Book Riot’s 2018 Read Harder Challenge

I finished Read Harder 2018! I put a little pink asterisk next to the ones I especially liked.

1. A book published posthumously: The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs * (2/28) 
2. A book of true crime: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 2/19, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean 2/9
3. A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, romance): City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin 1/27, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin 2/4
4. A comic written and drawn by the same person: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson * 2/22 
5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa): Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy * 2/24
6. A book about nature: Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau 3/1 
7. A western: Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour 4/5
8. A comic written or drawn by a person of color: Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates 3/23
9. A book of colonial or postcolonial literature: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * 9/11
10. A romance novel by or about a person of color: Indigo by Beverly Jenkins 7/13
11. A children’s classic published before 1980: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery * 1/19
12. A celebrity memoir: Just Kids by Patti Smith 2/10
13. An Oprah Book Club selection: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Becoming by Michelle Obama * 12/2
14. A book of social science: Evicted by Matthew Desmond * 1/12
15. A one-sitting book: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor 3/4
16. The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle-grade series: The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima * 3/5
17. A sci-fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author: Mem by Bethany C. Morrow 9/14
18. A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image: Quantum and Woody by James Asmus (Goodreads Author) (Writer), Tom Fowler (Artist) 9/29
19. A book of genre fiction in translation: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende * 10/17
20. A book with a cover you hate: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 9/27
21. A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author: Shelter by Yun Li 10/15
22. An essay anthology: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis * 2/2,  Not that Bad by Roxane Gay 11/8 
23. A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher 5/30
24. An assigned book you hated (or never finished): Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 7/10

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, what a surprise. Even though the book follows the pattern of quest and adventure stories, it was full of surprises when it came to the development of the characters. The adventures themselves were so full of the gamut of human emotion- scary, funny, disgusting, sweet, and oftentimes exasperating. It was so good, I'm not even going to complain that it should have been edited down a bit because if the title of your book is The Neverending Story, you're allowed to drag it out as much as you please.

P.S. Full disclosure, I saw the movie on PBS when I was a kid, but I don't remember it that much and I fell asleep, so it really had no end for me until I read the book this week.

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Shelter by Jung Yun

Shelter by Jung Yun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is much more literary than mystery, but I'd go ahead and call it a literary mystery. Fast-paced, interesting, and extremely thoughtful, I'd recommend it generally - especially in October.

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Quantum and Woody by James Asmus (Writer), Tom Fowler (Artist)

Quantum and Woody, Volume 1: The World's Worst Superhero Team by James Asmus (Writer), Tom Fowler (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colourist), Dave Lanphear (Letterer), Ryan Sook (Cover Artist)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this for one of my Bookriot Read Harder challenges. I liked the main characters in this comic a lot, and especially their humor. The plot is pretty good. The bad guys are kind of gross and silly and are the only part I would have told the author to change if I’d been the editor.

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A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is almost an allegory which I'm not the biggest fan of generally. To make matters worse, it's a super disturbingly violent allegory. And like with most allegories, if I don't agree with the central concept which the author is trying to cram down my throat, then I can't really enjoy the book. No, I don't think it's better to be able to choose good and evil in the name of free will. I prefer that people not commit evil in the form of rape and murder. I don't care why they don't do it. That's between them and their God. What concerns me is the NOT raping and murdering.

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Mem by Bethany C. Morrow

Mem by Bethany C. Morrow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The writing is good, and the story was interesting, but I couldn't get over my discomfort with the original premise. Why would you make an entire person out of a *bad* memory? For bad memory removal, the straightforward "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" seems the way to go. For human copy creation, any number of other motivations make more sense: because the original person seeks a form of immortality, or because a loved one wants to remember the person. Even the opposite reason, making a person for the conservation of a single good memory makes more sense to me. Nonetheless, enjoyable!

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Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have become a very skeptical reader, and as such, I was kind of dubious for a large chunk of this book. Mostly I objected to the form of the book because it feels like it's part novel and part essay collection. I wasn't in love with that format. Also, the thing about the essays is that I agree with every word of them- or very nearly every word- but they lack the scholarly historical flavor that both the character Blaine and I prefer in our nonfiction.

But by the end I cared so much about the main characters, I love them so hard, I think Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a genius of fiction writing and if she wants to throw in essays, she can do whatever she wants. A new favorite!

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Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this for the Read Harder Challenge romance book. While I wasn’t impressed by the romance in the book, I loved the historical fiction aspect and all the little bits of education the author snuck into the book. Also, the plot is mostly delightful. You want to cheer on the main characters.

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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I didn’t like this book when I read it in high school. On reread, I hate it. What was wrong with Steinbeck? He always writes life at its cruelest.

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The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was considering giving up on this book for the first 150 pages or so (out of 600) but then I finally got into it and ended up loving it. At first I thought it would focus on Penelope’s children who were unlikeable to different degrees, but finally, the story settled on Penelope- her present and her past during World War II. I loved the book. It was enjoyable and romantic without being silly or saccharine.

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The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yes, I know this family and many of its variations.

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Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour

Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this for my “western” for Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge. It's not really very Western. Part of it takes place in England and part on the East Coast. It's kind of a prequel to a Western. It was more of an "adventure" book.

The writing reminded me a bit of the first Tarzan which I thought was pretty good.

