Question 1

What even is a reading challenge? Why do a reading challenge?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

How does the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge actually work?

Accepted Answer

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.

2025 Jewish Genre Reading Challenges

challenge no.1

genre
challenge

with jewish main characters

each book a different genre

minimum 2 books from "genre literature"

read 4, 6, or 8 books

Genre Challenge

What do you mean by "genre literature?"

Why the focus on main characters? What if a book has more than one main character? What if it has none?

Why does the challenge say historical books should be set in times other than World War II and the Holocaust/Shoah?

Do the Jewish characters need to be religious?

I want to participate but I don't want to read genre literature, or I only want to read books from one preferred genre.

I have other questions that aren't answered here.

This & That Challenge

Read books to fulfill the following prompts:

Do books need to be different genres? How many books do I need to read?

I want to participate but I don't think I want to read 10 books!

I need more information about these prompt pairs...

I have other questions that aren't answered here.

challenge no.2

This & That
challenge

read books with jewish main characters to fulfill five pairs of prompts

Additional Information

What even is a reading challenge? Why do a reading challenge?

How does the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge actually work?

2025 Jewish Genre Reading Challenges

challenge no.1 genre challenge

​

with jewish main characters

each book a different genre

minimum 2 books from "genre literature"

​​

read 4, 6, or 8 books

Genre Challenge

What do you mean by "genre literature?"

Why the focus on main characters? What if a book has more than one main character? What if it has none?

Why does the challenge say historical books should be set in times other than World War II and the Holocaust/Shoah?

Do the Jewish characters need to be religious?

I want to participate but I don't want to read genre literature, or I only want to read books from one preferred genre.

I have other questions that aren't answered here.

This & That Challenge

Read books to fulfill the following prompts:

Do books need to be different genres? How many books do I need to read?

I want to participate but I don't think I want to read 10 books!

I need more information about these prompt pairs...

I have other questions that aren't answered here.

challenge no.2 This & That challenge

read books with jewish main characters to fulfill five pairs of prompts

Additional Information

What even is a reading challenge? Why do a reading challenge?

How does the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge actually work?

challenge no.1

genre
challenge

challenge no.2

This & That
challenge