The Bookstore Challenge 2023

It’s the Bookstore’s third annual reading challenge! For the last two years it has proven to be a fun way to read in a way that is vaguely thematic for the podcast, as well as a very helpful tool for two painfully indecisive people who need to choose what to read. In the past we have brought you such inspired reading prompts as “a book published the year you were born", “a book written by an author with your same zodiac sign”, “a book you already own”, and “a retelling of a fairy tale or folk tale”. In 2023 we bring you a similar level of creativity with our prompts.

If you want to read along with the prompt, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph, The Bookstore Challenge 2023.

Keep in mind, also, that we not only accept your accommodations and creative interpretations of these prompts, but we encourage them. Make these babies work for you. This may be called a challenge, but it’s not a competition and there are no rules. Read April’s prompt in December. Read a book by an author with the same first name as you, not last initial. Read a book that is an animal, I don’t mind! Go wild!

Without further ado, here’s the prompts for The Bookstore Challenge 2023:

January: a book published in a year ending in 3
What I like about this one is that unlike being pigeonholed into a single year or decade, you can choose how long ago you want to go and still celebrate a nice round publishing anniversary for whatever book you choose. Go 10 years ago to 2013, go 50 years ago, go back to 230 years ago if you have those resources at your disposal. You could also choose a book published in 2023! But that will probably be easier to do if you don’t attempt this one in January.

If you need help researching titles for this prompt, check out Wikipedia by searching “[Year] in Literature”. It’s not going to be the most exhaustive resource, but it will give you a good start. You can also check out GoodReads lists for books published in specific years. Or you can ask a librarian, an invaluable resource for help on the project

February: a western or pulp fiction
Sticking with our tradition of giving some wiggle room on our genre prompts, by offering one or more choices, in 2023 we will be checking out some genres that we don’t often turn to. Westerns are obviously quite classic. Pulp fiction is also not a precise genre, necessarily, but it is unified by it’s perceived quality, action packed plot, and sensationalism.

March: a book by a disabled author or about disability
Diversity and inclusion are not complete without the disabled community and no two stories or experiences of disability are the same. A quick google search will connect you with a great selection of memoirs, novels, and non-fiction titles about living with disability.

April: a book recommended by a bookseller or librarian
I think to get the most of this you will be required to speak to a someone else, possibly even a stranger. But who better to ask for a book recommendation than someone who works with books? If you’re really shy, you could always choose something off of the “our staff recommends” shelf.

May: a book from a part of the world you’ve never been to
Is there a place you’d love to travel to but haven’t had the chance? Is there a place that you just read about in the news that you’d never heard of and now you can’t stop thinking about it? Read a book about it! This can mean that either the author if from another place, or the book simply takes place in that part of the world. And because this year we do not have any prompts specifically about works in translation, you’ll get bonus points for a translated book (please remember that these bonus points are worthless, this is not a competition).

June: a book you previously did not finish
Now here’s where the real challenge of the Bookstore Challenge lies. We’re asking you to pick up a book that you once abandoned. Maybe you thought it was absolute trash, maybe it just didn’t light your fire, maybe you accidentally dropped it into the ocean when James Cameron went to retrieve your giant diamond necklace that you lost when the Titanic sank. Whatever the reason, now is the time for second chances.

July: a book that is over 500 pages and/or a graphic novel
We may or may not have chosen this seemingly random pairing because we know that we can realistically only read one 500+ page novel in one month and we also would like to read a graphic novel, but never you mind. Pick up a big, big book. It can also be a graphic novel. Or you can go the extra mile and read one 500+ page book and one graphic novel!

August: a book by an indigenous author
August 9th is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and this is an excellent opportunity to celebrate indigenous cultures from any part of the world and also to reflect on indigenous rights, as well as achievements and contributions to environmental protections.

September: a book that has an animal in the title
Sometimes you just want to pick something because it has a fun word in the title.

October: a book that takes place on another planet or in another dimension
Normally we reserve this month for something a little spooky and, honestly, for me there is little more terrifying than the thought of life on other planets or dimensions.

November: a book about death or a disaster
Would this also be appropriate fodder for October? Absolutely. But this one also has more potential for overlap with Non-Fiction November. The month where we usually force me to read non-fiction.

December: a book by an author who shares the same last initial as you
Many years ago I either read or heard a story about a woman who established a reading challenge for herself. She had to pick a shelf at the library and read every book on it. There were some criteria, like a certain number of the books had to be written by women, and no author on it could have more than 5 titles to their name. If I remember correctly she chose a shelf in the Ls. I always kind of liked this mostly arbitrary way of choosing your reading. So that’s how we landed here.

And there we have it! These are the prompts for 2023. Go forth and research what you want to read. And remember if you’re following along and posting about what you’ve read to use #thebookstorechallenge2023 on Instagram. Or check out the challenge on StoryGraph to see what others are choosing to read.