Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 14th 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-...

Not sure what I'll be reading yet, but I recommend The Green Gold of Borneo if you like climate fiction/reading about the natural world.

Oh, hey! A great way to finally do some of my furry audiobooks! Probably something by Gre7g Luterman or Rick Griffin.

You can sort by number of ratings on Goodreads, if you didn't know. Go into "My books" and click "Settings." Click "Num ratings" and then you've got a new column you can sort!

Dione wrote: "Oh, hey! A great way to finally do some of my furry audiobooks! Probably something by Gre7g Luterman or Rick Griffin.

You can sort by number of ratings on Goodre..."

Thanks for the tip, Dione! You just made this challenge a lot easier! (And now I know how to customize my "My Books" page!

Turns out I have a ton of these on my TBR that I also own and have been wanting to read for a while. Here are some that I've read and can recommend:

tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane Chartrand - I read this for a previous read harder and it was very interesting. Almost like a memoir mixed with a cookbook.
Come Home, Indio by Jim Terry - graphic memoir, really incredible and striking illustration style.
Being Frog by April Pulley Sayre - picture book that would be very fun to read aloud, also fun if you like frogs.
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace by Ashley Bryan - this is technically a children's book, but I found it to be really engaging.

I highly recommend We Built the Bridge, it's queer history/memoir with very poetic writing. This one is also good to double up with local author if you're from a smaller town! (That's what I'll be doing)

Female Husbands: A Trans History has been on my TBR. Also fills the nonfiction BIPOC and/or queer history prompt.

Here's some books that fit this challenge that I really enjoyed.

Wonderful Women of the World - nonfiction graphic novel. It was great! Could count for #8.
The Bitter Rivals Fiasco - spicy MM romance. Part of a series but can be read as a standalone.
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 - terrific anthology that could count for prompt #21 as well.
The Croaking, Vol. 1: At First Flight - graphic novel made from a terrific webcomic. If you love the book, the webcomic has over a hundred more chapters. Unfortunately, it isn't finished yet so won't count for prompt #5 but could count for #8.

And this one was recommended to me, but I haven't read it yet. Has a good review rating:
Monarca - could also count for #8.

A lot of the books on my tbr have under 500 ratings, so this feels like a good chance to deliberately read something off my tbr. I'm leaning towards maybe Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy, The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care, Crackpot, Taino, Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival, From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Female Comics from Teens to Zines, and Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America. I guess I'll see what I get to.

This was easy. I'll be reading this one:

Starship Therapise: Using Therapeutic Fanfiction to Rewrite Your Life

Some recommendations of books I've read and enjoyed that have fewer than 500 ratings:
Red Dot
Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction 2016 (short stories)
Extremities (short stories)
Odder Than Ever (short stories)
Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved (poetry)
Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind
I Love Led Zeppelin (comics collection/graphic memoir)

My short list for this are:

A Compilation of Hurricane Katrina Stories (this was written by my partner's grandmother)
CALL TO ARMS The Patriot Militia in the 1777 British Raid on Danbury, Connecticut (about how the British raided and burned my hometown)
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen
The Sinking of RMS Tayleur: The Lost Story of the Victorian Titanic
The Salmon in the Spring: The Ecology of Celtic Spirituality
Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS

Finally reading a book that a friend wrote and I bought to support him, Punk Rock and UFOs: Stranger Than Fiction.

Plan on getting this book soon and I saw that it would work for this prompt:

Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening

Two books on my want to read list that I own fit this challenge so I’ll probably tackle one of those. Three Delays or Miss Anne in Harlem

Dione wrote: "Oh, hey! A great way to finally do some of my furry audiobooks! Probably something by Gre7g Luterman or Rick Griffin.

You can sort by number of ratings on Goodre..."

Thank you for the info.

A few books I have read somewhat recently that have fewer than 5-- reviews and that I recommend (and with my reviews if you are interested). Many of these satisfy more than one challenge, for instance Dr. No is written by a BIPOC author and the audio is read by a BIPOC narrator, Best Short Stories works for the short story prompt. Uncertain Ground is not mostly about activism, but it is a bit and it is a work of activism that inspires activism.

Aurelia, Aurélia: A Memoir My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Be Brief and Tell Them Everything My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Anatomy of 55 More Songs My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

In Light of Recent Events My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Best American Short Stories 2022 My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Dr. No My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am going to finally finish The Paradox Twins by Joshua Chaplinsky, who is a friend of mine. I've started it, and it's awesome so far, but only has 24 reviews. This book also has a great cover!

My husband is an avid supporter of our local soccer team and has a collection of their books, which he has kindly offered to let me read..... oh good. I'll never hear the end of it if I duck out, so I shall be reading The Diary Of A Season Lawrie Mc Menemy's Account Of The 1978 9 Season As Manager Of Southampton Football Club which has about 3 ratings on GoodReads.

I came across this one a while back, but never got around to it. Maybe 2023 is the year.

The Cannibal's Guide to Ethical Living by Mykle Hansen

I'm considering Sub Rosa or Can't Spell Treason Without Tea for this one.

There are some great nonfiction and anthology books that have under 500 ratings.

