A to Z Challenge by Ronel Janse van Vuuren

Theme Reveal for A to Z Blogging Challenge 2026 #AtoZChallenge #AtoZChallengeThemeReveal

Learn more about the challenge here.

Just like last year, I’m doing a double A-Z. One will be book reviews and the other will be folklore.

Thankfully there are loads of digital and physical libraries to aid me in this challenge of reading through my TBR, otherwise it would be quite costly!

I’ll be sticking to standalone novels or with series that only had a book or two left to be read (but I haven’t shared the reviews of the rest of the series yet). We’ll see if this fixes the issue I had last year of not having read and reviewed all the books before the day it has to go live.

A friend said something interesting at the end of 2024 about not keeping books on her TBR after they’ve been there for a decade without being read. It made me seriously reconsider my own out of control TBR (during that conversation over 2,500 books) and how many books I can realistically read a year (a lifetime…).

So, in 2025, I tried very hard to stick to reading books at the top of my TBR for my A-Z reading as well as what I read the rest of the year (I did jump around a little, as is my nature). Still, I didn’t finish up the original 1k on the list. So, I decided to plan out my A-Z reading for 2026, 2027 and 2028. I’ve added as many books to these from the top of my TBR as I possibly could (matching letters).

As I started my Goodreads TBR in late 2015, I’ll be removing books from it that have been there for ten years and don’t grab my interest anymore. I’ll also be removing books from authors whose writing had left me meh in the past (more than one book/series). This is in no way commentary on the books themselves, just how interests change over time. I’ll make an announcement in my “Speed Dating” reading post in May about which books had been removed.

Here’s a video of my TBR of 2025 (without reviews).

The folklore is a mish-mash of various creatures I haven’t featured before. I’m also finishing up my immortals posts (there were a couple more than could fit into last year’s series).

Remember that you can win a guest post spot on the A-Z Challenge blog if you recommend people to join the challenge!

Are you taking part in the A-Z this year? What do you think of my theme? You can check out my Pinterest board about the A-Z Challenge here.

fairy image credit https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ai-generated-fairy-wings-magic-8121013/

No-one writes about the fae like Ronel Janse van Vuuren.

30 thoughts on “Theme Reveal for A to Z Blogging Challenge 2026 #AtoZChallenge #AtoZChallengeThemeReveal”

  2. Nice to meet you. You’re so inspiring to participate in two series of A to Z challenges. All the best to you.

  4. Yes, I managed to take about ten books off my TBR for every ten I put on the front of it last year! But even reading over 60 in the year leaves me with a fairly steady 920 to get through. And new books/ARCs don’t even get on it. The thing is as you said, often there are books we would have wanted to read then, which we just don’t want to read now. Tastes change, we have different interests, and for me, I’m not writing MG any more and find MG often just not what I want to read (or repetitive, which the kids don’t mind).
    Looking forward to your latest letter lists. I do an Alphabet Soup reading challenge each year. You can check that, and find past ones if you change the year in the URL 🙂

  7. Yeah, it’s hard to be realistic about how many books a person can actually read. Only so many hours in the day to devote all your resources. I look forward to your posts.
    Looking forward to the challenge this year.
    “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” —Jimmy Dean

    J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) @JLenniDorner ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge international blog hop

  9. I’m with you on downsizing. I’m trying to downsize my physical book collection. I’ve had many of the books for over 10 years. I’ve decided if I didn’t read it during Covid or subsequently, I was never going to read it. I also, occasionally, try to pare down my Goodreads list but there are too many things to do and two few hours. Good luck with A to Z and doing some virtual decluttering at the same time. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

    1. Thanks, Alana. The last time I decluttered my physical books, the library got boxes full of new (to them) books. I always feel so much (emotionally) lighter after a good decluttering, whether physical or virtual.

  11. Thanks for visiting my blog and also for responding to my question about how to find these links. I’m amazed that you’re doing a double A to Z Challenge. That is 52 posts in one month, wow! Even though I’m writing my posts in advance, 26 really pushes my limits.

  13. Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into organizing your TBR and planning ahead for the next few years. I like the idea of periodically reassessing what stays on the list; reading tastes really do evolve over time! 📚

  14. Wow! A double A to Z sounds very challenging indeed! All the best…and I’m surely looking forward to stopping by to read your posts, Ronel!

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