Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion
2017 Read Harder Challenge
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Task #10: Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location
Nancy wrote: "Jesseruth wrote: "Greenville, sc anyone?"Bonnie wrote: "Jesseruth wrote: "Greenville, sc anyone?"
I love Greenville! Such a lovely downtown. T think Bastard Out of Carolina is set s..."
What a great site!
Nancy wrote: "This is a cool link I found: https://www.mappit.net/bookmap/places..."
Wow! That is a cool link! Thank you so much!
I just finished Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs for this one. This urban fantasy series are - I believe - the only books actually set in my hometown. So, I pretty much had to go with them. That, and the fact that it's pretty remote here so the biggest city is farther away than 100 miles! Well, it's good I love this series!
I read The Mothers which is set in Oceanside, about 80 miles from me in Los Angeles. The characters were interesting, and the writing was engaging. It left me wanting to discuss it further!
For anyone in the Dallas/Ft Worth area who don't want to read another book about the JFK assassination, The Dime by Kathleen Kent is a mystery where the MC lives in Dallas. I plan to read it for this prompt. It got rave reviews from Book Riot.
Emily, AloneEmily Alone lets the reader know on page 1 that it's setting is in the City of Pittsburgh. Emily is headed to the Eat 'n' Park in Edgewood. For the breakfast buffet... my nearest Eat 'n' Park. She reads the Post-Gazette and drives around East Liberty, Highland Park, and Regent Square in her Olds.
O'Nan is is just a good writer. This is 3rd book I've read by this Pittsburger.
Jennifer wrote: "Stina wrote: "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."I live in Denve..."
Thanks, I will have to look for Blood on the Tracks!
I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. So help me if I have to read a book about LeBron or the Cavs or the Indians for this. I hate sports!Maybe there's something from when the river caught on fire...I've only lived here for 7 years, so it's hard to think historically.
Or I could read Amanda Berry's memoir about her abduction...yikes.
Laura wrote: "I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. So help me if I have to read a book about LeBron or the Cavs or the Indians for this. I hate sports!Maybe there's something from when the river caught on fire...I've only l..."
Les Roberts has a series of mysteries set in Cleveland.
Also, isn't Detroit within the 100-mile radius? You could look for something set there...
Anna wrote: "Laura wrote: "I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. So help me if I have to read a book about LeBron or the Cavs or the Indians for this. I hate sports!Maybe there's something from when the river caught on fire..."
If you like graphic memoirs American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar (I am not a graphic books person, but I liked the movie.) If you like light romance, Mouth To Mouth was set there I think.
Laura wrote: "I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. So help me if I have to read a book about LeBron or the Cavs or the Indians for this. I hate sports!Maybe there's something from when the river caught on fire...I've only l..."
I live in Cleveland too - I read The Bluest Eye - it's set in Lorain. I think some of her other books might be set close enough too?
Little Fires Everywhere is coming out in the fall and will be set in Shaker Heights.
I read Antiques Roadkill. Since it is in a fictional town it was hard to tell if it was in my radius. The description of the town seemed to fit a town nearby.
Finished
by Kayla Rae Whitaker- 4 Stars. Part of this takes place in Central Florida, so I'm counting it!this one was just SO good. So many trigger warnings...
My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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'..."Many of the Deborah Crombie mysteries are set in London. If you like mysteries, this is a great series.
If the characters in the novel move around, like in Brown Girl Dreaming, for example, do you think any of the locations would count for this prompt?Also for anyone who has Cincinnati fall in their 100 miles (this includes Columbus, Indianapolis, Lexington, and Louisville)
http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/book...
Nellie wrote: "If the characters in the novel move around, like in Brown Girl Dreaming, for example, do you think any of the locations would count for this prompt?Also for anyone who has Cincinnati fall in thei..."
I think if they spend any significant amount of time there, it would count.
By chance I read Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales - discovered it while looking for poetry actually, but Corky Gonzales was an activist here in Denver, so this is where it got slotted in.
Folks in Northern Illinois or Southern Wisconsin might be interested in Janesville: An American Story
Wilmington, NC is within 100 miles of my city so I'm going to read Fortunate Son: Book One of the Red Thread by Heather Alice Watson.
Leanne wrote: "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 :)"
Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan takes place in Phoenix, Arizona. Waiting to Exhale
This is pretty much impossible for me. I live in Haikou, China (on Hainan Island) and I can't find anything written in English set within 100 miles. I might choose something set in Hong Kong (something like 300 miles away), or something set near Halifax, my hometown.
Erica wrote: "This is pretty much impossible for me. I live in Haikou, China (on Hainan Island) and I can't find anything written in English set within 100 miles. I might choose something set in Hong Kong (somet..."It doesn't have to be a book written in English, so if you can read Chinese . . . ?
Nope, I can't read anywhere near enough Chinese to read a book. Maybe a children's book, but I have a feeling it'd be hard to find one set here. Worth a look I guess.
