2026 Reading Challenge from Atlanta Bookish Shop

For the past decade, I've participated each year in the Popsugar Reading Challenge. I always liked it because it gave me the opportunity...




For the past decade, I've participated each year in the Popsugar Reading Challenge. I always liked it because it gave me the opportunity to read books already on my shelves but to also try and discover other books by satisfying specific prompts. Usually there are about 50 prompts, and while I almost always read more than 50 books each year, I find it so hard to complete all the PS Reading Challenge prompts. They can sometimes be vague, or I have a hard time finding a book I'm interested in based on the prompts available. 

While I'll still be working towards the PS Reading Challenge in 2026, I am really delighted this year to be completing the Bookish Reading Challenge! Bookish is a small bookstore in Atlanta that focuses on authors "in the margins" - authors who are women, BIPOC, trans, queer. It's an honest must-visit Atlanta-area bookstore, with an absolute joy of an owner. So that's just one of the reasons I'm delighted to participate in this particular challenge.

I'm also excited because it's different than any other challenge I've seen before. In this challenge, 134 books have been sorted into 16 categories, but to complete the challenge, you don't have to read them all. Instead, the objective is to really just find new-to-you books that have been thoughtfully curated about different categories with diverse authors and stories. These aren't all brand new, just released books either, which makes this particularly diverse. Additionally, there are incentives to win. Read at least one book in at least 12 of the 16 categories to win a tote bag, and read at least 24 books from the list (no category requirement) for a t-shirt. It's actually genius, because then these totes and tees become marketing for the store. I. AM. OBSESSED.

One caveat - these do need to be NEW TO YOU books, so I've had to cross-out some books below, which I've already read in the past (here's looking at some favorites like Stars and the Blackness Between Them and The Shining). For books to count towards the challenge, they need to be read in 2026. I do have plans for other categories, and some to figure out along the way. I'll be double-dipping with the 2026 PS Reading Challenge, as well as trying to narrow down my Netgalley books for review. There are others that have just been on my TBR forever that I haven't gotten to, and this will give me that push to read them this year. 



I'm sharing the categories and titles below with the link for each category to purchase books from Bookish via Bookshop.com (regardless of where you live), or you can purchase audiobooks that support Bookish via Libro.fm. Because this challenge is open to all and accessible, it's not necessary to purchase the books from Bookish to participate. (I'm a huge fan of my public library, for instance, and have been trying to accumulate less stuff.) BUT if you're looking to add these books to your personal collection, please consider giving financial support to Bookish through these online options, or in-person shopping, if you're in the area. Because of that, none of these are personal affiliate links, and I won't earn any commission on any of this. 

 

Without further ado, see the categories below, with some specific annotations from me. Books I've already read are struck through, while the books I know I plan to read this year are just slightly larger in size.


bless this hot mess
purchase books in this category from Bookish using this link

❏ Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

❏ The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 
I've loved everything I've read from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, so I definitely want to read this one.
 
❏ The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
 
❏ The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

❏ Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel
 
❏ Culpability by Bruce Holsinger



read like a mother

❏ Afterland by Lauren Beukes

❏ The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
 
❏ The Mothers by Brit Bennett
I just absolutely loved The Vanishing Half and this one has been on my list forever. 
 
❏ Family Family by Laurie Frankel
 
❏ The Need by Helen Phillips
 
❏ Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean
 
❏ Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
I don't know much about this one, but it automatically satisfies a PS Reading Challenge prompt based on the title, so I'll give it a go.



oh my gay hell!

❏ You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
Just the title of this one really got me. As someone who is often called too much, I'm really intrigued to read this book. 

❏ Deep House by Jeremy Atherton Lin

❏ Girls Girls Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee

❏ Bellies by Nicola Dinan

❏ These Heathens by Mia McKenzie

❏ Memorial by Bryan Washington
This is a book and author I've seen a lot, so it definitely seems like one I should get into. 

❏ Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly

❏ How We Named the Stars by Andrés N. Ordorica

❏ The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen



funny lil' cuss

❏ Less by Andrew Sean Greer

❏ The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

 ❏ Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett

❏ A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan

 ❏ The Payback by Kashana Cauley

❏ The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
I've been wanting to read this one for so long, and I've got Netgalley access to its recent companion novel The Golden Boy's Guide to Bipolar - these covers are everything!

❏ Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

❏ Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis



unreliable narrator

❏ American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

 ❏ Hell of a Book by Jason Moot

❏ The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

❏ Jazz by Toni Morrison

❏ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

❏ We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

 ❏ Nevada by Imogen Binnie

❏ Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

❏ I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh



loud bark, deep bite

❏ Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
This book sounds totally absurd, but so good!

