Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Here is a thread to discuss books you’re considering or suggesting for Task 21: Read a book that went under the radar in 2023.

Don't entirely understand this one, but two that sprang to mind were: 83 Days in Mariupol: A War Diary by Don Brown - a graphic current events and Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad.

Not sure what qualifies as "under the radar" so I am deciding to use The Way Home: Two Novellas from the World of The Last Unicorn since I loved The Last Unicorn as a kid and didn't realize there were more stories in the world (and it came out in April).

I was recommended What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez and I think it would fit this prompt. Supposed to have A LOT of swearing in it, so beware if that's not your thing!

It seems like all of Dahlia Donovan's books get very little attention. She writes autistic, aromantic, nonbinary, cozy mysteries.

Maame or Liliana's Invincible Summer

I went through my TBR list and found books with very few Goodreads reviews. I landed on Plan A.

I'm hoping to read Jasyn And The Astronauts by Gwenhyver for this! It's an indie published sapphic swords and space retelling of Jason And The Argonauts, and I've not seen it hyped up many places, but it sounds right up my street!

Under the radar is a bit on the vague side, so when thinking about books for this task I set myself more solid criteria (published in English in 2023, under 500 reviews unless it was in the last month or two in which case I kept it under a hundred, and I was only selecting from things I've added to my tbr already).

So for this one I'm considering The Black Tree Atop The Hill by Karla Yvette, Allah's Spacious Earth by Omar Sayfo, Wild Poppies by Haya Saleh, and For Lambby Lesa Cline-Ransome.

Elizabeth wrote: "Under the radar is a bit on the vague side, so when thinking about books for this task I set myself more solid criteria (published in English in 2023, under 500 reviews unless it was in the last mo..."

That is such a helpful way to think about this challenge, and keep it in my TBR.

For anyone looking for something to read, that criteria gave me:

* Dayswork, by Chris Bachelder,
* The Shamshine Blind, by Paz Pardo (slightly over 500 reviews, but it came out in Feb 2023)
* The Auburn Conference, by Tom Piazza
* The Loneliness Files: A Memoir in Essays, by Athena Dixon

In case it helps people, at least in the US:

The theme of the Kindle daily deals here in the US is books that came out in 2023. I'm browsing through and I feel like a good number of these could fit some interpretation of this prompt, because I'm a couple pages in and don't see too awfully many that I remember hearing about.

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-te...

I couldn't find anything that appealed, so I'm going with a very loose interpretation of this prompt. Blue Book (2023) comic book retelling of UFO stories.

Is this challenge for books that were published in 2023, or books that were “under the radar” in 2023 but may have been published earlier? Two of the books I was considering turned out to have been published in 2022.

I’m also considering reading From Biblical Book to Musical Megahit: William B. Bradbury's Esther, the Beautiful Queen, by Juanita Karpf, but it was released in late November 2023, so it hasn’t had much time to go on the radar, much less go off.

This prompt is soooo vague. I suspect I'll end up reading My Season of Scandal since I love the series and it's not available through my library, so I consider that "under the radar".

The series is great. It's a historical romance where a main character is the boarding house that was created in book one, the "Grand Palace on the Thames". The two women who created the boardinghouse collect a group of people that are all compatible and there is a couple that are brought together during each installation.

I'm not sure how we would know something went under the radar unless we already read it, so I'm probably going to lean on others recommendations for this one. And in that spirit, I'll recommend Wild Things by Laura Kay which was one of few books that I gave a 5-star last year.

I sorted my TBR based on publication date and then put "Num Ratings" on the list too. Here's some with under 200 ratings (it's mostly indie horror! Unsurprising as I enjoy a lot of indie horror):
- Les Petites Morts: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales and Folklore
- The Stradivarius
- Neverest
- Darke Passion
- AHH! That's What I Call Horror: An Anthology of '90s Horror
- Dangerous Waters: Deadly Women of the Sea
- Skin Thief: Stories
- The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse
- An Ordinary Violence

Erin wrote: "I'm not sure how we would know something went under the radar unless we already read it, so I'm probably going to lean on others recommendations for this one. And in that spirit, I'll recommend [bo..."

This one is in my TBR so I'm going with it since you loved it!

how do I search goodreads books by date? I seem a bit lost here. Don't want to spend more time with research than actual reading. Also: under the radar in general, or could this just be a book you bought in 23 and then forgot you had?

I am considering Sordidez, because I am interested in SFF and am also Puerto Rican. I got the idea from a Publisher's Weekly piece titled "7 Books from 2023 You Shouldn’t Overlook" which was published December 14, 2023.

