Reading Hard gets harder when you're under a surprise deadline

While I started strong on my July challenge reading, as the title of this post suggests I then found myself under a surprise deadline for another reading project (state book award committee) and ended up having to hustle to read many, many children's chapter books, which took a lot of time. I thought I had until the end of September, but noooooo.

I did still manage to make SOME progress - primarily finishing my To All the Boys I've Loved Before reread and reading Where You'll Find Us, which drug in the middle but had a beautiful ending. I'm still working away on Uncommon Grounds, which is proving to be very interesting. For example, did you know that the inventor of Grape Nuts, who also sold a coffee substitute that he made wild health claims about, advertised that Grape Nuts could cure appendicitis and then in his 50s ended up getting appendicitis, for which he had to have surgery? He died by suicide shortly after, and many believe he did so because he couldn't get past the humiliation of having to have surgery for something he claimed his products could cure.

I'm also about a third of the way through The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue, which is so beautiful and emotional and infuriating and heartbreaking. I've been reading it before bed, but I finally had to break down and bring it downstairs because I want to read more than a chapter at a time.

Books I've not yet started but will, at some point: Warrior Girl Unearthed (still, yeesh. I'll get there!), Worst-Case Scenario, and Wild Beauty. I've got them all sitting in my immediate TBR pile, ready to go as soon as I have time.

Halfway through Reading Harder

As it transpired, packing some of my books paid off. I read Peter Darling in one day, in between doing touristy things in Paris, and while I wasn't sure it would hook me (ha, pun), I thought it was bittersweet and a fascinating twist on what Neverland actually was. I also finished That Self-Same Metal on the plane ride back home, and while I didn't like it as much as Peter Darling, it was adventurous and unique. 

Once we got home, I ended up having massive amounts of free time due to my husband traveling to Texas twice within about a week and a half (thanks, work!). I finished Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, which while I got what it was going for ended up feeling kind of meh by the end. Everything building up to the end was slow, and then the end felt so...incomplete. Eh. I also finished, in quick succession, These Ghosts Are Family, which was so, so sad in so many ways, Deadly Ever After, which could have used a lot more show and a lot less tell, Dear Medusa, which was sad, sad, sad, but also beautiful, Too Bright to See, which was very bittersweet and emotional, and Beyond the Red, which was meh. Parts of it were interesting, but I felt like there was a lot of talking about things but not a lot of actual action, and then the ending was kind of fast-forwarded in a way that didn't feel earned. Hey, similar to my complaint about Do You Dream of Terra-Two! Two books with very different vibes but similar pacing and development issues.

I finally started on Uncommon Grounds toward the end of the month, which I'm sure will take me some time to get through, and I'll be working on Warrior Girl Unearthed and my To All the Boys trilogy reread (finished the first one, two to go). All in all, a pretty productive reading month!

A Hasty Read Harder Update

Uh oh, we're leaving for France in half an hour and I just realized I didn't prep this update for while we're gone! May was not a strong reading month for me, but I DID finish Underground Railroad and The Hard Parts, both excellent. I did NOT start Deadly Ever After or Peter Darling, but I have Peter Darling packed for our very long plane ride, so hopefully I make some progress. I tried to download Deadly Ever After, but there was a wait list. Womp womp. I also did not read either of my sci-fi books, and neither of those were available digitally, so again...womp womp.

My June challenges are #2, read a book featured on a "best book cover" list, and #15, read a book written by a librarian. 

For two, I chose Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole, That Self-Same Metal by Brittany Williams, and Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley. I've got That Self-Same Metal downloaded, so we'll see if I can make a little progress on my reading there.

For fifteen, I chose These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card, Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff, and I want to reread To All the Boys I've Loved Before...none of these were available digitally, so I guess I'll be playing a lot of catch up when we get home!

So there you have it, a very rushed update. Fingers crossed I get some reading done on the plane, and if not...hey, I'll be in Paris.

Reading Hard in March...was hard.

