Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the tenth Read Harder task.

Some posts which may help:

http://bookriot.com/2016/09/19/100-mu...

http://bookriot.com/2016/06/14/100-mu...

http://bookriot.com/2016/04/19/100-mu...

http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment...

http://www.listchallenges.com/books-f...

http://bookriot.com/2015/07/22/done-d...

https://storify.com/brennacgray/canad...

This one is the one I think will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm in SW Virginia (Blacksburg/Roanoke area) and looking for suggestions! Most of the ones I'm seeing right off the bat are set in Richmond or near the coast, which are outside my radius!

Looking for suggestions in Toronto, Canada or as far as Detroit,Michigan. I'm kinda smack-dab in the middle

As I live in Toronto and I have this book in my to be read list like forever will read Late Bite.

Allie wrote: "This one is the one I think will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm in SW Virginia (Blacksburg/Roanoke area) and looking for suggestions! Most of the ones I'm seeing right off the bat are set in ..."

Not sure if its close enough, but Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls was set in that region on the NC side of the border.

HA, I am on an island so there is no land within 100 miles of me.

Will just pick the USA.

Nicole wrote: "Looking for suggestions in Toronto, Canada or as far as Detroit,Michigan. I'm kinda smack-dab in the middle"

A couple of my favourites:

Toronto:
In the Skin of a Lion

The Dove in Bathurst Station

Basic Black with Pearls


Detroit:
Detroit: An American Autopsy

Allie wrote: "This one is the one I think will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm in SW Virginia (Blacksburg/Roanoke area) and looking for suggestions! Most of the ones I'm seeing right off the bat are set in ..."
If you read nonfiction, Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South would fit the bill. I read it earlier this year and it is excellent!

Here are a couple of books set in Detroit - just off the top of my head

The Turner House

Middlesex

SibylM wrote: "Allie wrote: "This one is the one I think will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm in SW Virginia (Blacksburg/Roanoke area) and looking for suggestions! Most of the ones I'm seeing right off the b..."

Perfect! Thanks so much. This community is awesome. :)

Jen wrote: "Here are a couple of books set in Detroit - just off the top of my head

The Turner House

Middlesex"

Also by Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides. Middlesex is one of my favorite books every, but VS is also very good

Allie wrote: "SibylM wrote: "Allie wrote: "This one is the one I think will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm in SW Virginia (Blacksburg/Roanoke area) and looking for suggestions! Most of the ones I'm seeing ..."

Bonnie - Middlesex is also one of my favorites ever

Maryam wrote: "As I live in Toronto and I have this book in my to be read list like forever will read Late Bite."

I also live in Toronto, and am adding that to my list. Thanks for the recommendation!

Allie wrote: "This one is the one I think will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm in SW Virginia (Blacksburg/Roanoke area) and looking for suggestions! Most of the ones I'm seeing right off the bat are set in ..."

That's exactly where I am, so I was curious about this as well. Wish You Well by David Baldacci seems to be set in southwest Virginia, but I'm not sure exactly where--the movie was filmed in Giles County, though, so maybe that counts for something?

I just moved to London, and I decided a bit ago that I was going to read only books set here for a bit. This goes perfectly with that task! I'll probably fill his in last with something that doesn't go elsewhere.

I'm also up for good London recommendations: any time period, any genre (including nonfiction).

Anna wrote: "I just moved to London, and I decided a bit ago that I was going to read only books set here for a bit. This goes perfectly with that task! I'll probably fill his in last with something that doesn'..."
Two books that I read recently and enjoyed a lot set in London (or mostly in London): Swing Time and The Children Act. For nonfiction, I am really looking forward to Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire

St. Louis is within 100 miles from me. Here is a list of books that might do the trick:

The Twenty-Seventh City
Guilty Pleasures
Betsey Brown
The Hollow Man
The Crisis
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Rose of Old St. Louis
Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves
The Law And Miss Mary
A Woman of Means: A Novel
Sunrise Surrender
The Corrections
Gone Girl - takes place in a fictional town in Missouri along the Mississippi. The movie was filmed in Cape Girardeau, but since in the book there is a lot of talk about Hannibal being nearby and St. Louis as well, I've often thought that the town must be further north, between Hannibal and St. Louis.

Anything for Vancouver, BC? Would Do Not Say We Have Nothing qualify? Or do I have to find something else? Seattle also qualifies for me (I am 99 miles north of Seattle)

If you are unsure of what is within a 100 miles of your town, go to timeanddate.com and you can calculate what towns and cities are within a 100 miles of you.

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...?

I am in Bermuda, so nothing within 100 miles but water.

I will either read a book that takes place on the water The Proving Ground or read something from US Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean

Mel wrote: "Allie wrote: "This one is the one I think will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm in SW Virginia (Blacksburg/Roanoke area) and looking for suggestions! Most of the ones I'm seeing right off the b..."

My book club here actually read Wish You Well before I joined, so while I can't say definitively what city it's set in, I'd say Giles is a good qualifier!

I actually really hate this prompt. Having done hometown/home state prompts multiple times in previous challenges, they are consistently some of my least favourite books and very difficult to find.

There are a couple of books I've been meaning to read that might fit this category. I say might because they're both set in fictional towns somewhere in my state, and the descriptions (so far) are generic enough that there are towns like them within 100 miles of where I live.

