By the way, if you're a reader who wants to expand what they read, I highly, highly recommend this challenge. It really pushes me out of my preferred genres and has greatly broadened my ideas about my preferred genres. I'm super thankful for this offering.
- Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author.
Reread a childhood favorite book.Read a queer mystery.- Read a book about obsession.
- Read a book about immigration or refugees.
Read a standalone fantasy book. Circe- Read a book about a piece of media you love (a TV show, a movie, a band, etc.)
Read literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled authorRead a book based solely on its setting- Read a romance book that doesn’t have an illustrated cover.
Read a work of weird horror: House of Leaves- Read a staff pick from an indie bookstore. (Preferably, from your local indie bookstore.)
- Read a nonfiction book about nature or the environment.
- Read a comic in translation.
- Read a banned book and complete a task on Book Riot’s How to Fight Book Bans guides.
- Read a genre-blending book.
Read a book about little-known history- Read a “cozy” book by a BIPOC author.
Read a queernorm book.Read the first book in a completed young adult or middle grade duology.Read a book about a moral panic.Read a holiday romance that isn’t Christmas.- Read a wordless comic.
Pick a 2015 Read Harder Challenge task to complete.
2: Reread a childhood favorite book: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The Outsiders is the first book I remember loving. Like, I know I was a kid who liked to read, but this is the first book that made me think, wow, I really love reading. I remember being even more shocked because it was assigned in my seventh grade English class, and I don't think I realized that I could love, like, not just do well, but really love something that was assigned.
I haven't revisited the book since then, so I was both excited and nervous to pick it up again. I was worried I wouldn't love it... or maybe I'd even hate it. Maybe revisiting it would ruin my first book love. Good news: I loved it so much. Again, I didn't want to put it down. The characters are vivid and riveting. The story keeps moving. And it's so beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.
I'm thinking this will enter my reread rotation. It's definitely at the top of my YA fav list, and that is a very strong list. Unlike other books on that list though, this one was actually written by a teenage girl (about teenage boys), and I definitely did not realize that until reading the preface and afterward. Honestly, it's mind blowing and inspiring. I might just reread That Was Then, This Is Now after this.
I was really expecting to like this book, but I didn't. I don't know. I guess I was expecting a murder mystery or some other kind of crime mystery, but, instead, it's more of a high school mystery that turns into a major conspiracy. But the actual conspiracy just felt too much like the real world, so it wasn't a super shocking reveal. Some of the characters were okay, but others were too flat to really care about. So. Meh.
6: Read a standalone fantasy book: Circe by Madeline Miller
3/29/25, for Bingo Book Club
I loved rereading this book yet again. It's definitely in my Top 10.
8: Read literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled author: James by Percival Everett
3/7/25 for Bingo Book Club
I really enjoyed this book and understand why it's received so many nominations and awards. It's a very thoughtful retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's point of view. In my perspective, it felt like Everett really loves Huckleberry Finn but wasn't quite at peace with his love of it because of how Jim is portrayed... through Huck's eyes. So, he wrote a book that is 100% compatible and, if taken as truth, makes both books and characters complicated and lovable. It also had a similar style and weight, keeping the tone very literary. I think it's beautifully written and a compelling story.
9: Read a book based solely on its setting. Scrapper by Matt Bell
12/14/25
I got this book because Matt Bell mentioned it in his book Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts, which I read last year. He talked about being inspired by the ruins of the Packard Plant in Detroit, and that's all I really knew about the book. It was really good and then a bit icky but in a very intriguing way and then there were a couple extra stories thrown in there that I don't quite know how to make sense of. I don't know if I'd recommend it per se, but I did enjoy the read. It had me hooked from the moment the tension starts (which does take a few dozen pages).
11: Read a work of weird horror: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
8/11/25, loaned to me by Cassie Branderhorst
I really wanted to like this book because Cassie and Stephen King and so many others have said it's great. But I just couldn't get into it. It was so much work, and I just didn't find I cared enough about the characters or the story itself for the work to pay off. There were some really cool themes throughout, but I wanted more out of them.
