2025 Jewish Genre Reading Challenges
There are two fun ways to complete the 2025 Jewish Genre Reading Challenge. Choose the challenge style that works best with how you read, matches what you're looking for in your reading for 2025, and, in the spirit of a core Jewish value, will bring the most joy!
challenge no.1
genre
challenge
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with jewish main characters
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each book a different genre
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minimum 2 books from "genre literature"
read 4, 6, or 8 books
Genre Challenge
At least 2 of the books you read must be what is considered "genre" literature: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Crime, Thriller/Suspense, Horror, Western, Adventure, Action/Spy, Beach Read/"Chick Lit", Paranormal, Dystopian, and Military Fiction.
Your other reads can be from the genres listed above or from any other, as long as each book you read is written in a different genre. Some ideas for genres to choose from: Literary Fiction, Cookbooks, Art & Photography, Children's Literature, Humor, Magical Realism, Memoir, Essays, Self-Help, Travel, Historical Fiction*, Nonfiction History*
*It is suggested that Historical Fiction & Nonfiction History be set in times other than WWII/Holocaust
To read about why we focus on main characters, check out our About page. If a book has more than one main character it's fine for only one of them to be Jewish. The “main character” in a memoir is the author. If a book has no main character (e.g. essays, cookbook), the author and topic must be Jewish.
If you look up any list of Jewish literature, the first books you find in almost any category will be related to WWII and the Holocaust. The Jewish Genre Challenge highly encourages readers to step outside that time period to explore other Jewish stories. But this isn't a hard rule, you may feel differently & want to include books set in this era.
Jewish characters do not need to be religious or practice Judaism. Jews are an ethno-religious group that includes both secular and religious members.
Check out our second challenge, the This & That Challenge, below!
Please visit our main FAQ page for more questions and answers.
This & That Challenge
You may choose to read books to fulfill one prompt from each pair (5 total, "This or That") or both prompts in each pair (10 total, "This and That").
1. Read a book with a religious Jewish main character + Read a book with a secular/cultural/ethnically Jewish main character
2. Read a book published in 2025 + Read a book published before 1975
3. Read a book featuring Jewish foods you've never tasted + Read book featuring a main character from a place you've never been
4. Read a book set in Israel + Read a book set in the Diaspora
5. Read from a genre in which you've never before read a Jewish book + Read a Jewish book from your favorite genre, write a review, and send a note of appreciation to the author
For the This & That Challenge, books can be any genre, and you can read multiple books from the same genre. The only requirement is that the books have a Jewish main character. For books without main characters (e.g. cookbook, essays), both the author and topic must be Jewish.
There are five pairs of ten prompts, but you don't necessarily have to read five or ten books to fulfill this challenge. Some readers like to a read a separate book for each prompt, other readers enjoy the puzzle of trying to fulfill multiple prompts with a single book.
For an extra challenge, you can combine the Genre and This & That challenges by having each book you read for the This & That challenge come from a different genre.
The This & That challenge is really two challenges: A "This OR That" challenge and a "This AND That" challenge. For the "This or That" challenge you're only reading for five prompts, one from each pair.
You are also welcomed and encouraged to find books for the This & That challenge that fulfill multiple prompts at one time. A single book can fulfill multiple prompts for this challenge.
In addition, check out the Genre Challenge described above, which only requires reading a minimum of 4 books.
1. Read a book with a religious Jewish main character + Read a book with a secular/cultural/ethnically Jewish main character
What defines "religious" and "secular?" Use your best judgment, the idea is to read about different kinds of relationships Jews have to Judaism and Jewishness.
2. Read a book published in 2025 + Read a book published before 1975
Pretty self-explanatory. You might ask, "Does it count if the translated version I'm reading was/wasn't published during that time but the original was/wasn't?" and we would answer, "Sure!"
3. A book featuring Jewish foods you've never tasted + A book featuring a main character from a place you've never been
The spirit of this prompt is to read books with Jews from backgrounds that may be new to you. Almost every book has a food scene or two, and we have some incredible cookbooks in our data base as well.
You can choose to interpret "A book featuring a main character from a place you've never been," as either where the main character is actually from, or where their family came from in previous generations, if that lets you read a book you're interested in! Sephardi Jews have ancestors who were expelled from Spain and Portugal during the time of the Inquisition. Mizrahi Jews have roots in the Middle East. Maghrebi Jews have roots in North Africa. Beta Israel Jews have roots in Ethiopia. Bene Israel Jews have roots in India. Bukharan Jews have roots in Uzbekistan. Ashkenazi Jews have roots in Russia and Europe. There is lots of crossover between these categories and that's okay.
If you are curious to read about a certain community but not sure where to start, our Goodreads and Facebook community groups are great places to ask for recommendations from readers and authors.
4. Read a book set in Israel + Read a book set in the Diaspora
Israel here can be historical Israel or modern Israel. The Diaspora refers to any place Jews live outside of Israel.
5. Read from a genre in which you've never before read a Jewish book + Read a Jewish book from your favorite genre, write a review, and send a note of appreciation to the author
When we were planning out the Jewish Genre Challenge we met so many readers who had never before read a Jewish book in their preferred reading genre. That was a big inspiration for this project! And now it seems like there's both growing awareness of Jewish genre books and more are being published (we hope the trend continues). One of the most Jewishly joyful parts of running the JGC has been connecting with and supporting authors, and we want to give you the chance to share in that joy! If the author you read doesn't have a website with a contact form, try googling the author's name + "facebook" or "instagram," or try the same for their publisher.
Please visit our main FAQ page for more questions and answers.
challenge no.2
This & That
challenge
read books with jewish main characters to fulfill five pairs of prompts
Additional Information
Reading challenges have become popular in recent years as a fun way for readers to help guide their reading for the year. A challenge can be as simple as picking a certain number of books to read during the year, or as complex as a set of 52 different prompts that have to be matched to 52 different books.
People take on reading challenges for many reasons: to encourage themselves to read outside their comfort zone, to diversify their reading (which could mean anything from reading a range of different books to reading diverse authors and characters), or to "game-ify" their reading as it can be quite a fun puzzle to match up prompts and books. Reading challenges are also a unique way to read in community, where everyone is working on the same challenge though they may be reading different books. Many readers doing the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge are motivated by the desire to see themselves reflected in the genres they love, or to experience meeting Jewish characters in unexpected places.
There are three steps to take to participate in the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge.
1. Pick your challenge. Look at the two challenges described above, the Genre Challenge and the This & That Challenge, and choose which one you will do (or both). If you choose the Genre Challenge, decide whether your goal is 4, 6, or 8 books.
2. Join the JGC community. Join our Goodreads group, which is our main hub for information and participation. Declare your challenge choice, track your progress, share book recommendations, and ultimately announce your triumphant completion.
3. Read! Read books throughout 2025 that fulfill the challenge you have chosen. Good starting points for finding books are the JGC Listopias (book lists) on Goodreads, the articles linked to in our resources section, and our searchable database. There are many, many more qualifying books than we've been able to catalog and include, so these resources are only to provide suggestions. You are free to read any book that fits the criteria of the challenge. Once you've finished the challenge, let the community celebrate you in our Challenge Completions thread.