There are so many things you can do to participate in The Reading Rush, but the true answer to this question is so very simple: READ! The event has grown in size incredibly since 2013, but the one thing that has remained consistent has been that we all spend a crazy week all reading as much as we can. Reading is the entire point of The Reading Rush (no way, right?), so if your only goal during the week of the event is to read nonstop, BY ALL MEANS, you should do that. We do provide new reading challenges every year that can be helpful in guiding your reading, but you should never ever feel pressured to structure your TBR around these challenges if they feel limiting. We all just want to have fun!

For those out there who like to jazz up their reading beyond the basics, we have numerous activities to participate in throughout the week. You can join in on the amazing chaos that is Twitter sprints, where a bookish friend of ours (or us!) guides you through a one to two hour reading session. The individual sprints usually range anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes, and have proven very helpful in getting some focused reading done! And if you want, there are often fun games to participate in during the breaks between sprints.

There are also all sorts of challenges you can join in on! Along with the reading challenges, there will be a photo challenge each day of the week over on our Instagram, and each challenge will give you a chance to win a bookish item (5 winners per day!) There are also video challenges, which will be a really fun way to show your creativity while still having lots of time to read. We hope you love the challenges as much as we do!

Last year we introduced something that was a big step forward for the event: live read-ins. We invited people to join us in organizing in-person events at local bookstores and libraries in order to read together! We had so much fun at our own read-in, and we loved seeing that so many other people around the globe had their own meet-ups. Obviously this year is a bit different, so we are encouraging people to host and participate in their own online read-ins. Check out the read-ins page for more details about how you can join in. That page will make it really easy to host and join in on virtual read-ins with other people in your community. We will also have tons of live read-ins on Instagram every day, so come hang out and read with us and our other hosts!

Last but not least, the forums! Once you’ve set up your profile the way you like it, head over to the forums to get chatting with your fellow readers. You can discuss what you’re reading, the reading challenges, bookish tattoos, favorite movies, you name it! There’s no limit to the forums, you guys have free reign to have fun in there and get to know each other and make friends.

If you have any more questions regarding how you can participate in the event, don’t be afraid to ask! Your fellow readers might be able to help you out, but if you’re truly in dire straits you can reach out to us here.