Book Riot’s annual Read Harder Challenge is probably one of the (if not THE) best-known. It does a fantastic job of covering a great mixture of genres, topics, spins on topics and is very purposefully diverse. There’s something for every reader here – and something to challenge every reader, too!
Because I only read about 30 books a year, I’m never going to fully complete one of these lengthy reading challenges. However I do love the idea of them, and I like having them to refer back to every once in a while, and to draw some inspiration from. I’m particularly pleased with some of the topics on this year’s list!
- Read a book you’ve been intimidated to read – Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- Read a nonfiction book about anti-racism – How to Be and Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge, This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell,
- Read a non-European novel in translation
- Read an LGBTQ+ history book
- Read a genre novel by an Indigenous, First Nations, or Native American author
- Read a fanfic
- Read a fat-positive romance
- Read a romance by a trans or nonbinary author
- Read a middle grade mystery
- Read an SFF anthology edited by a person of color
- Read a food memoir by an author of color
- Read a work of investigative nonfiction by an author of color – The Window Seat by Aminatta Forna
- Read a book with a cover you don’t like – Monogamy by Sue Miller
- Read a realistic YA book not set in the U.S., UK, or Canada
- Read a memoir by a Latinx author
- Read an own voices book about disability
- Read an own voices YA book with a Black main character that isn’t about Black pain
- Read a book by/about a non-Western world leader
- Read a historical fiction with a POC or LGBTQ+ protagonist – The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
- Read a book of nature poems
- Read a children’s book that centers a disabled character but not their disability
- Read a book set in the Midwest
- Read a book that demystifies a common mental illness
- Read a book featuring a beloved pet where the pet doesn’t die
Do you plan to participate in any reading challenges in 2021? It may seem like a less appealing prospect given everything that’s going on, but are some of you finding specific challenges to be a great way to re-focus your energy? Which topics on the list are you particularly interested to get to?
Ooh, what great prompts! I never manage to follow reading challenges–they’re far too ambitious for me unfortunately. But I do enjoy getting inspiration from them, especially if I realize my reading list needs to be diversified.
I never do either – I only read between 25 and 30 books a year these days, so if I were to do all the prompts from any challenge that would be the entirety of my reading for a year, and that is way too big of a commitment for me! But I do love seeing what they come up with, and there’s definitely a great variety on the Read Harder challenges! I love the diversity and representation they tend to include and I like at least passing on their ideas to anyone who stops by!