Well, I finished Take the Lead, and that's something! I was not able to read Guardian of Fukushima or Uncommon Grounds because I guess I missed my hold coming in for the first and the bookstore I bought the second from still hasn't sent them, nor did they respond to my multiple emails asking for a status update until I said if they didn't answer me I would have to cancel the order (at which point they responded IMMEDIATELY, so that's very cool). Bunk is far longer than I expected and, it turns out, incredibly dry, so it took me some time but I finished just in the nick of time! Parts of it were interesting, but it was a lot.

For April's first challenge, #7: read a sports book by someone other than a cis man, I've already read TWO, I started Off Balance and read it in a couple of days - my god, if you want insight into how absolutely fucked competitive gymnastics was at that time, read this. It broke my heart to learn about everything Dominique went through, especially remembering my perspective of her around the time of the 1996 Olympics and realizing how far off that was from reality. I'll also be reading The Hard Parts by Oksana Masters, hopefully that one is as good as the other two! 

For challenge #24, pick a previous year's challenge, I chose 2019's challenge to read an alternative history novel, and for that I'm going with Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. It's been on my radar for so long, I figure it's about time that I read it!

February Read Harder

I tell you what, do you know what really makes a month fly by? Being sick a bunch. Feels like February just started, but it's already March! I think this is going to be the year of DNFs, because I got about three hours into Midnight's Children and decided I just didn't care and didn't want to force myself to keep listening. Maybe it would be different if I read the physical book instead of listening to the audio, but I just was like "what is even happening? What is this book about?" I DID finish The Secret History, and my thoughts on literary fiction are basically that they are books that make you ask "was this a good book, or was it just really, really weird?" Definitely applies to this book, it was very strange, but overall I think I enjoyed it, even though it all felt like a strange fever dream.

Know what else I started reading in February? One of my April challenge books! Oops. For the record, it's for challenge #7, read a sports book by someone who is not a cis man, and the book is Take the Lead by Sasha DiGiulian. It's an autobiography about a climber, and it was calling to me, so. Eh. Going out of order, baby! I do have two other books picked out for that challenge, so I think it's okay that I'm getting an early start.

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My March challenges will be #1, read a microhistory, and #13, read a non-fiction comic. I really am getting an early start to things, because I already read one of the comics, I Am Stan by Tom Scioli, about Stan Lee. It was...good? Interesting glimpse into his life, although I found the storytelling style a bit abrupt. I'll also be reading Guardian of Fukushimaby Fabien Grolleau for this challenge, but I had to buy it because none of my libraries had it, so I'm still waiting for it to get here.

For challenge one, I'm reading Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News by Kevin Young and Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World by Mark Pendergast. Bunk is waaay longer than I expected it to be, so we'll see how fast I get through it, but I'm looking forward to it. I also had to order The History of Coffee, but hopefully it gets here soon so I can get started on it!

January Read Harder progress

Already time for the first Read Harder update of the year! I technically read my first challenge book in 2025 because I needed a book to read on December 31st, but I don't care, I'm counting it. I finished My Dear Henry (that was the 2025) book, which I thought was overall okay, although somewhat monotonous. Probably should have gotten to the Hyde reveal earlier and then had more of a wind-down after that, but still, it was a decent read. I also read The Year of the Witching for that challenge, which makes me feel better about counting the first book. That one was heavy, but oh so good. Very dark, upsettingly relevant to present day.

A Proper Young Lady and Trans Liberty Riot Brigade were my other two challenge books, and they have the very dubious honor of being my first two DNFs of the year! I try not to DNF books - I've got eight DNFs in my entire reading history, at least since I started using an online tracker - and I swear I tried with these two, but it got to a point where I was dreading reading them, and that's not what you want from a book. 

A Proper Young Lady was frankly poorly written with a very stilted writing style, and on top of that the story was terrible and weird, and I've never read a book by a queer author that was so openly queerphobic. It was bad. Trans Liberty Riot Brigade was an intriguing concept, and I really wanted to like it, but the author used a custom future-dystopian-world slang SO HEAVILY, from the very first sentence. It made for a jarring start to the book, it was hard to get into the narrative because of it, and it finally got exhausting enough trying to parse it that I gave up. If you can get past the slang, maybe it's a great story, but we're in the midst of a fascist takeover here and I only have so much brain power to devote to reading, I can't spend it trying to learn a weird invented slang, especially one that uses "faggin'" as their version of the f word. Didn't do it for me.

