Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Just finished a task? Want to recommend what you read or tell folks how bad it was? Let us know here!

Just finished A Man Called Ove for the "An Assigned Book You Hated(Or Never Finished)" category! We were going to read it for book club several, several months ago and I just was not a fan. It's been staring at me on my shelf so I decided to give another go for the challenge. After I pushed myself through the first little bit of the book, I couldn't put it down. Such a good read!

I finished Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood (for celebrity memoir) on my way home today. I actually have no interest in Trevor Noah, but it seemed like an opportunity to read about an experience different to my own. Box ticked, really: light reading, enjoyable, but also educational (and quite dark at times).

I just finished Relish by Lucy Knisley ( Challenge #4!) and I was really pleasantly surprised! It was a random pick but turned out to be partially set near my hometown which was super cool. I knew where all the places she talked about were. Plus, she draws out recipes in between chapters and that’s the only time I’ve ever willingly read a recipe. The stories were super quirky and fun. It’s a quick read but good nonetheless. I would totally recommend it!!! Such a good way to start off the challenge :)

sac wrote: "I finished Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood (for celebrity memoir) on my way home today. I actually have no interest in Trevor Noah, but it seemed like an opport..."

I was thinking about reading this, since it satisfies two tasks. So far I've heard great things about it.

Candace wrote: "sac wrote: "I finished Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood (for celebrity memoir) on my way home today. I actually have no interest in Trevor Noah, but it seemed li..."

I highly recommend the audiobook if you have access--I always enjoy when authors read their own work out loud.

I went with Cry the Beloved Country for my BRIKS book. Excellent read, but, the author did not use quotation marks with dialogue. But a very good read

I finished The Sun Is Also a Star for "A romance novel by or about a person of color" It was a great read. In the beginning, I wasn't enjoying it but I was left happy in the end :)

I read The Eternaut, an alien invasion story from Argentina that is also a political allegory on dictatorships, foreign invasion, and group heroism. It's iconic in its home country and a page-turner. It works for a comic not published by the big three and a work of genre fiction in translation. Probably also a classic of the SF genre in Argentina, even though it's not well-known in the U.S.

Dragon's Breath: and Other True Stories works for all three comic challenges. It's about a half-Asian woman struggling through her twenties and thirties. I zoomed through it in three days.

Just finished Madame Bovary for classic fiction. I did not enjoy the book or audiobook. Im just glad its done

I've finished One Hundred Years of Solitude for #24, a book I hated or didn't finish. I didn't like it in high school but had a greater appreciation for it this time around. This book also counts as an Oprah book, but I do have plans to read another title for that prompt.
I'm just glad I got #24 done with.

Just finished Persuasion by Jane Austin. Enjoyed it way more than I thought that I would when I started it. Going in order at the moment, although that may change, so I just started the Poisoner's Handbook.

I just finished tasks #20 A Book w/ a Cover You Hate. I read Sweet Lamb of Heaven, and goodness it was bad. The ending was so bizarre and a let down, really.

I made two lists; one for me and one for my preschooler.
I've finished two of my books.

The posthumous book (task 1): Selected Poems. The British Standard English poems are largely iambic pentameter, but beautifully crafted. The Jamaican language poems are harder unless you understand Jamaican. The poems are amazingly current to the racial discourse going on today, despite having been written nearly a century ago. The book is small, but the poems are worth savoring.

The classic of genre fiction (task 3): Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, the first in his gumshoe series starring Easy Rawlings. If you're looking for a one-sitting book, this also qualifies. I couldn't put it down.

For my son, we've read (I've read to him) his book of genre fiction in translation: Eric Carle - French: Ours Brun Dis-Moi. Genre is, of course, children's lit (he's 4). He's bilingual, so I chose to find an English book translated into French instead of vice versa. He liked it.

Task 21 --Cereus Blooms at Night.

My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also just finished Relish by Lucy Knisley and enjoyed it. I read this for the challenge comic book written and illustrated by the same person. My first comic/graphic book.

Jon wrote: "Just finished "A Man Called Ove" for the "An Assigned Book You Hated(Or Never Finished)" category! We were going to read it for book club several, several months ago and I just was not a fan. It's ..."

I am so glad you liked it. please also read his other books. I enjoyed them all.

Simant ♥ Flipping Through the Pages wrote: "I finished The Sun Is Also a Star for "A romance novel by or about a person of color" It was a great read. In the beginning, I wasn't enjoying it but I was left happy in the end :)"

My kids read this for school two summer ago and I finally read it last year and enjoyed it. I am glad you did, too!

I just finished "Indigo" by Beverly Jenkins (romance novel about or by a person of color), and I really loved it. In fact, I'm kicking myself for not starting her books sooner.

