From the Read Harder Challenge creators, BookRiot
Just as in years past, the 24 tasks (an average of two per month) will encourage you to explore settings, characters, formats, genres, and perspectives you might not otherwise have tried. You may read one book per task, or do some multi-tasking by counting one book for multiple tasks. It’s all fine! The point of the challenge is to push yourself to expand your horizons and break out of your comfortable reading bubble. Hold yourself accountable, share your insights, and of course: enjoy the discovery of some rad reads!
But wait! There’s more! If you want to join a community of fellow challenge participants, share your challenge progress, and get even more suggestions for tasks, check out the Read Harder Challenge Goodreads group. It’s a great place to hang out, discuss the challenge, and exchange recs and reviews for titles that fit the tasks. You can also use the #ReadHarder hashtag all over social media and join in on the discussion there.
Read a biography of an author you admire
Romantic Outlaws by ISBN: 9780812980479Publication Date: 2016-02-02"[An] impassioned dual biography . . . Gordon, alternating between the two chapter by chapter, binds their lives into a fascinating whole. She shows, in vivid detail, how mother influenced daughter, and how the daughter's struggles mirrored the mother's."--The Boston Globe
Frederick Douglass by ISBN: 9781416590316Publication Date: 2018-10-16In this "cinematic and deeply engaging" (The New York Times Book Review) biography, David Blight has drawn on new information held in a private collection that few other historian have consulted, as well as recently discovered issues of Douglass's newspapers. "Absorbing and even moving...a brilliant book that speaks to our own time as well as Douglass's" (The Wall Street Journal).
Read a book set in a bookstore
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by Call Number: HQ76.3.U5 B696 2011ISBN: 9780765387561Publication Date: 2020-10-06France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever--and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
The Little Paris Bookshop by Call Number: HQ76.8.U5 S753 2019ISBN: 9780553418798Publication Date: 2016-03-22Monsieur Perdu can prescribe the perfect book for a broken heart. But can he fix his own? Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.
Read an anthology featuring diverse voices
How We Go Home by ISBN: 9781642592719Publication Date: 2020-10-13In myriad ways, each narrator's life has been shaped by loss, injustice, and resilience--and by the struggle of how to share space with settler nations whose essential aim is to take all that is Indigenous.
Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character
Elatsoe by ISBN: 9781646140053Publication Date: 2020-08-25A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer. A breathtaking debut novel featuring an asexual, Apache teen protagonist, Elatsoe combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, fantasy elements, and is one of the most-talked about debuts of the year.
Breasts and Eggs by ISBN: 9781609455873Publication Date: 2020-04-07Breasts and Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own.
Read a new-to-you literary magazine (print or digital)
Check out our student arts magazine, SandScript!
You can also check out our art and literary magazine for PCC faculty and staff, Cababi!
Read a history about a period you know little about
Uncrowned Queen by Call Number: DT87.15 .C66 2014ISBN: 9781541617872Publication Date: 2020-07-28In 1485, Henry VII became the first Tudor king of England. His victory owed much to his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Over decades and across countries, Margaret had schemed to install her son on the throne and end the War of the Roses. Margaret's extraordinarily close relationship with Henry, coupled with her role in political and ceremonial affairs, ensured that she was treated -- and behaved -- as a queen in all but name. Against a lavish backdrop of pageantry and ambition, court intrigue and war, historian Nicola Tallis illuminates how a dynamic, brilliant woman orchestrated the rise of the Tudors.
The Man Who Hated Women by ISBN: 9781250174819Publication Date: 2021-07-06Anthony Comstock, special agent to the U.S. Post Office, was one of the most important men in the lives of nineteenth-century women. His eponymous law, passed in 1873, penalized the mailing of contraception and obscenity with long sentences and steep fines. This is the forgotten history of the women who waged war to control their bodies.
Read any book from the Women’s Prize shortlist/longlist/winner list
The Vanishing Half by ISBN: 9780525536963Publication Date: 2022-02-01Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.
Transcendent Kingdom by ISBN: 9781524711771Publication Date: 2020-09-08Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief--a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi's phenomenal debut.
Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book)
The Last Wish by ISBN: 9780316497541Publication Date: 2019-11-12Geralt the Witcher--revered and hated--holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures, the first chapter in Andrzej Sapkowski's groundbreaking epic fantasy series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games.
Dune by ISBN: 9780441005901Publication Date: 1999-10-01A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.
Read a political thriller by a marginalized author (BIPOC, or LGBTQIA+)
While Justice Sleeps by Call Number: AND PopularISBN: 9780385546577Publication Date: 2021-05-11From celebrated national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams, a gripping thriller set within the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court--where a young law clerk finds herself embroiled in a shocking mystery plotted by one of the most preeminent judges in America. Drawing on her astute inside knowledge of the court and political landscape, Stacey Abrams shows herself to be not only a force for good in politics and voter fairness but also a major new talent in suspense fiction.
Read a memoir written by someone who is trans or nonbinary
Gender Queer: a Memoir by ISBN: 9781549304002Publication Date: 2019-05-28Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
Tomorrow Will Be Different by Call Number: E185.89.F66 T95 2018ISBN: 9781524761479Publication Date: 2018-03-06Sarah McBride is on a mission to fight for transgender rights around the world. But before she was a prominent activist, and before she became the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, she was a teenager struggling with her identity. With emotional depth and unparalleled honesty, Sarah shares her personal struggle with gender identity, coming out to her supportive but distraught parents, and finding her way as a woman.