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For February, my two challenges are #8, read a classic from the Zero to Well-Read podcast and #16, read a queer picture book. 

For challenge eight, ignoring my feelings about this being a bummer of a prompt, there are only eighteen episodes of the podcast and I've already read a lot of them, so I ended up choosing Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I was able to get both of these from the library, and my hold for the audio of Midnight's Children came in way earlier than I expected it to, so hopefully I finish them both quickly.

For challenge sixteen, I got copies of Circle of Love by Monique Gray Smith and Chloe and the Fireflies by Chris Clarkson. Hooray for picture books, I already read them AND added them to my library collection. 💖 Both were lovely, and I teared up reading Chloe and the Fireflies. Picture books can be pure magic, I tell you what.

Read Harder 2025: The End

Well, let's see...when last we caught up about Read Harder, I was working on Cantoras and Information Hunters. I have since finished Cantoras, which was beautiful and sad and hopeful. Still working on Information Hunters, but I'm getting close to being done. Like I said, it's interesting, but a bit slow and a bit dry. Plus it doesn't help that I read it before bed, so I usually only read a couple of pages at a time. I'll get it done.

I was not a very good library steward, I kept Braiding Sweetgrass until I finished it. 😬 Sorry, people who were waiting for their hold to come in! I did also check out the audiobook, though, so I listened to it when I couldn't sit and read the book and read when I couldn't listen to the audio, and that helped me get through it a little faster. I also finished Earth Keeper, discovering in the process that apparently I've read it before? Who knew! Somehow I accidentally put a different edition on my TBR without noticing, silly me. Hey, a good read twice, nothing to complain about!

The cozy book challenge, Her Good Side ended up being SO good! I still couldn't tell you if it's fuckin cozy or not, but I found it delightful - sort of To All the Boys I've Loved Before-esque, a different vibe but just as cute, and I loved the main character, her love interest, and all her friends. I was eager to add the author's other books to my TBR after being so into it, but as it transpires....that's her only YA book. Le sigh.

Last but not least, reading a holiday romance that isn't Christmas! Sadly, The Matzah Ball was a dud - the story centered around I guess friends/lovers to enemies to lovers, but the whole "friends/lovers" bit was when they were TWELVE at summer camp, and the way that they were both still SO fixated on their camp drama was deeply weird. Age them up and make them camp counselors and maybe it would have made more sense, but as it stood...uncomfortably strange. Maybe that by itself would have been something I could look past, but the rest of it was just...so boring. I gave it 200 pages and then gave up. Fortunately, my beautiful new library opened, so I got my copy of A Holly Jolly Diwali, and I found that adorable. I wish there had been a little more focus on the actual holiday, which happened pretty early in the book, but I found the characters mostly likeable and I thought the romance was very sweet. 

And now...Read Harder, 2026 edition! 

I'm telling y'all, 2026 is going to be my year. I've already rolled for each month's challenges, I've got a journal set up to track titles and keep notes, and I'm working on getting the books chosen for the first few months of the year. My goal this year is to pick as many books as possible from my existing TBR on the Storygraph, so I can attempt to whittle that behemoth down. It will never happen, but I'll continue to fight the valiant fight. I'll also probably pick two options for each month, just in case I really hate one and give up on it or really like one and finish it super fast. 

For January, here's what's on deck:

#6: Read a gothic novel published in the last ten years. (Did I have to google what a gothic novel was to be sure I was picking something in that vein? Yes, I did.) My choices for this are The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson, which seems somewhat spooky, and My Dear Henry by Kalynn Bayron, a retelling of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Intriguing!

#19: Read a book by an intersex author. Unsurprisingly, can't really filter for intersex authors on my TBR! I ended up searching for lists of recommendations, and I found three that I'll be trying out - Trans Liberty Riot Brigade by L.M. Pierce, Rought Paradise by Alec Butler, and A Proper Young Lady by Lianne Simone. Excited for all of these!

