I’m almost done with the Read Harder Challenge! End-ish of September seems like as good a time as any to check in on how I’m doing on this challenge I didn’t think I’d actually be able to finish.
Since I first wrote about Read Harder in May, when I’d finished 12 of 24 tasks, I’ve managed to cross off several more. Here are my additions since then:
- A sci-fi novel — 11/22/63 by Stephen King
- A romance novel — The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
- A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade — Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
- A book that is a retelling of a classic story — Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
- An audiobook — Missoula by Jon Krakauer
- A book that someone else has recommended to you — The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
- A book that was originally published in another language — My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
This leaves me with five tasks to complete in the next three months:
- 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 book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture
- A collection of poetry
- A book published before 1850
I’ve got lots of recommendations for finishing up these five books, but I’m planning to continue this challenge the way I’ve been doing it all year — checking off books when the mood strikes and seeing if I can “win” this one without “forcing” myself to pick up a book I’m not interested in. Yes, I totally know how silly that sentence sounded. I’m off to read a book.
P.S. If you’ve been participating in the Read Harder challenge, make sure to check out this post where you can get a prize for completing all the tasks. And if you’re struggling to find reads for the last few tasks, the Read Harder Goodreads group is a great resource.
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Congratulations! Hope you can get it done! I have Missoula on tap for Nonfiction November this year.
Sounds like you’re making excellent progress.
I know a good book about indigenous people! It’s by Gail Pool and it’s called Lost Among the Baining. I really enjoyed it so I figured I’d leave a comment 🙂
Thanks for the recommendation! I will check that one out.
All I have left is the “retelling of a classic story” and the “prize winner from the past decade” – I actually have several books as possibilities for each (I’ve been meaning to read some Christopher Moore for-ev-er – just one example) but I keep finding all sorts of reasons to put them off… Maybe I don’t want to be done?
I think that might be part of my problem too 🙂 It’s been fun branching out and getting recommendations from the other Book Riot contributors and other participants. Good challenge!
I didn’t know this challenge, but I like it!
Congratulations, because you are doing it great. The last choices seem “harder” to find, but if you have already recommendations, I’m sure you’ll get your challenge 😉
Yeah, the author age ones were tricky, but I’ve got a few good options I think in Zadie Smith and Margaret Atwood books. We’ll see what I end up choosing.
I also have 5 to go, probably the most difficult ones for me, especially the self-improvement one – so far from my comfort zone. But that’s the whole point, right?
Can I pretty-please use your “almost” button to make a similar post, I’ll give you full credit, of course!
Yes, absolutely! I’m glad you like the little changes to the button 🙂
Woohoo, you are doing awesome! I think you can definitely knock off the remaining book tasks by the end of the year!