Elizabeth wrote: "I am considering Sordidez, because I am interested in SFF and am also Puerto Rican. I got the idea from a Publisher's Weekly piece titled "7 Books from 2023 You Shouldn’t Overlook"..."

Thanks, that one sounds good. Here's the article link for anyone else who's interested. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...

I am recommending Something Wicked by Lily Morton. It's this fantastic queer romance with ghost hunting!

Elizabeth wrote: "Under the radar is a bit on the vague side, so when thinking about books for this task I set myself more solid criteria (published in English in 2023, under 500 reviews unless it was in the last mo..."

I ended up reading something completely different on a whim that works for this task. The Alewives by Elizabeth R. Andersen, a cozy mystery set in medieval Alsace. I really liked it!

I don't know if it went under anybody else's radar, but I'd never heard of Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It (which I believe came out in 2022) until it was recommended for a book club I'm in.

Using Elizabeth's helpful metrics (published in 2023 with under 500 reviews), here are my recommendations from books that I've read: Alebrijes by Donna Barba Higuera and A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Emma Southon, and here are the books that qualified from my tbr list: Uranians: Stories by Theodore McCombs and Orphia and Eurydicius by Elyse John.

Jim Popkin – Code Name Blue Wren, about how Ana Montes infiltrated the Defense Intelligence Agency as an analyst for Cuban affairs...but whose real mission was spying for Cuba.

Oops.

I read The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García for this. It was published in May '23, and last I checked it had 172 ratings on Goodreads. It follows a famous Mexico City "fine dining" chef who was also a child migrant farmworker in the US.

I read The Rachel Incident here -- it was a book club read, and I'd never heard of it before it was the selection. Absolutely blew me away. If you like Sally Rooney, I think you'll love this one.

Elizabeth wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Under the radar is a bit on the vague side, so when thinking about books for this task I set myself more solid criteria (published in English in 2023, under 500 reviews unless it ..."

Ooh that sounds really up my street - I love a cozy mystery and I actually lived in Alsace for a year! I've just looked it up and seen it's set in Colmar, which isn't where I lived but I've visited a few times (very lovely and still has many old buildings, if you get the chance to go)

I stumbled upon a newly translated (2023) book of short stories by Japanese writer Izumi Suzuki, Hit Parade of Tears. Originally, I struggled with this task because... how would I know it went under the radar until I read it and decided if I thought it deserved more recognition? Anyways, this book fit perfectly for me because it was so up my alley that I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of the author before. She probably flies under the radar for non-Japanese speakers due to her stories only recently being translated to English.

Judith wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Under the radar is a bit on the vague side, so when thinking about books for this task I set myself more solid criteria (published in English in 2023, under 500 ..."

It's totally worth the read! It's a ton of fun as a cozy mystery, the author clearly knows her business about medieval Colmar and medieval culture in general, and it was just an all around good read. It's one of the few things I've read this year on a complete whim, but it was genuinely a delight for me. There's a sequel coming out next month too!

While I was looking for books for a winter-themed readathon, I came across The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica and thought it was phenomenal.

Elizabeth wrote: "Under the radar is a bit on the vague side, so when thinking about books for this task I set myself more solid criteria (published in English in 2023, under 500 reviews unless it was in the last mo..."

Oh I love that metric! It takes a lot of the gueSpring's Arcanasswork out, and is easy to filter on my tbr. Books I have that will work include:
The Witch & The City
Silent City
Lesbian Love Story
Notes on Her Color
The Book of Witches

I read The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson for this! I'd recommend it.

I read The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley for this task. She was a teenage slave during the American Revolution that became a celebrated poet.

I read To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse. 5 stars

This is really vague. I'm Using The Direction of the Wind by Mansi Shah, a 2023 read that no one else seems to have read even though it was recommended to me by someone else.

Elizabeth wrote: "Under the radar is a bit on the vague side, so when thinking about books for this task I set myself more solid criteria (published in English in 2023, under 500 reviews unless it was in the last mo..."

Thank you for that, Elizabeth. It helped me set actionable criteria for a vague and confusing prompt. When applying this criteria to books I'd read this year, I chose What It Cost Us: Stories of Pandemic & Protest in DC by the young authors of Shout Mouse Press. It's a short-story anthology, published in February 2023, and as of this writing, the book had only 8 ratings and 6 reviews on Goodreads. I was also able to apply it to Prompt #4, Read a history book by a BIPOC author; and to Prompt #24, Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat! (From 2023, No. 21. Read a book of short stories).