2020 Reading Challenges
Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge (20 of 24 read):
- Read a YA nonfiction book: Popular by Maya Van Wagenen
- Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color: Pride by Ibi Zoboi
- Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman: The Lost Man by Jane Harper
- Read a graphic memoir: They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
- Read a book about a natural disaster: The Yellow House by Sarah Broom
- Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author
- Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII: Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
- Read an audiobook of poetry: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
- Read the LAST book in a series: Atlas Alone by Emma Newman
- Read a book that takes place in a rural setting: Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
- Read a debut novel by a queer author: Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
- Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own: Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper
- Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before: Notes From A Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi
- Read a romance starring a single parent: You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
- Read a book about climate change: The Story of More by Hope Jahren
- Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman: The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
- Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages): The Churn by James S.A. Corey
- Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community
- Read a book by or about a refugee: Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
- Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK: The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
- Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non): A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer and Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
- Read a horror book published by an indie press
- Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical)
- Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Nonfiction Reader Challenge by Book’d Out: (12 of 12 read)
- Memoir: How We Fight for our Lives
- Disaster Event: The Yellow House
- Social Science: Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, White Fragility
- Related to an Occupation: Notes from a Young Black Chef
- History: They Called Us Enemy
- Feminism: Know My Name, Shrill
- Psychology: No Visible Bruises
- Medical Issue: The Brain That Changes Itself
- Nature: The Salt Path
- True Crime: The Only Plane in the Sky
- Science: The Story of More
- Published in 2020: When Time Stopped
Mount TBR Challenge (10/12 read):
- The Churn
- Nemesis Games
- Before Mars
- The Brain That Changes Itself
- The Dragon Republic
- A Monstrous Regiment of Women
- The City in the Middle of the Night
- My Favorite Thing is Monsters
- Dreamland Burning
- Clockwork Boys
The Reading All Around the World challenge, hosted by Howling Frog: choose at least 50 countries and read books set in those countries and written by people who live there. This is a multi-year challenge I started in 2017. My goal is to reach 50 countries by 2021, or 10 new countries a year.
- Afghanistan: A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi
- Argentina: Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht
- Australia: The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina
- Bangladesh: The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
- British Columbia: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
- Bulgaria: The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
- Canada: The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill
- Chile: In the Distance with You by Carla Guelfenbein
- China: What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan
- Colombia: The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
- Congo, Democratic Republic of: How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
- Czech Republic: When Time Stopped by Ariana Neumann
- England: The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
- France: Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon
- Germany: Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
- Ghana: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- Greece: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
- Haiti: An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
- India: Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
- Iran: The Last Days of Cafe Leila by Donia Bijan
- Ireland: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
- Jamaica: Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
- Japan: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
- Malaysia: The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
- Mexico: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Nigeria: Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
- Pakistan: Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
- Poland: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
- Russia: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
- Serbia: Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic
- Scotland: The Long Drop by Denise Mina
- Singapore: How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee
- South Africa: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- Switzerland: Heidi by Johanna Spyri
- Uganda: The Atlas of Forgotten Places by Jenny D. Williams
- United Kingdom: Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
- Vietnam: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
