While I participate in the Goodreads Challenge every year, one of the things I regret from last year is not actually trying to do the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. So when they released this year’s list, I jumped on it. I’m aiming for titles that multi-task, just because I know that there are other titles that I want to read this year and other things will come out that I will inevitably want to read. Right now nothing is set in stone, but I’m just kind of batting around ideas about what I might want to read for some of the challenges.
Read a horror book – This one is pretty easy for me. I love horror novels, so right now it’s all about narrowing them down. Strong contenders are: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, The Nightmare Garden by Caitlin Kittredge, NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, and Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes.
Read a nonfiction book about science – I’m kind of excited about reading something in this category. I used to read a lot of nonfiction in general and a lot of science specially, but it’s been a number of years since I’ve read anything. Strong Contenders: The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Read a collection of essays – I like essay collections so I have a few lined up for this. Strong Contenders: Normal Gets You Nowhere by Kelly Cutrone, I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosby, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, and Moranthology by Caitlin Moran
Read a book out loud to someone else – I’ll probably read something out loud to one of the pets since I don’t have any little kids around that I can read to. I have a few picture books lurking around the house, as well as some poetry collections that should do nicely!
Read a middle grade novel – This is really convenient as I’m in the middle of a middle grade series right now! The winner is: Exile (The Keeper of the Lost Cities #2) by Shannon Messenger
Read a biography (not memoir or autobiography) – This one was a little harder for me because usually I lean towards memoirs or autobiographies. Strong Contenders: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of A Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemon, and The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney.
Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel – This is another easy category. Dystopian is such a popular category and I usually enjoy it. Strong Contenders: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Cinder by Marissa Meyer and The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Read a book originally published in the decade you were born – This means that I have to read something from the 1980s. I found a plethora of titles of I was interested in but I think I’ve narrowed things down some. Strong Contenders: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985), The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982), The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989), Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1985) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (1984)
Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award – I’m a big fan of audio books so I was glad to know that some of the ones I owned and that were on my wishlist were Audie winners. Strong Contenders: The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, The Graveyard Book (Full Cast Recording) by Neil Gaiman, Yes, Please by Amy Poehler, and Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Read a book over 500 pages long – Reading a lot of audiobooks made this category a bit of a challenge because I don’t see the number of pages on books until I start them or look them up on GoodReads. Strong Contenders: The Passage by Justin Cronin, American Gods by Neil Gaiman (this might be cheating since I’ve been reading it for 2 years now), The Casual Vacancy – JK Rowling, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and The Diviners by Libba Bray
Read a book under 100 pages – I had a really hard time with this one and had to troll GoodReads for books under 100 pages. And then I discovered I already owned one! The winner: Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe
Read a book by or about a person who identifies as transgender – I’ve had a few books on/about the subject in my queue for a while now so it’s the perfect time to make sure that I read at least one of them! Strong Contenders: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronin-Mills, Boys: An Anthology by Zach Stafford and She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Read a book that is set in the Middle East – I really want to read fiction, but not the Kite Runner, so I’m totally open to suggestions. Right now, my only thought is nonfiction and it’s Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.
Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia – This gives me a few options author wise. Especially because I’ve been wanting to read something by Haruki Murakami. Options: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, Piercing by Ryu Murakami and Bengali Girls Don’t by L.A. Sherman
Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900 – As soon as I saw this challenge I knew exactly what I’d read. I’ve heard nothing but good about this book and it’s been on my TBR for a while. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Read the first book in a series by a person of color – I thought I knew what I wanted to read for this one, but in checking the GR group, I found another book that I totally forgot about. Options: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi and The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin
Read a non superhero comic that debuted in the last three years – This one is pretty easy as I have a metric shitton of comics at home and in digital that don’t have superheroes. Some options are: Saga Volume 3 by Brian K Vaughn, Ody-C Vol 1 by Matt Fraction, Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi, The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Trees Vol 1 by Warren Ellis
Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate which is better – I’ve got a few options for this category. I love watching movie adaptations though. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky and This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes – I’m ok with this ok mostly because I loved How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran so much. But I’m a little worried that some books may be too tumblr feminist for me. Men Explain Things To Me – Rebecca Solnit, Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, and maybe Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon (though I’m not sure if this one applies. Maybe?)
Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction) – I haven’t read anything religious based in quite a while. I think the last one might have been Dharma Punx back when I was in high school? The Strong Contenders are: The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs, Lamb by Christopher Moore, and Trans-gendered: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith by Justin Edward Tanis
Read a book about politics, in your country or another (fiction or nonfiction) – This is one category that I’m not sure I’ve ever read. As much as I love politics I don’t think I’ve ever intentionally read a book about them, fiction or non. The options are: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez or Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
Read a food memoir – I think that this will wind up being the hardest challenge for me. Even though I love cooking, I have EDNOS, and thus some serious issues with food, so reading about it can cause some problems. Life From Scratch by Sasha Martin, Julie and Julia by Julie Powell and Blood, Bones and Butter: Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
Read a play – I have a collection of Shakespeare and a few audio that I can pick from so right now I’m leaning towards As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night and in non-Shakespeare, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard and Henry Popkin
Read a book about a character that has a mental illness – A-ha. Another challenge that isn’t a huge challenge for me. My favorite book last year dealt with mental illness (It’s Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini). The Contenders this time are: Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen, Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen, The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson and Made You Up by Francesca Zappia.
If you have any other suggestions or thoughts on things I could read, let me know!