Reading Challenge: Read Harder 2020

For 2019, I did two reading challenges: Historical Fiction and Read Harder.

Read Harder changed my reading life.

I had initially rolled my eyes at about a fourth of the requirements, but in the end, every book I was "forced" to read was ultimately really wonderful. I ended up learning something, enjoying more than I anticipated, and was introduced to new authors and ideas. Many of my favorite reads for 2019 were due to Read Harder -- now I feel like I 'get' reading challenges and I'm hooked!

So I'm pretty excited for Read Harder 2020. If you can recommend anything that fits one of these 24 options, let me know! I'm still developing my list.

Read Harder 2020

1) Read a YA nonfiction book

• An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People

2) Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color

• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• One Thousand and One Nights by Hanan al-Shaykh
• Tender by Sofia Samatar

3) Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman

• A Trace of Deceit
• A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead 
• The Other Americans
• Thus Was Adonis Murdered 

4) Read a graphic memoir

• March: Book One
• Becoming Unbecoming

5) Read a book about a natural disaster

• Outrun the Moon
• The Wildlands 
• The Children's Blizzard 
• Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
• Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic Of 1918 And The Search For The Virus That Caused It 
• Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 
• The Great Hurricane: 1938

6) Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author

• For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf
• The Importance of Being Earnest

7) Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII

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8) Read an audiobook of poetry

•  Other Words for Home
• The Poet X

9) Read the LAST book in a series

• Sangu Mandanna's final book in her Celestial Trilogy

10) Read a book that takes place in a rural setting

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11) Read a debut novel by a queer author

• Gideon the Ninth 

12) Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own

• We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir 
• Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots 
• Outlaw Christian: Finding Authentic Faith by Breaking the 'Rules' 
• Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again
• Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint 
• Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun 

13) Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before

• The Island Kitchen: Recipes from Mauritius and the Indian Ocean 
• The Food of a Younger Land: The WPA's Portrait of Food in Pre-World War II America 
• tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine 
• Kaukasis: A Culinary Journey through Georgia, Azerbaijan Beyond

14) Read a romance starring a single parent

• Starting from Scratch by Georgia Beers  
• The Governess Game 
• Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon
• Tempest by Beverly Jenkins

15) Read a book about climate change

• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi  
• Braiding Sweetgrass
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 

16) Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman

• The Priory of the Orange Tree 
• The Luminaries 
• Romantic Outlaws
• Barkskins
• The Paying Guests
• The Starless Sea
• The Secret History

17) Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)

• The Ballad of Black Tom
• Binti
• All Systems Red

18) Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community

19) Read a book by or about a refugee

• The Sympathizer
• Do Not Say We Have Nothing 
• Salt Houses 
• Americanah 

20) Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK

• The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
• Amal Unbound  
• The Turtle of Oman

21) Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non)

• What Is Visible: A Novel by Kimberly Elkins
• So Lucky by Nicola Griffith

22) Read a horror book published by an indie press

23) Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical)

24) Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author

• Braiding Sweetgrass