The 52 Book Club’s 2026 Reading Challenge

I have loved and completed The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge in 2024 and 2025 on the blog these last couple of years, and I see no reason to stop participating for 2026 too! I’m excited for these prompts and looking forward to seeing what books I end up reading for them.

The 52 Book Club’s annual reading challenge is made up of 52 unique prompts. The goal is to match one book to each prompt, for a total of fifty-two books over the course of the year. Prompts are related to everything from specific titles, to cover designs, authors, genres, settings, themes, characters, etc. (Think of it like a giant bookish scavenger hunt!) We encourage participants to try books outside of their regular reading comfort zones and push themselves to read more, read differently, and get creative with it!

Visit The 52 Book Club to find out more and join the challenge!

Below is the 52 Book Club’s list of prompts for 2026. These prompts are linked to Goodreads Lists of books that fit each prompt. I copy and pasted them from here, for easy access, and so I can link to each prompt with the books I finish.

The 2025 Goodreads Lists:

1. Set in an ancient civilization
2. Kangaroo word on the cover – The Heavens May Fall by Allen Eskens
3. Written without quotation marks – Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
4. Has a dust jacket – The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
5. Featuring a conspiracy – The Will of the Many by James Islington
6. Title starts with the letter “O” – Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman
7. Title starts with the letter “P” – The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
8. A three-syllable word in the title – The Guise of Another by Allen Eskens
9. Featuring a natural disaster – The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
10. Spans a decade or more – The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
11. Requires suspension of disbelief – Replay by Ken Grimwood
12. A genre-defining read – Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle
13. Bookface – Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
14. Includes a character list – The Strength of the Few by James Islington
15. Subtitle with a comma – The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer, MD
16. Deus Ex Machina – Venco by Cherie Dimaline
17. Author’s bio mentions their dog – Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
18. Provokes strong emotion – Educated by Tara Westover
19. A nosy neighbour character – The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
20. Day of the week in the title – Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
21. Written in the 1800s – Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle
22. Spotted in a TV series or movie – Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle
23. Grumpy sunshine trope – My Friends by Fredrik Backman
24. Uneven number of chapters – Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
25. Includes a red herring – The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
26. Title in a serif font – Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
27. Two or more authors, one pseudonym
28. From a series at least eight books long – A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman
29. Set in the Arctic or Antarctic – The White Darkness by David Grann
30. Author related to another author – Never Flinch by Stephen King
31. Author related to author in prompt 30 – Horns by Joe Hill
32. Publisher starting with the letter “B” – The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
33. A standalone fantasy novel – The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
34. Inspired by the top-grossing movie the year you were born – We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
35. Character with a secret identity – Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub
36. Award-winning book from last year – Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
37. Started on the 26th of the month
38. Domestic fiction – Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
39. A book that cost you nothing – We Met Like This by Kasie West
40. Author’s first and last name start with same letter – Cover Story by Mhairi McFarlane
41. A guide to… – Start Where You Are by Sabrina Pace-Humphreys
42. Includes a handwritten interior font – Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
43. A Goodreads recommendation for you – My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney
44. Literary Device: Personification – Strange Houses by Uketsu
45. Biographical fiction – The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
46. Non-fiction about character in prompt 45 – Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley
47. A diacritical mark on the cover – Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
48. Related to the word “Nemesis” – Better Than Revenge by Kasie West
49. From the 800s of the Dewey Decimal System – The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan
50. Set in a castle – The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher
51. Includes a map – Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
52. Published in 2026