2025 Reading Challenge discussion

SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES
Duration: June 1 - June 30, 2016

Recent studies are proving what us readers have known for a long time - reading helps us to build empathy for people who are different than us. To paraphrase Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, you never really know a person until you step into their shoes and walk around for a bit, and reading allows us to do that.

For this challenge, read books about people from different backgrounds than you, including race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or others.

Set a goal for how many books to read and step into someone else's shoes.

Thank you to Bobbi for inspiring and leading this challenge!

I hope everyone has fun with this one,

Participants:
Bobbi 0/5
Maxine 0/3
Esa 0/3
Lindsay 0/3
Kelly 2/4
Janine 1/3
Caro 0/3
Linda 0/4
Ashly 0/4
Kiki 1/2
Sam F 0/3
Nicole 0/2
Ultrajbk 0/1
Cassandra 0/4
Emma 0/4
Erika 0/5
Maria 0/3
Babitix 1/?
Sharon 0/2
Jessica 0/3
Amy (Other Amy) 0/1
Ju 0/3
Mina 0/2
Lauri 0/2
Dominique 0/1
Sherry 0/3
Joann 1/3
Virginia 1/3
Paul 3/5
Sarah 0/3
Nia 0/2-4

I'm in for 3 please

3/3 Complete

1. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - Deals with depression
2. Orphanage Boy - Its about a man that was raised in Catholic Orphanages in Victoria and the abuse.
3. Me Before You - Will is in a wheelchair

I am in for 3 please

Welcome Maxine and Esa! :)

I am also in for 3 please.

1) Ella Enchanted Ella is cursed with obedience which is not one of my strengths.

2) To Kill a Mockingbird Scout lives in a time and place of real racial intolerance.

3) Pride and Prejudice Set in a time where class was all important and the role of women was very different to today.

4) Return to the Olive Farm. Carol Drinkwater Carol is an expat who has ended up owning and running an olive farm in France.

Sign me up for 4 please!

SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES
Duration: June 1st - June 30th 2016

Recent studies are proving what us readers have known for a long time - reading helps us to build empathy for people who are different than us.

For this challenge, read books about people from different backgrounds than you, including race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or others.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ✔
- It was interesting to read a book written and set in the 1800's about a family of a different social status to my own.

2. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine ✔
- The main character has Asperger's Syndrome.

3. In the Woods by Tana French ✔
- Reading a book where the main character's job is as a murder detective was interesting and definitely different to my own job.

4. George by Alex Gino ✔
- The main character, George, identifies as transgender.

COMPLETE: 4/4

This sounds like a great challenge. Sign me up for 3.

6/3

1. The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon - many of the main characters, including the protagonist Lou, are autistic.
2. Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue - many of the main characters are Latinx.
3. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil - Dimple is Indian, transgender, a prostitute and addicted to drugs!
4. The Heir by Kiera Cass - Eadlyn is royalty.
5. All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin - Anya, Leo and Natty are orphans.
6. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - Tom Ripley is a male, a sociopath and a killer!

Sounds interesting! Please put me for 3. I will try to do more but I can't promise anything...

I'm in for 4


(2016) JUNE-SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES
Duration: June 1st - June 30th 2016

Progress: (4/4) Completed

1. Politics: Our Dumb World by The Onion 6/9/16
2. Religion:Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
***by John Eldredge 6/1/16
3. Gender: The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli 6/1/16
4. Freedom: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell 6/2/16

Sounds interesting, but I'm not sure yet whether I'll join. I prefer challenges with more specific prompts than just picking a number of books.

I'm going with 4 books.

1. When Love Comes to Town - The main character is gay (6/11/16)
2. One Man Guy - The main character is Armenian and gay. (6/17/16)
3. Signs - The main character is Deaf and Gay (6/19/16)
4.

I'm gonna join with 2 books in mind :D

1. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon - The main character is biracial.

2. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King - The main character is a retired detective.

2/2 - FINISHED

I'll try for 3 books this month.

1. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers - in this book, one of the main characters is a gay deaf man, the other is a black older man from the southern US, the third is a young very poor white girl again from the southern US who dreams to be a musician.

2. Map Of The Invisible World by Tash Aw - about an Indonesian boy who is orphaned and adopted by a man of Dutch descent.

3. Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff - his son is addicted to a variety of substances, but mostly meth.

3/3 completed

I'm in for 2!

Nice Challenge. But I have committed to other challenges, so just one for me.

Welcome everyone! I have everyone up to Ultrajbk.

Rachel wrote: "Sounds interesting, but I'm not sure yet whether I'll join. I prefer challenges with more specific prompts than just picking a number of books."

Rachel, you're more than welcome to join at any time. :) I like this sort of challenge because I can make it my own.

I'll try for 4.

Hi, Id like to try for 7

1. Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse - set in , Hanneke worked on black market and became part of resistance.

