A reading challenge for 2027: books, pages or minutes

What counts as a reading challenge?

Your own challenge can be a small agreement with yourself about what you'd like to read and how you'll remember it. You don't need a competitive book total or a daily streak.

It doesn't have to mean only whole books. For example, The Reading Agency describes its Reading Ahead programme as six reads that can include magazines, recipes and poems, recorded in a diary.¹ That's a separate programme, not a rule for your own challenge.

Choose books, pages or minutes

You could start with just one measure. If it stops being useful, you're free to change it.

• Books finished: try this if you'd like a list of titles to look back on. You could add the author and a short note about each book.
• Pages read: try this if you'd rather record a little progress while you're still in a book. Record the pages you read that day, rather than your current page number, so you don't count the same pages twice.
• Minutes read: try this if you'd like to make room for reading without counting finished books. You could include listening time if audiobooks are part of your challenge.

How many books should I aim for in 2027?

There's no target you need to meet here. You could start with one book you'd like to finish, or use a yearly number if you enjoy having something to aim for.

As worked examples, 12 books over a full year is one a month; 24 is two a month. These are example targets, not survey averages or a reading standard. They don't account for the length of your books or the time you have.

If you'd rather count time, ten minutes on three days is 30 minutes in a week. That's another example, not a minimum. You could try a week first and then choose a target that feels comfortable.

Make a short reading list you can change

You could pick a book you're curious about, an old favourite and something a friend suggested. Leave room for a different choice later; you don't have to plan the whole year in January.

If you don't want to buy books for a challenge, you could check what your local library has or swap a book with a friend. Borrowing can be part of your plan, rather than another thing to buy before you start.

Do audiobooks and rereads count?

For your own challenge, you can decide that audiobooks, ebooks, comics and rereads count. You could write down your choice at the start so your record means the same thing when you look back.

For example, you might count each completed audiobook as a book, or record listening minutes alongside reading minutes. Those are options, not rules for a challenge run by someone else. If you've joined an organised challenge, you could check its rules separately.

What if I miss a week or stop enjoying a book?

You can leave a gap and carry on with your next reading session. There's no need to fill in days you can't remember or catch up with someone else's pace.

You can also put a book aside. If you're counting books finished, you could keep a note about an unfinished book without adding it to that total. Pages or minutes you've already recorded can still be part of your year.

If you'd like more ideas for starting again, our guide to keeping a New Year's resolution has suggestions for small steps and kind restarts.

Keep a reading record worth looking back on

Alongside a count, you could keep a title, a finish date and a sentence about what stayed with you. At the end of 2027, you might choose a favourite, remember a book you shared, or look at the list without ranking it.

Small Counts's Read more starter includes Books finished and Minutes read. You can edit the suggested book target, or add your own amount to record pages. The minutes entry is a number you enter yourself, so you don't need to leave a timer running.

You can explore the reading demo before choosing what to track. If you'd like a printable record later, the optional calendar-year keepsake collection is digital artwork for you to download and print yourself or take to a printer. We aren't selling physical books or prints.