This 2025 reading challenge is all about where reading hits the road.
In addition to being a book nerd, I am a recovering bookseller and avid traveler. 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.
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 the prompts here.
- Join our Travel Reading List Facebook group where you can engage with other book nerds and get ideas ideas for your reading goals.
(This article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase, I’ll make a small commission.)
2025 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.
I read 100 books in 2024 and only 8 got 5-stars from me. I say this not so that you shake your head and wonder how I read so many books, but rather so that you understand that I don’t hand out 5 starts lightly. I don’t grade on a curve, so these books had to astonish, surprise or delight me. And because they did, I want EVERYONE to read them in 2025. So here’s that list of books, wedged into as many of the prompts as possible.
5-Star Reads to Wedge into Your Challenge
- James by Percival Everett. A thoroughly astonishing re-take on Twain’s Huck Finn that’s not only written well, but uses language as a key element in the story’s dynamic.
Prompts: Booker long list, set in a country you’ve visited, makes you feel like you’ve traveled to the setting even if you haven’t been there, character driven novel, cover that doesn’t include people. - Migrations by Charlotte Mcconaghy. Grief and extinction. I was completely gutted.
Prompts: Set in Antarctica, set in or about incarceration, with a cover that doesn’t include people, set in a cold climate. - A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. What if your magical power was to be an amazing bread baker? I want that power! And what if you’d concocted a sourdough starter that somehow became sentient (and also more than a little carnivorous). I want that too! This book is adorable, read it.
Prompts: Purple cover, coming of age, title is a complete sentence, cover that doesn’t include people, set in a (magical) country currently experiencing war. - Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human Centered Planet by John Greene. Greene reviews the human impact on our planet (and each other), but from a very intimate and personal point of view. The conceit of the starred “review” really ties the essays together.
Prompts: A book about siblings (kinda, he refers to his brother a lot), with a cover that doesn’t include people, that is a memoir (kinda, the essays are very personal but it’s not a chronicle of his whole life). - My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. What does it say about me that a book about an awful, depressed woman who overmedicates herself so that she can sleep for a year made my best of list? I have no idea, but I really loved it.
Prompts: Set in a country you’ve visited, with a title that’s a complete sentence, that’s a character driven novel. - O’ Caledonia by Elsbeth Barker. The setting is Scotland’s wet and wild countryside. The weather is dreary and Janet’s life is difficult there. But she’s such an fierce and irrepressible character. I had some big feels reading this one.
Prompts: Set in a country you’ve visited, about siblings (her siblings are important supporting characters), that makes you feel like you traveled to the setting even though you haven’t been there, a coming of age story. - Stolen Coast by Dwyer Murphy. The book is a slow burn mystery featuring a guy who lives in a sleepy New England coastal town who helps hide people who’re on the lam. And his (former) girlfriend who wants to pull a job. And while I liked the plot, what I loved was the slow languid pacing of the story…like how time slows down on a hot day at the beach.
Prompts: Set in a country you’ve visited, that’s a modern spy novel (kinda). - A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke. Cursed as a young girl, Aubrey finds that she can only stay in one location for a few days before it starts to kill her. So, she spends her life constantly on the move. The reason for the curse is murky, but the book almost reads like a time travel travelogue and poses interesting questions about how to live a fulfilling life when you can’t plant roots.
Prompts: Set in a country you’ve visited (starts in the UK), makes you feel like you’ve visited there, is a coming of age story, with a title that’s a complete sentence, told in non-chronological order, with a cover that doesn’t feature people.
Basic Challenge: 24 Prompts
Some of these link out to a book club guide. All of my guides have a non-spoiler synopsis toward the top of the article.
- A book by an author from Sub-Saharan Africa. Glory or We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo (she’s from Zimbabwe). Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (we have a book club guide for that).
- A book set in or about Antarctica. How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior. Migrations by Charlotte Mcconaghy. While not set entirely in Antarctica, the entire plot heads there.
- A book set in or about Turkiye. MaryJo has a whole list to fulfill this prompt.
- A book set in or about incarceration or written by an inmate. Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, Behrouz Boochani, Omid Tofighian (Translator)
- A book set in a country you’ve visited. Well, this is highly subjective to your personal experiences. But check my destinations page for lists of books set in Australia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Paris, Iceland, Colombia, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Jordan and Cuba.
- A book about siblings. Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. This is one sibling relationship that you won’t envy.
- A book with a title that starts with the letter “K”. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. Kindred by Octavia Butler.
- A book about a solo traveler. Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach. Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews.
- A book that makes you feel like you’ve traveled to the setting, even though you’ve never been there. Again, this is subjective to where you haven’t been, but a few of my faves: Lonely Planet has an “epic” series that will help you fill your bucket list with ideas for hiking, biking, train travel and more. Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad. I’ve never been super interested in Bangkok, but this wet, dystopic version of it has me interested.
- A book that teaches you something new about a destination. In Praise of Paths: Walking through Time and Nature by Torbjørn Ekelund. The author lives in Oslo and his exploration of the local paths and nearby nature offer an interesting insight into the Norwegian relationship to nature. The City We Became by N.K. Jemison will definitely have you thinking very differently about NYC’s five boroughs.
- A book that’s a coming of age story. O’ Caledonia (noted above). The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry.
- A book by a self-published author. The “secret project“– 4 books by Brandon Sanderson which raised a jillion dollars in a crowd funded campaign. Choose your favorite travel or cookbook blogger and buy one of their self-published guides.
- A book that features dragons or mystical creatures. When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. This one is good for folks who aren’t into hard fantasy. It’s more about second wave feminism of the ’50’s and ’60’s featuring women chose to chuck the kitchen apron and take to the skies. How to Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. A refreshing take on the “kid finds a dragon egg” story featuring a lot of Native American cultural references.
- A book with a title that’s a complete sentence. This one’s a gimme. You can surely slot in just about any book. If you’re looking for a fun title and a fun read, try How to Age Disgracefully by Claire Pooley.
- A book that is a character driven novel. My Year of Rest and Relaxation or A Short Walk Through the Wide World (noted above) would fit this prompt.
- A book told in non-chronological order. The Berry Pickers or The Unmaking of June Farrow. Here’s a book club guide for Berry Pickers and one for June Farrow.
- A book with a cover that doesn’t include people. The cover for The Book of Doors hints at the mystery of what the doors do (book club guide here). The Women by Kristin Hannah (hot book of 2024.)
- A book with the word “secret” in the title. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (cozy magic). The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
- A book set in a cold climate. Here’s a whole list of books set in winter.
- A book that is a modern spy novel. The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler. The Elias Network by Simon Gervais.
- A book set in a country currently experiencing war. Damascus Station by David McCloskey (also works for the spy prompt). The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker (set in Myanmar and also works for the translation prompt).
- A book that is a multi-generational story. Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (book club guide here). Weyward by Emilia Hart (book club guide here).
- A book that is an urban fantasy. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (book club guide here). Nine Tailed by Jayci Lee.
- A book with a purple cover. A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske (spicy, gay, magic). The Single Ladies of the Jacaranda Retirement Village by Joanna Nell (the exact opposite of A Marvelous Light).
Advanced Challenge
- A book that is a memoir. Here are some great pics on audio.
- A book about something recently in the news. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey.
- A book that is a work in translation. The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo (translated from Korean). Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang (translated from Mandarin and a National Book Award finalist).
- A book from the 2024 Booker prize long list. James by Percival Everett (book club guide here). Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner.
- A book featuring rich people problems. Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan.
- A book with an epistolary format. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. True History of the Kelley Gang by Peter Carey.