I'd like to try for 5 please!

I'm in for 3.

Good luck everyone! :)

I'm in, but I can't tell how many books I will read. At least 1, but can be more (:

Okay, lets start with 2 and see how it goes

I love this challenge. I've read a lot of books that fall into this category this year, but don't have too many slated for the near future. Put me down for three, please :)

June: Someone Else's Shoes Challenge:

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
2. The Fictional Woman
3. Still Alice

3/3 - COMPLETED!

Love. I'm only signing up for 1, because I have been a total loser lately, but definitely in for this one.

I'm in for 3 as well please.

I'm in for 2 :)

I'm in, but just 2 please...

I'm going with 1 book.

1.

I'm in for 3!

I'm going to try for 3

Completed: 2/3

1. The Kite Runner
2. Everything I Never Told You

I'll go in for 3, if you don't mind. I think I'm going to explore the Indigenous history section here on Goodreads.

England doesn't really have much of an indigenous population, so it's a subset of the global population I don't know that much about. This seems like a good chance to start fixing that.

Put me down for 5 please! My only thing going into this is that it feels really open-ended, but I don't know *how* open-ended it is. I'll see how it works out though. :) As it is I already have one book read that fits, so that's good.


* 1. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - Yeine is a woman of colour (2/6/16)
* 2. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett - Granny, Nanny, and Agnes are women (16/6/16)
* 3. Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane - Nita's a girl and Kit identifies as Hispanic (I'm white) (18/6/16)
* 4. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - Cain largely writes the book from first person and could easily be taken to be its protagonist, though she's not the only protagonist, this isn't that kind of book, and she is an introvert like me (4/6/16)
* 5. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - Oree is a blind woman of colour (6/6/16)
* 6. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - Theo starts out the book with an absent father (4/6/16)
* 7. 1Q84: Book One and Book Two by Haruki Murakami - Tengo and Aomame are Japanese and living in Japan (12/6/16)
* 8. 1Q84: Book Three by Haruki Murakami - Tengo, Aomame, and Ushikawa are Japanese and living in Japan (18/6/16)
* 9. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - Rachel is an alcoholic, divorced Englishwoman (18/6/16)
* 10. The Awakened Kingdom by N.K. Jemisin - Shill is a girl (17/6/16)
* 11. In the Woods by Tana French - Detective Ryan's two best friends went missing when he was 12 (5/6/16)
* 12. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling - Harry is an orphan who lives with his aunt and uncle (and cousin) (26/6/16)
* 13. How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran - Moran is a British woman (26/6/16)
* 14. The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis - Parvana is an Afghani girl (26/6/16)

14/5

Updated #7.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ✔
- It was interesting to read a book written and set in the 1800's about a family of a different social status to my own.

1/4 complete.

Updated message 34 with:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - Cain largely writes the book from first person and could easily be taken to be its protagonist, though she's not the only protagonist, this isn't that kind of book, and she is an introvert like me

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - Theo starts out the book with an absent father

3/5

Updated #7.

2. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine ✔
- The main character has Asperger's Syndrome.

2/4 complete

Updated message 8, 1/3

1. The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon - many of the main characters, including the protagonist Lou, are autistic.

updated message 13

total is now 1/2

This will be the 1st challenge I've actually joined (not due to lack of interest but lack of time), and ooh - it sounds fun!
I almost exclusively read YA Fiction, but with this challenge I'm gonna try to branch out of my comfort zone even more and include some other genres. I'll go with 2 books for sure, probably 3, hopefully 4.

Update to message 33.
Books: 1/3

Wasting Police Time: The Crazy World of the War on Crime
- I don't actually know that much about the everyday lives of the police, I only know what I see on TV and it's very different.

Updated to message 43.

Updated message 8, 2/3

2. Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue - many of the main characters are Latinx.

Update message #10
(4/4) Completed

Updated #7.

3. In the Woods by Tana French ✔
- Reading a book where the main character's job is as a murder detective was interesting and definitely different to my own job.

3/4 complete.

Updated message 34

4/5

Updated meesage completed 3/3! :)

Updated message 34 with 1Q84: Book One and Book Two by Haruki Murakami - Tengo and Aomame are Japanese and living in Japan

5/5 - While I could increase my goal now (and I do plan to add more to this in time) I'm going to be more pressed for time than I was for the rest of the month, so I'd rather not commit to something I might not make. So as it stands, I'm done! :)

updated message 13

completed the goal of 2 books!

The challenge wasn't that difficult for me because most of the books that I read have characters from other countries, making them wholly different from me, but I still had a fun time doing this challenge. Thank you for making this!

Updated message 8, 3/3.

Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
This book was set in Bombay during the 70s, with the story revolving around opium dens/the drugs scene, and so many of the characters were very different to me! However I chose to focus on my favourite character, Dimple. Dimple is Indian, transgender, a prostitute and addicted to drugs.