Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion
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2018 Read Harder Challenge List
Renee wrote: "#24, assigned book you hated or never finished.Does this mean I have to read Moby Dick? It was assigned (in college) and I could not finish it. Blech."
Agreed. My TBR list is so long, and there are so many books out there, that I hate the idea of going back and re-reading something that I didn't enjoy the first time around. Old Man and the Sea, I'm coming for you...
Maddy wrote: "Renee wrote: "#24, assigned book you hated or never finished.Does this mean I have to read Moby Dick? It was assigned (in college) and I could not finish it. Blech."
Agreed. My TBR list is so lon..."
To be fair, I HATED Great Expectations in high school, and just re-read it within the last year or so. Turns out at 30 I actually kind of liked it! Maybe you'll be surprised? But I've never read Old Man and the Sea or Moby Dick, soooooo
Allie wrote: I'm glad 24 includes books you didn't finish ... there were only one or two I hated, but I almost never finished assigned readings in high school, so I've got a lot of options! "
I'm in this boat. I hated assigned reading all through school (it interfered with pleasure reading), so I almost never did the assigned reading. Maybe this will be the year I finally get around to reading To Kill A Mockingbird.
Maddy wrote: "Renee wrote: "#24, assigned book you hated or never finished.Does this mean I have to read Moby Dick? It was assigned (in college) and I could not finish it. Blech."
Agreed. My TBR list is so lon..."
Hah, Old Man and the Sea is definitely going to be mine as well. I still hate that book with a passion. On the plus side, it's short so it can double for 15 as well.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who hates Old Man and the Sea. I'll pick another book for number 24 though.
1. A book published posthumously2 A book of true crime
✔3 A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci fi/fantasy, romance)
4 A comic written and illustrated by the same person
5 A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa)
✔6A book about nature
7 A western
✔8 A comic written or illustrated by a person of color
9 A book of colonial or postcolonial literature
✔10A romance novel by or about a person of color
✔11 A children’s classic published before 1980
12 A celebrity memoir
13 An Oprah Book Club selection
14 A book of social science
✔15A one-sitting book
✔16 The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series
17 A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author
18A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image
19 A book of genre fiction in translationRuby Red ✔
20A book with a cover you hate
✔21 A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ authorTiny Pretty Things
22 An essay anthology
23A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60
✔24 An assigned book you hated (or never finished)
Between books I hated and books I just didn’t read I have so many choices lol. Gonna go with The Sound and the Fury or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
I always liked everything I read in high school. In college I hated and never could finish The Awakening. Thank goodness it's short!
Martha wrote: "I always liked everything I read in high school. In college I hated and never could finish The Awakening. Thank goodness it's short!"Oh god we had to suffer through that one my senior year of high school; my lit teacher was a very bitter divorcee. Let's just say she didn't make the reading experience more pleasurable. And then Medea! She had a lot to say about Medea (or rather Jason).
I love to read so I never failed to finish a book in high school or college, but I have a few to pick from that I didn't like. Top choices are Silas Marner (High School, AP Humanities, nightmare) and The Tale of Genji (College, Japanese Humanities. I still have nightmares about people at court weeping into their sleeves.) I am not sure I am prepared to again subject myself to either of those, so I am considering Andrea Dworkin's "Pornography," That book pissed me off. She was so ridiculous. You could cut through her "logic" with a plastic butter knife.
Rebecca wrote: "Would an essay anthology be a book of essays all by the same author or different authors, or could it be either?"An anthology can be by a single writer or be works by a variety of authors grouped by some shared attribute.
Per Dictionary.com it is: a book or other collection of selected writings by various authors, usually in the same literary form, of the same period, or on the same subject: an anthology of Elizabethan drama; an anthology of modern philosophy. 2. a collection of selected writings by one author.
Jackie wrote: "Martha wrote: "I always liked everything I read in high school. In college I hated and never could finish The Awakening. Thank goodness it's short!"Oh god we had to suffer through that one my sen..."
Haha! That is awesome, a creative outlet for post-relationship bitterness.
Can anyone help with #4? Trying to find a list of comics that fit this description but to no avail
Jackie wrote: "I love this year's list! So many interesting prompts. The romance one will be hard for me personally because that is not my favorite genre, but the one that will be really difficult is the assigned..."I'm had the same problem with "never finished" -- I'm going to find something where we were only assigned part of the book and go back and read the rest.