And there you have it. Let the 2026 Read Harder challenge begin!

One last month to read hard!

What a great month of reading! As noted, I ended up getting amped for Isla to Island, so that was done before November, which left plenty of time for reading the FOUR books I chose for my remaining two challenges. Black Cake was a beautiful story, so many twists and turns, so many moments of heartbreak and joy. I couldn't put it down. I also really enjoyed Lifting as we Climb, there was so much I didn't know and so many key women of the movement who I either hadn't heard of at all or had only heard bits and pieces about, so it was amazing to learn more about them. I'm currently reading both Cantoras and Information Hunters, they're a little slower-paced than the others, but I'll get them done at some point. (Don't get me wrong, they're good, just not "I can't put this down" types of books)

And now, on to December! My last challenges!

Challenge #13: Read a non-fiction book about nature or the environment. True to form, I couldn't decide! I chose Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Earth Keeper by N. Scott Momaday. (I checked these out super early from the library, and there's a waitlist for Braiding Sweetgrass, so now it's due like...now. Literally today. And I haven't read it yet, haven't even started. I really fucked myself there.)

Challenge #18: Read a cozy book by a BIPOC author. The thing about this one is it isn't always immediately discernable whether a book will be "cozy"? Sooooo I picked three to see if any of them actually qualified - Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee, Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon, and Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma. I got the audiobooks for Fake Dates and Dating Dr. Dil from the library, so I've already listened to those, and honestly, I couldn't fuckin tell you if they qualify as cozy. I'm not sure I totally understand what does. What I CAN tell you is that I hated Dating Dr. Dil and thought Fake Dates and Mooncakes was okay but a little meandery. I got a hard copy of Her Good Side, and I feel like even if none of the three end up being a cozy book, I'm counting this one as done. Tried three times? That's an A for effort. 

Challenge #22: Read a holiday romance that isn't Christmas. I'm perpetually on a hunt for wintry media that doesn't center Christmas, so I love this challenge for me. I picked The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer and A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli. I started The Matzah Ball today, and I had the audiobook of A Holly Jolly Diwali on hold, but I just checked my wait time and discovered their ownership of their digital copies has expired.😭 The fuuuuuck?! The library system that's closer to my house doesn't have a physical copy, so I've got a hold in and paused at my other library system until December 6th (!!!!) when AT LAST they open their newest branch (!!!!!) which I've been waiting for for LITERAL YEARS (!!!!!!!) because it's in the neighborhood across the street from mine! 😍😍😍 I'm very excited, in case that wasn't clear.

Anyway, that brings us to the end of the year and the conclusion of another Read Harder challenge! We'll meet back here in December to peruse the 2026 challenge list and keep the ball rolling.

October Read Harder

My October books were Study Break and Monday's Not Coming, and thanks to fall break I finished both of them pretty quickly. Study Break was very nostalgic and sweet. Monday's Not Coming...possibly one of the most difficult books I've ever read. HEARTBREAKING. And it raises the question, who should be responsible for making sure people, especially kids, don't fall through the cracks? (If you're asking me, everyone - gotta have redundancies to make sure people DON'T fall through the cracks.)

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If you're a numbers person, you may have noticed that I do not share that affinity. You may possibly have also noticed that I incorrectly calculated how many books I needed to be reading over the past several months, which put me at two months left in the year with six prompts left to finish. Whoops, should have been picking more than two books before now. So, hey, I picked three challenges for November, AND I finished one of those already. Go me! 

Challenge #23: Read a wordless comic - I was not excited about this one, but there was a wordless graphic novel on the list of books I've been considering for my school library, so I decided to go with that one. I ordered Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos, read it right away, and LOVED it. Should have been more excited for this challenge, I guess! It was so beautiful, such a touching way to tell a bittersweet story. I'll be adding this book to my school library.

Challenge #8: Read literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, or Disabled author - I had several options and it was very difficult to narrow down to one, so I went with Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson and Cantoras by Caro De Robertis. Ideally I'll finish both, we'll see!

