Read Harder Challenge 2017

I’ve decided to take part in the Book Riot reading challenge this year. I came to it rather late but I’d already finished several books that met various challenges so it’s achievable I think.

For the rest, I’ve been scouring my bookshelves and Kindle lists for items to fit the bill. I love that it’s encouraging me to read things which have been literally gathering dust until now. I’ve looked out books which have been languishing, for years in many cases, and added them to the ‘Book Riot Challenge pile’.

However, this is my personal reading and I have my own reasons for taking the challenge. Therefore, I may not stick stringently to the requirements in every case. For example, my pick for the ‘Central or South America’ challenge is likely to be a book about the Caribbean by a Cuban author – but it looks interesting and it’s already in my possession (also, there was some debate on the challenge forum about whether the Caribbean was or was not part of ‘Central America’. I have chosen to embrace that grey area). And, of course, there’s always going to be a Scottish slant to my choices whenever possible.

For those remaining challenges my current bookstock just can’t meet I’ll be utilising local libraries and the Scottish branch of Better World Books. A few of the challenges have me seeking books I wouldn’t normally consider reading at all – which is, of course, the whole point… But enough writing, I have reading to do! I just finished “an all-ages comic” so I’m off to pick my next read now. Which one to choose? Maybe that Caribbean one?… Or a banned book? So many choices!

FYI, here’s my list so far:

1. Read a debut novel – The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
2. Read an all-ages comic – Lobey’s the Wee Boy!: Collected Lobey Dosser by Bud Neill
3. Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location – Saltire Invasion by John Ferguson
4. Read a travel memoir – The Desert and the Sown: Travels in Palestine and Syria by Gertrude Bell
5. Read a book you’ve read before – The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey
6. Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location – A Splendid Isolation: Lessons of Happiness from the Kingdom of Bhutan by Madeline Drexler
7. Read a fantasy novel – The Obsidian Throne by James Oswald
8. Read a superhero comic with a female lead – The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua
9. Read a book in which a character of color goes on a spiritual journey –Warrior of Peace: The Life of the Buddha by Jinananda
10. Read a collection of stories by a woman – Gossip from the Forest by Sara Maitland
11. Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color – Little Green by Walter Mosley
12. Read a book about books – The Gifts of Reading by Robert Macfarlane
13. Read a book published by a micropress – The Birlinn of Clanranald by Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (Alexander MacDonald), translated by Alan Riach, (published by Kettillonia)