Read Harder readcap (like recap, but dumber!)

I did it, I finished Powers and Thrones! Did NOT think I would, but I made it happen. Another year of reading harder, in the books. The books I chose for this year's challenge are all spread out through posts, so if anyone wants the full list all in one place, here you go:

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1. Read a biography of an author you admire: The Making of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser

2. Read a book set in a bookstore: Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

3. Read any book from the Women's Prize shortlist/longlist/winner list: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

4. Read a book in any genre by a POC that's about joy and not trauma: Black Boy Joy by Kwame Mbalia

5. Read an anthology featuring diverse voices: Every Body Shines by Cassandra Newbould

6. Read a nonfiction YA comic: The Courage of Elfina by Andre Jacob

7. Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

8. Read a classic written by a POC: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

9. Read the book that's been on your TBR the longest: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

10. Read a political thriller by a marginalized author: While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

11. Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character: Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

12. Read an entire poetry collection: The World Isn't the Size of Our Neighborhood Anymore by Austin Davis

13. Read an adventure story by a BIPOC author: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

14. Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you've seen (but haven't read the book): I Love You Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

15. Read a new-to-you literary magazine: Passages North

16. Read a book recommended by a friend with different reading tastes: Your Money or Your Life by Joseph R. Dominguez and Vicki Robin

17. Read a memoir written by someone who is trans or nonbinary: Becoming Eve by Abby Stein

18. Read a "Best [blank] Writing of the Year" book for a topic and year of your choice: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

19. Read a horror novel by a BIPOC author: The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

20. Read an award-winning book from the year you were born: Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

21. Read a queer retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, folklore, or myth: Darling by K. Ancrum

22. Read a history about a period you know little about: Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones

23. Read a book by a disabled author: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

24. Pick a challenge from any of the previous year's challenges to repeat (I picked listening to a poetry audiobook): The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman

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 And now, it is time to get started on choosing books for 2023! First two challenges, here we go!

1. Read a novel about a trans character written by a trans author: In my quest to read my way through a bunch of middle grade and then add them to my school library, I have chosen Both Can Be True by Jules Machias. Looking forward to it! (I also put Fight + Flight by them on my list and am VERY excited. EDS! Anxiety disorders! That's my kind of book.)

2. Read one of your favorite author's favorite books: Time to stalk some of my favorite authors on Twitter, I guess? (Consider them stalked) Look...a whole heap of authors that I like collaborated on this, and I'm going to assume that they all love each other's work in it, so...I'm going to read Whiteout by Angie Thomas, Dhonielle Clayton, Ashley Woodfolk, Nic Stone, Nicola Yoon, and Tiffany D. Jackson. 

Let's do this!

Reading Harder - Just over a week left

It's been a minute since my last update, so here we are again! I finished Maus, something everyone should read. Very emotional, very powerful. My hold for While Justice Sleeps came in again, and I did successfully finish reading it, although I came very close to having to put it on hold again. It was an okay read, but for a political thriller, it was not very compelling...solid premise, strong characters, but kind of dry. The reader didn't know the finer points of what was going on, but you know the entire time who the bad guy is and what they're planning, so it fell a little flat for me, reading about the main character trying to unravel what's going on and not having anything to guess at myself.

Anyway, that's two down, two to go for the year. I've been working my way through Powers and Thrones (the physical copy, because seriously, this book is huge) and am about halfway done. It's interesting, but also so much information, so I can only read so much of it at a time before I have to take a break so my brain can recover. I just finished reading about the Crusades, and honestly, fuck the Crusades.

My last hold of the year, The Taking of Jake Livingston, came in a couple days ago, and I'm roughly halfway through that too. A bit of a trip, one of those books that you read and are like "okay, wait, what is real and what is not? Is any of this actually happening?" Not so terrifying that I can't handle it, though, so that's something! I'll probably finish this in the next day or so, and then I guess we'll see if I make it through Powers and Thrones by the end of the year! Can I do it? I have my doubts.

Either way, I'll share an update in 2023, and I'll be putting together my list for next year, so I'll have that too. Some of the prompts seem interesting, although there are others (i.e. Read a book you DNFed) that I am...less thrilled about. I don't DNF lightly, so I may double up on another challenge and skip that one. As for the others...we'll see what I come up with!