Books

This Simple Challenge Will Help You Read WAY More Books Before 2019 Ends

by Kerri Jarema
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Reading by color is an unconventional way to get through more of your TBR pile, writes Kerri Jarema. Photo courtesy of Kelly Knox/Stocksy

If there is one thing that most readers have in common, it's that we're always looking for new and innovative ways to read more and to tackle our towering to-be-read piles. Whether you're a book collector, an e-book reader, library patron, or a combination of all three, chances are pretty high that you've got a stack of books you're desperate to read and not nearly enough time in the day to do it. If you're anything like me, when fall rolls around, you start to look at your incomplete yearly reading challenge with more trepidation than excitement.

Luckily, there are actually lots of easy and fun ways to get through your end-of-year reading list: doing the five-star TBR challenge, making a list of your favorite books every summer, crafting a seasonal TBR, and now, trying the Reading My Rainbow challenge.

Created by the BookTuber Chelsea at chelseadolling reads, the challenge is relatively simple: You go through the books on your TBR (this challenge will be particularly helpful for readers who own a lot of physical books, but would definitely work for e-readers and library stacks, too!) and pick out a few that have the same color cover. Simple, sure, but infinitely more enjoyable than staring at a sea of books in utter despair as you try to figure out what to read, right?

Since starting the challenge, Chelsea has completed both a Blue challenge and an Orange challenge, picking out six books for each. Of course, you can make Reading My Rainbow work for you — adjust the amount of books to include as many as you think you can get through in a week (or even a month!) or combine the challenge with another (choose all seasonal reads in one color, for example, or craft a five-star TBR list of books that are all the same color.)

It's no secret that even the most voracious of readers can find themselves easily distracted by social media, the news, and just the general hustle and bustle of being alive. Challenges like Reading My Rainbow are a great way to recover the fun and excitement of sitting down with a good book. Smashing your end-of-year TBR and making space for new books is just the icing on the cake.

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