Book Riot Read Harder | 2019 Challenge

Here we are again folks! I know that I said I wasn’t going to do this year’s challenge, but I have changed my mind and decided that I wanted to give it a go. I have been reading a lot more diversely naturally anyway, so I thought I would see how I was doing and see if I could get close to completing this year’s list! I do love a good reading challenge, and this one looks really good in my reading journal too, so it was too much to resist!

The Book Riot Read Harder Challenge is a series of 24 challenges, none of which can be substituted, that are designed to encourage variety and divserity in the books that we read. The aim is that reading for all of the challenges will expand your reading horizons and introduce you to new mediums, characters, and genres. There is a great Goodreads group (found here) that has a community dedicated to suggesting reads and supporting one another, so take a look if you’re giving the reading challenge a go!

As I complete the challenges throughout 2018, I plan to cross the challenge out and list the book read for that challenge below. Here are the challenges:

1. An epistolary novel or collection of letters
2. An alternate history novel
   • Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell Susanna Clarke
3. A book by a woman and/or author of colour that won a literary award in 2018
4. A humour book
   • The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly
5. A book by a journalist or about journalism
   • The Last Romeo Justin Myers
6. A book by an author of colour set in or about space
   • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson
7. An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
8. An #ownvoices book set in Oceania
9. A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads
   • The Charmed Life of Alex Moore Molly Flatt
10. A translated book written by an/or translated by a woman
11. A book of manga
12. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character
    • The Fox and The Star Coralie Bickford-Smith
13. A book by or about someone that identifies as near-diverse
14. A cozy mystery
15. A book of mythology or folklore
    • The Bloody Chamber and Other Short Stories Angela Carter
16. An historical romance by an author of colour
17. A business book
18. A novel by a trans or nonbinary author
19. A book of nonviolent true crime
20. A book written in prison
21. A comic by an LGBTQIA creator
    • The Steel Prince Issue #3 V E Schwab
22. A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009
23. A self-published book
    • Happier Thinking Lana Grace Riva
24. A collection of poetry published since 2014

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Are you taking part this year? If so, what are you reading for each challenge?

Any support and suggestions appreciated!