Bonnie wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "Would an essay anthology be a book of essays all by the same author or different authors, or could it be either?"An anthology can be by a single writer or be works by a variety of..."
Thank you so much! I'm a librarian working feverishly to find 10 titles per category that my library district owns. I run a Read Harder challenge book talk group. We gather once a month to talk about the books we read to finish the challenge. I sure wish this list would come out sooner than December 15th. It doesn't give me a lot of time!
Hmm, not sure yet how interested I am in this one yet. I'll have to start compiling my list of potential reads and decide from there. I was trying to take a break from classics, and this list requires a few.
Stephanie wrote: "Can anyone help with #4? Trying to find a list of comics that fit this description but to no avail"So far, I only have MIND MGMT, Volume One: The Managerand Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History, but I've skipped that category for now to work on other ones.
Finally!
For #20 my pick is priestdaddy. The cover does absolutely nothing to relay what the actual book is about. So stupid in my book. The title is awful as well.
Rebecca wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "Would an essay anthology be a book of essays all by the same author or different authors, or could it be either?"An anthology can be by a single writer or be works ..."
That is so cool. I wish I lived near your library!
Some of these prompts will require some research. Let the hunt begin!One concern: Trying to read a comic/graphic novel for each category is going to be hard. There are no comics on Orpah's list! And celebrity memoir is going to be tricky as well.
For Stephanie, here is a quick list of comics drawn & illustrated by the same person. All of them are favorites of mine:
- Nimona
- Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
- Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me
- Your Black Friend
- The Best We Could Do
- Pashmina
Some of those titles would also work for #8 - a comic written or illustrated by a person of color. And all of them would work for #18 - a comic that isn't published by DC, Marvel, or Image.
For celebrity memoir i am working with" Dancing with myself billy idol or i am spock
Will there be planning posts for the topics? I'm going to need help!!!!
Tracy wrote: "Will there be planning posts for the topics? I'm going to need help!!!!"I sure hope so! There are a couple categories I don't even know where to start (like YA/middle grade series and [post]colonialism books?!).
Tracy wrote: "Will there be planning posts for the topics? I'm going to need help!!!!"There have been topic posts every year so I assume so, and they'll get it up in a few days going by past history. There will be a space to record your progress too.
I have most of mine filled in except for one of the comic ones. Will post my list later tonight.
Heretherebedragons wrote: "I'm looking forward to seeing others' examples of #20, "Book cover you hate". Would "awesomely bad" count for this one, I wonder?"I'm thinking of combining #20 with #12, A Celebrity Memoir. I can't stand the cover of Bossypants by Tina Fey. Those arms!
For #4 I belive from what my brother told me, and what I can tell from wikipedia the Scott Pilgrim comics fit, and I think they would also fit for #18 but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Michelle wrote: "Heretherebedragons wrote: "I'm looking forward to seeing others' examples of #20, "Book cover you hate". Would "awesomely bad" count for this one, I wonder?"I'm thinking of combining #20 with #12..."
haha Those arms are a bit different to say the least.
Looks like I'm reading Heart of Darkness for #24 this year!
Call me stupid but where exactly is the challenge posted and how do I find the list? I can't even find the 2017 list - just all the comments about it!
Laura wrote: "Call me stupid but where exactly is the challenge posted and how do I find the list? I can't even find the 2017 list - just all the comments about it!"A ton of commenters have already copied it from Book Riot to this thread. You can look at Comment 61 for the last one. Or just go to Book Riot.
Nikki wrote: "Looks like I'm reading Heart of Darkness for #24 this year!"Lord I hated that book! Brave woman.
Nikki wrote: "Looks like I'm reading Heart of Darkness for #24 this year!"I had to read that in high school (hated it) and then had to reread it for a history class in my undergrad. I actually didn't mind it the second time! I found it very different to read it from a historical perspective. If I could suggest, maybe find a copy that has really good editorial notes? (we read the penguin edition for my history class which was not bad)
Evelyn (Evy) wrote: "Nikki wrote: "Looks like I'm reading Heart of Darkness for #24 this year!"I had to read that in high school (hated it) and then had to reread it for a history class in my undergrad. I actually di..."
