Read Harder 2018 Mid Year Progress

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The Read Harder 2018 challenge from Book Riot is a fantastic way of expanding your reading tastes. It’s a list of twenty-four categories and the idea is to find a book that fits within each, then read it at some point during the year. Sounds simple? It isn’t! 

I love this challenge and this will be the third year that I’ve attempted it. The first year I tried it I started in about September and last year I left it all to the last minute so I’m quite used to panicking about both Christmas and the huge reading list that I still have to get through. So this year I promised myself that I would PACE MYSELF and do what you’re meant to do by reading two books a month. 

Let’s check out the 2018 challenge categories and my progress:

1. A book published posthumously

☑ Identified: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

– Status: Unread

2. A book of true crime

– Unidentified

– Status: Unread

3. A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci fi/fantasy, romance) 

☑ Identified: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

☑ Status: Read 

4. A comic written and illustrated by the same person

☑ Identified: Tetris by Box Brown

☑ Status: Read

5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa)

– Unidentified

– Status: Unread

6. A book about nature

☑ Identified: Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by Chris Peckham

☑ Status: Read

7. A western

☑ Identified: The Waste Lands (Dark Tower 3) by Stephen King 

– Status: Started (8%)

8. A comic written or illustrated by a person of color

– Unidentified

– Status: Unread

9. A book of colonial or postcolonial literature

☑ Identified: Brick Lane by Monica Ali

– Status: Unread

10. A romance novel by or about a person of color

☑ Identified: Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

☑ Status: Read

11. A children’s classic published before 1980

– Unidentified

– Status: Unread

12. A celebrity memoir

☑ Identified: My Life and Other Business by Dolly Parton

– Status: Started: (66%)

13. An Oprah Book Club selection

– Unidentified

– Status: Unread

14. A book of social science

☑ Identified: A Good Time to be a Girl by Helen Morissey

☑ Status: Read

15. A one-sitting book

☑ Identified: Women by Chloe Caldwell

☑ Status: Read

16. The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series

☑ Identified: Everless by Sara Holland

☑ Status: Read

17. A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author

☑ Identified: The Power by Naomi Alderman

– Status: Started (50%)

18. A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image

☑ Identified: Giant Days by Allison + Treman + Cogar

– Status: Unread

19. A book of genre fiction in translation

☑ Identified: 1Q84 Book Three by Haruki Murakami

– Status: Unread

20. A book with a cover you hate

☑ Identified: The Woman in the Window by A.J.Flynn

☑ Status: Read

21. A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ authoras

☑ Identified: The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin

☑ Status: Read

22. An essay anthology

– Unidentified

– Status: Unread

23. A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60

☑ Identified: The Lido by Libby Page

☑ Status: Read

24. An assigned book you hated (or never finished)

– Unidentified

– Status: Unread

Ok, so that’s seventeen books identified and ten books read with three further books started. Not bad! Not quite on target but not too far off. For me, this is a minor miracle.

So, can anyone recommend any books for these outstanding categories?

2. A book of true crime

5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa)

8. A comic written or illustrated by a person of color

11. A children’s classic published before 1980

13. An Oprah Book Club selection

22. An essay anthology

24. An assigned book you hated (or never finished)

HEEEEELLLLLLP MEEEEEEEE!