A lot of things happen when you read 14 great books in 14 weeks, which is what we just did for the first season of Zero to Well-Read.

Great books require a different kind of attention—they require that you read well—and we’re pleased to report that reading well makes you want to read more. And it raises a lot of questions, like:

• What does it mean to read well?
• What is your personal definition of being well-read? (Is that even a thing you care about?)
• What’s most important to you in your reading life?
• If you’re trying to read more, why? And where will the time come from?

There are as many ways to approach the reading life as there are readers. Whatever your goals and your personal definition of being well-read, we’ve got skills and tools to help you get there.

🎧 Hear our conversation about how to read more and better in 2026 and beyond.

When we say “read harder,” we’re not necessarily talking about reading more . For Book Riot, reading harder is reading with the intention to expand your reading life: trying new genres, exploring new subjects and formats, reading deeply and thoughtfully.

Our annual Read Harder Challenge offers 24 tasks designed to help you branch out and spice things up. Take them one by one, roll personalized combos to knock out two (or three or four!) at a time, or cherrypick the ones that will make the biggest difference in your reading life. There’s no wrong way to do it, and you’re the only judge that matters.

🔓 Unlock recommendations for Read Harder, use of the New Release Index to track exciting new books, exclusive content, and more when you join All Access.

A moody, brainy, utterly absorbing read that will keep you talking long after the last page.

From bestselling author Kamilah Cole comes An Arcane Inheritance , a rich, conversation-starting speculative novel guaranteed to jump-start your book club discussion. Cole’s story digs into memory, generational wealth, BIPOC women navigating traditionally white male spaces, and the colonization of magic, while also delivering secret societies, elite schools, swoony romance, and genuine chills.

Fans of Inception, R. F. Kuang’s Babel, Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House, and Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education will feel right at home. Ava Reid calls it “everything I adore in a dark academia book,” while Olivie Blake praises it as “an incisive takedown of all that haunts our most hallowed halls.”

An Arcane Inheritance is available now wherever books are sold.

The only thing that will make you more pressed for reading time than having a baby is having two babies.

As she emerged from the initial haze of new parenthood to (adorable) twin girls, Book Riot’s executive director of content Sharifah Williams shared the simple but hard truth that changed her reading game. Gather your goats: the answer is sacrifice.

I reevaluated how I was spending my time and reorganized to create a sustainable, if slightly reckless, schedule (knowing that my life will not be arranged this way forever). I will note that in addition to pure sacrifice, audiobooks are the secret ingredient, offering opportunities to multitask rather than swap out regularly scheduled programming for reading time in many cases.

But sacrifice she did. Here’s what she cut:

• 🎧 Podcast listening time: “There are diminishing returns when you’re cramming hours of the same sort of conversation into the would-be quiet moments of your day. So now when I’m exercising or washing dishes or doing laundry for the eleventybillionth time, I switch on an audiobook instead.”
• 😴 More sleep: “Admitting that I can’t claim to be catching up onnine months of lost sleep forever, I decided to give up 30 minutes of log sawing at the end of my day to read a nightstand book. For nighttime reading, I choose books that help me feel rested and don’t spark my anxiety, and I choose physical books for this one.”
• 🎶 Weekend morning music: “Growing up, I knew it was the weekend when Sade or Erykah Badu woke me up too early. I carry on this tradition, but lately, I’ve replaced some of that morning music time with — you guessed it — an audiobook.” 

🍼 See more of Sharifah’s reflections on reading as a new parent.

Making friends as an adult is tough. But readers have a cheat code: book clubs. I firmly believe that book clubs are the best way to make new friends, and here’s why.

1. They’re common. Most likely, if you’re interested in a book club, you’ll be able to find one near you. (I use MeetUp.) Or you can join one online!
2. They’re accessible. Unlike many hobbies, you don’t need to invest in supplies. You just need the book—which hopefully is available through the library—and a quiet-ish place to gather.
3. They’re structured. For the introverts among us, mingling is a nightmare activity. Book clubs usually start with a round of introductions and initial thoughts, so even if you’re nervous, you have a chance to say something.
4. They come with a built-in icebreaker. Another advantage for introverts is that this is a social interaction you can prep for! As long as you have a few opinions or questions about the book ready, you can keep the conversation going.
5. They can be themed. I love a specific book club theme, and they are a great way to meet like-minded people; your book club that reads political nonfiction will probably have people willing to join you in a postcard party to get out the vote.

The only downside of book clubs is that they come with some homework. With the right book club, though, you’ll mostly be reading books you’re already interested in, and for me, the positives far outweigh the reading responsibility. – DE

Columbia is giving high prices the cold shoulder with their massive annual winter sale featuring up to 40% off sitewide. Save big on hundreds of styles—including the fan-favorite Suttle Mountain Insulated Jacket, which is currently a steal at over $90 off. Shop the sale now to outfit the whole family for less.