Challenge #17: Read a book about little known history - Look, little known history? Or history I know little about? There were three books I was interested in reading more about, but the library didn't have one of them, so that was helpful in narrowing it down and preventing me from picking SIX books to read this month on top of my book club book, mystery book, and whatever other books I've got going on. Thank you, library! Anyway, I'll be reading Lifting As We Climb by Evette Dionne and Information Hunters by Kathy Peiss. (Like I said, not necessarily little-known history, but definitely history I know little about.)

September read harder

Well, as noted, already read Crier's War. It was interesting, sci-fi meets fantasy, full of suspense. I need to read the second book in the duology so I know what happens! I also finished Where the Library Hides, which I thought was not quite as good as the first book but still enjoyable. The will-they-won't-they between Whit and Inez was the best part.

Color me shocked, I finished The Priory of the Orange Tree, and it didn't even take me the full month! I thought it would take me so much longer to whittle away at, but it was so very good, full of intrigue and world-building, and I couldn't put it down. The biggest challenge with it being so long was how physically big the book is - pro tip? Get yourself a little d20 stuffy, it's the perfect size to sit in your lap and rest a book on top of.

Now I'm just wrapping up The Crimson Moth, my second pick for challenge 4, just to be thorough. I'm reading it at night before bed, so it'll take me a little longer than it normally would, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It immediately dove back into the intrigue of the first book, so much stress but in such a good way.

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For my October books, I rolled challenge #9, read a book based solely on its setting, and challenge #15, read a banned book and complete a task on Book Riot's How to Fight Book Bans guides. For #9, I'm planning to read Study Break: 11 College Tales from Orientation to Graduation by Aashna Avachat et. al. College counts as a setting, right? For #15, I'll be reading Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, and for my action I'll be watching my school board's biweekly meetings and sending them emails and attempting to do the same with my city council. It's a lot of content, but I want to keep on top of it as best I can.

August Read Harder

Ah, August. Back to school, back to real life, back to responsibilities. We already covered that I accidentally pre-read one of my August books, My Lady's Choosing, so one down, bingo bango. I also started It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful in July, as stated in my previous update, because I figured it's non-fiction, it's a heavy topic, and it would take me a while to finish it. Look at me, thinking ahead! 

Turns out that pays off, because I finished it, and it was very emotional and educational and inspiring and fascinating. The more I read and learn about history, the more I'm like wow, fuck, growing up and "learning" about history, we really were just straight up deceived about so many things. It's truly fucked. And no wonder so many people now have their heads so far up their asses. 

And speaking of not learning about real history, last book of August, Like a Hammer, another heavy read. I'm not a huge poetry reader, so I tried to read just a few at a time to give myself the chance to really experience them, and SHEESH, powerful words, heartbreaking. It's an incredible collection of poetry, and it's so overwhelming reading about the experience of incarceration and our bullshit justice system from people living within that system. If you can get a copy of it (if you know me, you can borrow it from me!), I recommend it.

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And here we go, into the last third of the year! For challenge #4, read a book about obsession, I'll be reading the second book in the What the River Knows duology by Isabel Ibanez, Where the Library Hides. I also picked Rebel Witch, the second book in The Crimson Moth series (maybe duology?) by Kristen Ciccarelli. Maybe I'll finish one this month, maybe I'll have time for both, we'll see. Looking forward to both, though.

For challenge #19, read a queernorm book, I chose The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. And now we're going to get into a little bit of a shananigan, because this book is over EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES, y'all. Soooo, since I'm reading one book that's basically two or three or four books, I'm giving myself a freebie and using Crier's War, which I read earlier this year, for challenge #20, read the first book in a completed YA or middle grade duology. Typically I only a count a book if I specifically chose it for a challenge, but...I think I deserve a little bit of a pass with such a behemoth to get through.

No lie, Read Harder went great in July

Hey, do you want to hear something exciting? I finished Oathbound! Turns out that while the first roughly 200-250 pages could have been whittled down (and, let's be real, possibly a little bit more further in), the rest of it was GRIPPING. It ended on such a cliffhanger, too, which is VERY rude given that I first thought this would be a duology and then when I realized it wasn't crossed my fingers that it was a trilogy, but hey, what are you gonna do? It was a solid ending, and I can't wait for the next one. I just hope it isn't another 600+ pages that could have been shorter.