Finished (H)afrocentric Comics: Volumes 1–4. Review here: Book. ★★★ Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Wasn't crazy about it

Task#2 book of true crime finished, Mrs Sherlock Holmes about the first woman detective and the cases she was involved in. It was pretty long and a little disjointed, could have used a good editor, in my opinion. There wasn't much resonate information about the main character but it was a glimpse into law enforcement in New York Coty in the early 1900's.

Margaret wrote: "Finished (H)afrocentric Comics: Volumes 1–4. Review here: Book. ★★★ Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Wasn't crazy about it" My daughter and I have been looking at this book.

I have finished two books so far on this challenge.

I read The Old Man and the Sea for a one sitting book. It was actually way better than I thought. Hemingway lost me with Sun Also Rises, but now I appreciate him more.

I also FINALLY finished reading The Keeper of Lost Things for an assigned book you hated. It was our book club book last month, and I couldn't get into it. I had to go to book club meeting and admit I didn't finish it. Of course I got a lot of spoilers at the meeting, but I just didn't care. However, I felt like a loser if I didn't actually finish it, so I did. It was a struggle, but I'm glad that I am through with that category.

Finished Task #22, an essay anthology, this morning. I’ve had “Know The Past, Find The Future: The New York Public Library At 100” Produced and edited by Caro Llewellyn in my collection for years. It was a free offer through Kindle. Being about a library and a book of essays(two things I love), I pounced on it but got pulled away from it shortly into my first attempt at reading and never got back to it. While trying to come up with an idea for this task it dawned on me that I already had something perfect for it. I started completely over so as to get fully in the spirit of both the task and the read. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It’s filled with great stories and gorgeous portraits. Plus, it’s so much fun witnessing all these famous people geek out over the objects they chose to pose with. I hope someday I get to visit the NYPL and geek out too!

Just finished Station Eleven for prompt 17. I liked it, but didn't love it until I got all the way to the end. The author makes it interesting because she's tracking several characters both pre and post pandemic. I would recommend it but be patient and stay with it.

Lauren wrote: "I have finished two books so far on this challenge.

I read The Old Man and the Sea for a one sitting book. It was actually way better than I thought. Hemingway lost me with Sun Also R..."
Good to know, Lauren, think I'll use Old Man and the Sea also.

I just finished #20 A book with a cover you hate. I read Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff. Palace intrigue which would make a great TV drama/soap opera if it were actually happening in real life. The cover is awful but the pages mostly fly by.

I finished #11 Children's Classic pre 1980 last week. I read Just Williamt, which is the first in a series and could be considered a ya series. Set in the interwar years in England, it concerns family life in the class structure at the time, with children looking on often puzzled. They are humourous collections of short stories and so funny!!

I finished The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft for the True Crime prompt. A really good story - good choice for those looking for non-murder options!

I've been on a reading binge since the new year started, and I've already finished six categories.

#3 A Classic of Genre Fiction: Native Tongue
This is a feminist sci fi classic, published in 1984, that focuses on the linguistics side of communicating with aliens. In a world where women have been stripped of their rights, female linguists invent a new language, Láadan, to express the thoughts of women. Láadan is a fully created constructed language, and while its nowhere near as well known as male sci fi/fantasy con langs, it's definitely interesting, and I love the novel.

#4 A Comic Written and Illustrated by the Same Person: M.F.K.: Book One
This was original a web comic, and to be honest, I didn't care for it. Nothing in it was objectionable, it's just that not very much happened and there just wasn't enough going on to get me invested, so it felt very meh. I neither liked nor disliked it, which means I can't really recommend it (although if you do decide to read it, it would cover all the comics prompts, since its written by a black woman and published by Insight, as well as the first in a (presumably) new to you YA series). It ended with the set up for an adventure, but I wished that some of that adventuring was in the first book. The first chapter of that part is available online here: http://www.mfkcomic.com/comic/chapter... and I retroactively liked the first book better after reading chapter 4.

#7 A Western: River of Teeth
This novella was the first book I read in 2018 and I loved it enough that it was finished by the time I got out of bed on New Year's morning. It's a less conventional western in terms of setting, but it seems to fit with the conventions of the genre in other ways. It's set in an alternate history version of Louisiana in the 1890s, where hippos have been imported to be raised for meat (based on a real historical plan that luckily was never implemented). It's basically a cowboy heist book, with the main characters riding hippos instead of horses. It gets bonus points for having a diverse crew as well. I highly, highly recommend it, and pretty much immediately read the second novella, Taste of Marrow. If you want to wait til May, the two are coming out together in one volume, American Hippo.

#12 A Celebrity Memoir: We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories
I liked Gabrielle Union from the teen movies of my youth (10 Things I Hate About You and Bring it On in particular), and I respect the way she's been outspoken about her rape more recently, and had heard good things about this book. Unfortunately, it seemed a little bit disjointed to me. The subtitle calls it stories, and it definitely felt like a collection kind of random stories rather than a cohesive personal narrative. I really liked the way she wrote about social issues (race and rape in particular) and was a lot less invested in the just regular life stuff (like her teenage dating history). It was ok, but there are so many other celebrity memoirs I've read and liked more.

