If you've been following me for years, you'll know that I really love reading challenges because of the way it stretches your reading comfort zone, but I've always sucked at actually completing them.
In 2015, over at Goodreads, we kicked off our most outrageous challenge ever, borrowing The Beatles Reading Challenge from another group I was a part of, which had turned their songs into reading tasks. And in 2016, we whipped up The REM Reading Challenge. (I really sucked at this one. I couldn't even complete one album, but man was it fun trying!). And then to honor David Bowie's passing, in 2017 we pulled together the Bowie Reading Challenge! In 2018 I decided to take a break from our music theme and challenged everyone to read whatever the fuck they wanted in our RWTFYW challenge. The only rule was that there were no rules : ) In 2019 I spread my love of Guster around, 2020 was all about Ani DiFranco, 2021 had us fan girling over PJ Harvey, and 2022 continued the female artist love with our Liz Phair challenge (I sucked at this one too, didn't complete one album but came soooo close for so many!). 2023 had me returning to my 80s roots and we concocted The Cure challenge, which was my most successful up to that point. And 2024 brought us the Depeche Mode challenge, where I completed a whopping record breaking 8 albums! And we just closed out our 2025 Afghan Whigs Challenge.
For 2026 I'm going to keep the alternative resurgence theme going and am thrilled to announce that we're hosting the Garbage Reading Challenge!
Garbage made a comeback in 2025 but have been kicking the crap out of the radiowaves since the mid 90's. Shirley Manson is an absolutely killer lead vocalist.
Whether you know and love Garbage or this is the first time you are hearing of them (I mean it's possible, right?), what I think is most cool about these kinds of reading challenges... is that you don't even have to be a fan of the musicians to participate. You just have to be a fan of READING!!
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Garbage (2025) Reading Challenge
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So here's how this works:
*The goal is to cross off as many of Garbage's songs as you can throughout the course of 2026.
You can challenge yourself to complete one entire album, focus on completing one decades-worth of albums, or build your own challenge by hitting your favorite song titles... it's totally up to you!
*You cross off the songs by reading a book that meets the criteria listed after each song title.
If the book meets multiple reading tasks, cool! You can apply it to multiple song titles, OR you can make the reading challenge more challenging by limiting yourself to one song title per book.
*There may be built in redundancy with some of the tasks.
They are repetitive on purpose, to give you an opportunity to read more than one type of book and still get credit for completing a task. (Sneaky, I know!)
*Please copy and paste the entire list, or your customized challenge list, into your own thread in this goodreads folder and strike through the song titles as you complete them, OR, you can simply copy and paste each song title and its criteria from the master list here as you complete it. (obviously put your name in the thread title so we know whose challenge it is).
*Do not add your list directly to Rule and List thread.
*YOU MUST LIST THE BOOK TITLE AND AUTHOR that coincides with the song as you complete it for the challenge so we know what you read!
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An example of a completed song title task in your Challenge thread would look like this:
<s>“This Bouquet” – Read a book that features flowers on the cover</s> - The Distance from Four Points by Margo Orlando Littell
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Aaaaannnnnnnddddddd here's the list:
A total of 8 studio albums and 91 total songs tasks!
Garbage (1995)
"Supervixen" – Read a book that features a strong female MC
"Queer" – Read an LGBTQIA book
"Only Happy When It Rains" – Curl up with a book on a rainy day instead of going out or doing your chores and take credit for it here
"As Heaven is Wide" – Read a book that features religion
"Not My Idea" – Read a book that was recommended to you by someone else
"A Stroke of Luck" – Save this for the book that became a surprise five star read
"Vow" – Read a book that you swore you would never read, or a book by an author you swore you would never read
"Stupid Girl" – Read a book that features a sad girl / weird girl
"Dog New Tricks" – Read a book that features a dog or has a dog on the cover
"My Lover’s Box" – Read a romance novel or a book that heavily features love
"Fix Me Now" – Save this for the book that becomes your entire personality after you read it
"Milk" – Read a book that features drinking or has a drink on the cover
Version 2.0 (1998)
"Temptation Waits" – Read that book you just bought, go ahead, move it right to the top of your TBR
"I Think I’m Paranoid" – Read a book that is super creepy and had you looking over your shoulder the whole time
"When I Grow Up" – Read a book that features a young MC
"Medication" – Read a book that deals with illness / chronic illness
"Special" – Read a book that was someone else’s favorite
"Hammering in My Head" – If you read a book that gave you a “book hangover”, take credit for it here
"Push It" – Save this spot for the book you pimped the most this year
"The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" – If you read a book that literally took your breath away, take credit for it here
"Dumb" – If you read a book that you should have DNFd and didn’t, take credit for it here
"Sleep Together" – Save this for the book that kept you up all night