I also finished The Third Gilmore Girl, which made me cry so many times and also made me rewatch Gilmore Girls to admire Emily with fresh eyes. Also need to rewatch Bunheads because...Bunheads. It's so great. Seriously, I had no idea what an incredible, tough, tenacious badass Kelly Bishop was, and wow. She's a marvel.

Next up, I finished The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding, which I discovered is not a standalone, so...that's annoying. It was a solid read, but I also have like four books that I recently read only to discover they were part of a series, so I'm really on the fence about if I liked this one enough to add ANOTHER sequel to my stack of books waiting to be read. Man, my kingdom for fantasy/supernatural/spooky books that are NOT a series.

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For August, I'll be reading books for challenges #12, #16, and #21. 

Prompt twelve is read a recommendation from a (preferably local) indie bookstore. Look, I don't know about "indie" but I picked my favorite local bookstore, Palabras, and will be reading Like a Hammer by Diana Marie Delgado, a book of poetry about mass incarceration.

Prompt sixteen is read a genre blending book, which...I accidentally already read. I picked My Lady's Choosing by Larissa Zageris and Kitty Curran, a historical romance choose your own adventure book (sorry, not choose your own adventure, that's trademarked...but you know what I mean.) It was also available at the library when I went to pick up my books for last month, so I grabbed it while I was there and then was like oh yeah, this book looks interesting. So, hey, check this one off! It was quite the experience. Very funny, such wild euphemisms for genitalia. I'm not sure if it was meant this way, but it was a wildly successful parody of a historical romance. If it wasn't intended as parody, my apologies to the authors for taking it that way - if it was truly meant as a tribute to the romance genre, they would have benefited from fewer storylines and better development. But hey, regardless of intent? I had fun.

Aaaand finally, prompt twenty-one is to read a book about a moral panic. For this, I chose It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful, by Jack Lowery, which is about the AIDS pandemic. Growing up mormon, AIDS was kind of something we were shielded from because god forbid your kids hear anything about gay people, and after I read another book about it I was blown away by how little I knew and how much I thought I knew was incorrect. I've started reading this one but not gotten far, and I'm looking forward to learning more about it and how activists fought for change (particularly relevant right now, given the fascism of our current "administration" sooooooo...yeah).

The moment of Read Harder truth

Vacation reading mode, activated! I didn't have quite as much reading downtime as I usually end up with on this trip, but I still did pretty well. First off, I finished The Grimoire of Grave Fates, which while interesting in concept and studded with authors I adore fell a little flat for me. I think on the surface "a mystery, but make it an anthology" is cool, but when the story is told across eighteen different chapters featuring eighteen different (mostly disconnected) characters, it ends up being disjointed. If it had been like...four or five characters and you revisited characters, I think it would have come together a little tighter, but I also just think seamlessly weaving a whodunnit with so many moving parts is a tall ask.

I also finished Persepolis, which is SO SO GOOD. It has been on my TBR for a very long time, and I can't believe I waited this long to read it. I know woefully little about Iran, and while I've been trying to follow more people from the Middle East to get a better/more accurate picture of what goes on there, that doesn't do much to catch me up on the complicated history of the region. This was a glimpse into some of that history, and Marjane's writing and artwork captures so much emotion and nuance in what she lived through. Incredible.

Finally, I whittled away at Oathbound. I'm still nowhere near finished, but I've made it into the 200s, so I'm inching ever closer. It does seem like maybe it's picking up a little bit, but I'm a little stunned that I'm about 230 pages in and still so little has happened. The plot is moving at a glacial pace.

Up next? First of all, I'm finally KEEPING NOTES! During July, I'll keep working away at Oathbound, unless I decide to admit defeat. It picked up a bit, so I'm hopeful. My other plan for next month was to pay a visit to the library to check out Perfectly Parvin (prompt #10, read a romance book that doesn't have an illustrated cover, in case you forgot like I had), The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken (prompt #11, read a work of weird horror), and The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (prompt #7, read a book about a piece of media that you love). I did that. And then? Then I finished Perfectly Parvin, which was excellent and also heartbreakingly timely because it was written shortly after the "Muslim ban" during the orange dicktator's first term and I started reading it just days after his dumb ass decided why not ignore laws and decency and bomb Iran for no fucking reason. So...if we could actually get our shit together and create a better world for kids like Parvin, that would be amazing. 