Read a horror novel by a BIPOC author
Things We Lost in the Fire by Call Number: PZ7.G8233 Fau 2012ISBN: 9780451495112Publication Date: 2017-02-21In these wildly imaginative, devilishly daring tales of the macabre, internationally bestselling author Mariana Enriquez brings contemporary Argentina to vibrant life as a place where shocking inequality, violence, and corruption are the law of the land, while military dictatorship and legions of desaparecidos loom large in the collective memory. Things We Lost in the Fire is a powerful exploration of what happens when our darkest desires are left to roam unchecked, and signals the arrival of an astonishing and necessary voice in contemporary fiction.
Mexican Gothic by ISBN: 9780525620785Publication Date: 2020-06-30An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . . From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes "a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror" (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.
Read a book by a disabled author
Disability Visibility by ISBN: 9781984899422Publication Date: 2020-06-30One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent-but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.
The Kiss Quotient by ISBN: 9780451490803Publication Date: 2018-06-05A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.
Read an adventure story by a BIPOC author
The Last Cuentista by ISBN: 9781646140893Publication Date: 2021-10-12Había una vez . . . There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet - and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?
She Who Became the Sun by ISBN: 9781250621801Publication Date: 2021-07-20She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty's founding emperor. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything "I refuse to be nothing..." In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness...
Read a queer retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, folklore, or myth
The One Hundred Nights of Hero by ISBN: 9780316259170Publication Date: 2016-12-06In the tradition of The Arabian Nights, a beautifully illustrated tapestry of folk tales and myths about the secret legacy of female storytellers in an imagined medieval world.
The Song of Achilles by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9780062060631Publication Date: 2012-03-06A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer's enduring masterwork, The Iliad.
Read an award-winning book from the year you were born
American Gods by ISBN: 9780380789030Publication Date: 2002Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble. Until he learns that she's been killed in a terrible accident. Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself. The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible. He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever he the same...
The Things They Carried by ISBN: 9780547391175Publication Date: 1990A classic, life-changing meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling, with more than two-million copies in print Depicting the men of Alpha Company--Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three--the stories inThe Things They Carried opened our eyes to the nature of war in a way we will never forget. It is taught everywhere, from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing, and in the decades since its publication it has never failed to challenge our perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, and courage, longing, and fear.
Read a book in any genre by a POC that’s about joy and not trauma
You Had Me at Hola by ISBN: 9780062959928Publication Date: 2020-08-04RITA® Award Winning author Alexis Daria brings readers an unforgettable, hilarious rom-com set in the drama-filled world of telenovelas--perfect for fans of Jane the Virgin and The Kiss Quotient. After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez finds her face splashed across the tabloids. When she returns to her hometown of New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy for the number one streaming service in the country, Jasmine figures her new "Leading Lady Plan" should be easy enough to follow--until a casting shake-up pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suárez.
The Book of Delights by Call Number: ALHISBN: 9781616207922Publication Date: 2019-02-12In The Book of Delights, one of today's most original literary voices offers up a genre-defying volume of lyric essays written over one tumultuous year.
Read a classic written by a POC
Beloved by Call Number: PZ7.S1185 Ho 1998ISBN: 9781400033416Publication Date: 2004-06-08Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Call Number: PZ7.R1817 We 1992ISBN: 9780679444657Publication Date: 1995-10-17From the Nobel Prize winning novelist, this epic tale of seven generations of the Buendia family spans a hundred years of Latin American history. The brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love--in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as "magical realism."
Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40
The Secret of Snow by Call Number: EbookISBN: 9780369702098Publication Date: 2021-10-26The forecast is calling for a reluctant homecoming and regrettable decisions with a strong chance of romance... When Sonny Dunes, SoCal meteorologist whose job is all sunshine and seventy-two-degree days, is replaced by a virtual meteorologist that will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract, the only station willing to give the fifty-year-old another shot is the very place Sonny's been avoiding since the day she left for college--her northern Michigan hometown. But with someone trying to undermine her efforts to rebuild her career, Sonny must make peace with who she used to be and allow her heart to thaw if she's ever going to find a place she can truly call home.
Read a nonfiction YA comic
Redbone: the True Story of a Native American Rock Band by ISBN: 9781684057146Publication Date: 2020-10-27You've heard the hit song "Come and Get Your Love" in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, but the story of the band behind it is one of cultural, political, and social importance. Brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas were talented Native American rock musicians that took the 1960s Sunset Strip by storm. They influenced The Doors and jammed with Jimmy Hendrix before he was "Jimi," and the idea of a band made up of all Native Americans soon followed. Part biography and part research journalism, Redbone provides a voice to a people long neglected in American history.
Read an entire poetry collection.
Call Us What We Carry by ISBN: 9780593465066Publication Date: 2021-12-07In Call Us What We Carry, Gorman explores history, language, identity, and erasure through an imaginative and intimate collage. Harnessing the collective grief of a global pandemic, this beautifully designed volume features poems in many inventive styles and structures and shines a light on a moment of reckoning.
If They Come for Us by ISBN: 9780525509783Publication Date: 2018-08-07An imaginative, soulful debut poetry that collection captures the experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in contemporary America.
Read a “Best _ Writing of the year” book for a topic and year of your choice
The Best American Essays 2021 by ISBN: 9780358381754Publication Date: 2021-10-12A collection of the year's best essays, selected by award-winning journalist and New Yorker staff writer Kathryn Schulz
The Best American Food Writing 2020 by ISBN: 9780358344582Publication Date: 2020-11-03The year's top food writing from writers who celebrate the many innovative, comforting, mouthwatering, and culturally rich culinary offerings of our country.
