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Mary Havens: The Reading Challenge (TRC) 2026

Reference Librarian/Associate Professor

What is TRC?

  1. The Reading Challenge is a year long (January 1st - December 31st) challenge.
  2. Any book read during this challenge, that fulfills a category, applies!
  3. Only one book per category, please.
  4. It cannot be a book you have read before unless otherwise indicated (example: revisit a childhood favorite). 
  5. Once you sign-up, you will be added to a Google Sheet where you can keep track of what books you read.
  6. A list of suggested ACC titles is available. 

Questions? Email Mary at mary.havens@austincc.edu

Suggested Titles

beige cover with circular green grass

2025 Bestseller Category - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

green background with large golden chalice holding a green snake dragon surrounded by pink birds

Alliterative Author Category - The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan

golden castle window with clock flower on black background surrounded by a quarter moon and the sun

Alliterative Title Category - Arcana Academy by Elise Kova

woman with aviator shades and curly brown shoulder length brown hair looks up towards the sky, wearing a gray jumpsuit with clouds behind her

Popular Book You've Never Read Category - Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

pale pink cover with a woman waving on left and man waving on right while a bridal couple walk down the aisle

Author You Love Category - Happily Never After by Lynn Painter

black cover with old man's face on right side, a torn page on the left side revealing a silhouette of trees

Bookface Category - The Giver by Lois Lowry

blue-green ombre with a lake and a car submerged in the lake and trees, shore in background

Character with a Hidden Past Category - Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

sky blue cover with large rainbow in a circle, clouds, and rain drops

Features a Winter Activity Category - Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell

charred gray wood with white title letters and a the word fire in red

Features Fire or a Horse for Chinese New Year of the Fire Horse Category - Hail of Fire by Randy Fritz

pale pink background with multiple green limes sitting in an orange net

Fruit on the Cover Category - Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly

illustration of a white woman with a white tunic holding a basket with green vegetation in front of black entrance on a pale green background

Gardening/Gardens as Location - The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway

red bakcground with purple panther fighting a blue snake in front of green leaves and a sun

Historical Romance Category - Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lunes

red cover with small golden paint splash with a helicopter and palm trees in black silhouette

Makes You Feel FOMO Category - The Women by Kristin Hannah

black background with gray skull and gray ivy leaves surrounded by red fabric

Meant to Read Last Year Category - A Fire in the Flesh by Jennifer Armentrout

large white vertical title letters with orange and yellow hills, yellow sun, and night sky in background

Mentioned in Another Book Category - Dune by Frank Herbert

red cover with a doll's head being held up by the hair

Odd Cover Category - Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou

yellow vertical title letters with snowy mountains and a heavily coated person in silhouette

Book Outside Your Comfort Zone Category - Oracle by Thomas Olde Heuvalt

black background with large author name in pale pink, large beige circle with black title letters, red horizontal stripes, gothic fence rail

Set in a Place You Want to Live Category - The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

black background with blue K, pink pop, and other title letters in white, featuring a stage with lights and ten Korean men

"Pop" or "Sugar" in Title Category - K-pop Live by Suk-Young Kim

black background with white title and author letters with a simple drawing of a bird in pink

"Put a Bird On It!" Category - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

yellow title letters in front of black and lighter colored images of roses and thorns

Book You See Someone Else Reading Category - Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

black and dark purple background with a beige castle and vegetation in the foreground

Set in a Castle Category - Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber

large yellow title letters set on a shelf with assorted small objects

Set in the 1970s Category - The Collectors by A.S. King

large bright yellow letters on purple background with a man on the left, holding a sword, and a girl on the right holding a cleaver

Title Starts with "Z" Category - Zomromcom by Olivia Dade

white title and author letters on pale purple background with young woman's profile in repose

Written in the 1800s Category - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

stormy gray sky with dark blue ocean full of life preservers

Features Young Adult Characters Category - Salt to the Sea by Ruta Septys

yellow background with dark brown title and author letters with green and peach drop shape

Book with a Yellow Cover Category - Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

The 2025 Reading Challenge

Join TRC!

What are the categories?

**Categories can be completed in any order**

Essential

  1. Meant to Read Last Year
  2. Popular Book You've Never Read
  3. Yellow Cover
  4. Historical Romance
  5. 2025 Bestseller
  6. Author You Love
  7. Set in a Place You Want to Live
  8. Put a Bird on It! (bird in title, on cover, or in plot)
  9. Character with a Hidden Past

Advanced (essential categories plus the following)

  1. Gardening/Garden as Plot/Location 
  2. Odd Cover
  3. Starts with Letter "Z"
  4. Name in Title
  5. Features a Winter Activity
  6. Makes you Feel FOMO
  7. Fruit on the Cover
  8. Book Outside Your Comfort Zone
  9. Season is Basically a Character
  10. Set in the 1970s
  11. Alliterative Title
  12. Written by a Celebrity
  13. Three Syllable Word in the Title
  14. Wirtten in the 1800s
  15. Book Face Cover
  16. Book Mentioned in Another Book
  17. Set in a Castle
  18. Alliterative Author
  19. Book You See Someone Else Reading
  20. Features Young Adult Characters
  21. Features Fire or a Horse (Chinese New Year of the Fire Horse)
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