On a brighter note, I haven't started The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding yet, but I started The Third Gilmore Girl and am loving learning more about Kelly Bishop, who is kind of a badass. I've still got a day in June, maybe I'll finish her memoir before July and roll for some additional July books while I work on reading Prosper Redding's dreadful tale.

May update in June

Well, shit, I got my weeks all mixed up, posted late last week, and then forgot that the last week of the month is my Read Harder update. Or maybe I blocked it out, because update? What update? I've been working on books for the committees I joined for work, the book for my book club was chonkier than normal, and so I have barely done any reading for this at all. Haven't started Persepolis. Finished a few chapters of Oathbound, but honestly, I'm struggling with it. The other books were solid, but this one is moving at a glacial pace. I'm gonna keep chipping away, but I don't know how far I'll get.

I'm out of school now, at least, so hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and finish some books. Persepolis, obviously. The Grimoire of Grave Fates and Perfectly Parvin are the next two on my list...I've got a vacation coming up next week, so that's the perfect chance to knock some reading out. If only I had planned ahead and bought copies. It makes me nervous bringing library books on vacation, so I guess I'll be checking out the ebooks to read instead. Congratulations, everyone who has ever told me "you know e-readers are a thing, right?" when they find out how many physical books I bring on vacation. You finally get your way. (Except my library apparently doesn't have the digital version of Perfectly Parvin. Womp. I'll figure something out.)

Reading so very hard in April

Briarheart wasn't bad, but I found it pretty meh. It had the potential to be exciting, but the style of storytelling felt almost clinical to me, and while the buildup and mystery of what was going on had me hooked, the ultimate payoff was a little bit of a letdown. Glad I read it, at least, so now it's off my list. I also started Oathbound and picked up Persepolis from the library, and I read the second book I had chosen for promp #24, a book of ghost stories, some of which were truly creepy. Good for me, reading TWO books for two prompts instead of reading books for other prompts!

I haven't gotten any better at keeping notes on my plans, either. I'm going to level with you, I joined a few committees for our state book awards, because my students LOVE voting for this award every year, and it's possible that in my enthusiasm for something I know my kids enjoy I bit off more than I could chew. So unusual for me, overextending myself? Not something I'm known for! 

Anyway, I swear I went back and tried to untangle everything with my last Read Harder post, but now I can't find those notes, and on the PDF that I use for tracking which books I choose, I have one listed for January but for a challenge that I'm not sure I'm actually doing yet? So...I don't know, I'm just muddling my way through. Look, with any luck I'll finish Persepolis in May and make decent progress on Oathbound (truly such a long book), and then school will be out and I can try to really straighten myself out. Until then, I'm out here building the plane as a fly it. It'll be fine.

March Read Harder, or "I'm Trying My Best"

Yeah, it has been a rough start to the year. Not just with reading, like generally with life. It happens. I'm trying. Did I get back on track over spring break? Nope! I did get sick though, so that was fun. I do feel like I'm finally starting to straighten things out, though and that's not nothing. I finally finished The Crossroads, sequel to The Only Road, and it was beautiful and sad and hopeful. I also read (one of? Surprising no one, not only have I not been reading my challenge books, I haven't been keeping great notes of my plans) my choices for challenge #24, The Storyteller. It's magical realism, and it was very strange and fascinating and cool. 

So hey, four prompts complete, all told not too shabby! It could certainly be worse. I haven't requested Persepolis from the library for challenge #14 yet (frustrating, because I went to TWO libraries today and could probably have found it at one of them if I had thought about it), but I've got the audiobook for Briarheart so I've got that going for myself. And my pick for challenge #1, Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author, has arrived. Oathbound, last book in the Legendborn series! 650 pages, whaaaaat? Who doesn't love a hefty tome like that? I'll chip away at that, though, listen to my audiobook, and next time I make a trip to the library I'll grab Persepolis. Baby steps, baby.

