2026 European Reading Challenge - My Sign-Up

 

Okay, fine, I'm just recycling last year's books from the total failure that was my attempt at this challenge. Wish me better luck in 2026!

Maybe I should start with these . . . . They are hefty and that seems to be my downfall as the year wanes.

All the details are here, if you choose to join me. We can tour Europe* together, thanks to the inspiration provided by Rose City Reader!

My list:

1. The Brothers Karamozov - Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia)
2. Don Quixote - Miguel Cervantes (Spain)
3. Wild card!  

*For challenge purposes, the countries are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2026 - My Sign-Up

Say what you will about my consistency -- or lack thereof -- in this challenge, it keeps me coming back for more. I like its simplicity. Maybe this is the year I keep my focus all the way through. 

I'm staying realistic and choosing Pike's Peak (12 books) for 2026. If I can do more, I can always upgrade later and if I manage that, yay for me! 

Bev at My Reader's Block keeps this challenge streamlined and maybe I won't be posting all my reviews in December this year, either. Hey, a girl needs goals, right? 

If you want to join and chase some of those peaks while clearing space on the TBR pile, sign up here anytime during 2026. Happy climbing!  

Pike's Peak:

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Color Coded Reading Challenge 2026 - My Sign-Up

I'm in for another year! Reading by color is one of my favorite ways to choose books. I'm not sure why I like it so much, but it definitely makes me pull books I might otherwise not get around to and put them front and center.

Bev at My Reader's Block runs this challenge smoothly and efficiently, and she's very tolerant of folks like me who produce reviews in a tidal wave at the last minute. 

Sign up here -- you can join anytime during 2026.

Here are my books for this year:

Blue: North Sun or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther - Ethan Rutherford

Red: Milk Blood Heat - Dantiel W. Moniz (Florida Book Award)

Yellow: Crimes in a Second Language - Elizabeth Sims (Florida Book Award)

Green: Trust - Hernan Diaz (Pulitzer Prize)

Brown: Without a Paddle: Racing Twelve Hundred Miles Around Florida by Sea Kayak - Warren Richey

Black: Cigar City: Tales from a 1980s Creative Ghetto - Paul Wilborn (Florida Book Award)

White: Reading the River: A Voyage Down the Yukon - John Hildebrand 

Another color (gray): Matters of Faith - Kristy Kiernan (Florida Book Award)

Implies Color (rainbow): The Antidote - Karen Russell   

2025 European Reading Challenge - My Wrap-Up

Sigh. This one was an epic fail. 

Maybe I shouldn't have picked two hefty books, but I did . . . and didn't crack even one of them.

Better luck next year, says I. Sign-up post coming soon. 

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2025 - My Wrap-Up

So much for optimism. I should have stuck with realism.

This challenge is a good motivator and I started strong (as usual) and then faded (also pretty much as usual). Oh, well.

In 2026 I will drop back to the doable goal of Pike's Peak (12 books). It's shaping up to be a busy year for me, so a more moderate goal seems like a wise choice.

Here's what I read in 2025 from the TBR pile, though:

1. The Great Hippopotamus Hotel - Alexander McCall Smith 

2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith 

3. The Beast and the Silent Blue - David O'Connor (Florida Book Award) 

4. Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver (Pulitzer Prize)

5. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (Radcliff's Top 100 Novels)

6. My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok (Pulitzer Prize) 

7. A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan (Pulitzer Prize)

8. Half the Night is Gone - Amitabha Bagchi (DSC Prize for South Asian Literature) 

9. Matrix - Lauren Groff (Florida Book Award) 

10. The Rural Life - Verlyn Klinkenborg

11. The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons from Working Together - Twyla Tharp 

12. Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow 

13. His Lovely Wife - Elizabeth Dewberry (Florida Book Award) 

14. The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature - J. Drew Lanham 

15. Infinite Country - Patricia Engel 

Reviews can be accessed here or under the Reviews tab.

This was a mixed bag of cozy mystery, classics, award-winning fiction, random nonfiction, biography, and memoir. That's one of the charms of this challenge: because my reading taste is eclectic, so are the books!