The 2026 PS Reading Challenge Came Early This Year – Just in Time For Reading Season
They say the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, but around these parts, we know nothing tops the launch of the annual Popsugar Reading Challenge — our take on a virtual book club that connects book lovers all around the world. That’s part of the reason we’re giving readers an extra month this year to get started working through the 50 prompts that we’ve compiled, each one designed to keep your bibliophile juices flowing and your library card dust-free.
While it’s possible that some of the books you’ll choose to read over the next year won’t be rosy in nature (I, for one, love a dark and twisted read), the theme for the 2026 Reading Challenge certainly is; not just rosy, but also leafy and viney and all-around generative. The idea is that our prompts will “plant” your “garden” (ahem, your personal library) with bookspo, and that, over the span of the year, your hearts, brains, and bookshelves will blossom with the great reads you and all the eager readers in the PS Book Club Facebook group have nurtured.
A couple of this year’s prompts reflect that garden theme, like “a book that takes place during harvesting season” and “a book with any type of fruit on the cover or in the title.” Others take inspiration from some of our favorite PS stories from 2025, like “a book with a dad as the primary caregiver” (shout-out to dad clubs) and “a book about a granny hobby.” And some — like “a book set in Michigan or written by an author from Michigan,” aka the 26th state — are an homage to the number 26, looking ahead to next year and the bounty that 2026 will hopefully bring. Maybe “a book that makes you want to travel to Italy” will inspire you to attend the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan?
In typical Reading Challenge style, our team has also been hard at work crafting some IRL extras to help you keep your 2026 reading goals on track, including a printable “bouquet” — but instead of flowers, each stem is a different prompt. You can download the printable list of book prompts here, the sheet of book selections that will become your bouquet here, and the book-cover tracking sheet here. And if you haven’t already, join the PS Book Club on Facebook and the Ultimate PS Reading Challenge on Goodreads to keep in touch with your reading buddies throughout the year.
However you choose to tackle the 2026 prompts, we hope they help germinate a very fruitful year of reading.
2026 PS Reading Challenge Prompts
A book where gardening or a garden is central to the plot
A book that features a platonic friendship between a man and woman
A book you meant to read in 2025
A book that starts with the letter “Z”
A book about women astronauts
A book with an overweight main character whose story isn’t about losing weight
A book about a granny hobby
A book about a sexless marriage
A book with a “type C” character
A book about a horse or with a horse on the cover
A book with a dad as the primary caregiver
A book with “pop” or “sugar” in the title
A book featuring a character with a hidden past
A book set in Michigan or written by an author from Michigan
A book about new beginnings
A book less than 260 pages
A book about your favorite event in the Winter Olympics
A love story that defies social boundaries
A book about teen angst
A book with a character who does Pilates or Lagree
A book about a bachelorette trip
A book about a book club
A book you were hoping would fit into a prompt but doesn’t
A book about postpartum
A book that explores influencer culture
A book with a character who navigates infertility
A book with a character who has curly hair
A book about debt
A book that takes place during harvesting season
A travel ghost story
A book that makes you feel FOMO
A book with an underwater civilization
A book about college
A book with a trans or nonbinary protagonist
A book that makes you want to travel to Italy
A book about a mob (fiction or nonfiction)
A book about a pop star
A book with any type of fruit on the cover or in the title
A book with a character who runs a marathon
A book outside your comfort zone
Advanced Prompts
A book in a different format than your usual: physical, audio, eBook
A book inspired by a real song, album, band, or artist
Two books written by real-life partners or spouses (1)
Two books written by real-life partners or spouses (2)
A book that features birding
A sapphic comic
A book told entirely through letters
A book with a shadow daddy
A book with a mention of your zodiac sign
A book about Afrofuturism
2026 PS Reading Challenge Printables
Below are the printables you’ll want to take with you while you tend to your 2026 PS Reading Challenge garden. How will your bouquet take shape?
Emma Glassman-Hughes (she/her) is the associate editor at PS Balance. In her seven years as a reporter, her beats have spanned the lifestyle spectrum; she’s covered arts and culture for The Boston Globe, sex and relationships for Cosmopolitan, and food, climate, and farming for Ambrook Research.
