Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

I completed #3 (short stories) with My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins. It was a great holiday read and made me want to pick up books by most of the authors I haven't read.

I finished task #20 with The Walking Dead, Vol. 05: The Best Defense. It's actually my least favorite of the series so far.

I completed my first task! I went with #13 and picked a book written and published by my friend, At 1st Sight. It was a fun read and a different kind of book for me.

First task done. A humorous sci fi, The Humans by Matt Haig. Good first read of the year.

I just completed #16. with Yes Please by Amy Pohler. I had been told that listening to this book in audio would be great because it is such a great production. I was not disappointed. Hilarious and well written! So far, truly enjoying this challenge.

I finished my first book for the challenge today. For an author from an indigenous culture, I read Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. What a great book!

Finished my first challenge book - YA Novel, I chose Laurinda by Alice Pung - review here.

Loving this challenge so far!

just finished reading Chimaanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. Its a beautiful book about the personal journey of a young girl to maturity and her grappling with issues of faith and gender. Very beautifully written. and Chimamanda was 25 when the book was published.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_H...

Kindle Lee wrote: "I finished my first book for the challenge today. For an author from an indigenous culture, I read Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. What a great book!"

That's one of my favorites!

I completed task #6 (author of a different gender) by reading Election by Tom Perrotta. I've always loved the movie so it was awesome to read the book as well. Just as funny, and confirms that the movie was perfectly cast.

Completed 3 tasks so far, first one was a collection of short stories which was Marlys Ghost by David Levithan

I finished my first task a few days ago. I read Funny Girl by Nick Hornby as a book originally published in another language (I'm Dutch).

Finished my first challenge by reading The Bernini Bust by Iain Pears (a book written by someone whose gender is different than mine). I loved it, it was my favorite in the series so far.

Just finished Task #1 with The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi. I can't believe she was 19 when she wrote this.

I finished task #12 with The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. It was very good. A scifi coming of age book with a great twist.

I also finished task #16 with Landline by Rainbow Rowell. This story had an interesting use of the phone as the name suggests. The narrator, Rebecca Lowman, did an excellent job with the story.

I have completed six challenges so far. The poetry and under-25 books were rather short, and I'm about to pick up a larger book, so I don't anticipate zipping through next week. :)

A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65: A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott (age 69).

A graphic novel: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel.

A collection of poetry: Delirium- Poems by Drew Hoffman

A self-improvement book: The Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life by Dave Asprey

A YA Novel: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25: That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton

My first task completed was the YA, with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I get impatient with YA tropes so I don't read a lot of it, but I loved this one!

Steve wrote: "Kelly wrote: "I read my first book for the challenge today. It was Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. I used it for the LGBTQ category (it's also a graphic memoir). Then I completed a seco..."

I might be the only person who didn't enjoy The Night Circus. It had lots of great elements, magic, romance, a dreamy feel throughout. I should have liked it but it really fell flat for me.

I'm struggling through my first book. Realized Code Name Verity was due back at the library somewhat soon but I am just not all that into it. I'm a little over 100 pages in. This is my YA pick.

First tasks completed:

Ritter, William - Jackaby (YA novel)

Boyle, Gregory - Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (Self improvement)


O'Malley, Bryan Lee - Seconds (graphic novel)

I finished my first task which also happens to be task 1- The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. I am half way through task 19 with, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

I finished my first task with Task 1: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

@Karin, it's too bad you're not really enjoying Code Name Verity. I remember a slow start but once it picked up I couldn't put it down.

Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is fabulous. Can't wait until my kids are old enough for it.

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War - Tony Horowitz (different gender author)

2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas - Marie-Helene Bertino (recommended to me)

Finished Task #15 with "The Historian." While it was long, I enjoyed it. I stayed up late last night because I just had to finish it.

Christina wrote: "@Karin, it's too bad you're not really enjoying Code Name Verity. I remember a slow start but once it picked up I couldn't put it down.

Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian..."
"Code Name Verity" is one of my favorite books, but I found that people either loved it or couldn't get into it when I recommended it to others.

Just finished Task #20. Ms. Marvel as well. It was in the Bookriot quarterly box so perfect timing. Not really my cup of tea, but I do see the appeal.

