How to Participate

1. Sign up on the Massachusetts Center for the Book website.

2. Choose and read a book that fits the monthly challenge.

3. Log in and tell us about the book!

That's it!

Need some reading suggestions? Check out this list! Each title brings you to the book in our catalog.

January - A book you read years ago that you may feel differently about now

• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
• Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
• Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
• The Help - Katherine Stockett
• Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
• Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
• Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling

February - A book with a color in the title

• Red, White, and Royal Blue  - Casey McQuiston
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit - Jeanette Wilkerson
• The Yellow House - Sarah M. Broom
• Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• The House in the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune
• Lilac Girls - Martha Hall Kelly
• The Rose Code - Kate Quinn
• Brown Girls - Daphne Palasi Andreades
• Black Cake - Charmaine Wilkerson
• Black, White, and the Grey - Mashama Bailey and John O. Morisano 
• White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port - Kate Storey

March - A book whose protagonist has a different culture/lifestyle from you

• Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult
• True Biz - Sara Novic
• Pageboy - Elliot Smith
• Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner
• The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight - Andrew Leland
• Behold the Dreamers - Imbolo Mbue
• The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo - Christy Lefteri
• Heavy - Kiese Laymon
• The Museum of Failures - Thrity Umrigar

April - A book about nature, the environment, or climate change

• The Overstory - Richard Powers
• Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
• An Immense World - Ed Yong
• Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden - Camille T. Dungy
• The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small - Isabella Tree
• Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World Shell by Shattered Shell - Sy Montgomery
• What an Owl Knows - Jennifer Ackerman
• Nature and Selected Essays - Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Fuzz - Mary Roach
• Fire Weather - John Vaillant

May - A graphic novel

• Brazen - Penelope Bagieu
• The Best We Could Do - Thi Bui
• The Secret to Superhuman Strength - Alison Bechdel
• Wake: The Hidden History of Women-led Slave Revolts - Rebecca Hall
• Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
• Heartstopper - Alice Oseman
• Lore Olympus - Rachel Smythe
• Wash Day Diaries - Jamila Rowser
• American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
• Huda F Are You - Huda Fahmy

June - A book that inspired a film or TV series

• Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
• A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
• Dune - Frank Herbert
• Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
• Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann
• The Color Purple - Alice Walker
• The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
• All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
• Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam
• It Ends with Us - Colleen Hoover

July - A book by an author born outside of the U.S.

• The Furies - Alex Michaelides
• Yellowface - R.F. Kuang
• The Wind Knows My Name - Isabel Allende
• Beartown - Fredrik Backman
• The Leftover Woman - Jean Kwok
• Victory City - Salman Rushdie
• Lady Tan’s Circle of Women - Lisa See
• The Collected Regrets of Clover - Mikki Brammer
• Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity - Peter Attia
• We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story - Simu Liu

August - A book whose title starts with the same letter as your birthday month

• Just Mercy - Bryan Stevenson
• Fourteen Days - Margaret Atwood & Douglas Preston
• My Name is Barbra - Barbra Streisand
• Astor - Anderson Cooper
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
• Normal People - Sally Rooney
• Doppelganger - Naomi Klein

September - A debut book by a Massachusetts author

• Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
• The Beach Club - Elin Hilderbrand
• The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
• The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
• The Godwulf Manuscript - Robert B. Parker
• The Colossus - Sylvia Plath
• Commencement - J. Courtney Sullivan
• Hey Kiddo - Jarrett Krosoczka 
• Monsterland - Ronny Le Blanc
• Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale - Holly Black

October - A book about a time in history you’d like to know more about

• The House of Eve - Sadeqa Johnson
• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - Kim Michele Richardson
• The Women - Kristin Hannah
• The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner
• Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
• The Secrets We Kept - Lara Prescott
• A Long Petal of the Sea - Isabel Allende
• Weyward - Emilia Hart
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

November - A relaxing, soul-soothing book

• The Bear - Andrew Krivak
• Devotions - Mary Oliver
• Enchantment - Katherine May
• The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer
• The Book of Joy - His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
• Atlas of the Heart - Brené Brown
• The Light We Carry - Michelle Obama
• Better Living Through Birding - Christian Cooper
• North Woods - Daniel Mason

December - A well-reviewed book in your least favorite genre

• The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Outlander - Diana Galbadon
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari
• The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
• Dune - Frank Herbert
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
• The Shining - Stephen King
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
• Watchmen - Alan Moore

• Dedicated readers will be invited to a year-end celebration hosted by Mass Center for the Book.
• If you read a book in each of the 12 months, you will be entered in a drawing to win 1 of 2 totes filled with books.
• New this year! We will be drawing two names on the last day of each month to win a free book! Make sure you get those entries in before the end of the month.
• Have questions? View Massachusetts Center for the Book's FAQ.