Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Have you finished the Read Harder challenge? Feel free to share your experiences here. What were your favorite reads? What stretched you the most? What did you like that you didn't expect to?

If you want to claim bling and a prize for completing the challenge, you can find out how to do that right here: http://bookriot.com/2015/09/17/finish...

I finished the challenge on June 10 and I had a good experience with most of the topics on the list. Most of the topics were easy to fulfill with books that I wanted to read already, so choosing books for most of the topics was not too difficult.

I really enjoyed the graphic novel (Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley), the book published this year (The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith), the book by someone over 65 (A Good Marriage by Stephen King).

I followed the spirit of the challenge and modified a few tasks. For example, I don't usually read Pulitzer Prize winning novels, but the one I read for the task (Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington) was a book that I had wanted to read ever since I saw the movie starring Katharine Hepburn. It won the prize in 1922.

The last topic I finished was a book by an African author. I almost modified that one as well, but I still hadn't read a book from Book Riot's Quarterly Box (Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi) that fit the task. If not for the task, I would not have finished that novel. So I suppose that task stretched me the most.

I was working on another challenge (an A-Z challenge) and so I used some of those books to fulfill tasks on list challenge as well. The novel I chose for my romance task was the one I used for the letter 'X' in the other challenge, X Marks the Scot. The title is a bit silly, but the story wasn't too bad. That was the book I liked that I didn't expect to like.

I hope that there will be a similar challenge next year. :)

I am still making my way through the challenge and am halfway through it.

I have found that this challenge did force me to read outside my comfort zone which I really enjoyed.

If you have the challenge next year, might I suggest that the discussions be better organized. It seemed once the lists were posted no one from BookRiot managed them. People were starting new discussions instead of posting in the officially posted one. This made it difficult as one had to wade through all of the added discussion posts to find the correct one.

I just finished today! I really enjoyed this. When I first saw the list I wasn't sure I would be able to complete it so I started actively seeking out books to fit. It definitely broadened my reading horizons and helped me be more mindful of book selections.
The support and ideas in this group have been helpful too. I didn't post a lot but I read most of the comments and found several suggestions.
I hope you're already planning the list for 2016 because I can't wait to tackle it.

Rainey wrote: "I am still making my way through the challenge and am halfway through it.

I have found that this challenge did force me to read outside my comfort zone which I really enjoyed.

If you have the c..."

We'll keep a tighter eye on it next year. We didn't delete duplicate threads only because we didn't want to have people lose their lists/discussions. But this is a good suggestion for 2016!

We'll keep a tighter eye on it next year. We didn't delete duplicate threads only because we didn't want to have people lose their lists/discussions. But this is a good suggestion for 2016!

Thank you. I am already looking forwards to next years even though I haven't finished this years

I think part of the duplicate thread issue was that people were unfamiliar with how to find the proper thread on GR. Perhaps a how to thread would be useful if more people new to GR are drawn to this challenge.

I am pacing myself and doing two tasks a month so it will last all year.

Bea wrote: "I think part of the duplicate thread issue was that people were unfamiliar with how to find the proper thread on GR. Perhaps a how to thread would be useful if more people new to GR are drawn to th..."

Bea I think that is a great idea about having a how to thread.

Congratulations Cindy and Lea, and thanks for adding this topic, BR! I still have 6 tasks to go, but I will for sure share my thoughts here when when I've done them all.

Bea wrote: "I think part of the duplicate thread issue was that people were unfamiliar with how to find the proper thread on GR. Perhaps a how to thread would be useful if more people new to GR are drawn to th..."

Smart idea we'll put on the list for next year's challenge!

I finished last week - http://dakimel.blogspot.com/2015/06/r...

It was a fun challenge, and drew me in some good directions. I for the most part read books I was likely to read anyway, but this did push me to pick up my first Haruki Murakami, which I loved.

Thanks for moderating #ReadHarder - looking forward to next year!

Done! Exactly hallway through the year. I suppose I could start over for the 2nd half, but I already have several other lists and challenges going on so no shortage of To Be Read. Thanks, everyone!

The items that were a stretch for me were poetry, graphic novel and history. If it weren't for Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, which I loved, I would have had no clue how to even pick a graphic novel.

Book Riot wrote: "We didn't delete duplicate threads only because we didn't want to have people lose their lists/discussions."

