When I realized that my 2024 TBR goal was too ambitious, too large, I decided to scale my 2025 goal down. I created my own 2025 Off My Shelf Reading Challenge with only 24 prompts as a way to clear my TBR bookcase. Because prior to culling my bookcase last summer, I had over 350 books sitting, waiting patiently to be read.

Isn’t the saying that book buying and reading are two different hobbies?

It’s certainly true in my experience.

Well, it’s not even the end of January, and I am crushing my goal! Of course, that could be because the weather has been terribly cold and I’ve just been staying inside reading. But I’ve already finished 8 TBRs and will finish number 9 either today or tomorrow. Several readers who’ve joined my challenge are also crushing it.

Since I’ve found that creating my own challenge has been extremely motivating, I started thinking about what to do once I finish the first 24 prompts. I first thought about just repeating the board. But some of the original prompts don’t necessarily work with other books on my TBR. Instead, I created a second bingo board with 24 new prompts. For this round, I’ve made the prompts a bit broader and a bit more open to interpretation.

Like the first board, if you want to join, you can do as many or a few prompts as you want. If 24 books feels to overwhelming, you can double up (or triple) on prompts where one book fits more than one prompt. And DNFs count! Because if you DNF a book, it’s off your shelf, which is the entire point. You can also find the 2025 Off My Shelf Reading Challenge Part 2 on StoryGraph.

I’ve included my picks below, and as you can see, most of them fit more than one prompt.

And here’s the Part 2 bingo board for extra motivation (or here’s the PDF version).

1. Read a book published in a year that ends in 5.

Publication years of 2025, 2015, 2005, 1995, etc. You get the point.

My pick: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (published in 2015)

2. Read a book with flower(s) on the cover.

Any genre as long as there is a flower on the cover. Or the flower could be part of the title. Or both.

My pick: How To Be a Wildflower by Katie Daisy

3. Read a book with magical realism.

Magical realism is a fairly broad category, or rather sub-category of fantasy. These stories portray fantastical events in an otherwise realistic tone. In other words, the story is set in our world but there is something fantastical about the world.

My pick: Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang

4. Read a book with a title that starts with the same letter as your first name.

Or the author has the same first initial as you.

My pick: The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes

5. Read a book that’s been translated to English.

I wish I could read books written in their original language, but alas, languages are not my forte. So I’ll have to make due with a translation.

My pick: The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi (translated from Japanese by Emily Balisterieri)

6. Read a book with 25 letters in the title.

Any book, any genre as long as the title has exactly 25 letters.

My pick: Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope

7. Read a book set in a different world.

This can literally be a different world as in a fantasy or scifi world, or this can be a different world from what you know, as in set in a foreign culture.

My pick: Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells

8. Read a memoir or biography.

Memoirs and biographies seem to really popular. I have several on my shelf. It could also be a biographical novel like The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone (which I highly recommend, as it’s an excellent read).

My pick: The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul

9. Read a book set in a historical period.

It can be fiction or non-fiction and any historical period.

My pick: Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

10. Read a classic.

Sooo many classics on my shelf that I haven’t read because I didn’t read in school. “classic” has a fairly broad interpretation and there are so many classic must-read lists.

I’m currently reading a book of short stories by Anton Chekhov, which made me realized I haven’t read a lot of Russian writers. I wished I had taken a Russian literature class, which explains my pick.

My pick: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

11. Read a graphic novel.

Or manga or a comic book. There are a lot of excellent middle grade graphic novels.

My pick: Assassin’s Apprentice, Vol. 1 by Robin Hobb and Jody Houser and illustrated by Ryan Kelly

12. Read a book with a one word title.

One word. That’s it. Short and sweet.

My pick: Upgrade by Blake Crouch

13. Read a book with a non-human main character.

The main character could be an alien, an animal, a robot, a tree. So many possibilities.

My pick: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

14. Read a book set in one season.

Winter, spring, summer, fall. Pick a book that’s set during your favorite season. Or maybe your least favorite season.

My pick: The Haunting Season: Eight Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights

15. Read a book that’s been adapted into a movie.

Or a TV show or a play. And the compare and contrast to see which is better. Or maybe the book just inspired an adaptation. That works too.

(Hint: surprisingly, it’s not always the book.)

My pick: The World According to Garp by John Irving

16. Read a book that has a romance.

This doesn’t have to mean the book falls squarely in the romance genre. Many, many books include a romance, even those without a HEA. And the romance could be with a place, a fandom, or a thing. Get creative with this prompt.

My pick: Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

17. Read a book written in an unusual form.

This could be an epistolary novel (works of fiction written in the form of letters or other documents). Or a novel structured through a series of phone calls or poetry. Maybe some kind of experimental fiction with different character perspectives across multiple timelines. Even a book that uses visuals like diagrams or illustrations. Something that isn’t the standard linear narrative.

My pick: Oye by Melissa Mogollon

18. Read a book that has a current issue as a theme.

Immigration, climate change, gender roles, LGBTQ+ rights, civil rights and liberties, gun control—the list is pretty expansive. But that doesn’t mean the book is confined to non-fiction current affairs. I just read a Chekhov short story written in 1887 that discussed environmental destruction. So many possibilities.

My pick: Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi

19. Read a retelling.

Or a reimagining. Whatever you want to call any book that takes a classic story and makes a new story. Usually this involves keeping some of the the original elements while changing others. Maybe modernizing, maybe setting it in a different world.

My pick: Circe by Madeline Miller

20. Read a book with an orange cover.

It doesn’t have to be predominately orange as long as the cover has orange. Bonus if “Orange” is in the title.

My pick: There There by Tommy Orange

21. Read a book recommended by someone.

Maybe a friend recommended, maybe the New York Times book editor recommended it, maybe your high school English teacher recommended it. As long as it’s on your TBR because you saw that it was recommended.

My pick: If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino

22. Read something completely different.

Everyone has their favorite genres, their go-to authors. But there’s at least 1 book on everyone’s TBR that is outside your norm. Or go wild and if you normally read physical books, listen to the audiobook version. Or visa-versa.

For me, I am not a self-help book reader. But I got one in a subscription box.

My pick: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

23. Read a book by a prolific author.

Any author who has written 10 or more books. Bonus if the author has written 25 or more books.

My pick: The Scholars of Night by John M. Ford

24. Read a book that you bought just to make yourself happy.

Because the book is funny. Because the cover made you smile. Because you were having a blue day and just needed a book. Whatever the reason, this book just makes you happy to have it but for whatever reason, you haven’t yet read it.

My pick: A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett

25. Bonus Book (or the Free Square).

After completing all the other prompts, simply read the book you want to read off your TBR or use the free square as a complete freebie!

That’s the Part 2 challenge! Let me know in the comments below if you will join my challenge.

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