Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 1st Read Harder task. Sign up for our new Read Harder newsletter to get recommendations for each task delivered straight to your inbox! https://bookriot.com/newsletter/read-...

Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography is the choice!

Tony Hillerman is my choice

I'm not really sure what I want to do for this task because I feel like a lot of what I would pick is kind of dense and I'm trying to make my reading goals more achievable this year. Picking a dense book I'll never get around to feels like a bad idea.

With that in mind, I'm considering Jane Austen: A Life Revealed, The Brontë Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, or House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. Montgomery.

I'm going to read Josephine Tey: A Life by Jennifer Morag Henderson

The Other Side of Paradise

I've decided autobiographies count

Alex wrote: "The Other Side of Paradise

I've decided autobiographies count"

I think so, too. I have Story of My Life: The Autobiography of George Sand by George Sand.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

I’m choosing:

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Her Daughter Mary Shelley, by Charlotte Gordon

Excited to read about the author of one of my favorite books, Frankenstein, and the mother daughter comparison within the narrative should add some interesting depth.

Elizabeth wrote: "I'm not really sure what I want to do for this task because I feel like a lot of what I would pick is kind of dense and I'm trying to make my reading goals more achievable this year. Picking a dens..."

I'm considering Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, but it's 864 pages. Might be something I tackle in January and peck away at over a few months.

I'm planning to read Comic Book Women: Characters, Creators, and Culture in the Golden Age!

I'm debating between Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created Alice in Wonderland. I'm not sure which one will be more interesting.

This was tougher than I thought, because most of the authors I have read who I admire most do not have biographies or even autobiographies written about them.

I'm planning to read Solitude & Company: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez Told with Help from His Friends, Family, Fans, Arguers, Fellow Pranksters, Drunks, and a Few Respectable Souls. I actually got most of the way through One Hundred Years of Solitude in early 2020 (before covid), but found it really hard to keep up with and connect with fully. I think it was mostly because I was in a toxic job (teaching) that worked me to the bone and I was too tired to keep up, but I do admire his style of writing and the absurdity of the book. I'm hoping learning a bit more about the man himself will help me connect with the book a bit more on my second go-around!

I'm considereing Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years. She's written some beloved children's books, even if that's not what she's 'known' for.

I'm picking Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley for this one. So excited to read more about these two!

Virginia Woolf: A Biography, by Quentin Bell

I'm debating whether Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction counts for this, but if not I'll probably go with Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own or Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy.

As it's listed underneath Autobiography on Goodreads, I'm going with The Tao of Martha: My Year of LIVING; Or, Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog as it's my yearly read to get that good feeling back in my body.

Elizabeth wrote: "I'm debating whether Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction counts for this, but if not I'll probably go with [book:Begin Again: James Baldwin's ..."

My partner loved Monster, She Wrote, so if you do decide it would count, there's a vote! I'm looking into reading it myself, since he keeps bugging me to. :)

Tricia wrote: "I'm debating between Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely M..."</i>

I second [book:Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

I'm thinking about Neruda: The Biography of a Poet, but it's so long! I may end up reading The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury.

I love true crime and To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the only assigned reading books I actually read in school (I love reading but have ADHD and also hated being told what to do), so I think Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee will be a perfect read for me.

This is listed under biography and I will read anything Rebecca Solnit writes: Orwell's Roses.

Does anyone know if someone has written a biography of Ursula K. Le Guin yet? I can't find one, and I'd love to read one. Thanks in case!

Okay, I'm trying to do the queer challenge. While I think an autobiography counts, do you think a memoir counts? This is a tricky category otherwise because it feels harder to find one where I like the subject + the author is queer. I'm thinking Brown Girl Dreaming because I've been meaning to read it for forever.

I am going to read Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction Plus it is in the audible Plus catalog for those who have audible.

Rebecca wrote: "Okay, I'm trying to do the queer challenge. While I think an autobiography counts, do you think a memoir counts? This is a tricky category otherwise because it feels harder to find one where I like..."

Goodreads shelves list it as Biography > Memoir so I'd say this counts.

I definitely admire Alexander Hamilton's work and will read the Hamilton Affair.

I'm look at Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston for this one.

C. S. Lewis: A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet

Erin wrote: "I'm planning to read Comic Book Women: Characters, Creators, and Culture in the Golden Age!"

This sounds excellent, thanks!

Couple of book recs:

Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley (my sister has read this and recommends heavily)
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict (about her 11 day disappearance, which coincidentally is the plot of one of my favourite Doctor Who episodes!)

Poet Warrior: A Memoir

'Poet Warrior' by Joy Harjo seems like a good fit for me. It's a book I wanted to read this year (2021) but never got around to.

"A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler" https://www.amazon.com/Handful-Earth-...

Lindsey wrote: "I’m choosing:

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Her Daughter Mary Shelley, by Charlotte Gordon

Excited to read about the author of one of my favorite books, Frank..."

Oh I'm looking this one up now. It sounds great!

I'm thinking about Jane Austen at Home or Maeve Binchy's biography.

I am planning on either Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder, which I bought in a used book buying spree this past year, or Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin, which the library has an audiobook copy of and that means I would probably be more likely to get to it.

Considering I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban or A Girl from Yamhill (Beverly Cleary's autobiography). Or maybe something about Emily Dickinson?

ooh or maybe Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey

Brittany wrote: "I love true crime and To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the only assigned reading books I actually read in school (I love reading but have ADHD and also hated being told what to do), so ..."
Thank you for this suggestion! I have wanted to read this book for years and am thrilled to see it works for this prompt! Plus I own it and am working hard to restrict myself in 2022 to books I own!

Rebecca wrote: "Okay, I'm trying to do the queer challenge. While I think an autobiography counts, do you think a memoir counts? This is a tricky category otherwise because it feels harder to find one where I like..."

Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde by Alexis De Veaux should work for this!

This is a dangerous thread for me and my TBR, I see! :)
I'm pretty sure I'm going with Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy, though.

I’m debating between Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin and Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson

I'm thinking about Edmund White's (brief!) biography of Proust.

I would love to read the Poe one but I don't think I can make that kind of commitment. I'm going with Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination.

Audra wrote: "I would love to read the Poe one but I don't think I can make that kind of commitment. I'm going with Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination."

I am also struggling with 600 or 900 page biographies for this one. I don't think I want to read that much about any author right now, so I'm also going the Seuss road with Theodor Seuss Geisel.

I have The Frood: The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sitting on my bookshelf. Looking forward to something amusing.

I think I might give this one a go: The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

It's probably a loop hole on this task, since it's a "biography of the biogrpahies", but I'll take it.

I will go with The Brontë Myth

I'm thinking of Dreams in the Mirror: A Biography of E.E. Cummings
e e cummings has been hugely formative for me as a writer, so this seems like a great chance for me to learn more about his life!

Kayleigh wrote: "This was tougher than I thought, because most of the authors I have read who I admire most do not have biographies or even autobiographies written about them.

I'm planning to read [book:Solitude &..."

Saaaaaaaaaame :(