I believe you can lock the duplicate threads so that no further comments can be added as an alternative. Since there are new readers joining, perhaps that will keep them from commenting in duplicate threads as has now been done again.

I only have four books left to finish. I am an eclectic reader, and had many books to fit each challenge right on my shelves or in my kindle. I had never read a graphic novel before, and very much enjoyed FUN HOME. I had not read a romance novel in years..same with poetry., so this challenge forced me to do so. Would definitely do the challenge again.

Bea wrote: "Book Riot wrote: "We didn't delete duplicate threads only because we didn't want to have people lose their lists/discussions."

I believe you can lock the duplicate threads so that no further comme..."

Ahh thanks! This is what we'll do if that happens in the future.

I just finished this morning. I am a pretty eclectic reader, so I had books for most of the tasks lined up. The two tasks that really stretched me were the Short Story Task and the Collection of Poetry task since I do not really read either of those very often, but I am glad that I explored both and enjoyed the two books I read for those tasks: Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories and Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty.

The books I liked the most from this challenge were: Golden Son (science fiction) and Lady of the Eternal City (romance), although that may not be all that fair since I liked both of the authors long before I started the challenge, but I was glad to get an opportunity to read some of my favorite books as part of the challenge, as well as many wonderful authors who were new to me: Louise Erdrich, Victoria Schwab, and Anthony Doerr.

This challenge was great and it helped me get through a lot of books on my to-read list, as well as helping me explore different genres and formats I have not read much of in the past. Thanks for this! I look forward to next year!

I was able to finish the challenge today - a little more than a month after I joined - because I applied a number of books that I already read this year. I hope that isn't cheating! You can see my complete list at message 309 (page 7) of this thread.

My favorite reads were The Fishermen (African author), Olive Kitteridge (Pulitzer Prize), My Brilliant Friend (foreign language), and A Primate's Memoir (audiobook). The first three were written by authors who are new for me; the last book was written by a professor I greatly admire.

The category that stretched me the most was the book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture. This category was hard because I have already read a number of books on Native Americans, so wanted something that focused on Aboriginals. I read Rabbit-Proof Fence, which was only okay.

Two other categories would have been more challenging had I not modified them a bit. I applied the postmodern Censoring an Iranian Love Story to the romance category, and the classic Walden to the self-improvement category.

One book that I didn't expect to like, but did, was the microhistory: Mad for God: Bartolome Sanchez, the Secret Messiah of Cardenete. I don't read much history, but found this book interesting and very accessible. I am really grateful to Rebecca for her clarification of the category and list of suggestions.

Thank you, Book Riot, for creating this reading challenge and Goodreads group. I had a fun time, and the community was super helpful!

I completed the challenge today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some categories were very difficult for me, such as indie press, poetry, and short stories. I found the bookshelves for each task extremely helpful. I would have liked to see a biography on the list.

The two books I most enjoyed were: Defending Jacob (recommended by someone) and The Count of Monte Cristo (before 1850 or originally written in another language).

I ended up reading several prize winner books and using them for various categories and must say overall I was disappointed that I wasn't more impressed by them.

I finished my final task for the challenge last night. This has been a fun experience, and I especially liked that it took me into some genres that I would not usually read. I tried to pick as many books from the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, which is a list I an trying to work through (but I doubt I will ever complete it!).

My "hits" for the challenge: Oliver Twist (Published before 1850); 1984 (Science Fiction); Things Fall Apart (Author from Africa) and Fun Home (Graphic Memoir). I did have a few "misses" as well: Loose Woman (Poetry); The Luminaries (Award/Prize Winner) and Less Than Zero (Author under 25).

Thanks so much Book Riot - Looking forward to next year!

I finished this week with the latest Pulitzer winner. As expected, the list of books I intended to read didn't align with the books I actually read for the challenge. As I read nearly half of the books in the first quarter of the year, I had thought I might finish this earlier, but I found I wanted to wait for certain books to become available.

Some books turned out to be disappointments for me. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I enjoyed the audiobook of Martin Short's memoir. If I gained anything from this experience, it's a desire to read more diverse authors and to explore more possibilities in audio. Had a great time.

I finished this week and found the challenge to be an enjoyable one. I especially enjoyed a recommended book, The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld, and the last book I read (Indie) On Sal Mal Lane. I have recently started enjoying short stories and read two for the challenge. I think Microhistory stretched me most because of the unclear definition, so I chose to keep with the original definition of a history of a particular thing, which expanded my choices. YA and poetry were other categories where I felt stretched, and even though I enjoyed my choices, I don't think either will be habit forming. I did not expect to enjoy romance, and didn't particularly enjoy the book I recorded that I read. However, I did discover Georgette Heyer this summer and think that I will be reading more of her books. All in all, I really liked the challenge and appreciated the categories chosen. I hope next year brings another Book Riot reading challenge and if that happens I will definitely participate again.

I finished the challenge this week and enjoyed it very much. My favorite books read during the challenge include The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I'm looking forward to next year's challenge.

Book Riot wrote: "Rainey wrote: "I am still making my way through the challenge and am halfway through it.

I have found that this challenge did force me to read outside my comfort zone which I really enjoyed.

If..."
Thanks. I agreed with Rainey's comment. I was looking for book suggestions for certain tasks but readers posted replies out of order. I haven't done tasks in order either, but when looking for topics, I followed the challenge's numerical list of topics.

Finished last night! Hooray! My favorites of the challenge were Americanah, Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, and The Martian. I was incredibly disappointed by The Host. I thought it would be light but enjoyable but it was actually shallow and tedious. The biggest surprise was how much I enjoyed my romance choice, since I put it off til dead last! But Me Before You was very touching without being sappy, thanks to those of you who mentioned it for the task.

Thank you, Book Riot, this was fun, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

I read Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden for the indigenous culture task. The Orenda went on my TBR list right after I finished.

I liked that the challenge forced me out of my comfort zone with the poetry, graphic novel, and romance challenges. I tend to read pretty diversely as my default, so in that way it wasn't anything new, but I did appreciate the discussions and got some good (and a few less good) suggestions. Thanks and I can't wait to participate next year!

Book Riot wrote: "Have you finished the Read Harder challenge? Feel free to share your experiences here. What were your favorite reads? What stretched you the most? What did you like that you didn't expect to?"
My 2015 Read Harder Challenge Completed! Thankful to Book Riot - I am reading with an enhanced consideration of diversity…..and it has added a rich dimension to my reading life!

a book by an author under 25: I am Malala
a book by an author over 65: Our Souls at Night
collection of short stories: Trigger Warning
indie press book: The Magician’s Lie
LGBTQ: The Paying Guests
different gender: On the Road
book placed in Asia: Malice: A Mystery
book by African author: Boy, Snow, Bird
book by or about someone from indigenous culture: An Untamed State
microhistory: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
YA novel: Magonia
Sci-fi novel: The Humans
Romance novel: Kiss of Steel
Award winner from last decade: Gilead
Retelling of classic tale: Of Beast and Beauty
audiobook: Yes, Please
poetry: Blue Horses
recommendation from someone else: Bone Gap
translated book: Skylight
graphic novel: Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?
guilty pleasure: Arsenic and Old Books
book published before 1850: Frankenstein
book published this year: A Dangerous Place
self improvement book: Rising Strong

Great job completing your all of your challenge tasks everyone! :) I hope to be posting my own thoughts about the challenge here soon.

Finished! I didn't expect to dislike Jane Austen as much as I ended up disliking her... Pride and Prejudice took forever to get through. The author over 65? Thanks, Challenge, for re-introducing me to Stephen King. I really enjoyed Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers. My silliest reading entry was for the self-improvement category: Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster) by Dave Barry. I felt wonderfully self-improved after zooming through that one! Looking forward to next year's challenge.

I adore Pride and Prejudice but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.(ha!) Maybe you should try Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! However, I loved your ending recommendation and I will most definitely have to pick up Dave Barry's book! Thanks!

At the beginning of this year I got really excited about the challenge. I have never really payed attention to what I have read before. So I did the challenge a little backwards.
Instead of going through and making sure I read the things on the list, I wanted to read whatever for my first 100 books of the year, and then look back and see how much I covered. I've without realizing finished the challenge!
Although I completely give credit to book riot. After starting to follow your website my reading has naturally expanded and become more diverse. Thank you Book Riot for promoting great books that are also diverse, letting me know about them and getting me interested! I never knew how broad my taste really was!
I look forward to looking at what I'm reading for the rest of the year and every year after!

Olivia- I actually think your method of working backward is best. Reading whatever works out well for your personal interests, mood, etc, should always be the primary factor. The challenge should be secondary. After all, the goal of the challenge is to read a variety of books but then we all have our personal preferences as well. :)

I was kind of in between the two methods. I had books I was planning to read so I looked to see where they fit in and then I filled in the rest of the categories. It was fun when a book turned out to apply to a category I didn't expect, like there was a gay character or aboriginal character that I wasn't aware of when I first chose the book as something to read next.

The last book took a while, but I finally finished! This is one of four challenges that I am doing, but I think this stretched me the most. Tough to pick a single favorite - had a few : Circling the Sun, Americanah and The Rise & Fall of Great Powers. Poetry stretched me the most - but I picked Thirst by Mary Oliver; lovely book. The book that I thoroughly enjoyed, which I did not expect, was A History of the World in 6 Glasses; incredible how sanitized is the history we learn in school. Thank you for this opportunity!

I have finished the challenge saving one of the thickest books for last, Call Me Burroughs. I truly enjoyed this challenge as it did expand my exposure to books I wouldn't have normal read. I truly hope that Book Riot publishes another challenge. I'm working on an A-Z challenge to finish out the year. Thanks again, Book Riot.

Finished today! The hardest was the self-help book. Like many others, the challenge forced me out of a comfort zone. But I'm glad. The tasks led to some newly discovered authors who are truly enjoyable. One thing I'll do differently next year is finding books that fit multiple tasks instead of one book per task. Looking forward to next year!

Done, finally! I'm in 4 book challenges this year, and most of the list went very fast. I chose "Frankenstein" for my young author, and I'm using it for my other final category as well (the only double-category book for me).

I had a lot of fun with this, it's 1/2 the categories of another challenge I'm in. I will definitely keep track of this list & try it again next year

Finished! My favorite books were The World's Strongest Librarian (Recommended), Will Grayson, Will Grayson (LGBTQ), Off My Rocker (diff gender than me), and About Alice (audio). I had a hard time finding a sci fi book, but ended up liking The Age of Miracles quite a lot. The only category I sort of cheated on was the Before 1850, by reading The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe - a fairly short volume. But I definitely enjoyed the challenge, and would do it again.

Personally I'd rather get 26 challenges next year, so that we could leave 2 undone - I'd like to have that little bit of flexibility built in.

Finished today.

I enjoyed the challenge of finding books for each category and it was definitely worthwhile doing. I really enjoyed broadening the scope of books outside of my usual areas.

Of the 5 books which I ranked highest during the challenge (nothing made it into 5 stars) - 2 of them were poetry. An area I haven't read in a long time - probably since my high school years.
I also really enjoyed A Visit from the Goon Squad (Pulitzer Prize winner) and Less Than Zero (Under 25).

(Although, the later - I probably would have read outwith the challenge anyway eventually; I've read and enjoyed other BEE books in the past).

I really suffered through Oliver Twist (pre-1850) and The Double (Translated) and wouldn't look to read anything with that much age again.

(Although, I have read and loved Jane Austen and Shakespeare before. I didn't want to use anything I had read before in the challenge - and in fact, generally I don't re-read anything anyway.)

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed the audiobook experience The Martian. I had tried an audiobook version of The Road before and quickly rejected it. Maybe it comes down to the reader; I would think this is something I may try again in future.

All in all; thanks to the BookRiot team for coming up with this idea. I'll certainly look to take part again next year.

Done! Finished today.

This challenge dovetailed nicely with my own decision to read more diversely this year. Personal favorite was Kafka on the Shore Murakami takes his place in the select group of authors that I waited much too long to start reading even though everyone I knew told me I would love them. The challenge provided exactly the push I needed. Hardest was the poetry - I enjoy poetry but generally one poem at a time rather than in book form.

I am nearing the end? Only six left to go. I am REALLY proud of myself for joining the challenge and following through. Some of my most difficult categories are still outstanding. If I do a similar challenge next year, I will mix it up better. My favorite part was finding books I like that fell into categories I don't generally seek out. For instance, I like fantasy and science fiction the best, so I found a fantasy book that was translated and a sci-fi book written by an African writer. There was a lot more potential in my "preferred" reading comfort zone than I realized. My favorite surprise read so far was Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I knew the rough plot of the book ahead of time, but didn't think I'd like it. However I did. Also my recommended read, We Were Liars, was surprisingly enjoyable as well. My school's librarian told me I needed more realistic fiction in my life, and I wasn't disappointed.