Ironically, I find the adventure genre a bit boring. I could have done without the "insta-love" too. It was not terrible though, and it was mercifully short so I'm undecided on whether to try another Sackett series book.

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Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Before reading this collection (Volume 6 #1-4, as well as the original Fantastic Four comic where Black Panther is introduced- but not the one where he gives his backstory) I had no previous knowledge about Black Panther. I haven't even seen the movie yet. So I was pretty confused for the first half (#1-2) but by the end, I understood the basic plot and characters which is this: the current Black Panther and ancestor of previous Black Panthers, aka T'Challa, is the king of Wakanda. For reasons that remain unclear to me, he's been out of town for a while and his country is now being ripped apart by civil war. The Queen mother and T'Challa's stepmother Ramonda wants him to get it together and reunite the country and win the people over. There are at least two or three factions that oppose the royalty. One group is the all-female Dora Milaje, led by Aneka and Ayo who want to implement democracy. (Woo!) Another is a terrorist group "The People" that possibly also want to institute democracy? But this is unclear. And a third group seems to be a bunch of warlord opportunists.

I especially love the characters Aneka, Ayo, and a philosophy professor Changamire. The illustrations are beautiful, and I particularly like the subtle science fiction component- though I might prefer if it were less subtle.

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The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this! It's solidly YA genre fantasy and there's nothing especially new here but it was fun. I like the main characters a lot: Raisa ana'Marianna, princess heir of the Fellsmarch, and "reformed thief" Han Alister. It has a lot of the stuff that makes Game of Thrones fun without all the painful stuff that bogs it down. Royalty, soldiers, and wizards vying for power.

I love the world building. The world has a specific though somewhat unclear history. Hanalea was a legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world, except maybe that's not what happened at all. My favorite part of the world building is the lifestyle of the clan. The clan characters are also particularly interesting especially Han's clan friend, Dancer, and his mother the potions maker. Raisa's father and grandmother are also from the clan and add a lot to the story once they appear.

A lot of it is predictable, and it's a bit slow at the beginning but it's just really fun. I'm excited to read the next book and see what happens now that all the characters are finally in motion.




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Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Here are the things I liked: the writing, the main character, the world-building, the main character's culture, and her mathematical skills, interests, and basically magic. What I didn't like: the plot and the simplistic resolution thereof. Given the level of violence in the story, the resolution is just impossible for me to move past.

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Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau

Cape Cod: Illustrated Edition of the American Classic by Henry David Thoreau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Some interesting parts but mostly really boring even for me, who really cares about and regularly visits Cape Cod. Highlights included the mentions of the sea animals, and everything and everyone who washes ashore- though I don't hear about treasure washing up anymore.

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The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs

The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book wrecked me. The author is a wonderful writer, daughter, wife, and mother. She is 37-39 in the course of this memoir. She goes through the loss of her mother to cancer and describes it in great and accurate detail. I lost my dad to cancer when I was 31, and my mother to the same cancer when I was 38, and the details really resonated- particularly with what I went through with my mother.

And she gets sick with terminal cancer at the same time, and ultimately loses the battle. As a mom, I can really feel her sense of devastation over leaving her kids. My heart really aches for her sons, and I hope wherever they go in life people are always extra kind to them. I can also relate to her protectiveness of her husband- forbidding him to get a vasectomy in case he wants more children with his next wife. That's real love.

She says so many beautiful, brilliant, and accurate things in the book. I borrowed the book but I plan to buy a copy so that I can underline basically everything.

“I am reminded of an image...that living with a terminal disease is like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss. But that living without disease is also like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss, only with some fog or cloud cover obscuring the depths a bit more -- sometimes the wind blowing it off a little, sometimes a nice dense cover.”

“My friends ask a new kind of question: How is today? I hope the pain is manageable today.”

“Sometimes I'm sad about everything; the way my grilled cheese sandwich tastes, how nice my socks feel, a song John is playing in the kitchen. One time he puts on this goofy Loudon Wainwright song that was on a mix tape I used to listen to during my commute from the boys' school in Bethesda back into the District when we were newly married and everything was about to begin and it makes me burst into tears about the shortness of everything.”

Amen, Nina. Sounds like you would have been an amazing person to know and with whom to talk.

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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is wonderful. Tolstoy captures every important human feeling, thought, and relationship in a way that I doubt could be surpassed. He tackles birth, death, and the meaning of life with his genius of perception and communication.

It’s a long book and dragged a bit in the sections on Levin’s farming or political debates and observations. But even these sections contribute to a more complete sense of the historical context and life of the characters. Additionally, Tolstoy seemed to understand the concept of mindfulness and flow and explained it in the mowing section pretty well.

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Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I borrowed Nimona for Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, "4- A comic written and drawn by the same person." My son James saw it and said it looks like a “kids book” so James has now joined the reading challenge. We were passing the book back and forth and trying to stay in about the same place but I got impatient and finished it before him because I just needed to know what happened next. Nimona was awesome and adorable! I need a sequel. Need.

James is still reading it, and I'm a little worried because it gets kind of scary at the end. He's almost 7 years old but he's an advanced reader and he really needs challenging material to even be interested in the book at all. The vocabulary is a little tough for him in some places but he really loves the complexity of the story. I think it might be more appropriate for a kid who is at least 9 - though obviously great for adults too.

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In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The events are horrific and reading about it is tortuous, but the book is so well-written it is just bearable.

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