So many New Year’s Resolutions falter within days of January 1. Readers know that one way to sustain resolve and focus is to read a book on the topic. The goal of this challenge is to build a community around reading books to support our New Year’s Resolutions so that we can share book ideas and encourage each other in our pursuits.

Whether you are resolved to apply to graduate school, write that novel, or eat healthier, there are books that will help. The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge is to read 1 to 4 books that will stimulate action on your goal. Here are the levels:

Resolved: 1 book
Determined: 2 books
Committed: 3 books
Passionate: 4 books

The books can all support the same resolution and be on similar topics (4 books on gardening, for example) or they can be about different resolutions (1 book on  French, 1 book on home-cooking, 1 book on leadership skills, and 1 book on financial stability, for example).

The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge will run from December 26 to January 31. But, unless your New Year’s Resolution is “stop cheating,” go ahead and start reading today if you feel like it!

In conjunction with this challenge, I will host a group read-a-long of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. That will be a re-read for me so I can tell you that it’s more popular psychology than self-help, but does have a helpful paradigm for breaking bad habits and establishing good ones. Watch for that to begin on January 2. (Edited to add: more details here: The Power of Habit — A New Year Group Read)

The Twitter hash tag for this challenge is #NewYearBooks. I will host a Tweet Chat on Wednesday evenings, 9 Eastern/8 Central, starting on Wednesday, December 26.

If you will be playing along on your blog, consider writing a sign-up post to encourage your readers to join us, too. The more, the merrier! Feel free to grab the logo for your post. In your sign-up post, list the resolutions you are considering and ask for recommendations for books on those topics. Link your sign up post below so we can hop over to offer our suggestions.

For people who don’t have blogs or just want some extra conversation around the Challenge, join the Facebook group: New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge.

If your goal is related to healthy eating, exercise, or weight loss and you prefer more anonymous social media support, I’ve also set up a challenge on the 3 Fat Chicks forum: New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge.

What is your New Year’s Resolution?

Edited to add: The link list below is for sign up links. Reviews of the books read for this challenge can be linked here: New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge — Review Links.