I Failed at Running a Book Club so Here's a Reading Challenge Instead!

Remember that one time I started a book club? That book club had a lot of hype around it and everyone was excited to read the first book chosen. I started reading it, and then promptly DNF’d (did not finish) it and the whole book club came crashing down. Okay, okay I’m being A BIT dramatic but honestly, I don’t know how to run a book club. I still wanted to connect with the Made in Mom Jeans community on the blog and on social media, though, and chat about our reading goals and what we’re reading for the year so I think I’ve come up with the perfect solution!

Introducing the Made in Mom Jeans 2019 Reading Challenge!

I asked you guys on Instagram to tell me what your reading goals for 2019 were and I got a ton of great responses! Most people are aiming to read one book a month or twelve books total for the year. While others, myself included, set some higher goals I figured 12 books was a great place to start for this challenge.

Below you’ll find an explanation of all of the twelve different books including what books I’m planning on reading for each category if I have any ideas or just general suggestions to guide your selection process! I also created this kind of adorable (okay, I’m really proud of how this thing turned out, just saying) graphic for you guys to save to your phone, tablet, or computer so you can always check back on what the 2019 reading challenge is!

You can use the hashtag #MIMJReads to share your books, the challenge, and anything else reading related! I’ll be following and checking the tag periodically so I can’t wait to see what you’re reading!

Anyways with all of that being said, let’s dive right on into the Made in Mom Jeans 2019 Reading Challenge!

A Book You Read in High School - I initially made this the first book in the challenge because I was already in the middle of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. But since I reread the Harry Potter series every year, I wanted to challenge myself a little bit more so I won’t be using any of the Harry Potter series as part of this challenge! Anyways, I haven’t decided yet what book I’m actually going to read. This book can either be a book you HAD to read in high school or something you chose to read for fun.

Here’s an article about Popular High School Reading List Books from Goodreads if you want to go for the first option. And this is a list of popular Young Adult books from 2009 which was the year before I graduated high school. I’m leaning towards a reread of The Hunger Games.

A Book at the Bottom of your TBR Pile - Ah, the ever-present to be read pile. Y’all know mine is a mile long, or an actual pile if we’re being serious. I think I still have an entire suitcase filled with books from when we moved, most of them I’ve never read. SO that’s why I added this into the challenge. What’s that one book you’ve owned for years but have put off reading? I’ll have to take a good long look at my book collection before I chose the book for this part of the challenge but there’s definitely going to be some good options. We all know I’m the type that walks into a bookstore and doesn’t leave without more than 5 books.

A Book from your Least Favorite Genre - What would a reading challenge be without something to really get you out of your reading comfort zone? Your least favorite genre could be an entire genre of books (Like non-fiction) or a subsection like Young Adult romance or something like that. For this one, I’ll probably be choosing a self-help/motivational book because those are the ones that always end up on my DNF list. Will 2019 be the year I finally finish a self-help book? We’ll see.

A Book becoming a Movie in 2019 - We love to hate a good book to film adaptation and 2019 is sure to be a big year in that area. This part of the challenge really doesn’t need any explanation but if you’re looking for a book to read for this one, Popsugar already covered 20 of the books that will be movies in 2019. The Nightingale is a great book if you’re having trouble deciding. As for me, I might finally pick up Turtles All the Way Down even though I generally don’t like John Green books.

A Book that is Motivational - Another pretty self-explanatory one but did I mention how many times I’ve failed to finish a self-help/motivational book? I hated Girl Wash Your Face, which tops this list, and DNF’d it but I’ll probably be choosing something else from this article or just browsing the bookstore until something jumps out at me. Actually, It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way really jumped out at me yesterday when I was getting a new Bullet Journal.

A Book Written by Someone Famous - Again, trying to get myself out of a rut of reading the same genre over and over again but I’m actually really excited about this part of the challenge because my husband got me Becoming by Michelle Obama for Christmas and I’ve been dying to read it. I would highly recommend picking up Becoming for this part in the challenge but you could also grab anything from any of your favorite famous people which I think is pretty awesome. It doesn’t even have to be non-fiction!

A Book with a One Word Title - This is also going to be a “pick it up while browsing the bookstore” book for a lot of people but I loved adding this into the challenge because it’s narrow yet wide. Yet Goodreads is coming in hot with the recommendation lists and of course has you covered if you need an actual list of books with one-word titles to choose from. I’ve actually read a couple books on that list so there are definitely more than a few good options to choose from! I actually purchased Outlander a while back so I think I might finally get to start that as my book for this part of the challenge!

A Book with More than 500 pages - I mean, it is supposed to be a challenge, right? I honestly had no books in mind when I threw this into the challenge but after looking at this article, I think I’ll actually try to read East of Eden which has been on my TBR for years. I’m not the biggest Steinbeck fan so this might be the part where I fail this challenge myself.

A Book you Chose Based on the Cover - We’re all familiar with the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but we all know that a pretty cover is the first step to getting you to actually buy the book and read it. I know we can all admit to buying at least one book before based on the cover design. So for this challenge, peruse the books you already own or head to your local bookstore or library and start browsing. If you want to try this step in hard mode, don’t read the back cover or inside flap until you get home.

A Book from the Banned Books List - The infamous Banned Books list is where some of my favorite books live. I mean, who doesn’t love a good banned book? Ironically enough, most American classics were on this list at one point. Here’s a roundup from the ALA that even includes why the books were banned which I think is pretty cool. You can also check out this Goodreads page which has a bunch of shelves from other users all about banned and challenged books.

A Book You Heard about Online - I think this is going to be one of those books where you’ll just add it to your list one day because of someone you follow on Instagram or because every major website like Buzzfeed and Popsugar are talking about it. It’ll be interesting to see what books get read for this part of the challenge as 2019 progresses! Definitely make sure you’re using the #MIMJReads hashtag for this part of the challenge (PS: If you follow the hashtag and see a book someone else is reading for another part of the challenge and want to read it, that totally counts too)!

A Book that is a Staff Pick at your Favorite Library or Bookstore - Pretty straightforward and yet I think one of the most underutilized areas of both bookstores and libraries.

And there you have it guys, the 2019 Made in Mom Jeans Reading Challenge! I actually love love love this reading challenge so I hope you guys enjoy it too! I’m so sorry the book club failed but at least this way we can join together in our love of reading and still share with each other! I can’t wait to see the books you guys are going to read in 2019! It’s my hope to post regular updates here on the blog (or perhaps in our new newsletter) about where I’m at in the challenge so stay tuned for those! And make sure you’re using the #MIMJReads hashtag across social media so I can see what you’re reading!