Every reader has their wheelhouse , whether we’re talking about a certain type of book, a genre, a category, or even specific features like found family or messy wealthy people. It’s as comforting to know what you like as it is unfathomable to consider the Herculean task of sifting through the endless reading materials at our disposal today without a preference to guide you.

But a wheelhouse can also be a trap. I was reading science fiction and fantasy almost exclusively until this year when I made a conscious and concerted effort to read more widely, and it taught me a few things about how to navigate a much wider world of books.

📋 Browse the megalists. I started creating my list of first reads without even knowing it. My work and an unexpected, perhaps subconscious, inclination to pay closer attention to the books big outlets and big names were pointing to prompted me to cast a wider net. Here’s the list I created that began my journey: Catch Up on the Best 21st Century Novels in 10 Books.

☎️ Phone a friend. As with approaching anything new, don’t be afraid to ask for advice, especially if you run in diverse bookish circles. 

👎 DNF if you’re not feeling it. Outside of work (the reason I couldn’t DNF that particular title) and school, most of us can choose to quit a book whenever we damn well please. To DNF is to salvage finite time for better experiences.

📘 Pick a book. Any book. The hardest part of any endeavor is getting started.

✅ Get more tips. – SW

Resolutions reveal our values : the ones we hold, the ones we aspire to hold, and the ones we hope to be perceived as holding. What are we really saying when we perpetually resolve to read more?

I think the answer starts with something I’m going to call “avocational awe,” cribbing from Fobzai Ettarh’s concept of  vocational awe, which describes, “the set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in notions that libraries as institutions are inherently good, sacred notions, and therefore beyond critique.”

Many of the same ideas, values, and assumptions infuse reading culture, particularly as it appears and is performed online. More than any other form of consuming art or media, reading is held up as an individual and societal good and a hook on which to hang one’s identity. It’s the kind of hobby you’re supposed to have, an endeavor you should spend your time on. It’s avocational awe that tells us that if some reading is good, more reading is better.

What if reading resolutions weren’t about should and more but about making a holistic assessment of how we spend our time? What if the goal were simply to figure out the right amount of reading for you?

Every hour we spend with a book has its value, yes, and every hour we spend with a book is also an hour we can’t spend doing anything else of value. As the poet Nick Laird puts it, “Time is how we spend our love.” What are the things you love doing? Are you willing to do less of any of them in order to have more time reading? What possibilities will you wave goodbye to? 

Books are amazing, and yet, books are not life.

Time is a zero-sum game, and there are no do-overs. This is hard math because there’s nothing fuzzy about it. How you do it is between you and your bookshelf. – RJS

🔎 Calling all mystery lovers and bookworms! We’re thrilled to partner with AgathaChristie.com to give one lucky follower a chance to win a $100 Gift Card to  Bookshop.org! Treat yourself to some new reads and support independent bookstores.

By entering the sweepstakes, you’ll also be signing up for the official Agatha Christie monthly newsletter that features reading lists, activities, quizzes and adaptation news, plus the latest editions, games and merchandise from the Queen of Mystery.

Jeanette Winterson’s Christmas Days offers 12 stories and accompanying recipes for the strange transitional time between Christmas Day and New Year’s, great for reading aloud and bundled up. And since this will be our last 2025 send of the Book Riot Newsletter, here is an excerpt from it on the promise of a new year:

“We’re humans, not machines. We have bad days. We have mental difficulties. We are inspired, yet we fail. We are not linear. We have hearts that break and souls we don’t know what to do with. We kill and destroy but we build and make possible too. We’ve been to the moon and invented computers. We outsource most things but we still have to live with ourselves. We’re pessimists who believe it’s too late so what the hell? We’re the comeback kids in love with second chances. And every New Year is another chance.”

✍️ Create your own cookbook with a recipe journal from Papier, now 15% off.**

🍿 Watch the first official trailer for Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation of The Odyssey.

🎧 Expand your listening horizons with Libro.fm’s 2026 challenge.

🎙️ Hear rare recordings of Mary Oliver, Joan Didion, Kurt Vonnegut, and E.E. Cummings reading their work.

🍴 Whet your appetite with the best cookbooks of 2025. (We can confirm that Six Seasons of Pasta is 🤌.)

_{**This is a product recommendation from the Book Riot team. When you buy through these links, we may earn a commission.}

Written by Rebecca Schinsky, Sharifah Williams, Danika Ellis, and Jeff O’Neal. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

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_{Got a tip, question, comment, or story idea? Drop us a line: thenewsletter@bookriot.com.}