This 2022 reading challenge is all about where reading hits the road.
In addition to being a book nerd, I am a recovering bookseller and travel-lover. I believe strongly that books and travel go together. Books inspire travel and travel encourages reading.
Reading a book with an atmospheric setting can give you an acute sense of place…which has often inspired me to travel. Conversely, when you travel, you gain that insider knowledge which is later rewarded when reading a book set there.
It’s a perfect pairing, like wine and cheese or peanut butter and jelly.
And that’s why I co-host the annual Travel Reading List challenge and hope that you will participate.
(This article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase, I’ll make a small commission.)
I’m joined in the book challenge by fellow travel blogger (and book lover) Mary Jo at Traveling with MJ and a crew of intrepid readers from our Travel Reading List Facebook Community.
Here’s how it works:
We’ve designed this challenge to encourage you to read more…and read more diversely. And we mean “diversely” in the broadest term. This challenge encourages you to read outside of your go-to genre, with books from authors who belong to different races, cultures and lived experiences. It has 24 basic prompts (2x books a month), with an additional 6 prompts for the advanced challenge.
- Check out the book challenges below. I’ve listed all thirty reading prompts with some book suggestions for each.
- You can get a printable copy of the list of prompts here. It’s designed as a check list with space for you to keep track of the books you’ve read.
- Join our Travel Reading List Facebook group where you can engage with other book nerds and get ideas ideas for your reading goals.
2022 Reading Challenge- Travel Reading List
Let’s get started with the reading prompts. In addition to the list itself, I’m also suggesting either two books that go along with the prompt or I’ll link out to some round-up articles.
Basic Challenge: 24 Prompts
- A book by an author from Sub-Sarahan Africa: Born a Crime (we have a book guide for that) and Philida.
- A book set in Canada: The Day the World Came to Town or The Glass Hotel.
- A book set in Colombia: Check out this whole list of books set in Columbia for 20 options.
- A book set in Egypt: A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The City of Brass (Davaebad Trilogy).
- A book written by a Native American author: The Sentence (book club guide for The Sentence), There There or The Night Watchman (book club guide)
- A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins: Envy or Pride.
- A book set at the beach: Remarkable Creatures or The Beach
. - A book with a female spy: The Invisible Library or The Traitor Baru Cormorant.
- A book with a royal character or setting: Red, White and Royal Blue or Court of Fives.
- A book about books: The Binding or My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues. Or use our book club guide for The Dictionary of Lost Words. and this whole list of books about books.
- A book that involves a swindle: The Golden Cage or The Map Thief.
- A book about or set in a National Park: Desert Solitaire or The Glacier Park Mystery Series.
- A book with a political theme or setting: Becoming or Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.
- A book about an explorer or exploration: Turn Right at Machu Picchu or Round Ireland with a Fridge.There’s also The Terror, which is a fictionalized account of the Franklin expedition (and which features on our list of winter books.)
- A book about wine or vineyards: Wine Isn’t Rocket Science or The Lost Vineyard.
- A book set in, on or about a river: Once Upon a River or The Rivers of London series. Or check out our discussion guide for Into the Water.
- A book set in a place you’ve been & would like to visit again: For everyone this will be different, but for me, it’s Spain. Here are 50 books set there.
- A book featuring an animal as a main character: The Friend or The Iron Druid Series. And the dog in Lessons in Chemistry is fantastic.
- A book set in a small town (real or imaginary): Everything I Never Told You or Educated (here’s out book club guide for it).
- A book with a city in the title: Bangkok Wakes to Rain or The Paris Library.
- A book featuring nature as a central theme: The Overstory or we also have a whole article on books featuring elephants.
- A book about language or lexicology: Lexicon or Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism.
- A book set in a school: We have a whole article on books featuring magical schools.
- A book with a season in the title: Winter Counts (also works for Native American author) and Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. We also have a whole list of books set in the winter.
Advanced Reading Challenge: 6 More Prompts
- A book published in the year you turned 21: This is of course, highly subjective. This cool resource at Goodreads lets you sort popular books by year.
- A book with a spooky theme: The Passage or Ninth House.
- A book from a celebrity book club list: Check out our reading guides for Reese’s Book Club and Jenna Bush’s Book Club.
- A book by or about a lawyer: The Widows of Malabar Hill or The Emperor of Ocean Park.
- A book with a plucky Victorian heroine: Try the Veronica Speedwell mystery series. Or, Things in Jars by Jess Kidd. We have a book club guide for that one.
- A book with a found family theme: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet or Six of Crows.
Get More Book Ideas
Check out our other reading lists to help you fulfill your challenge.
- Great audiobook memoirs (read by the author).
- 20 books about librarians.
- Books set in Cuba.
- Challenge yourself even further and do our 2021 challenge. Here’s the printable for it.
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