February Read Harder update...if you can call it that

Look, this will be a short update. Did I read the other books I planned to from January? No.

Did I read my February books? No.

Did I even request February books from the library or purchase them from my bookstore of choice? Also no.

I'm going to hold off on choosing new challenge books for now so I don't overwhelm myself in books I should be reading. Maybe I'll catch up during spring break.

January challenge update - a.k.a. "I thought I wrote this already"

If you were to throw yourself a 13-13-13 birthday party, what would you plan? Because yesterday was my 13-13-13 birthday, and I find the idea of a 13-themed birthday party so much more fun than a 40th birthday bash. 40? So cliche. 13-13-13...who does that? (Probably no one, because it's weird. And I accept that.)

Speaking of births and days...how about that Read Harder challenge, huh? You'll never believe it, but I fuckin forgot that I came up with the roll the dice thing to choose challenges.😬 Sooooo yeah, I read two books for challenge #2, reread a childhood favorite book - Beauty by Robin McKinley and The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. Love them both so much, even though I find it silly as hell that the main "conflict" to Beauty when you boil it down is her not being pretty. Anyhow, after I remembered that I was rolling dice to choose which challenges to do, I started working on my challenge #5 books and challenge #24 books. Have I finished them? No. But I still have five more days in January, so there's time. So far, I like them, but man, in the current climate, The Only Road is making me cry even more than it normally would.

Pending completion of my January books in the next five days, for February I'll be completing challenge #6 and challenge #14. For #6, read a standalone fantasy book, I'll be reading Briarheart by Mercedes Lackey. My unofficial goal for this year was to choose books I could add to my school library for as many challenges as possible, but sooooo many middle grade fantasy books are part of a series, I got tired of looking for an intriguing standalone. Briarheart has been on my list for a minute, so it'll be good to finally read it! For challenge #14, read a comic in translation, I'll be reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, translated from French. I also kiiiiind of want to read Persephone by Loic Locatelli-Kournwsky, also translated from French, so I guess we'll see how my reading goes.

Read Harder is Over, Long Live Read Harder

2025 Read Harder is here, and...I guess I'm ready. (I AM ready, I'm just tired. I may have just woken up from a nap.) As always, there are some intriguing challenges and some meh challenges, but overall, I'm looking forward to them. I got a dice tower made out of a book for Christmas, so I decided that I'll be rolling dice to choose which challenges to do each month. What's more fun than rolling dice and reading books? 24 challenges, so I'm keeping it simple and rolling a d12 twice - one for challenges 1-12, one for challenges 13-24. January's challenges?

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5. Read a book about immigration or refugees

For this challenge, I ended up picking two books. I'll be reading The Only Road, by Alexandra Diaz, and its sequel, The Crossroads. 

24. Pick a 2015 Reader Harder task to complete

I debated between a couple and ultimately landed on "Read a book by someone from an Indigenous culture." I'm torn between two for this one - Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters, a book of short stories by Dan C. Jones, and The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson. They're both relatively short, so maybe this will be another two-fer.

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And so it begins...2025 Read Harder, let's gooooo!

I read harder, and now it's time to read easy

Oooh baby, read harder has concluded, and a month early?! Go me! I finished my Who Has Done This, Super Puzzletastic Mysteries, and while I will say that I question whether each story really gives you all the information you would need to solve it, I still found it engaging and fun to read and try to figure out what happened. I'm looking forward to adding it to my school library, and I'm thinking I might use some of the short stories as a lesson activity to see if classes can solve the mystery.

Rumaysa was not something related to poetry, which I think was my guess for the challenge that I picked. It's actually a retelling of a fairytale - I went back and looked, and I picked one of the 202 challenges, read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color. I picked a good one! It's a compilation of a few retellings: Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. I loved the way they blended the three stories, with some girl power flavor. My only gripe is that the Rumaysa's story was never fully resolved. Otherwise, excellent!

And...that's a rap, I guess. I'll be back in December with my first picks for 2025!