2021 Reading Challenges

The Unread Shelf Project 

Monthly Challenges

A book with high expectations (January) Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt
A book you got for free (February)  Treasures: Visible and Invisible by Catholic Teen Books
A book you bought on a trip (March) In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 
A book bought from a used bookstore (April) Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
A book you bought as a new release (May)
A book bought in a spending spree (June)
A book bought for the cover (July)
A book from an independent bookstore (August)
A book you want to learn from (September)
A book you're secretly afraid of (October)
A book published before 2000 (November)
A book that reminds you of childhood (December)

Bonus Challenges

A book with more than 500 pages
An impulse buy
A book on your unread shelf longer than one year
A book by an author you've never read before  The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
A book you bought because of a recommendation
A book given to you that you didn't ask for
A book you got for a special occasion
A book from your favorite genre
A book bought because of the hype
A book from a Little Free Library
The unread book most recently acquired
A backlist title by an author with a newer release available

Modern Mrs. Darcy Challenge

Three Newbery Award winners

• When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
• Sounder by William Armstrong 
• The 21 Balloons by William Pene du Bois 

Three books that are the last/most recent in a series

• The Love of Friends by Nancy Bond
• The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge

Three books of more than 500 pages

• Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Three books by the same author

• The Late Show by Michael Connelly
• The Black Echo by Michael Connelly 
• Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly

Three audiobooks with the same narrator 

Three Catholic nonfiction books.

• Mother Angelica by Raymond Arroyo
• Be Bold in the Broken by Mary Lenaburg
• Motherhood Redeemed by Kimberly Cook

Three general nonfiction books.

• Romance is My Day Job by Patience Bloom
• Upstairs at the White House by J.B. West 
• And Then They Stopped Talking to Me by Judith Warren

Three books under 200 pages. 

• Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather
• Dream Work by Mary Oliver

Three books about books or reading.

• How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

Three books about writing. 

• The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Three books published in 2021.

• Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt 
• Treasures: Visible and Invisible by Catholic Teen Books
• Sunshine by Marion Dane Bauer

Three re-reads

• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien