Book Riot’s 2022 Read Harder Challenge

Among avid readers, who else has tackled Book Riot’s 2022 Read Harder Challenge? The purpose of these “24 tasks (an average of two per month)” is to encourage readers “to explore settings, characters, formats, genres, and perspectives [they] might not otherwise have tried.”
https://bookriot.com/read-harder-2022/

Here is my list of books to meet this year’s Read Harder Challenge.

1. Read a biography of an author you admire. The Great Detective: The Amazing Rise and Immortal Life of Sherlock Holmes, by Zach Dundas.

2. Read a book set in a bookstore. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan.

3. Read any book from the Women’s Prize shortlist/longlist/winner list. Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi. The author was nominated, in 2019, for their debut novel Freshwater: the first time a non-binary, transgender author was considered for this prize. Other notables read by me this year include This is How it Always is, by Laurie Frankel, longlisted for the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award; and A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize.

4. Read a book in any genre by a POC that’s about joy and not trauma. Ways to Make Sunshine, by Renee Watson.

5. Read an anthology featuring diverse voices. Fresh Ink, by Lamar Giles. Short-story anthologies are one of my favorite genres, and this task was well-represented among my reading choices this year. Some of the other books that could have satisfied this requirement include Flying Lessons, edited by Ellen Oh; This is Our Rainbow, edited by Katherine Locke; Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith; Take the Mic, edited by Bethany C. Morrow; and Color Outside the Lines, edited by Sangu Mandanna.

6. Read a nonfiction YA comic. Almost American Girl by Robin Ha.

7. Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40. A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness.

8. Read a classic written by a POC. House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton.

9. Read the book that’s been on your to-be-read list the longest. Tales of the Peculiar, by Ransom Riggs.

10. Read a political thriller by a marginalized author (BIPOC, or LGBTQIA+). Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley.

11. Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character. It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano. Other books that could have fit this task include Elatsoe and A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger; Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe; and books in the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells (“Murderbot” protagonist, SecUnit, is claimed in both asexual and autistic communities.)

12. Read an entire poetry collection. Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson.

13. Read an adventure story by a BIPOC author. Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston.

14. Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book). Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney.

15. Read a new-to-you literary magazine (print or digital). Stone Soup Book of Fantasy Stories.

16. Read a book recommended by a friend with different reading tastes. This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel (Book club selection, Cuesta College library virtual book club).

17. Read a memoir written by someone who is trans or nonbinary. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.

18. Read a “Best _ Writing of the year” book for a topic and year of your choice. Best New American Voices, edited by Tobias Wolff.

19. Read a horror novel by a BIPOC author. Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger.

20. Read an award-winning book from the year you were born. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, published in 2013. (Instead of my birth year, I chose a book that was published during the year that I began working professionally in libraries.)

21. Read a queer retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, folklore, or myth. This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano.

22. Read a history about a period you know little about. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America by David Hajdu.

23. Read a book by a disabled author. Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit.

24. Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat! Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi. (From the 2021 challenge: Task 21, Read a children’s book that centers a disabled character but not their disability.)