Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the twenty-fourth Read Harder task, from From Jacqueline Koyanagi, author of sci-fi novel Ascension.

I am thinking of reading Here Comes the Sun for debut novel and am wondering if it will fit in this category as well.

I have come to the realization that doing multiple book challenges means I am going to have count some books for multiple categories. Even with overlapping books for challenges, I still have a lot of reading to do.

Jen wrote: "I am thinking of reading Here Comes the Sun for debut novel and am wondering if it will fit in this category as well.

I have come to the realization that doing multiple book chall..."

I read this book and I think this book qualifies for both tasks. I thought it was excellent.

Oh man I just finished Kai Ashante Wilson's The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, which I'm pretty sure would work for this. Maybe A Taste of Honey would too.

Jen wrote: "I am thinking of reading Here Comes the Sun for debut novel and am wondering if it will fit in this category as well.

I have come to the realization that doing multiple book chall..."

Thank you Monica!

I'm going to read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan for this

Does 'Homegoing' by Yaa Gyasi count for this?

I'm going with The Color Purple, for me it fits multiple challenges,
like 9, 16, 17, 19, 20, & 24.

The Mothers if you haven't read it yet.

Sam wrote: "Does 'Homegoing' by Yaa Gyasi count for this?"

Definitely.

Sam wrote: "Does 'Homegoing' by Yaa Gyasi count for this?"

YES - it was one of my favorite books I read this year.

I think I should pause The Sellout and finish it in 2017.

Renee wrote: "I'm going with The Color Purple, for me it fits multiple challenges,
like 9, 16, 17, 19, 20, & 24."

I think The Color Purple is the best choice!

Karen wrote: "I think I should pause The Sellout and finish it in 2017."

Ooh, that is high on my TBR I think I am going to use it.

Does ‘The Fishermen,’ by Chigozie Obioma qualify?

I'm going to read 'Serpentine' by Cindy Pon. A YA fantasy that taked place in ancient china as opposed to medieval Europe. I think I'm going to enjoy this.

Bonnie wrote: "Karen wrote: "I think I should pause The Sellout and finish it in 2017."

Ooh, that is high on my TBR I think I am going to use it."

I ended up not being able to wait and finished it today. Highly recommended!

Shawn wrote: "Does ‘The Fishermen,’ by Chigozie Obioma qualify?"

Yes- I really enjoyed that book. If you like audio books, the narrator on this is incredible.

I'm assuming this challenge means the book must have multiple POVs, all PoC, or can the book have a single PoV throughout (i.e a memoir) and that person is a PoC?

I'm most likely going with The Sun Is Also a Star, which has perspectives from a Jamaican character and a Korean-American character.

Melissa wrote: I was wondering the same thing."

I'm just going to assume they meant multiple since characters is plural. I'm going with The Color Purple.

I'm listening to The Wangs vs. the World right now and so far it would qualify (I'm about a quarter done -- but I don't think the author is going to switch gears with the narration at this point).

SibylM wrote: "I'm listening to The Wangs vs. the World right now and so far it would qualify (I'm about a quarter done -- but I don't think the author is going to switch gears with the narration ..."

There is a moment that the car narrates, but it's only one short chapter so I think you're good to go. :)

I am pretty sure that The Turner House counts for his one. It was excellent. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Has anyone read The Association of Small Bombs and can confirm that it fits this category? Seems to from what I know about it...

If you haven't read it yet, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi would be a great pick for this one.

Lots of the books on by tbr list fit this category. Two of them I'm considering are Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones and The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar

Carrie wrote: "I'm going to read Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn for this task."

It would also count as a debut novel.

Would Beloved qualify for this task? I've never read it but I've always wanted to, so I have no idea if the point-of-view characters are all POC. If not, is there anything else by Toni Morrison that would work?

Would Jacqueline's own book 'Acension' qualify for this task. I know that it has at least one POV character who's a POC, but, since I haven't yet read it I don't know if the book is from multiple points of view or only from Alana's.

I've been wanting to read it for years now though.

Danie wrote: "Would Jacqueline's own book 'Acension' qualify for this task. I know that it has at least one POV character who's a POC, but, since I haven't yet read it I don't know if the book is from multiple p..."

It's been a while since I read it, but I seem to recall it having just the one POV character. I also found it rather disappointing, but there are lots of positive reviews, so ymmv.

I think I might start the New Year with this task as I had planned to finally read Marlon James's "A brief history of Seven Killings" and hopefully that fits this prompt

Katy wrote: "Has anyone read The Association of Small Bombs and can confirm that it fits this category? Seems to from what I know about it..."
yes it does.

Chris wrote: "Would Beloved qualify for this task? I've never read it but I've always wanted to, so I have no idea if the point-of-view characters are all POC. If not, is there anything else by Toni ..."

I read it years ago and I believe most, if not all, of the characters are POC, and am pretty sure all of the POVs are the same.

Chris wrote: "Would Beloved qualify for this task? I've never read it but I've always wanted to, so I have no idea if the point-of-view characters are all POC. If not, is there anything else by Toni ..."

Yes, that should work, and it's such an amazing book--I've read it twice and it blew me away both times. And made me cry a lot.

I am planning on reading "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas". I need a group ruling on its legitimacy for this prompt.

Thanks!

Martha wrote: "The Mothers if you haven't read it yet."

I might double dip for this one since this was my selection for a debut novel. I haven't double dipped for anything else but I could make an exception here I think.

I've thought of both Beloved and The Color Purple for this task but I'm afraid they'll be too sad and isn't there descriptions of sexual assault in both? I try to avoid that theme too much in the books that I read because it is bothersome and disturbing to me. If it's not too bad, let me know and I might choose one of those instead for this task.

Rachel wrote: "I'm most likely going with The Sun Is Also a Star, which has perspectives from a Jamaican character and a Korean-American character."

This is one of my favorite books of 2016. I highly recommend it, and it fits this task perfectly.

I just finished "The Sellout" by Paul Beatty - this would've been perfect.

Thoughts on whether the plays of August Wilson would work here?

Any of his works would also count for me personally in the "set within 100 miles of your location" since I'm in Pittsburgh. :-)

I have been considering both The Color Purple and Beloved for this challenge. I have never read any Alice Walker, but I have heard wonderful things about The Color Purple (obviously). I have read The Bluest Eye and Home from Toni Morrison--both of which were fantastic and fit the requirements of this task by the way.

Does the Underground Railroad meet this criteria? I bought it but haven't read it yet.

Ira wrote: "Does the Underground Railroad meet this criteria? I bought it but haven't read it yet."

Yes I think it would.

I think that the slave catcher in The Underground Railroad would be considered a POV character. So I don't think that one fits.

Could someone point me to the 2017 downloadable and editable list of books. The link provided, comes up as an error. Is it just me?

Let me also suggest A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. Both of the point-of-view characters are Japanese or Japanese American

I went with You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems About Boys for this one.

Has anyone read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie? Would it fit for this category?

Melissa wrote: "Has anyone read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie? Would it fit for this category?"

Great book. It would fit.

Lori wrote: "Could someone point me to the 2017 downloadable and editable list of books. The link provided, comes up as an error. Is it just me?"

Here you go - about halfway down the page is a link. https://bookriot.com/2016/12/15/book-...