| A book by an author you read (or were supposed to read) in school | A book about an artist | An alternate history book | A book from a used book store: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar | A non-fiction book on a topic that interested you as a child: Sovietistan by Erika Fatland |
| Have a friend choose a genre for you; read a book in that genre: The Will of the Many by James Islington | A book with the name of a city in the title (must be referring to the city): A Carpet Ride to Khiva by Chris Aslan | A book by a Nobel Prize winner: The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk | A book adapted into a stage production (play, musical, opera): Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk | A book on Time’s The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025 list |
| A book featuring a lighthouse | A book you learned about from a stranger on the Internet: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman | FREE SPACE (any book): The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers | A book about a vacation | A book with a drink on the cover or in the title |
| A book centered on one or more sibling relationships: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng | A Hugo Award or Nebula Award winning book: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine | A book translated from Chinese, Japanese, or Korean | A book by an author you’ve never read before, blurbed by an author you love: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller | A book a friend wants you to read: On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle |
| A debut novel published this year: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke | A book that’s in the public domain | A book set in the last place you traveled to | A book with “murder” or “death” in the title: The Death of Ivan Ilytch by Leo Tolstoy | A book about an off-putting woman: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton |