I’ve now completed the 2026 Reading Challenge from Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, MT. Here’s my report.

---

Reading, it is said, broadens your horizons. But you have to work at times to free yourself from the rut of turning to the same genre of books or stable of authors year after year. To break that mold I set myself three reading-related undertakings for 2026:

• a quest to visit all 30 independent bookshops in the DC region,
• the Reading Challenge 2026 list from Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, MT, and
• one I added at Memorial Day: A Summer Reading Challenge from Wonderland Books, one of the independent bookshops I had visited earlier in the year. 

My friend and Brilliant Reader Margit had loaned me a young adult novel from her native Hungary early in the year. Inside she had slipped a note and a piece of paper that had the look and feel of an old library card. Instead it was a Reading Challenge 2026 list from Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, near where she visits a family home.

I was immediately hooked and I’ve now completed the delightful and mind-expanding tasks of the Chapter One Reading Challenge. Here’s the final report (with links to the book reviews on MORE TO COME):

1 – A book you’ve picked based on the cover

• Death in the Strike Zone: The Mystery of America’s First Baseball Hero (2026) by Thomas W. Gilbert (I’m a sucker for old baseball fields)

2 – A book with a screen adaptation

• A Great Deliverance (1988) by Elizabeth George (adapted for the BBC’s Inspector Lynley series)
• The Man Who Died Twice (2021) by Richard Osman (adapted for Netflix)

3 – A book that makes you think, “WTF?”

• Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life (2020) by Lulu Miller (WTF based on the title alone)

4 – A book about a skill/trade/craft

• The Baseball 100 (2021) by Joe Posnanski (what’s more skillful than playing a child’s game)

5 – Wild card/unusual pick

• The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time; A Memoir (2025) by Jane Bertch (I wouldn’t normally read a book about a French cooking school)

6 – A work in translation

• Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books (published in 2025 for the first English translation) by Hwang Bo-Reum
• The Late Monsieur Gallet (originally published in French in 1931) by Georges Simenon
• The Paul Street Boys (originally published in Hungarian in 1907) by Ferenc Molnár
• The Yellow Dog (originally published in French in 1931) by Georges Simenon
• Things Seen (originally published in French in 2000) by Annie Ernaux

7 – A collection of poetry

• Above Ground: Poems (2023) by Clint Smith
• Water, Water: Poems (2024) by Billy Collins

8 – A book published in the year you were born

• Beezus and Ramona (1955) by Beverly Cleary

9 – An essay collection

• Our Fragile Freedoms: Essays (2025) by Eric Foner 
• Ways of Walking: Essays (2022) edited by Ann de Forest
• The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change (2026) by Rebecca Solnit

10 – A book recommended by a friend/buddy

• A Great Deliverance (1988) by Elizabeth George
• Clear (2024) by Carys Davies
• The Correspondent: A Novel (2025) by Virginia Evans
• The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (originally published in 1974; new 250th anniversary edition published in 2026) by Bernard Bailyn
• The Paul Street Boys (1907) by Ferenc Molnár
• Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life (2020) by Lulu Miller

---

Chapter One Book Store bills itself as the Bitterroot book source since 1974

“Chapter One Book Store has been a literary and community resource for Bitterroot Valley residents and visitors since 1974. Owned by Mara, Marisa, and Katrina, we offer a place for customers to explore our shelves of new and used books, learn about local events and chat about the daily happenings in our valley and world. Our mission at Chapter One is to provide a space for all to explore their passions, discover new ones and share them with others. Visit us in the heart of Hamilton at Main and 3rd.”

Thanks to Margit and all the folks at Chapter One for widening my horizons!

Speaking of horizons . . . to put us all in the mood for a future visit to Chapter One, the Bitterroot Valley, and Big Sky Country, let’s celebrate with a few great songs about Montana.

Many commentators call John Denver‘s Wild Montana Skies the quintessential Montana song. It has the added benefit of featuring Emmylou Harris on backing vocals.

Montana Melody by LeGrand Harvey was actually adopted as the Official State Ballad by the Montana legislature.

For something a bit different, Rox in the Box by The Decemberists is about the mining community in Butte, Montana. Here’s a live version from NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series.

And we’ll end with the beautiful singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith‘s Midnight in Missoula. We still miss her.

One challenge down, two to go!

More to come . . .

DJB

Photos of Chapter One Book Store from the shop’s website