"Wicked Ways" – Read a book with a twist that took you by surprise
"You Look So Fine" – Read a book just because of its cover and take credit for it here
Beautiful Garbage (2001)
"Shut Your Mouth" – Save this spot for the book you read this year that that you will absolutely not take any criticism on
"Androgyny" – Read a book with a cover that could work for any genre
"Can’t Cry These Tears" – Read a tear jerker
"Til the Day I Die" – Read a book about death and/or dying
"Cup of Coffee" – Stay in bed and read a book so you can take credit for it here
"Silence is Golden" – Read a book with a cover that features foil lettering/design
"Cherry Lips" – Read a book that is set in the summertime
"Breaking Up the Girl" – If you DNF a book, take credit for it here
"Drive You Home" – Listen to an audiobook on your commute to work / in the car and take credit for it here
"Parade" – If you read a book that you own in multiple formats, take credit for it here
"Nobody Loves You" – Read a book that is severely under read / flying under everyone’s radar
"Untouchable" – Save this spot for your favorite book of the year
"So Like a Rose" – Read a book that has a flower / flowers on the cover
Bleed Like Me (2005)
"Bad Boyfriend" – Read a book that features an evil or morally grey male MC
"Run Baby Run" – Go buy and immediately read that brand new release you’ve been waiting for and take credit for it here
"Right Between the Eyes" – Read a book that has a body part on the cover
"Why Do You Love Me" – Read a book that you’d be embarrassed to have people see you read
"Bleed Like Me" – Read a gory horror novel
"Metal Heart" – Read a steampunk, industrial, or sci-fi novel
"Sex Is Not the Enemy" – Read a steamy, spicy book
"It’s All Over but the Crying" – If you read a book you thought you were going to love but it turned out to be trash, take credit for it here
"Boys Wanna Fight" – Read a book that features a lot of violence
"Why Don’t You Come Over" – Do a buddy read, or if you read a book for a book club, take credit for it here
"Happy Home" – Read a book that features a haunted house
Not Your Kind of People (2012)
"Automatic Systemic Habit" – Read a book that is shelved in your favorite section of the bookstore
"Big Bright World" – Read a dystopian novel
"Blood for Poppies" – Read a book with a red cover, or that has blood on the cover
"Control" – Read an audiobook and play it at whatever speed you want
"Not Your Kind of People" – Give an author you didn’t like a second chance and take credit for it here
"Felt" – If you read a book that makes you crave more books like it, take credit for it here
"I Hate Love" – Read a book that you would consider the complete opposite of a romance novel
"Sugar" – Read a book that you’d consider “brain candy”
"Battle in Me" – Save this spot for the book that really toyed with your emotions or set off all of your triggers
"Man on a Wire" – Read a book that deals with grief, regret, longing, or vulnerability
"Beloved Freak" – Save this spot for the first book you give a 5 star rating to
Strange Little Birds (2016)
"Sometimes" – Read a book from a genre you’ve dabbled in but don’t typically read
"Empty" – If you read a book that everyone loves or hates but you just felt meh about, take credit for it here
"Blackout" - Save this spot for a book you read that you really liked but immediately forget everything in it after you finish reading it
"If I Lost You" – Read a book that features grief and loss
"Night Drive Loneliness" – Read a book while on a road trip and take credit for it here
"Even Though Our Love is Doomed" – Read a book that makes you feel icky for liking it
"Magnetized" – Read a book that social media influenced you to purchase and read
"We Never Tell" – If you read a popular book and hated it, take credit for it here
"So We Can Stay Alive" – Read a book about the end of the world
"Teaching Little Fingers to Play" – Read a book that features music, musical instruments, or is written by a musician
"Amends" – If you read a book that someone recommended to you, but you didn’t like it, take credit for it here
No Gods No Masters (2021)
"The Men Who Rule the World" – Read a book that has a political theme
"The Creeps" - Read a book that creeps you out
"Uncomfortably Me" – Read a book that is outside of your comfort zone
"Wolves" – Read a book that features wolves, coyotes, or werewolves (or has a main character that is any animal)
"Waiting for God" – Freebie space! Read anything you want and take credit for it here
"Godhead" - Read a book by someone who you believe to be highly influential
"Anonymous XX" – Read any book you want and take credit for it here
"A Woman Destroyed" – Read a book that features a badass, rage filled female MC
"Flipping the Bird" – Read a book that is full of foul language
"No Gods No Masters" – Read whatever the hell you want and take credit for it here
"This City Will Kill You" – Read a book that takes place in a large city
Let All That We Might Imagine Be the Light (2025)
"There’s No Future in Optimism" – Read a book that’s dark and depressing
"Chinese Fire Horse" – Read a book that’s been translated
"Hold" – Read a book you borrowed from the library and take credit for it here
"Have We Met (the Void)" – Read a Sci Fi, Space opera book
"Sisyphus" – Read a book about a mythological character/creature or a historical novel
"Radical" – Read a non fiction book
"Love to Give" – Read a book that features love or has a heart on the cover
"Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty" – Read a book with an animal on the cover
"R U Happy Now" – Read a book with a title that used initials or acronyms in it
"The Day That I Met God" – If you read a book and it totally becomes your new personality, take credit for it here
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