The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge Rules / Helpful Hints

The rules are pretty simple around here. We have a saying — “Your challenge, your rules!” There’s a little bit more to the challenge than that, but not much. Here are our official rules and all-round helpful guidelines:

1. One Book For Each Prompt

The original challenge is 52 books in 52 weeks. Since there are 52 different categories, that means one book for each prompt. (Sounds simple, we know, but we get a lot of questions about this!)

“But what if I can’t read 52 books in a year?“
Not everyone reads fifty-two books in a year, and that’s okay too! The goal is to challenge yourself and mix things up, but that doesn’t mean stressing yourself out. What if you can only read ten books a year, but still want to participate in the challenge? No problem! Tick off as many categories as you can or double them up if you want. (Remember, your challenge, your rules!)

2. Mix It Up!

As tempting as it may be to slot your regular reading into every category, use this as an opportunity to branch out a little. Each challenge includes a diverse range of prompts for a reason — to help us break out of our reading comfort zones. Pick a book or author that you’ve never read before. Or, try an unfamiliar genre! Who knows, you may even find a new favourite!

3. Get Creative!

This isn’t so much a rule as a helpful hint. Due to our natural reading preferences some of the categories will be more difficult to complete than others — but just have fun with it! Get creative and interpret the category in a new way. (Check out our FAQs for more tips on this!) Try to find books that not only fit that category but that you’ll also enjoy reading. If YOU think a book fits a certain prompt, then it does!

More questions? Check out our FAQs.