❏ The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller

❏ The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

❏ The White Hot by Quiara Alegria Hudes
This book sounds beautiful and full of fury. It seems like it will also satisfy the PS prompt about a book written entirely in letters, and it's under 200 pages. 

❏ Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

 ❏ My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Another one that I swear I've wanted to read for years and just haven't gotten around to, so I'm really excited to finally get to this one this year! 

❏ What Hunger by Catherine Dang



main character energy

❏ Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
This is one I got from Netgalley but haven't read yet, so this gives me extra incentive to finally get to it and write that review, girl. 

❏ The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto

❏ Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

❏ Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

❏ Woodworking by Emily St. James

❏ Oye by Melissa Mogollon

❏ Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

❏ Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards

❏ Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez



pride & joy

❏ Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa

❏ Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

❏ Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot by Alexis Hall

❏ The Devil She Knows by Alexandria Bellefleur

❏ Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings

❏ Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly

❏ The Relationship Mechanic by Karmen Lee

❏ She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

❏ Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch

❏ And They Were Roommates by Page Powars

Literally every book in this category seems right up my alley. I know the Heated Rivalry tv show is huge right now. I've loved books from Alexandria Bellefleur and Anita Kelly. I'll probably be reading several of these. 



big yikes

❏ Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

❏ Severance by Ling Ma
This book's been on my list for a while. It sounds so incredible while also sounding like something that will stick with me for a long time after finishing it. And to be clear, this has no association with the show of the same name,

❏ The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch

❏ Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

❏ Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

❏ Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

❏ Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

 ❏ The Resisters by Gish Jen


odd bird

❏ Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

 ❏ Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

❏ The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

❏ This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

❏ Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh

❏ The Pisces by Melissa Broder
This book has been on my TBR for a while, and I'm hoping it will satisfy the PS prompt about including an underwater civilization. It won't hurt to give it a try. 

❏ Sky Daddy by Kate Folk 
This one seems so absurdist, but I'm not not interested. I think this one will satisfy the PS prompt aout a love story that defies social boundaries.

❏ We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad
I really enjoyed reading Bunny last year, so I definitely want to read the followup novel.

❏ The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

❏ A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi



perspective party!

❏ The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley

❏ So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole

❏ Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

❏ The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

❏ The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

 ❏ The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon

❏ The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala
Another Netgalley book waiting for my review - let's get to it.



let them eat cake

❏ We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

❏ The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

❏ Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

❏ One’s Company by Ashley Hutson

❏ My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

❏ The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell

❏ One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon

❏ Eurotrash by Christian Kracht

❏ The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

❏ Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal



whore for horror

❏ Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
I've been wanting to read this one, so let's add it to 2026.

❏ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

❏ The Shining by Stephen King
 
❏ The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas

❏ The Between by Tananarive Due

❏ The Changeling by Victor LaValle

❏ Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

❏ Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin

❏ House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama



i love cheap thrills

❏ Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

 ❏ If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

❏ Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury

❏ Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

❏ Whereabouts Unknown by Meredith Doench

❏ The Matchmaker by Aisha Saeed

❏ Your Steps on the Stairs by Antonio Muñoz Molina

❏ Jackal by Erin E. Adams

❏ Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson



burn it all down

❏ Bad Nature by Ariel Courage

❏ The Guest List by Lucy Foley

 ❏ The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

❏ The Harpy by Megan Hunter

❏ The Payback by Kashana Cauley

❏ Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

 ❏ These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

❏ Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

 ❏ The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

❏ Never Whistle at Night edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr
This one honestly just sounds so good and haunting.



hidden gems

❏ Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

❏ Universality by Natasha Brown

❏ The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers

❏ The Possibilities by Yael Goldstein-Love
This one looks like it will cover the PS prompt about postpartum, and I really enjoy and appreciate this kind of books since having a kiddo of my own. 

❏ Hey, Mary! by Andrew Wheeler & Rye Hickman

❏ Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach



Be sure to check out all the rules, FAQs, and officially sign up for the challenge at this link. You can find a printable checklist, without my annotations, at this link.

I hope you'll join me on this reading journey this year, and I hope to hear more about what you'll be reading, and your thoughts. You can always follow along with me via my Instagram @kaylakedavra - see you there!



 












Kayla Whitter is a 30-something INFJ and Hufflepuff. She enjoys reading avidly, binge-watching tv shows, and occasionally venturing out into the world. She can often be found drinking coffee, and eating burritos or Chick-fil-a.

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