Hello, hello and welcome back! This is my final 2025 wrap-up post, looking at my reading challenges and how I did on them.
I don’t tend to join many challenges to be honest, mostly because my reading plans are chaotic to say the least… however, there are a few that tend to catch my eye every year and I do enjoy taking part in them. I don’t usually take them too seriously, and mostly just try to see how the books I’m reading could fit the prompts rather than plan my TBR, which is way I rarely (if ever) complete a challenge lol.
Most of these I track through The Storygraph, which makes it so easy to keep track of prompts! Do we have any in common?
Reading Goal
First up, the annual reading challenge! I always set myself a goal of 50 books per year, so it works out as little less than one per week. I have always achieved this so far, although 2025 was the first year I just made it – still, it’s all for fun so yay for achieving the goal and not stressing out about numbers!
A – Z
Another challenge I always love to join is the A to Z challenge. I just love trying to hit as many letters as I can!
I’m so happy I got 65% on this! I was missing titles starting with E, H, J, K, Q, U, V, X, and Z. Some of those letters are really tough though, so not too bad overall. I’m curious to see if I’ll manage to do any better in 2026!
#10AfricanBooks Challenge
This one is hosted by @blackgirlwithbooks and it’s a good way to try and diversify my reading a bit more. Including more African authors in my reading is definitely a goal of mine, so I’m a bit disappointed I only read 3 last year. I’ll definitely aim to do better in 2026.
Disney Reading Challenge
Hosted by Stephanie (@readingforthethrill). I love joining this every year, because it’s so much fun! And as a long-time Disney-lover, I’ll do basically anything Disney-themed…
I didn’t prepare a TBR for this one, but I’d say I did pretty well, completing 22 prompts!
25 in 2025
Finally, the only challenge for which I couldn’t avoid setting a TBR – 25 backlist books in 2025, hosted on Instagram by Ashlee (@bookswithnopictures) and Melanie (@lemonyreads).
I am notoriously bad at sticking to TBRs and at reading my backlist without being distracted by the shiny new books, so I’m actually incredibly pleased that I managed to read 6 books off my main list and 2 bonus ones! I’m looking forward to joining again in 2026 to see if I can knock a few more books off my TBR!
So that’s all my reading challenges for 2025! I’m mostly pleased with how I did. I join challenges for fun and to get a push where I need it (*cough cough* overdue NetGalley ARCs *cough cough), so I don’t really put that much effort into them during the year, so it’s even more fun to find out how I did after the fact.
What about you? Do you join reading challenges? Do you take them seriously or go with the flow like I do? Let’s chat in the comments!
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