2018 Book Riot #ReadHarder Challenge Complete!

• Cyn K

For the fourth year in a row, I participated in the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. Unlike last year, I completed every task with at least one book.

I enjoy the added challenge of finding books that fit more than one category. This year, I took the requirement of task one (published posthumously) and used it for the books selected for tasks 2 and 7. I also found several comics written and drawn by the same person (as in task 4) and used those for 15 and 18. Plus, since I love mysteries, I opted for those when I could (see tasks 2, 3, 5, 19,and 23) in addition to the task that specified a mystery (#21).

Below are the twenty-four tasks for 2018 and the books I read:

  1. A book published posthumously The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
  2. A book of true crime I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara and A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by T. Christian Miller
  3. A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci fi/fantasy, romance) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (as performed by the L. A. Theater Works)
  4. A comic written and drawn by the same person Relish by Lucy Knisley
  5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa) Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
  6. A book about nature Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
  7. A western Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton
  8. A comic written or drawn by a person of color America, Vol. 1: The Life and Times of America Chavez by Gabby Rivera
  9. A book of colonial or postcolonial literature Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  10. A romance novel by or about a person of color An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
  11. A children’s classic published before 1980 The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
  12. A celebrity memoir What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
  13. An Oprah Book Club selection The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
  14. A book of social science When to Rob a Bank . . . And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt
  15. A one-sitting book Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
  16. The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
  17. A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author The Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers
  18. A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
  19. A book of genre fiction in translation Inspector Maigret Ominbus, Volume 1 by Georges Simenon
  20. A book with a cover you hate How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority by Clay Scroggins
  21. A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
  22. An essay anthology Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay
  23. A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60 The Complete Miss Marple Radio Dramas by Agatha Christie
  24. An assigned book you hated (or never finished) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (also counts for task 9)

This challenge is almost complete, too! Day 29

What do you have to say about that?