#19 A Book of Genre Fiction in Translation: The Queue
This is a dystopia, set in Egypt and originally written in Arabic. A repressive regime runs The Gate, which never opens, where citizens stand in an enormous queue to get governmental paperwork so they can go about doing the things they need to live their lives. The endless waiting had very Godot-like qualities to it, and the picture of a regime gaslighting an entire country was chilling, absurd and plausible. I highly recommend it.

#23 A Book with a Female Protagonist over the Age of 60: The Lady Astronaut of Mars
This is a novelette (which means its incredibly short, enough so that it's online in its entirety here: https://www.tor.com/2013/09/11/the-la...) about an alternative history version of the present day where we've already settled on Mars and are looking for new colonies. The main character of this book is the first female astronaut to go to Mars. Now she's 63, with a dying husband, deciding whether or not to go on a final mission. Despite the fact that short stories usually bug me, I enjoyed this one, and I'm glad that there will be two prequel novels coming out later this year.

Riah wrote: "A Book with a Female Protagonist over the Age of 60: The Lady Astronaut of Mars"

I've been looking for a SF option for this task, and this sounds great. I already listen to the author on her podcast, Writing Excuses.

I've read Night by Elie Weisel as my Oprah Book Club selection and was floored. Thank you book riot for leading me to it!

Jennifer wrote: "Just finished Persuasion by Jane Austin. Enjoyed it way more than I thought that I would when I started it. Going in order at the moment, although that may change, so I just started the Poisoner's ..."
The Poisoner's Handbook was fantastic! I read it about 3 years ago, and plan to read it again. I'll be interested to see your thoughts posted here after you've finished reading it.

I just read A Child's Life: Other Stories for both A comic written and illustrated by the same person and A one-sitting book

Got three tasks completed.
3. A classic of genre fiction: The Man in the High Castle
4. A Comic written and illustrated by the same person: Smile (Raina Telgemeier)
15. A one-sitting book: Ocean at the End of the Lane

"High Castle" and "Ocean" were on my TBR for a while -- glad to have an excuse to finally finish them!

Just finished Check, Please! for these four tasks:
4. A comic written and illustrated by the same person
8. A comic written and illustrated by a person of color
15. A one-sitting book
18. A comic that isn't published by Marvel, DC, or Image

Just finished “Life” by Keith Richards for the celebrity memoir category. Everything you think you know about how rock and roll stars live their lives is...pretty doggone accurate, at least in his case. He starts it out with a drug bust that happened during a Rolling Stones tour in the 1970s. He writes surprisingly well for someone who has ingested so many recreational pharmaceuticals over so many decades. He goes into a lot of detail about that, though he doesn’t seem to have a good answer for why he did it, other than the constant pressure of touring and recording. There are lots of funny anecdotes. Highly recommended for anyone who likes The Rolling Stones.

Ann wrote: "Just finished Check, Please! for these four tasks:
4. A comic written and illustrated by the same person
8. A comic written and illustrated by a person of color
15. A one-sitting bo..."

How was it? I am always looking for double (or quadruple dipper books)!

#8 - A comic written by a person of color - X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong

#11 - A children's classic published before 1980 - The Tale of Peter Rabbit

#15 - A one-sitting book - Motor Crush, Vol. 1

#16 - The first book in a new-to-you middle grade series - The Shadows

#18 - A comic that isn't published by Marvel, DC, or Image - Torchwood Archives Volume 1

I finished Agatha Christie's Mysterious Affair at Styles for task #3 (classics of genre) -- I hadn't planned it. I realized I had it in my Gutenberg downloads and started it one night. It's a little rough, but you can still see the classic Agatha Christie style and it's a good introduction to Hastings and Poirot as a team.

I finished Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher for task #12. If anyone is interested, I recommend listening to the audio. I laughed, I cried a little, it was best way to "read" this memoir.

I finished The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra last night for #4 BRICS, and last week for the Social Science prompt #14 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life.

The Romanov Sisters was excellent. I'm now on a Russian revolution reading kick.

The Subtle Art was disappointing. I might have been too old or the wrong audience for it - I think it's geared at 20 somethings who were raised in upper-middle class suburbia who also haven't faced many life challenges yet.

I read Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times for the essay anthology category. It was hard to read in long stretches, but each letter was only a few pages so easy to pick up. There was a lot of variety in terms of tone and focus, and I found it pretty affirming even though the subject is tough.

Just finished An Extraordinary Union for #10, a romance novel by or about a person of color. It's a quick read, good plot and great characters, and the romance aspect of it made me a bit uncomfortable as I'm not a regular reader of romance novels.

