Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion
2025 Read Harder Challenge
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Task 9: Read a book based solely on its setting.
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Gonna be a book weirdo for a minute, but this is the place to do that I guess lol. I actually have a google map doc where I use markers to track the real or implied real settings of all the books I read, and it goes back pretty substantially far (everything with a real/implied real setting for the last decade that I have been routinely recording, and anything I was able to remember before that which is a lot but far from everything I've read). This means that I can actually see what settings I read a lot in, the ones I read on occasion, places I haven't read a book from in awhile, and ones I haven't actually read in. I also create my own personal challenge every year that consists entirely of my own personal reading goals, which usually includes setting specific ones based on where I haven't read books from. Basically, my own personal challenge is going to make this one extremely easy because I have created several tasks for my own challenge that force me to choose based on setting lolSome of my current contenders include Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada (Cordoba, Argentina), Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Reykjavik, Iceland), It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo (Caracas, Venezuela), The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal (North Cameroon), Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa (Sri Lanka), The Golden Hairpin by Ce Ce Qing Han (Xi'an, China), and Last Night in Nuuk by Niviaq Korneliussen (Nuuk, Greenland).
Elizabeth, I'm impressed with your map!
I have Last Night in Nuuk too and will probably use it for this task.
@Elizabeth, I would love to see that map!! Well done!!!
A Fist or a HeartAngels of the Universe
Icelandic Folk Tales
Touch
These are possibilities because they are set in Iceland, a country in a 10-country read around the world challenge I'm doing
Since there has been interest in the map, I'll share the details! Someone in a FB book group I was in (I don't remember which one at this point as it was years ago) shared that they did it, and I adapted my map off of theirs. The layers on the map are sorted by global region, and I use different coloured tabs for each year of marking. I honestly came to kind of regret this method because why would I sort by global region when it's a map and I can see the regions, so I'm actually working at transferring the data to a second map (which is a very time-consuming process, so I'm not nearly done). I've been keeping both maps updated with the new reads as I go until I finish transferring all the information over. The new map has layers based on the year so that I can narrow down the time frame of when I read it visually, but they still are sorted by colour so that when I have multiple visible layers I can still distinguish. There are a limited number of layers that Google Maps lets you use though, so older stuff is a single layer with the colours still present to distinguish. The new one is being set up this way specifically because I like the idea of being able to see if maybe I have previously read a lot or at least some from one region but it's been awhile since I have. It also made areas where a lot of books are set (I'm looking at you NYC and London) a lot less visually cluttered when I'm only looking at one year at a time. If Maps would let me just merge all the layers, I would probably have done that and just logged each new year as a new layer, but there are a lot of limitations.
Places that have multiple settings, I usually just log the most significant or longest lasting setting, but if multiple settings are significant or equally represented then I will sometimes include multiple tabs for it. Some nonfiction ones (like collections of short biographies) have too many settings to include any, but I usually try to include a few based on where people were clustered. Sci fi and fantasy settings that are not our world are not included. Picture books and short stories are included. Poetry is included if it has a strong sense of place, but not if it's more about non-place things. Things that don't have a specific setting but it's implied to be where the author is from are marked as the author's hometown. Things that are set in a fictional town but located in a real area are marked as being a random place in that area. If the place isn't in the book but it's based on a true story, I mark it where the real events took place. If it has a country specific setting but not a specific place in that country, I usually set it to a capital city, the hometown of the author, or in a random spot that is within the region of where it's set. If there's absolutely no indication of setting, I exclude it.
The original map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mi...
The new, in-progress map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mi...
I'm considering Outlander (Scotland), A Fine Balance (India), Wide Sargasso Sea (Jamaica), or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Japan).
I'm reading the Jinn-Bot of Shantiport for the setting of a once-prosperous city "a gateway to the stars" that is struggling under colonialism and oligarchy. The cover was all it took for me to want to read it, and this challenge gives me a great excuse. Desert-city (at least it looks like to me) with middle eastern or south Asian flavor, cyberpunk, and a monkey-bot brother? I am so excited.
Carly Really Very Normal wrote: "I'm reading the Jinn-Bot of Shantiport for the setting of a once-prosperous city "a gateway to the stars" that is struggling under colonialism and oligarchy. The cover was all it took for me to wan..."OMG THIS SOUNDS AWESOME!
Elizabeth wrote: "Since there has been interest in the map, I'll share the details! Someone in a FB book group I was in (I don't remember which one at this point as it was years ago) shared that they did it, and I..."
Wow, thanks Elizabeth! These maps are great.
Just want to recommend a podcast (& website) resource that I love: Strong Sense of Place. They recommend books that "take you there on the page". https://strongsenseofplace.com/ You can search their website for books from a specific place by clicking the "destinations" tab.
