Reading Challenge: Read Harder 2019

I've basically quit doing reading challenges since I wasn't actually challenging myself in my reading, just trying to tick off boxes for what I was picking up. But I want to change things up in 2019 since I did what I wanted in 2018 and I didn't blow myself away with my reading. (Although I read far more authors of color than in other years, which was an intentional choice I intend to continue.)

Book Riot's Read Harder challenge intrigues me -- but also daunts me.

The categories always include options I've zero interest in, but I'm going to attempt to hit each one this year!

To help me out, I might populate this with ideas as I hit them -- so if you've any recommendations for me, please share!


Read Harder 2019

1) An epistolary novel or collection of letters

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker (finished 10/28/2019)

2) An alternate history novel

• The Black God's Drum by P. Djèlí Clark (finished 5/9/2019)

3) A book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018

• Chemistry by Weike Wang (finished 10/29/2019)

4) A humor book

• Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things (finished 1/31/2019)

5) A book by a journalist or about journalism

• Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (finished 3/22/2019)

6) A book by an AOC set in or about space

• Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (finished 3/1/2019)

7) An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America

• Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (finished 1/22/2019)

8) An #ownvoices book set in Oceania

• Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman (finished 2/18/2019)

9) A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads

• I am Mrs. Jesse James by Pat Wahler (finished 7/30/2019)

10) A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman

• The Taiga Syndrome by Cristina Rivera Garza (finished 7/22/2019)

11) A book of manga

• Emma by Kaoru Mori (finished 1/15/2019)

12) A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character

• Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (finished 3/19/201)

13) A book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse

• The Bride Test by Helen Hoang (finished 5/13/2019)

14) A cozy mystery

• Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu (finished 5/6/2019)

15) A book of mythology or folklore

• A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna (finished 2/28/2019)

16) An historical romance by an AOC

• An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole (finished 1/25/2019)

17) A business book

• Emergent Strategy ?

18) A novel by a trans or nonbinary author

• All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (finished 6/9/2019)

19) A book of nonviolent true crime

• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (finished 7/3/2019)

20) A book written in prison

• De Profundis by Oscar Wilde (finished 12/24/2019)

21) A comic by an LGBTQIA creator

• Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (finished 3/25/2019)

22) A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009

• Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan (finished 2/27/2019)

23) A self-published book

• Farewell My Life by Cynthia Sally Haggard (finished 10/9/2019)

24) A collection of poetry published since 2014

• My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter by Aja Monet (finished 1/31/2019)