2026 Color Coded Reading Challenge

 

Every year I think I've used up my last title with "Brown" (or a shade of brown) for the Color Coded Reading Challenge and every year I prove myself wrong (or buy more books with suitable titles). I'll keep signing up as long as I have suitable titles or author's name (I don't plan on ever using cover color...). This year, I'm going to try to do the colors for the covers as well...but my commitment is still for titles.

Here's the basic rule: read nine books with the various colors listed below in their titles, the author's name, or as a dominant color/image on their covers. For full details, click the link above. I'll list my books and date read as they come.

1. Read book with "Blue" (or a shade of blue):

Death on the Slopes by Norma Schier [cover] (1/9/26)

2. Read a book with "Red" (or a shade of red):

Murder in Bright Red by Frances Crane (5/4/26)

Masterpieces of Mystery: Amateurs & Professionals by Ellery Queen, ed [cover] (1/31/26)

3. Read a book with "Yellow" (or a shade of yellow):

The Buttercup Case by Frances Crane (5/23/26)

The Benson Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine [cover] (8/1/26)

4. Read a book with "Green" (or a shade of green):

Hercule Poirot & the Greenshore Folly by Agatha Christie (4/9/26)

Don Among the Dead Men by C. E. Vulliamy [cover] (1/7/26)

5. Read a book with "Brown" (or a shade of brown):

Dekok & the Somber Nude by A. C. Baantjer (7/10/26)

Two Bronze Pennies by Chris Nickson (7/15/26)

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Great War by Simon Guerrier [cover] (2/7/26)

6. Read a book with "Black" (or a shade of black):

The Six Iron Spiders by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (5/30/26) [in this case, black cast iron skillets]

7. Read a book with "White" (or a shade of white): 

White Orchids by Grace Livingston Hill (5/31/26)

8. Read a book with any other color:

The Plumley Inheritance by Christopher Bush (2/13/26)

9. Read a book a word/image that implies color (rainbow, polka dot, etc):