I finished my first book of the challenge the other day. I read White Teeth by Zadie Smith for task #1. I won't say that I really enjoyed it the way I would a David Baldacci, but I did find it very intriguing and was glad I read it. It definitely made me think.

I finished my first task today with the completion of Task 1 (Author Under 20) with The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon.

I gave it a 3-star rating because while I enjoyed the story (and in general, I do love fantasy/paranormal/etc.), I felt there were a few too many issues with the actual foundation of the world building, the pacing was at times a bit too slow, the narration sometimes seemed confused, and the protagonist was just a tad too stubborn for me to handle. Still, by the end of the climax (finally) I did enjoy the story, and I look forward to reading the next one when it is published!

Vanessa wrote: "I completed the task to read a book by or about someone who identifies as LGBTQ with Le bleu est une couleur chaude(Blue is the Warmest Color) - loved it, what a great start to the y..."

This was my first task completion book as well! I just happened to be reading it when I decided I'd do the challenge. I'm counting my books for multiple categories, so I'm using Le bleu est une couleur chaude for my LGBT and translated work picks. As for the book itself, it was a bit of a slow burn, but I really got into it about 1/3 of the way through.

I just completed my second task with #20. I read Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel. I love her work and this was very thought-provoking.

Just finished White Teeth by Zadie Smith (task #1). I was disappointed. But now I'm in the middle of Americanah (for book by an African author) and can't put it down.

I completed Task #1 last week by reading This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald as he was 23 when he wrote the book.

Finished the YA task by reading The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. I can see why teenagers adore this author.

I finished Helen Oyeyemi's The Icarus Girl for the first task! Twas brilliant and beautifully written! I was so wrapped up in the last half that I burnt the dinner while standing beside the oven!

I just completed Task #19 - The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Bauby. Jean-Dominique ( 2008 ) Paperback - It was an incredibly beautiful and brief memoir. The movie was amazing as well.

1st book completed , Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, Science fiction.

1st task completed - author under 25

The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi. Pretty good. The writing wasn't amazing, but the story was great and I love magical realism. She deftly explores the idea of dopplegangers, biracialism, belonging to different cultures, being spilt in two. At only 19 years old, it's quite impressive.

First book finished is French Milk by Lucy Knisley. It's a graphic memoir about a winter break spent in Paris over the author's 22nd birthday. A fun read if you enjoy travelogues or the city of Paris. Was published when the author was 23 so it could count as either task 1 or 20.

I just finished two books for the challenge. One set in Asia (Colorless Tsukuru tazaki by murakami) and the other by the opposite gender (first love by ivan turgenev). Im now reading my guilty pleasure, side by side my 1800s book

I completed the YA challenge by reading Monster by Walter Dean Myers. It was my book club pick for the month and I am very excited to discuss it with them!

I've only read one book for this challenge so far and that's Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll. I'm counting it for author of the opposite gender, but I would have counted it for before 1850, but it was published in the 1860s. I'm currently reading This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz, which counts as a collection of short stories.
Alice in Wonderland was just too whimsical for me and I've got quite a mixed opinion about This Is How You Lose Her but both are definitely worth a read and not what I would usually pick up, but did thanks to this lovely challenge :)

So far Ive only finished three tasks:

Task 1) Dear Killer
Task 7) Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
Task 10) The DUFF

I was trying to go in numerical order but that's a pipe dream and then I get too picky... haha

I've completed task #24 self-help, having read The Charge by Brendon Buurchard.

I finished task #7-Memoirs of a Geisha. It has been on my TBR self for longer than a year. It was beautifully written and I really enjoyed it. I expected a tragic ending and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't so bad.

The first book I finished was Tales of the City. It fit a couple tasks but I crossed off the task of reading a book by or about someone who identifies LBGT.

Lisa wrote: "Just finished White Teeth by Zadie Smith (task #1). I was disappointed. But now I'm in the middle of Americanah (for book by an African author) and can't put it down."

Glad to hear, Americanah is on my task list too.

I read Diary of a Part time Indian by Sherman Alexie for task #9. Could also count as a YA but I'm going to try to read one book per task.

The first task I finished was "Read a Sci-Fi book" - Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

My first task finished was #19: a book published first in another language. The Stranger by Albert Camus. It's something I've wanted to read for a while, and I'm really glad I finally did.