Nonficiton:
Voices Long Silenced: Women Biblical Interpreters Through the Centuries
The Dolphin in the Mirror: Exploring Dolphin Minds and Saving Dolphin Lives
Why Diets Make Us Fat: The Unintended Consequences of Our Obsession with Weight Loss

Anthologies:
Police Brutality: An Anthology
The Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy
The Worst Years of Your Life: Stories for the Geeked-Out, Angst-Ridden, Lust-Addled, and Deeply Misunderstood Adolescent in All of Us
Love Songs For the Shy and Cynical

By Way of Water by Charlotte Gullick is a beautiful novel about growing up in drug country in northern California. I highly recommend it.

Fernly wrote: "I'm considering Sub Rosa or Can't Spell Treason Without Tea for this one."

Darn, I'm reading Can't Spell Treason Without Tea right now, so I got excited, but when I checked it has shot up to over 700 ratings.

I'll be reading After Dark: Walking into the nights of Aotearoa

This is a great prompt. It’s great to discover and support indie authors.

I will be reading an advance copy of The Enduring Echo of Words Unsaid by Michael Bowe. I loved his last book, the The Weight of a Moment.

I know this woman, and I have the book downloaded, so I'll read this one, and might go back to others mentioned here, because some of them sound interesting.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Do Something New : 7 Steps to Recharting Your Path & Creating a Life You Love by Lisa Lipscomb

I bought a book while on vacation at the beach this past summer. Going to finally get it read.
Two Naval Journals: Eighteen Sixty-Four at the Battle of Mobile Bay

Still hoping to get to the books I listed earlier in the thread, but I ended up reading What is Home, Mum? (UK title is The Roles We Play; I'm in Canada) by Sabba Khan. It's a graphic memoir about identity and belonging. Definitely worth reading.

Two books I've read which qualify for this prompt are PARABELLUM: When you live in Peace, prepare for War (a spy novel set in the early 2000s) and Of Shade and Shadow: The Exiled (high fantasy). I'm going to read the second in the series To Take a World: The GhostMaker, but what I'm reading for my local author No Comfort for the Undertaker: A Carrie Lisbon Mystery by Chris Keefer would also work for this prompt.

done, with an obscure adaptation of a classic.

Just heard this guy on the radio:
In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas

The fates of two unforgettable women--one just beginning a journey of reckoning and self-discovery and the other completing her life's last vital act--intertwine in this sweeping, powerful novel set at the terminus of the Underground Railroad.

A lot of the books I'm planning to read fit this prompt, but I especially want to lift up The Story of the Hundred Promises by Neil Cochrane

I just finished it and it was a great read. It's a fairytale with some inventive changes and a bit more character nuance.

This also works for a book with a trans character by a trans author.

I read Purloined Poinsettias by Dahlia Donovan. It's a cozy mystery set in an English village, about an autistic, aromantic sleuth with a great support system and a personable cat.

I read To be with you by T J Shea

I read To be with you by TJ O Shea.

It may be a little bit of a cheat, since I added it to Goodreads myself while I was reading it, but Glass Onion (the screenplay). I don't feel bad about it, though, because I read a lot of obscure stuff that nobody else even has on their to-read shelf. This just happened to be the first thing I got to this year.

Teresa wrote: "I read Purloined Poinsettias by Dahlia Donovan. It's a cozy mystery set in an English village, about an autistic, aromantic sleuth with a great support system and a personable cat."

Oh, that sounds awesome!

I read Die Aanspraak van Lewende Wesens by Ingrid Winterbach. My first Afrikaans book in a while. Did not enjoy it at all.

I read Dancing on Bones by Ross Gordon. It has 21 ratings and 13 reviews -- after I posted mine.

I read The Creative Act: A Way of Being

I'm reading Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship by Chad Bird.

I am reading Journey to the Light by Lisa A Ford for this task. Four women, strangers, go on a rafting trip. But also a trip of self discovery and past lives.

I read Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki. I think it deserves more reviews.

I read My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson's which also counts for #18 (graphic novel with disability representation). My grandpa has Parkinson's and this was such a cool way to learn more about it.

I read and loved the book Junie by Chelene Knight.

I am planning to read Ciel
Sophie Labelle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

I'm reading Dark Country

I went down a rabbit hole while looking at books for the activism (and honestly other) prompt because I wanted to find something on community building. I found quite a few with less than 500 ratings that I wanted to read so I stashed some away for this prompt.

The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-it-Yourself Guide to Placemaking
The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community
Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It
Crevasse counts for BIPOC poetry prompt
The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak also counts for BIPOC poetry prompt
A Black Urbanist--Essays Vol. 1 I believe would count for independently published prompt
Why We Cook : Women on Food, Identity, and Connection Cookbook prompt
Friendship in the Age of Loneliness: An Optimist's Guide to Connection

I have a couple ARCs that I've read that could count as well, but I'm not sure if I want to use them. I just finished To Swoon and to Spar. It was lots of fun!

I am reading Gone Like Yesterday: A Novel for this challenge. What a great book! It's also good on audio. Bahni Turnpin narrates the book. It is a quest with 2 young black women who are searching for Zahra's missing brother. It seems like it should have more reviews, but it's relatively new. Check it out!