I read that with a friend. We read it together with a book by Timothy Findley that was a retelling of Heart of Darkness and then saw the movie Apocalypse Now. I liked the book by Timothy Findley, the other two not so much.
Edited to say that the book by Timothy Findley was called Headhunter.
I find PoC offensive so I've changed it to "of non-Western heritage".I hated A Wrinkle in Time that I had to read for school so I guess this would be a good time to revisit it. I wonder if I'll still hate it?
Evelyn (Evy) wrote: "Nikki wrote: "Looks like I'm reading Heart of Darkness for #24 this year!"I had to read that in high school (hated it) and then had to reread it for a history class in my undergrad. I actually di..."
I liked Apocalypse Now quite a bit, so I think I will just skip the source material :) I have tried twice as an adult, and jut could not muddle through, and I almost never abandon a book mid-read.
Eujean2 wrote: "Some of these prompts will require some research. Let the hunt begin!One concern: Trying to read a comic/graphic novel for each category is going to be hard. There are no comics on Orpah's list! ..."
Thank you so much, this list is very helpful!
Re #8 - I just saw this article posted in the Atlanta Journal Constitution this morning. I haven't tried to find any of the titles yet & that may prove to be difficult, but I'm going to try because I like the idea of supporting up & comers. Plus the timing of the article is just perfect! http://www.myajc.com/entertainment/bo...
Brothers launch black superhero comic books
MyAJC - 6h ago
“Black Panther” will lead more African-American superheroes into the spotlight, like DC Comics' “Black Lightning,” debuting on The CW in early 2018.
for comics by just one author, take a look at a lot of the comics and graphic novels published by Drawn & Quarterly: Jason Lutes, Julie Doucet; Adrian Tomine; and Joe Sacco all both draw and write their work. Also, Alison Bechdel and Art Spiegelman do both the writing and art for their books. On the web, Meredith Gran who does Octopus Pie, would probably appeal to a lot of BR folks.
Renee wrote: "For 22, an essay anthology Still Foolin’ ‘Em by Billy Crystal. He says he wrote it as a book of essays. I used it as an award winning audio book a couple of challenges ago"An essay anthology is a collection by multiple authors. So this wouldn't work.
Bonnie wrote: "Evelyn (Evy) wrote: "Nikki wrote: "Looks like I'm reading Heart of Darkness for #24 this year!"I had to read that in high school (hated it) and then had to reread it for a history class in my und..."
Heart of Darkness will also count for #9 Colonial or Postcolonial Lit
Nikki wrote: "Looks like I'm reading Heart of Darkness for #24 this year!"I was going to do The Stranger for #24. Heart of Darkness was never an assigned reading for me, so I can't used it for my #24. But the Heart of Darkness discussion is making me think that it could be interesting to read both Heart of Darkness & Things Fall Apart for the colonial/post-colonial prompt (#9). I read that Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart as a direct response to Heart of Darkness. I've never read either but they're both on my book shelf right now. Maybe if I'm feeling ambitious when it comes time to tackle that prompt, I'll try both.
Gosh, I'm surprised so many dislike Heart of Darkness. It is one of my all time favorite books that I reread every couple years. I'm looking forward to this year's challenge and all the help and suggestions that every one contributes.
I just started a discussion on the GR group I mod about books and authors you hate that everyone else loves. I forgot Heart of Darkness on my list, but it has a place beside Wuthering Heights. Readers have really varied tastes.
For 24, I'm going to go with Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I had to annotate that within an inch of its life. I think I was finding symbolism in the punctuation by the time I was done. Maybe this time, I can enjoy it -- or not.
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Tiny Pretty Things (other topics)Anna Karenina (other topics)
Britt-Marie Was Here (other topics)
Family Life (other topics)
Columbine (other topics)
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2.A book of true crime
3.A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci fi/fantasy, romance)
4.A comic written and illustrated by the same person
5.A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa)
6.A book about nature
7.A western
8.A comic written or illustrated by a person of color
9.A book of colonial or postcolonial literature
10.A romance novel by or about a person of color
11.A children’s classic published before 1980
12.A celebrity memoir
13.An Oprah Book Club selection
14.A book of social science
15.A one-sitting book
16.The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series
17.A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author
18.A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image
19.A book of genre fiction in translation
20.A book with a cover you hate
21.A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author
22.An essay anthology
23.A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60
24.An assigned book you hated (or never finished)