2015 Read Harder Challenge
So, I get that October is probably way too late in the year to be picking up a reading challenge that was meant to start in January. And what can I say except that moving to a non-English-speaking country has put quite the damper on my usual reading habits, BUT I think Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge is important. Not just for me, but for everyone as a reader, because I know how often we fall into patterns of genre and theme and author, and what’s the point of reading if we aren’t challenging our perspectives and pushing our comfort zones?
That being said, I’m not doing these prompts in order, mainly because I’ll have to go with what I have access to at the time (thank god for kindles, though, right?), but I’ve decided to start with “a book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ” and I’ve chosen Susan Kuklin’s Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out.
As someone that is deeply interested in LGBTQ rights and experiences but who’s also spent a disappointingly small amount of time reading about these narratives, I’m really excited to read all of Kuklin’s interviews!
Here’s a full list of the challenge prompts to anyone interested.
A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)
A book published by an indie press
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ
A book by a person whose gender is different from your own
A book that takes place in Asia
A book by an author from Africa
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
A book that someone else has recommended to you
A book that was originally published in another language
A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind (Hi, have you met Panels?)
A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)
A book published before 1850
A book published this year
A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)