Done! Here is what I read:

Re-Telling: Longbourne, by Jo Baker
LGBTQ: Tipping the Velvet, by Sarah Waters
Recommended Book: All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
Indie Press Book: Loitering, by Charles D'Ambrosio (Tin House Press)
Microhistory: Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
Short Stories: Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, by Maile Meloy
Book Published in 2015: Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler
Opposite Gender: Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehesi Coates
Author from Africa: Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Audiobook: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, by Mindy Kaling
Poetry: Citizen, by Claudia Rankine
SciFi: Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
Book Set in Asia: The Calligrapher's Daughter, by Eugenia Kim
YA Novel: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
Award Winner: Redeployment, by Phil Klay
Self-Improvement Book: The Power of Presence, by Kristi Hedges
Author Over 65: Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood
Romance Novel: The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain
Graphic Memoir: Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, by Roz Chast
Translated Book: Please Look After Mom, by Shin Kyung-Sook
Book Published Before 1850: Persuasion, by Jane Austen
Book About an Indigenous Culture: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, by Sherman Alexie
Author Under 25: White Teeth, by Zadie Smith
Guilty Pleasure: Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

This challenge definitely stretched me beyond my usual reading habits, which, I came to realize, are almost entirely centered on 20th/21st Century American literary short and long fiction. The most pleasant surprises for me were the Science Fiction an YA categories. I probably stretched the definition of SF with "Station Eleven", but it turned out to be one of my absolute favorite reads, not only of this year, but in a very long time. "The Book Thief" was a magnificent reading experience, and I am now definitely more open to the YA category.

I will also confess to being hooked by the first novel in the Outlander series, which was my "Guilty Pleasure" choice. But for this challenge, I might have been abashed to pick up this book, but Gabaldon definitely hooked me with her clever plot, and I am interested to see where the rest of the series takes these characters.

I am also going to try to maintain a reading interest in books written by authors from continents outside of N. America. "Americanah" was definitely a winner. And, although I really disliked "The Calligrapher's Daughter", I was very moved by the translated work I read, "Please Look After Mom", which exposed me to a Korean culture about which I was previously quite ignorant. If this challenge succeeded in making me less provincial in my reading tastes, then that is a very good thing.

Other long-avoided categories, such as audiobooks and self-help, I will continue to eschew. I checked the boxes here, but am not eager to spend time again on that material.

All in all, I am very glad I did this challenge, and I would encourage others to participate in the 2016 version.

Hey Read Harder Challenge participants: we have gifts for you!

If you head over to our site, fill out the task list, and submit it as directed, you can snag a 30% off discount on a purchase in the Book Riot Store. You can also get some nice digital bling for wherever you'd like to brag about your reading skills.

Here's the link: http://bookriot.com/2015/09/17/finish...

I just finished the last category this morning! October 14th, sooner than I expected.

Things I liked that surprised me:
Audiobooks! After reading the first one, especially for this challenge, I've since listened to about 5 more. I am officially a convert, or at least a dedicated dabbler.

I got through a couple books that had been on my to-read list for YEARS, and that alone was reason enough to love this challenge.

While looking for a book to satisfy the re-telling category, I was really surprised by how many books are in that genre! Several new books added to the TBR list.

Things that I didn't like:
Some of the categories I already knew I didn't like (not from lack of trying, but just don't like) and those books I slogged through somewhat begrudgingly. Poetry,

I spent a lot of time for the categories that I didn't usually read just trying to find a book that fit, that I ended up wasting a lot of time. (That's my own fault though, and I know that.)

Honestly, most of the books I read for this challenge I would have read anyway, and I enjoyed most of the 10 or so that I read specifically for this group, so all in all it was a great success!

I finished today, and I really enjoyed it. I think that this was a great challenge.

Completed a couple of months ago, but sadly forgot to update here.
Was an enjoyable task.
Expecting something similar in 2016 too :)

I am on my last two books - this has been quite fun...but I am dying to know - will we get to do it again next year?

and if so, approximately when will the new categories be announced? I am eager to start planning!

Also, I've been wondering. I know there are official Book Riot Challenge book clubs in certain cities (but not mine). Would Book Riot be okay with a local library starting a Read Anything book club based on Book Riot's challenge (giving full credit to Book Riot for the challenge plan), or not??

Maureen wrote: "I am on my last two books - this has been quite fun...but I am dying to know - will we get to do it again next year?"

We will be doing it again in 2016 and we're working hard on the categories now. You'll definitely have a list before the year is done.