2026 Reading Challenge 📚

I don't usually set myself reading goals or challenge myself to read. However, I got a library card and started using Popfeed to track all my media consumption and jumped onto their 2026 Reading Challenge.

I wanted to set a realistic goal for myself. I don't have a ton of time or concentration to read. I tend to read almost entirely in the bath because it's the only place I get quiet and it has the best lighting in my house. There aren't endless opportunities for me to read. Plus, 13 is my favorite number!

I just reached over my halfway mark with the completion of Of Mice and Men, which was a much shorter and easier read than I was expecting it to be. I'm usually all about the non-fiction book and love to read more science-y books about sexuality but I'm really trying hard to dip my toes more into fiction - especially classics that have been on my TBR list for decades!

So, here's what I've read so far, what I've got next on the list and the couple of books I didn't finish but plan to:

📚 1984

It's been on my list since high-school and how I've never read it is beyond me! It took me no time to read part 1 of this book but part 2 and 3 were harder because I just kept losing interest. It's an easy read but a bit of a frustrating read. Still recommend though.

📚 Break Your Glass Slippers

I love reading poetry books because they're often super simple reads. You can get them done in one night usually. This one was good but I was so wildly irritated by the many pages with just one sentence on them. So many dead trees for one sentence!

📚 Screwed: How Women Are Set Up to Fail at Sex

I didn't really learn anything new with this book, as I am a woman who was set up to fail at sex but chose not to through education, communication and honestly, not giving a fuck about society's arbitrary gender constructs. It didn't take long to read this one (I think three days) and I was very excited to see Gilmore Girls used as a reference point in the book.

📚 The Yellow Wallpaper

This one probably took me an hour to read (one bath) and it was a recommendation from a Facebook reel of something like "10 Books Everyone Should Read". As someone who went through a similar experience as the main character in this book (postpartum depression and an obsession with walls), I was fully engrossed in this book and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a little weird to me that the afterword was almost longer than the actual book though...

📚 The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

I've technically read this book in the past, probably close to 15ish years ago. I've never gotten to read the other books in this series and I'm big mad about it. Most annoyingly, my library only has 3 out of the 4 books in this series. So I got this book thinking I was gonna get to read the whole series and then nope... However, I do love this book and it was fun to reread it.

📚 Unf#ck Your Sex Toys

I am always a huge fan of pervertables - using everyday objects for sexual pleasure. Sex toys can be so damn expensive and I am a broke bitch, so pervertables are perfect for that. I basically already knew all of these creations and wouldn't say I learned anything new reading this but it did inspire me to start thinking about pervertables again.

📚 Of Mice and Men

This one's been on my TBR list since high-school and I'm honestly a little surprised it took me this long. I've got a few other Steinback novels on my list because they always show up in highly recommended lists. It was an enjoyable, easy read and it's days later and I'm still thinking about parts of it, so that's always a good thing.

I've had a few books that I started and didn't finish before their return date. I've kept track of where I was in each of them so I can go back and finish reading them. They include:

📚 Tropic of Cancer

Such a hard read at points and mostly uncomfortable reading at that. But it's been on my TBR list for so long that I must read it. I was so close to the end too! I plan to get it again on the next library trip.

📚 Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Love love love this book! Another one that I was so close to finishing but had used up all my renewals and when I went to go re-check it out, someone else had it. I've been waiting for it to become available again. Fascinating exploration of evolution and I was thoroughly enjoying the read. Definitely intend to finish it.

📚 Butts: A Backstory

Got about halfway through this book. Surprisingly it had a lot of fashion-related information, which kinda distracted me and sent me down other rabbit holes. Because of that, it felt a little more involved. I had to keep a note open on my phone to constantly write down all the other stuff I would now need to read about.

I currently have 2 other books that I'm starting up this week: I, Medusa and Catch-22. I also have the Steinback novels Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden on my list but at least one of them is a huge book that I'm gonna have to dedicate some time to. One of these days, I gotta explore the other library branches in my city because my main library doesn't have the books I wanna read at them. I also need to update my Popfeed with an entire TBR list, so that I can just start hunting.

However, I'm so excited that halfway through the year, I'm halfway to my goal. I deserve an award or something!