I just Googled "books set on Hainan Island" and I found a link to this list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
Erica wrote: "This is pretty much impossible for me. I live in Haikou, China (on Hainan Island) and I can't find anything written in English set within 100 miles. I might choose something set in Hong Kong (somet..."Hainan Dao is one of my favorite places! The first time I was there was in 1985. Those dragon shrimp are to die for. What an interesting place to live! Is Macau close enough? There are books set there.
Macau is about 250 miles away. I did see that list about books set in South China, but most of them are set in Guangdong, Hong Kong or further away. The Hainan Incident looks interesting. I might settle on that one. But it's not available on amazon.cn and it's about foreign spies and government corruption, which leads me to think it might be banned here... if I read this I'll save it for when I'm in Canada this summer.
The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream by Dan Washburn is partly set in Hainan. Non-fiction but excellent and very readable.For a novel set in Hong Kong, The Expatriates by Janice Y. L. Lee (you have probably seen this already).
Good luck!
Ooh, I remember seeing The Forbidden Game awhile ago and thinking it looked interesting. Golf is huge here. Thanks for the reminder! I read The Expatriates last year. It was good, but a hard read for a new mom :(
Agree re the Expatriates! Let us know if you find any other Hainan books - if not, someone will have to write one ;)
So jealous of the great choices many of you had available to you. A lot of books set in Florida are based in the Miami area and none seemed particularly appealing. Don't waste your time on Disney After Dark the writing was dismal. Chasing Shadows is a light reading crime novel mostly set in St Augustine. Pleasantly surprised, even if it ended on a cliffhanger.
Cristy wrote: "So jealous of the great choices many of you had available to you. A lot of books set in Florida are based in the Miami area and none seemed particularly appealing. Don't waste your time on ..."Two of my all time favorite books take place in Central Florida: A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith and The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Another favorite that takes place on the West Coast is Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen. It's a long read but a very powerful story.
Natalie wrote: "Cristy wrote: "So jealous of the great choices many of you had available to you. A lot of books set in Florida are based in the Miami area and none seemed particularly appealing. Don't waste your t..."The Yearling would have been a great choice had I not read it before. Shadow Country sounds interesting but did not qualify as I'm over 200 miles from Marco Island.
I read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for another challenge I'm working on and decided to use it for this category since it's set in Baltimore, MD, which is less than 100 miles from me! I'd originally planned to read The cutaway, which is set in DC (also within 100 miles of me :)), for this category. That will be a bonus read once I knock out a few more categories.
I'm in Syracuse, NY, so thinking that books set somewhere upstate will qualify. Anyone have any suggestions?
Ellen wrote: "I'm in Syracuse, NY, so thinking that books set somewhere upstate will qualify. Anyone have any suggestions?"Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a great story. It is YA but very well written and there is also a movie.
I loved Speak (read it some 10 years ago). I wonder if any of her other books are in the same setting. Hmmm… Will check it out.
Ellen wrote: "I loved Speak (read it some 10 years ago). I wonder if any of her other books are in the same setting. Hmmm… Will check it out."Catalyst, but I haven't read it. Although I've read several of her books and enjoyed all of them.
Ohhhh, I've been wanting to read that! Thanks!
Most of Laurie Halse Anderson books that I have read are set in the Syracuse area. You could also read a book set at the State Fair. Conversion by Katherine Howe is set in a community near yours, I think.* (I'm also in Upstate New York, 40 miles from Albany.) Richard Russo grew up in Gloversville/ Johnstown, which is around 40 miles from me, but may be over 100 miles from you. What about Cooperstown? If it works, try The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff or James Fenimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans.*Nope, I was wrong here. It's the Rochester area, sort of, not Syracuse.
Julia, wow! I didn't know Last of the Mohicans was set so close to here. Another group I'm in is reading it in August, so maybe I'll join in. Thanks!
That scene behind the waterfall in the movie based on The Last of the Mohicans is actually supposed to be in Lake George, but it is all too built up to have been used in the Daniel Day Lewis movie of ten or fifteen-- or was it twenty? years ago, which was filmed in South Carolina, I think.
Julia wrote: "That scene behind the waterfall in the movie based on The Last of the Mohicans is actually supposed to be in Lake George, but it is all too built up to have been used in the Daniel Day..."LOL, it was 25 years ago. Time flies!
Hmmmm...I'm intrigued. (and have never seen either movie or read the book before)
Just finished Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice. Set in Denver, about 25 miles away.
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Bonnie wrote: "Jesseruth wrote: "Greenville, sc anyone?"
I love Greenville! Such a lovely downtown. T think Bastard Out of Carolina is set super nearby."
This is a cool link I found: https://www.mappit.net/bookmap/places...
It mentions Brown Girl Dreaming and A Land More Kind Than Home Both are really good.