Just for Fun: Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016

Like a lot of people, I did the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge last year. I finished the book for my last required category on December 30, 2016, just in the nick of time. I'm so happy with myself for completing this challenge. I stretched myself with some of these books, but mostly I was looking for a way to knock things of my forever long To Read list. It didn't quite work out that way, but I still had fun. Here's what I read for each of the categories, and what I thought of each.

• Read a horror book: Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss. This was fun. It had the slow burn, slow build rhythm of a gothic horror novel, but with a talking cat and a contemporary setting. 
• Read a nonfiction book about science: Alex & Me by Irene M. Pepperberg. This ended up being more of an animal memoir than a book about science, so I found myself wishing for more science, but I still enjoyed it for the most part.
• Read a collection of essays: Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan. I got about 1/3 of the way through this book before I gave up. Yes, there was a lot of promise in these essays and stories, but I doubt this book would have been published if the author hadn't been a pretty, white, cishet young woman who died just after her graduation from an Ivy League school.
• Read a book out loud to someone else: Mee-Yow by Lee Priestly. I love this goofy book that is basically a build up to a goofy pun. Read it to my boyfriend who rolled his eyes almost the entire time.
• Read a middle grade novel: Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Some middle grade novels work well for anyone, no matter the audience, but this one didn't quite do it for me. I liked the idea, but the end was a bit too schmaltzy for my tastes.
• Read a biography (not memoir or autobiography): Notorious R.B.G. by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik. I enjoyed learning about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but the writing style was a bit off. 
• Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I had a little bit of a hard time getting the gist of this book at first, but once I did... wow, it grabbed me and never let go.
• Read a book originally published in the decade you were born: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. This book was deliciously strange and convoluted. Loved it.
• Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award: Yes, Please by Amy Poehler. This memoir audiobook was one of the best things I listened to last year (and I listen to audiobooks all the time). 
• Read a book over 500 pages long: Digger by Ursula Vernon. I'm somewhat obsessed with Vernon's writing and with her art, so this forever long graphic novel about the adventures of a wombat and Ganesha was the perfect combination.
• Read a book under 100 pages long: Four Eyes v. 1 by Joe Kelly. A kid, during the depression era, gets involved with a dragon fighting ring. I always enjoy Joe Kelly's work, so of course I had fun reading this.
• Read a book by or about a person that identifies as transgender: Redefining Realness by Janet Mock. This was an important book, and I'm glad I read it, but Mock's writing style shows her professional origins (popular press magazines) and was not to my taste.
• Read a book set in the Middle East: Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. I loved this book. Loved it. Rich world building; relatable, flawed characters; and an engaging story line.
• Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia: Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan. The characterizations of women in this book made me put it down shortly after I picked it up. Sexist nonsense.
• Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900: Salamander by Thomas Wharton. This was another slow build kind of book, and a convoluted story, but so lovely.
• Read the first book in a series by a person of color: Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho. This was, perhaps, my favorite thing I read last year. It was also the last thing I read for the challenge, so it's fresh in my memory, but dang I loved this book. Great characters; a surprising plot; and rich language.
• Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years: Mae #1 by Gene Ha. I was not a fan. It was too slow to start and the characters didn't grab me.
• Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate which is better: Skellig by David Almond. Nothing to debate here - the movie was horrible because they changed too much about the story. Ugh. No. Just read the book.
• Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes: Shrill by Lindy West. I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I did identify with a lot of what she said, but... Yeah.
• Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction): Getting Unstuck by Pema Chodron. Ani Pema's writing is what sent me down the path to embracing Buddhism, and this was a helpful book for me.
• Read a book about politics, in your country or another (fiction or nonfiction): BioGraphic Novel: The 14th Dalai Lama by Tetsu Saiwai. Learning more about the Dalai Lama was nice, but as sequential art goes this was kind of meh.
• Read a food memoir: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I know it's not just about food, but the first third of the book is about her eating her way through Italy so I think it counts. And I loved this book so much that I bought a copy for my own collection.
• Read a play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by John Tiffany, Jack Thorne, and J.K. Rowling. This reads like mediocre fan fiction. Don't do this to yourself, even if you are a fan of the series.
• Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness: The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I also gave up on this book. I just can't handle books where women are more object than subject.

I had so much fun doing this challenge. Even the books I ended up hating weren't wasted effort. For instance, I've always thought I *should* read Eugenides, and now I know I don't have to.

In 2017, I'm going to do a different challenge - something I've designed for myself. Like so many other people, I buy more books than I read... and I put even more books on my GoodReads To Read list than that. So for 2017, I am going to make myself stick to the unread books I have already decided are worth reading - whether by purchasing them or by putting them on a list. I'm going to allow myself a loophole, however: if one of my favorite authors publishes a book, I can buy and/or read those books, too.

I'm claiming this goal publicly in hopes that you'll help me stick to my goal. I have so many unread books on my shelves and on my To Read list that it would take me around 17 years to read them all if I read at my current rate. I know I'll give up on and/or change my mind about some of those book, but I'm never going to get through the list if I keep adding to it.

So, I've got a lot of reading to do. Feel free to give me this look if you find out I'm breaking my promise to myself.

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How about you? What are you planning to read this year? Or are you just going to take it as it comes?