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Read Around the World 2025: Book Voyage Reading Challenge
Welcome to year 5 of the Book Voyage Read Around the World Challenge. We launched this challenge at a time when armchair traveling through the pages of books was a much-needed escape for many of us. We’ve loved seeing how it’s grown, with nearly 11,000 readers registering to participate over the past four years.
Throughout this 2025 reading challenge, we’ll read some of the best books set all around the globe. Whether it’s your first time or your fifth joining Book Voyage, we’re happy to have you joining us for our 2025 reading challenge as we armchair travel around the globe.
Bon Voyage means “good voyage” or “enjoy your travels” in French. We named our Around the World reading challenge “Book Voyage” as a play on words and a nod to this French phrase. We are excited to have you join us as we embark on our travels together through the pages of good books!
How Does the Book Voyage Challenge Work?
Every month, choose a book set in a specific region of the world. As we journey together, we’ll learn about the vast and beautiful differences in both landscape and culture.
For each monthly prompt, we’ll be your travel guides. We do the research for you, providing carefully curated book recommendation lists that span a wide variety of genres. This allows you to spend more time reading and less time researching.
After you finish reading, share your feedback by completing our short book rating form. We also invite you to join our Facebook group to chat about what you’re reading throughout the month.
Sign Up for the Book Voyage Challenge
When you sign up using the box below, you’ll get a welcome email with a link to download the cute printable tracker for this challenge. Even if you’re already on the email list, you can provide the same email address in the box below to receive this year’s tracker.
Once you’ve signed up for the challenge, you’ll begin receiving our Friday email newsletter. This is the easiest way to help you stay on track.
In addition to signing up for the challenge, we recommend joining our Read with the Book Girls Facebook group. It’s a friendly place where we discuss books, both for the challenges and anything else that we’re reading.
Monthly Reading Schedule & Rating Logs
While the book lists are available below from prior years, keep in mind that they may change. Any updates will be made by the 3rd Friday of the prior month and the updated link will be in the email newsletter that day. For example, the February list will be finalized for this year on January 17th. Books may be removed, and others added, so we recommend waiting until the updated list is finalized before choosing your book.
| Reading Month | Choose Your Book | After Reading* |
|---|---|---|
| January | Arctic & Antarctica | Rate Your Book |
| February | Western Europe | Rate Your Book |
| March | Africa | Rate Your Book |
| April | Islands | Rate Your Book |
| May | Eastern Europe & Russia | Rate Your Book |
| June | Australia & New Zealand | Rate Your Book |
| July | Southern Asia | Rate Your Book |
| August | Northern Asia | Rate Your Book |
| September | Transportation | Rate Your Book |
| October | Middle East | Rate Your Book |
| November | North America | Rate Your Book |
| December | South America | Rate Your Book |
A Note About Geography
We took some liberties in dividing up the regions to create a 12-book challenge, so don’t use our map to prepare for a geography test ;). For example, Russia is located partially in Europe and partially in Asia, but for our purposes, it is grouped with Eastern Europe. Our book recommendation lists for each region specify which countries we’ve included for that month’s reading prompt, so you’ll never have to guess.
Printable Book Lists
Readers who support The Book Girls’ Guide through our Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership site can access printable versions of the reading challenge book lists. As we update each book list throughout the year – following the monthly reading challenge schedule above – each list will be available in a single-page printable format for our BMAC members.
We offer two membership levels. Both our BFF members and our Inner Circle members get access to the single-page printables for the year-long reading challenges. Visit our Buy Me a Coffee membership page for a full list of benefits for each level.
Our BMAC members help cover the cost of running the challenges so we can keep them free for everyone!
What Do I Do When I Finish Reading My Book Each Month?
As a member of our email list and Facebook group, you can share your rating and other feedback about your monthly challenge reads via our book rating logs. We share a link to the rating form in the Friday newsletter every week, and you’ll also find them in the “Monthly Reading Schedule & Rating Log” section above.
The book rating forms help us determine which books should stay on our recommendation lists, which should be removed, and whether any changes are needed to our descriptions. Additionally, we use the data to calculate the “BGG Reader Ratings” that you’ll see noted for many of the books.
Additional Frequently Asked Questions
If you’ve signed up for the challenge above, you’re all set, and our emails will help guide you through everything throughout the year.
If you have any questions, you can continue reading the most commonly asked questions below.
How much does it cost to participate?