17. Read a book about little-known history: Hip Hop Is History by Questlove
10/27/25, audiobook
I picked this book because I've been a long-time hip hop fan and have always felt like I needed to know about the history of hip hop and how hip hop has affected history, especially in the United States. This book gave a lot of that, though I feel like the real meat of it was confined to a few chapters in the middle, when Questlove really goes into the emergence of hip hop and then how it evolved and was influenced and influenced into the 90s and 2000s. But I found the centering of The Roots, while understandable considering the author, to be frustrating. Like, I'd get if he talked about how various artists and albums affected his own music and the group, which he does discuss, but the whole beginning of the book is just him rambling about himself, in the middle he talks about how he and The Roots were affected (and kinda not really affected) by rap beefs and such, and then the end just feels like him spewing opinions on younger artists. Like, I get his opinions on the genre and hip hop artists are definitely more informed and nuanced than mine are, but it was just a little weird that he made it seem like The Roots were the center of all of it, rather than just telling the story as an insider who has a unique perspective.
18. Read a “cozy” book by a BIPOC author: Gmorning, Gnight by Lin Manuel Miranda
12/31/25, for the second time
I reread this book for the Book Riot item "Read a 'cozy' book by a BIPOC author." I would have rather read something new, but I really wanted to finish the Book Riot list this year. I already had this book, and it's a very quick read. I really enjoyed it the second time as well! It's just really sweet and encouraging and humanizing. I highly recommend it.
19: Read a queernorm book: Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
8/11/25, audiobook
This was a middle grade book, and while I've come to really enjoy YA, middle grade isn't quite my thing. That said, there were parts of this book that were really beautiful. In particular, I enjoyed the main character, Jam, and her relationship with Pet, the "monster" she accidentally summons. I could picture them and enjoyed their growing relationship, even with its constant tension, as Pet was there to destroy an actual monster, someone Jam knew even though she didn't know who it was. Jam's friendship with Redemption was also very sweet and believable. The characters, their relationships, and the mystery element of the plot kept me invested in the story.
20: Read the first book in a completed young adult or middle grade duology: The Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
8/24/25
I found this book through a search for ideas for this list item. It was fine. Some of the descriptions were pretty, and it's always fun to have a badass girl/woman main character. But it was all, she's a badass, and there's a love triangle, and of course she's going to save the day. I suppose I didn't see one of the twists coming, but it wasn't super compelling. So. Yeah, it was fine.
21: Read a book about a moral panic: They Came for the Schools by Mike Hixenbaugh
8/18/25, audiobook
I picked They Came for the Schools for this item because of the recent attacks on education, especially public education. It was a hard read (i.e., listen). While the author told a compelling story and shared how people fought back, the main events of this story occurred in 2020-2022, and things have only gotten worse, particularly with the new presidential administration working to dismantle the Department of Education and privatizing K-12 education, and I see so much of the South Lake strategy spreading, while counter strategies do not seem to have been effective in pushing back. While I learned a lot, this was a stressful read.
22: Read a holiday romance that isn’t Christmas: The Matzo Ball by Jean Meltzer
11/25/25
I read this book for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge item "read a holiday romance that isn’t Christmas." I kinda hate Christmas, so I was down for this one. So, you can imagine my disappointment when the book opens with the main character being obsessed WITH CHRISTMAS. I was so mad. But I'd bought the book, so I just kept going. And it didn't really end up being about Christmas, but there was a lot of Christmas. I also dislike a main character who is a writer. It feel so lazy because the person writing it is obviously a writer, and there are way too many writers who are main characters. In the middle, there were a lot of cute details, and I was brought back in. But then, the Jewish man who was throwing a Hannukah party ordered a meat-and-cheese charcuterie platter for his staff. And I was right back out. And then it just got so cheesy and stupid. Like, these characters hadn't seen each other in nineteen years, since they were twelve years old, yet somehow they knew they were meant to be together and were in love and should get married a.s.a.p. So dumb.
24: Pick a 2015 Read Harder Challenge task to complete: 2: A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65 & 24: A self-improvement book: You Are Here by Thích Nhất Hạnh
1/9/25
This was a reread because I'm teaching a course on mindfulness and meditation this quarter. This book is a really nice, approachable introduction to mindfulness. We're using it as our textbook, so I wanted to get back through it again before assigning readings. The only weird thing is there are some jarring moments when he uses really traumatic examples, sometimes out of no where, but overall, it's just a really peaceful, calming, thought-provoking book.
