Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 Wrap Up

Hello! So in this post last year I mentioned I wanted to do the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. In 2015 I did the PopSugar Reading Challenge and only found out about the Book Riot one when 2015 had started. So when the 2016 challenges were both announced, I looked at them both and decided I wanted to try the Book Riot one. I liked that there were less categories (only 24) but some of them did seem to be a step out of my comfort zone which I really liked. Here’s a round up of each book I read for the category in the order I read them in.

book riot 2016 1

Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the past 3 years- Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson

Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900- The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee

Read a non-fiction book about science- Forensics by Val McDermid

Read a book about politics (fiction or non-fiction)- Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Read a book under 100 pages- The Robber Bridegroom by the Brothers Grimm

Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia- Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

 

book riot 2016 2

Read a book over 500 pages- It’s Not Me, It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane

Read a non-fiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes- I Call Myself a Feminist by Victoria Pepe

Read a middle grade novel- The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth by Katherine Woodfine

Read a collection of essays- Making It Up As I Go Along by Marian Keyes

Read a play- Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel

Read a dystopian novel- Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

 

Book Riot 2016 3

Read a biography- Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox

Read a book by or about a person who identifies as transgender- The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Read the first book in a series by a person of colour- Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

Read a book about religion (fiction or non-fiction)- Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik

Read a book that is set in the Middle East- Chicken With Plums by Marjane Satrapi

Read a book that was adapted into a movie and then watch the movie. Debate which is better- Civil War by Mark Millar

 

book riot 2016 4

Read a book originally published thedecade you were born- Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness- When We Collided by Emery Lord

Read a horror book- The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award- Mandela: An Audio History by Desmond Tutu

Read a book out loud to someone- Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe by Danny Wallace

Read a food memoir- Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

So a little review on the challenge itself. The first 18 books (so the first 3 lots of pictures) I read from January to June. I raced through the challenge and then it took me another 6 months to finish the last quarter of it. I don’t know why, those challenges weren’t particularly hard. I’m surprised the very last one I managed was the food memoir one, I have loads of the saved on my TBR I’m interested in reading and yet I could never pick one when it came down to it. I do think the audio challenge and the reading out loud ones were the hardest for me and I probably kept putting them out. I had some bad luck with the audio one in the sense that 3 of the audiobooks I had listened to in 2015 were winners and I would have saved one if I had known this challenge was coming up! As for the reading out loud one, I had originally started reading Good Omens to my boyfriend but we only got 10% through as he kept falling asleep! So I picked this out of the library as it’s very short and figured we’d be able to get through it all.

Overall I really enjoyed this challenge. It had the perfect mix of categories that fit with my general reading habits and interests and categories that made me push myself out of my comfort zone. I’ve chosen to do the Book Riot Challenge again this year (it’s a lot more challenging this year!) and I might do the PopSugar one as well but instead of just one book per category, I’ll use one book to fit two or more.

Did you do any reading challenges last year? Have any planned for this year? Let me know in the comments below!

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