I had this idea that this year I would be diverse, I would read much much harder than last year at least. I even created a special tab for keeping track. Then, like I am want to do, I forgot all about it (maybe not quite forgot but just turned my attention elsewhere). So, perhaps a little accounting now. Am I anywhere near completing the 24 tasks? Is it worth trying at this point or should I just quietly abandon the idea and think about it next year. Maybe I can pick a few to concentrate on for the remaining quarter of the year.
I am bolding the tasks I would like to try and complete.
Tasks that I have completed are italicized and asterisked and noted the title.
- An epistolary novel or collection of letters
- An alternate history novel
- *A book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018 - An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (Women's Prize Winner for this year--cheating here).
- A humor book
- *A book by a journalist or about journalism - Death in the Air, Kate Winkler Dawson
- A book by an AOC set in or about space
- An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
- An #ownvoices book set in Oceania
- *A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads - A Spring of Love, Celia Dale
- *A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman - Moshi Moshi, Banana Yoshimoto
- *A book of manga - Emma, vol. 1, Kaoru Mori
- A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character
- A book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse
- *A cozy mystery - To Davy Jones Below, Carola Dunn
- A book of mythology or folklore - If I ever finish Circe I will count that one for a mythological retelling.
- An historical romance by an AOC
- A business book
- A novel by a trans or nonbinary author
- A book of nonviolent true crime
- A book written in prison
- A comic by an LGBTQIA creator
- A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009
- A self-published book
- A collection of poetry published since 2014
Six out of 24 tasks completed is probably not a very good showing, but if I look at the list as suggestions on ways to broaden my reading, that is still a good thing, and maybe I can read books for the other six tasks that look most interesting to me at the moment.
I think at the moment the tasks most appealing and interesting to me are an alternate history novel and an epistolary novel and perhaps an #ownvoices novel set in Oceania. I am thinking of Jo Walton or Robert Harris or maybe something by Daphne du Maurier? It seems I have a YA novel or two, including one set in WWI that would work. I will have to give my shelves a scan.
It is better to think small and manageable and choose a few tasks to read from rather than stress out, thinking I need to do them all at this point in the year. And even better to just start with one and not overwhelm myself, right? Have you been working on the Read Harder Challenge? Since I think this is all about expanding your reading and discovering new stories, have you found any notable books from your reading?