney Weber
25. A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
26. A book with a pun in the title – Dying to Please by Linda Howard
27. A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
28. A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character – Wires and Nerves vol 1 by Marissa Meyer
29. A book with a bird on the cover – This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
30. A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader – Becoming by Michelle Obama
31. A book with “gold,” “silver,” or “bronze” in the title – The Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simons
32. A book by a WOC – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
33. A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
34. A book you meant to read in 2019 – Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
35. A book with a three-word title – Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
36. A book with a pink cover – The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
37. A Western – Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
38. A book by or about a journalist – Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
39. Read a banned book during Banned Books Week – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi
40. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge – 2017: Involving a mythical creature – A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan

2020 Challenge – Advanced prompts

1. A book written by an author in their 20s – Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
2. A book with “20” or “twenty” in the title – Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
3. 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
4. A book set in the 1920s – Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
5. A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
6. A book by an author who has written more than 20 books – Vision in White by Nora Roberts
7. A book with more than 20 letters in its title – The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
8. A book published in the 20th century – Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
9. A book from a series with more than 20 books – Noragami vol 21 by Adachitoka
10. A book with a main character in their 20s – Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

And that’s it! Those are the 50 books I hope to read in 2020, but my overall reading goal is to read 25 books, so if I read half of this list, I’ll consider that a win.

Let’s chat!

What are some of your reading goals for 2020? What book would you read that takes place in Japan? Or what about a book about or by a woman in STEM? Let me know!