Nayab wrote: "Carly Really Very Normal wrote: "I'm reading the Jinn-Bot of Shantiport for the setting of a once-prosperous city "a gateway to the stars" that is struggling under colonialism and oligarchy. The co..."Yesss! Ever since it came out I've been stoked to read it, so I'm glad this challenge is the perfect opportunity. The cover is just BEAUTIFUL. The whole book sounds right up my alley.
My first thought was a book about a haunted house where the setting is almost a character. Like The Hacienda or The Haunting of Hill House.
I'd love a recommendation for something set in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, China, Tibet or Nepal!
Lauraellen wrote: "I'd love a recommendation for something set in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, China, Tibet or Nepal!"If you do double dippers (or if not) I recommend checking out Jeannie Lin's romance novels (which don't have illustrated covers) as most of them are set in Tang dynasty China and very good.
I would also recommend checking out She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran, which is set in Vietnam and is a ghost/haunted house story that deals with the legacy of colonialism in Vietnam.
Elizabeth wrote: "Lauraellen wrote: "I'd love a recommendation for something set in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, China, Tibet or Nepal!"If you do double dippers (or if not) I recommend checking out Jeannie Lin's r..."
Thank you so much for these recs!
Audra wrote: "I'm really struggling with this one..."So am I. I don't get it - do I essentially pick a book based in a place I like the sound of, without reading the blurb or looking at the cover?
Rituals and Rolling Pins is set in a magical bakery, Scallops and Sorcerers: Vampire Knitting Club: Cornwall is set in a yarn shop in Cornwall, Bobbin for Answers is set in a magical dressmaking shop. They're all paranormal cozy mysteries.
I read Road No Good by Bridget Isichei, a memoir of a young New Zealand woman who signs on to be a volunteer for 2 years in the country of Vanuatu training pre-school teachers. Her assignment placed her in a shantytown where people still wore clothes similar to the 1800's. She does an excellent job not only of presenting the people of the village but the culture and the natural area - from the towns themselves to the untouched beauty of hidden jungles.
I'm reading Voices: Short Stories from the Seychelles. I'm reading this for my own personal Read Africa challenge.
Yrinsyde wrote: "I'm reading Voices: Short Stories from the Seychelles. I'm reading this for my own personal Read Africa challenge."Would you mind coming back and telling us (me) how you liked it? I'm doing 2 full-world challenges and I have this one on my list for the Seychelles. Thanks!
Sure! It's a collection of short stories, folktales and autobiographical pieces. Some pieces are better than others. The second Seadogs story was exciting! A great story about research.
It’s currently February and for those interested in Appalachia GR has a list of genre crossing books (another prompt) which includes a list of books set there. Go to main page for link to list.
Rebecca wrote: "I'm considering Outlander (Scotland), A Fine Balance (India), Wide Sargasso Sea (Jamaica), or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Japan)."I ended up reading The Sun Walks Down. It's set in colonial Southern Australia in the 1800s. The audiobook was terrific!
I am more of a NF reader, so I read "My 21 Years in the White House" by Alonzo Fields, who served as butler for 4 U.S. presidents. It was written in the 60s after he retired. It was really interesting look at how things operated behind the scenes at the White House.
If I may make a couple recommendations for this task: Piranesi. The world-building is fantastic. I didn't think this book was going to be "my thing," but several years after reading it, I'm still thinking about it. Another book that has had a similar effect on me: Prophet Song. Really, really hard (emotionally) read but highly impactful.
I read “The Night Circus” for this one. For years, I’ve been told how wonderfully the author brings the circus to life and after reading it I completely agree. Though it jumps from city to city, the focus is still the setting of the circus so I count it. Some of the previously mentioned books sound great too and I look forward to getting around to those books as well.
Last year I got really interested in Scotland as a romance book setting because I stumbled into some that I loved so much. So for this part of the challenge I intentionally read Scot and Bothered by Alexandra Kiley and Some Like It Scot by Pepper Basham. I preferred Kiley's, because she was part of that previous interest I mentioned!
I read Three Apples Fell from the Sky Narine Abgaryan. Being set in Armenia helped on another challenge
I'm going to read Beasts of Carnaval by Rosália Rodrigo. The setting is intriguing and I've been looking for a way to slip it into one of my reading challenges. I'm very excited to read this one! It also fulfills the Hispanic Heritage prompt, although I used a different book for that.
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Beasts of Carnaval (other topics)The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love (other topics)
Three Apples Fell from the Sky (other topics)
Orbital (other topics)
Prophet Song (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Rosália Rodrigo (other topics)India Holton (other topics)
Narine Abgaryan (other topics)
Bridget Isichei (other topics)
Richard Powers (other topics)
Task 9: Read a book based solely on its setting.