All our reading challenges, as well as our other book lists and resources, are free for everyone! It takes an extraordinary amount of time to put together and administer the challenges, but we never want finances to be a barrier to participation. At the request of some of our readers, we established a totally optional Buy Me a Coffee membership for anyone willing to help support our work.
What types of books are included?
As with our other challenges, we provide carefully researched lists of highly-rated titles for you to choose from for each reading prompt. The Book Voyage Challenge is perfect for anyone who loves to armchair travel or is interested in learning about different regions and cultures.
Each list includes a wide variety of genres, from contemporary and literary fiction to mystery, romance, and non-fiction. The books are a mix of new releases and older books that may be easier to find at the library without a wait.
Within the book list, each recommendation includes a synopsis of the book and additional notes to help you select your perfect read. For this challenge, we focus on including many books by authors who are from, or have strong ties to, the region. Where relevant, we include a very brief author bio in the “Book Girls Say” section below the book synopsis.
Do you host any other reading challenges?
Yes! We host numerous yearlong reading challenges, as well as fun mini-challenges. You are welcome to join in as many challenges as you would like each year. Many of our readers participate in more than one.
If I’m doing more than one challenge, can a single book count twice?
Yes, absolutely! In fact, we even help you find some books that meet more than one challenge with a special crossover list that we update and share in the newsletter each month.
Do audiobooks count?
Yes! We’re equal-opportunity readers. Whether you choose a paper book, ebook, or audiobook, if you finish the material knowing the story the author set out to tell, you’ve “read” the book!
Can I choose my own book?
Absolutely! You can choose any book from our recommendation lists or any other book that meets the challenge prompt. In fact, if you really enjoy an off-list book you select, we’d love for you to share your feedback in our rating logs (select “Other” from the book title dropdown).
Can I recommend a book for one of the Read Around the World book lists?
Yes, we’d love to hear your recommendation, and you can submit it using this form. Please only recommend books that you’ve already read and rated highly.
How do I get the printable reading challenge log?
Just scroll back up and fill out the email form in the blue box, which is located above the links to all the book lists.
What if I signed up, but didn’t receive the email?
Sometimes, our emails might get trapped in your spam filter. If you signed up but haven’t received the email with the printable reading tracker, be sure to check your spam folder. To keep future emails out of the spam folder, be sure to add our email address to your address book, or drag our emails over to your Primary tab in Gmail.
If you’ve checked your spam folder and still don’t see the email from us, then please send us a quick email to hello(at)bookgirlsguide(dot)com and we’ll get it sorted out for you as quickly as we can.
Can I join a reading challenge after January?
Absolutely! How you choose to participate is totally up to you, so there’s no such thing as being behind. Any month can be a great time to start!
If you’re a voracious reader, you can double up and complete multiple prompts in one month. Or feel free to just start with the current month and move forward.
No pressure from us. We’re happy for you to join in whenever and wherever!
What happens if I miss a month?
Nothing at all! Life happens, and we’re committed to our challenges being fun and not stressful.
While it feels great to make it to the end of the year with all 12 months completed, sometimes it’s better to skip a month and move on to the next prompt when you can. You can also go back and read the month you skipped if you’d like, but please don’t feel any pressure to do that.
Do I have to go in order?
Yes and no. While the book lists are available above from prior years, keep in mind that they may change. Any updates will be made by the 3rd Friday of the prior month and the updated link will be in the email newsletter that day. For example, the February list will be finalized for this year on January 17th.
If you follow the recommended monthly reading prompts outlined above, you’ll always have access to the most up-to-date book recommendations. And you’ll be able to chat with other readers in our Facebook group who are reading about the same region of the world as you.
Can we use the challenge for our book club?
Absolutely! We’ve had many book clubs use our challenges and reading prompts to help guide their book selections throughout the year. One suggestion is to give each member a link to the book list for each prompt and let them vote on their top 3 options to help narrow down the book options before making the final selection as a club. We also have a list of Universal Book Club Discussion Questions to spark insightful conversations, no matter what title your club is exploring.
Can my kids do this challenge with me?
Absolutely! In fact, we even have a Read Around the World Kids’ Challenge with a printable coloring map just for them, as well as a list of book recommendations for every continent, organized by reading level ranging from picture books and early readers up through middle grade.
Book Girl Angela and her sons have enjoyed participating in this challenge together. Angela reads a book from the adult list, and her boys read books about the same country from the kids’ lists. Then, they chat about what they each learned about this country while enjoying a meal inspired by the region.
We look forward to reading with you this year!