Does anyone have thoughts about picking such a book? Do you think it would fit?

I live in a rural part of Oregon. As I look today, I'm finding TONS of books set in Portland, which is over 250 miles away. I'm finding this one to be really tough (as I think most people in rural areas will) but I'm enjoying the challenge.

I found it funny that part of Ready Player One actually takes place in the mountain range I can see from my house, but I've read that one twice already.

The Bay Area (California) is within a 100 miles of me. Lots to choose from. Right now I'm thinking The Man in the High Castle (satisfies more than one reading challenge) but that could change.

Melissa W wrote: "Anything for Vancouver, BC? Would Do Not Say We Have Nothing qualify? Or do I have to find something else? Seattle also qualifies for me (I am 99 miles north of Seattle)"

What about Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist. Caveat: I have not read this yet...

Rebecca The Corrections is set in StL.

Liz wrote: "I live in a rural part of Oregon. As I look today, I'm finding TONS of books set in Portland, which is over 250 miles away. I'm finding this one to be really tough (as I think most people in rural ..."

I live in Vancouver WA and I'm going to do Mink River by Brian Doyle. It's set on the coast in Oregon but in a made-up setting. I say it's close enough. Another I may do is The Brothers K by David Duncan.

Any suggestions for Mongolia, I live in Ulaanbaatar?

Xelly wrote: "Any suggestions for Mongolia, I live in Ulaanbaatar?"

How about Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler? Based on the Wikipedia description it might fit, but I don't know where in Mongolia it's set.

Xelly wrote: "Any suggestions for Mongolia, I live in Ulaanbaatar?"

Maybe some of these will work as well https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World was a really fascinating read. It's kind of long, but I really enjoyed it.

I'm planning on Desert Solitaire for my pick. I live in Utah.

Rainey wrote: "HA, I am on an island so there is no land within 100 miles of me.

Will just pick the USA."

Is there possibly a book set *on* the island? Like a local history or guidebook, even?

I live halfway between Cheyenne and Denver, so this is likely to be another easy category for me. But if anybody has specific recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

If you are in 100 miles of Chicago, here's a list my friend wrote:

http://bookriot.com/2016/08/10/100-mu...

This one is good, too
https://www.freemaptools.com/radius-a...

Anyone live in San Diego? I'm further than 100 miles from LA, or I'd be set. This and the micro press are the toughest for me. Though the poetry one, I feel I will just power through since I'm not a real big lover of poetry so I don't feel overly enthusiastic about any of it. Maybe I'll read something to change my mind though. That is the point of the challenge, right?! :)

Melanie wrote: "Anyone live in San Diego? I'm further than 100 miles from LA, or I'd be set. This and the micro press are the toughest for me. Though the poetry one, I feel I will just power through since I'm not ..."
The Mothers is set just outside San Diego, near Camp Pendleton. If you double dip, if I remember right it also satisfies the every p-o-v character is a person of color.

Really?! Yay! I've been wanting to read that one! I love when books that are already on my TBR list, and I think under the Christmas tree waiting for me to unwrap it, fit the bill! Thanks! You're awesome!

SibylM wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Anyone live in San Diego? I'm further than 100 miles from LA, or I'd be set. This and the micro press are the toughest for me. Though the poetry one, I feel I will just power throug..."

Wasn't Savages set in SD? It was so good!

Melissa W wrote: "Anything for Vancouver, BC? Would Do Not Say We Have Nothing qualify?

Do Not Say We Have Nothing is partially set in Vancouver, so I would say it qualifies. :)

Interestingly, A Tale for the Time Being has a similar sort of structure - a woman living in BC, a book from Asia (Japan, in this case), and multiple settings and time periods as she tries to figure out the relationship between them. Might be neat to read them back-to-back!

I live in the heart of dixie (Montgomery, AL) so I shouldn't have too much trouble finding a book that is about war (civil war) that takes place within 100 miles of here. Just need to do a little digging. I don't want the most obvious books. I was something different.

Considering The Dream Long Deferred: The Landmark Struggle for Desegregation in Charlotte, North Carolina but have been wanting to read The Underground Railroad, which passes through North Carolina but I can't find exactly what part(s). We'll see if I can get my hands on the first and, if not, TUR it is!

Ugh, living in Helena, MT and don't love westerns. If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears!

So far I've got Work Song and Buster Midnight's Cafe noted, but I'm not jumping up and down about either prospect. :/

For anyone in or near South Central Wisconsin, this would work.

Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders

I'm going with The Reader (Der Vorleser) by Bernhard Schlink. It is set in Heidelberg, Germany and since I live there it is the perfect match.

Hey Phoenix, Arizona friends! If you haven't read it already, check out The Glass Castle.

Unfortunately, I have already read this, so now I am on the hunt for a new Phoenix book :)

Does anyone have favorites set in southern New England? I live in Providence and would ideally like to read something set in Rhode Island for this task. I'm considering reading The Lowland, which I've had on my TBR for a while, but I would love recommendations!

My quick search came up with these for RI specifically:
Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes
Newport
The Witches of Eastwick
Sing You Home
The American Heiress

For others in the region, I recommend The Marriage Plot (set in Providence and Cape Cod) and The Art Forger (set in Boston).

Doesn't The Age if Innocence take place in Newport,