MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Ready to dive into a new year full of great reads and new stories? This year, Fully Booked invites you to embrace SHELF STUDY—where your bookshelf becomes a place of discovery, reflection, and real-world learning. Whatever you’re curious about or ready to explore, there’s a book for that.
As we all know, resolutions can waver as the year gets busy, which is why we’re inviting you to join our Reading Challenge for 2026. With thoughtfully designed prompts, this year’s challenge encourages you to explore your curiosities and bring what you learn off the shelf and into your everyday life—and to share those insights with fellow page-learners along the way. So, who’s ready to get started?
January: Book that inspires creativity
From the moment you first crawled as a child – eyes wide with wonder at the colors, shapes, and textures around you (and sometimes even tasting them), you were already practicing creativity. Psychologists have long emphasized that creativity benefits us in countless ways. Whether we work in traditionally creative fields or not, practicing creativity can enhance our mental health, boost our mood, and even strengthen the immune system. From painting to potting plants, writing poetry, knitting, cooking, crafting cocktails, or trying something entirely new, creative activities help us see the world in fresh, unexpected ways. Jumpstart your 2026 with a book that sparks and nurtures your creativity.
February: Book exploring feelings and sensations
With February being the month of love, it’s the perfect time to dig deep and explore the deepest recesses of your heart. It can be a literary fiction revolving around a lost and lonely main character, an enlightening non-fiction book about anxiety or trauma, or a children’s book exploring big feelings – it’s really up to you!
March: Book about Planet Earth
This month calls us to look closely at the world we live in. With environmental challenges shaping our daily lives—from food waste and increasing loss of biodiversity to the accelerating effects of global warming—it feels more important than ever to turn to books that help us understand our planet and our place in it. While speculative or dystopian fiction might be top of mind, this prompt invites you to explore beyond imagined futures. Dive into children’s books, travel writing, nature poetry, or any work that celebrates Earth’s beauty and deepens your appreciation for the fragile, extraordinary world we call home.
April: Book about society and people
Whether fiction or non-fiction, these books offer a framework for understanding why people behave the way they do and the social structures humans navigate every day. Reading these pages feels like stepping outside your own life to closely observe humanity—our actions, our choices, and the hidden truths that shape us. And when you turn the final page, you may gain newfound insights, more nuance, and a deeper understanding that gently transforms the way you see yourself and others.
May: Book from a genre you don’t usually read
Come May, challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone. What’s a genre you’ve always thought wasn’t right up your alley? Try poetry and find pleasure in basking in words and metaphors. How about cracking open your first romantasy book? Or dive into historical fiction for the first time? Take a bold risk this 2026, you might just surprise yourself.
June: Book featuring a historical event
Jose Rizal famously said, “He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.” In time for June, the month we celebrate Philippine Independence Day, we’re challenging you to dive into a historical read. Think of fascinating events in history, or hidden histories that you never learned in the classroom growing up. Our own history has plenty of intriguing events that will definitely turn the pages, but feel free to venture out. From oppression to world wars, to Japanese internment, to the birth of the Internet– there’s a lot to learn from the past.
July: Book that restores your faith in humanity
These days, the ground can feel shaky– what with the world dealing with conflicts and global risks. Here comes books to the rescue! For July, the challenge is to read a book that provides hopeful escapism. Think books that celebrate kindness, resilience, and humanity’s capacity for connection. Comforting and healing, these books offer glimmers of light and hope when we need them the most.
August: Book that broadens your cultural understanding
We may not be flight attendants who get to see the world as often as we’d like, but we’ll always have books—and they are, as Stephen King said, “uniquely portable magic.” A good read can whisk you to another place, let you walk in someone else’s shoes, and deepen your understanding of cultures beyond your own. Think translated fiction, travel books, or simply, a book that pushes you out of your “bubble.” Books that deepen our understanding of art, music, and traditions different from our own can inspire new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.
September: Book published in 2026
We’re easing into the latter half of the year by challenging you to pick up a book that’s published in 2026. More than halfway through the year, chances are a few new releases have already caught your eye. This is the moment to discover fresh literary voices or to explore a genre you’ve never tried before. Scour the stacks or ask a friend for a book recommendation – you never know which 2026 release might become your next favorite read.
October: Book to aid you in adulting
Growing up and living independently is hard—and while nothing compares to the lessons we learn through real-life experience, there’s comfort and wisdom in hearing from those who’ve navigated the journey before us. Books written by people who’ve stumbled, learned, and grown can offer guidance, reassurance, and sometimes even a much-needed laugh. They remind us that we’re not alone in figuring things out.
November: Book that teaches you a skill
Use this month to delve into a special interest you’ve been curious about and choose a book that empowers you to actually try it—one small skill at a time. Learning a new skill always brings unexpected joy in life, and often it doesn’t have to be something related to our careers. Sometimes the most fulfilling skills are the ones we pursue simply because they enrich life.
December: Book that imagines the future
As the year wraps up, we challenge you to think about what lies ahead. Imagining the future can be entertaining, but more than that, by tapping into our fears, dreams, and ambitions, we begin to envision – and build – the kind of world we deserve.
Don’t forget to save a copy of the Reading Challenge 2026 on your phone. Happy New Year of reading, bookworms!