So I started with my 3 graphic novels.

Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang both of which could fit any of the the 3 graphic novel/comic prompts.

I loved these because they had different sides to the same event. I think Boxers was a little stranger than saints but I would recommend both be read together they are true companion pieces and while this was, I know, a simplified version of the Boxer rebellion I finished them wanting to read more about it. And I feel like that is always a good thing. Always.

Lumberjanes Vol 3 rounded out my graphic novel prompts. I wasn't feeling the first Lumberjanes when I read it a couple of years ago when I first encountered the read harder comic challenge (I miss that challenge!!!! It got me reading comics for the first time as an adult and they have so enriched my reading experience). But everybody raves about Lumberjanes so I decided at some point last year to give the second volume a go. I loved it. Loved the 3rd and quite frankly moved on to the 4th which i don't have an easy place to slot into any of the three reading challenges I'm doing. Still I'll probably read as many of these as I can get my hands on over the coming months.

Now I wonder if I was just in a mood when I read the first one or if I really needed to spend more time at camp to really appreciate them. Glad I persisted.

A couple of years ago for a different reading challenge I picked up Binti. I loved it. It was if not my favorite book that year it was certainly in the top 5. All of last year I kept planning to slot in the first sequel Home. I put it on hold at the library and quite frankly it didn't come off hold until a time when I was just in a position that I couldn't read it.

At the start of the year I put it on hold again and it being older now was almost immediately avalibale YAY! I loved book 2 and as soon as I'd read the first few pages went "OMG, I need to put book 3 on hold." It wasn't available at my library that day. I finished book 2 and immediately needed to go into book 3. knowing my library didn't have it I bought it and read it the very next day. And it was when I was shelving, on January 18th, it that I noticed it had only been released on the 16th. Checked my library. Not only did they have it, there was only one person ahead of me in the hold line. Oops. Jumped the gun.

But between you and me, I'm going to order the other two. I feel like these are books I need to own.

All three are short. All 3 would fit for one-sitting novel or sci-fi novel with a female lead/female author. And I could probably stretch book about nature to cover at least one of them... but it would be a stretch.

They had good sci-fi elements, family, exploration of cultural difference, intersectionality, LGBTQ and women's rights issues. Seriously. So much was packed into these 3 little books. I am so pleased I read them and so sad to not be spending time there any longer.

I don't think you can ask much more from a series of books.

I read Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham for task # 12: A celebrity memoir. The winner of the Goodreads choice award for Humor in 2017, I found it a light read for fans of The Gilmore Girls and/or Parenthood. Another book I had considered for this task was Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, a Goodreads choice nominee for Memoir & Autobiography, and a Bookmarks magazine selection. Other books I've read and recommend that would qualify for this task include In the Country We Love: My Family Divided a 2017 Alex Award winner that speaks to the plight of undocumented immigrants by Diane Guerrero , star of Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded, a 2017 Alex Award winner and 2016 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Memoir & Autobiography by My Drunk Kitchen YouTube personality Hannah Hart, Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography, a Goodreads choice nominee for Humor in 2014, Bossypants by Tina Fey, winner of the Goodreads choice award for Humor in 2011, and a selection on YALSA's 2014 Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners Humanities list, Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin, and finally As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes, a Goodreads choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography in 2014.

I finished Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me by Lorina Mapa, which could fit into either #4 or #8. It was ok. I finished it in 2 days but it could probably be read in one sitting. If you don't know anything about the People Power Revolution that toppled Ferdinand Marcos' regime in the '80s then this will give you some background. But it really felt like 2 disjointed stories and I felt the author was unrelatable as her family was and probably still is part of the elite upper class in the Philippines.

I've completed task #23. I read Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun, the female protagonist is 69. This book was such a delight!

Candace wrote: "Ann wrote: "Just finished Check, Please! for these four tasks:
4. A comic written and illustrated by the same person
8. A comic written and illustrated by a person of color
15. A on..."

Well...it didn't turn me into a comic fan, but I enjoyed it well enough. It was easy to read, the illustrations were well done, and I learned a bit about ice hockey. It's an ongoing story, so the sooner you begin the less you'll have to read. Not a glowing endorsement, I know, but there it is.

I just finished , by H.Y. Hanna, for task 21 (a mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author). I don't really like "cozy" mysteries but saw this listed in the group discussion for this task, and it had the benefit of being free on Amazon.

***POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT*** There was a scene where the Old Biddies tried to eavesdrop through a heavy, old, wood door - even going so far as to press their ears against it; they ultimately opened the door a crack so they could hear. In a later scene, an alibi witness claims to have been passing by and overheard voices through the same (closed) door. I kept waiting for someone to bring up the contradiction, but that never happened.