Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

For those of us who believe the true challenge is connecting multiple challenges with one book. My personal best is 1 book for 6 challenges, a couple years ago.

If you don’t double dip fine, but do not disparage those of us who do. I like to think it’s the higher level thinking/reading skill.

Happy Reading.

Let the games begin!

I'm ready! *Cracks knuckles*

The Tea Dragon Society works for 3. A book by a woman and/or AOC that won a literary award in 2018, 21. A comic by an LGBTQIA creator, 22. A children's or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup works for 5. A book by a journalist or about journalism, 17. A business book, and 19. A book of nonviolent true crime

Depending on your pick, the self-published book can also double for a book with less than 100 reviews.

My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 would count for 1) manga 2) book translated by a woman 3) comic by an LGBTQIA author/artist

I love you both!!!

I am not double dipping, as this is the only challenge I am participating in and my main goal is to get back into the habit of reading more so this defeats that purpose.

However, this looks like a whole lot of fun and I am watching you for tips if/when I get to this point!!!

Sarah Ruth think it as a creative exercise. I don’t think we defeat the purpose of reading more, as we’ll have more time for some more books, that aren’t challenge related. (Well maybe related to other challenges)

A have a three-for:
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness

Checks boxes for:
A translated book written by a woman
A book of manga
A comic by a LGBTQIA creator (here I assume, but this is an autobiographical story, so yeah...)

I’m definitely double dipping this year.

Emily Wilson's translation of Homer's Odyssey meets #10 and #15.

I will most definitely be double dipping across my challenges. I had never done that before because I had some kind of mental block about it ( and who needs readers guilt?? When did that become a thing?) But last month when I realized once again I wasn't going to finish and I read through the Double Dip thread I took a look and started moving things around... had I double dipped from the beginning I would have finished all of my challenges a long time ago, and had time to read more. It was oddly satisfying to see.

George by Alex Gino works for 18. A novel by a trans or nonbinary author and 22. A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009.

Renee wrote: "Sarah Ruth think it as a creative exercise. I don’t think we defeat the purpose of reading more, as we’ll have more time for some more books, that aren’t challenge related. (Well maybe related to o..."

Oh no, I just meant for me personally. It's been a really long time since I have had any time to read, so now that I am trying to get back into the habit of picking up a book, I am using the challenge as a way to find books to read. I honestly didn't have any clue where to start! So the more books I read in this challenge, and the more variety of books I read, the better.

IF at some point I get to where I have a huge list of books I want to read, or a find some favorite authors, genres, etc., then I may start doing this. The challenge of finding books to match as many categories as possible sounds like a lot of fun.

Freeing up more time on this challenge, at this moment, won't lead to me personally reading more books. I just won't know what to read, so I'll probably turn on the TV instead.

This isn't me judging you, it's me understanding me. :)

Happy Reading Sarah!!

Oh! The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela also work for both epistolary and prison writing!

Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books work for a book with a neurodiverse main character (Percy is dyslexic and has ADHD) and for a book of mythology.

The manga and translation categories have a lot of natural possibilities for double dipping, as do the cozy mystery and humor categories.

You could double dip on Business (17) and Humor (4) with Making Money by Terry Pratchett. Or you could double dip Journalism (5) and Humor (4) with another of his books, The Truth.

I always had this block about double dipping, too, like it was "cheating" even though it VERY CLEARLY states on the checklist that it's not. So this is something I need to get over and I'm welcoming all double dipping suggestions!

Ashley wrote: "I always had this block about double dipping, too, like it was "cheating" even though it VERY CLEARLY states on the checklist that it's not. So this is something I need to get over and I'm welcomin..."

Several of these categories don’t interest me at all—romance? Manga? A cozy mystery? Ugh, all hard passes.
The more prompts a book ticks off the better!

The Book of Dog by Lark Benobi checks 4 tasks:

4. A humor book

9. A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads

12. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character

23. A self-published book

I feel ambitious towards my reading in 2019. I am going to try 3 reading challenges. The Read Harder challenge, Pop Sugar challenge, & the Guster challenge from the Next Best Book Club. I also belong to 2 face to face book clubs. To say the least I will be double dipping.

I'm going to try to read a different book for every category, but I'll initially fill in categories with double (or triple) dips so I'm covered in case I don't make it. (I have enough in my life to stress about, I'm keeping this light.)

I'm a PhD student, so double dipping is the name of the game to finish the reading challenge! That said, in 2018, I initially double-dipped, then I had enough "spare" time to un-double-dip and read more.

So yes - huzzah to us dippers! Good luck to all!

I’ve been asked to write a book challenge for the church ladies again this year. I’m gonna add a challenge of double dipping!!!

Jordan wrote: "You could double dip on Business (17) and Humor (4) with Making Money by Terry Pratchett. Or you could double dip Journalism (5) and Humor (4) with another of his books, [book:The Tru..."

Any suggestions for the initial/witches Discworld books

Karishma wrote: "Jordan wrote: "You could double dip on Business (17) and Humor (4) with Making Money by Terry Pratchett. Or you could double dip Journalism (5) and Humor (4) with another of his books..."

Most of the witches/Tiffany Aching books deal with myths and folklore and could fit for task 15.

Love the positivity in this thread!

The Enormous Room by e.e. cummings is a book written in prison and an (originally) self-published book.

Like Water for Chocolate is an #ownvoices book set in Mexico, a translated book written by a woman, and an historical romance by an AOC. These three categories triple-dip pretty naturally - you could probably find more examples.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away works for both the humor and journalist categories.

I don't double dip, but I just took a book off my shelf that qualifies for romance by an AOC and book with fewer than 100 GR reviews. Lace.

De Profundis would work as a double for tasks 1 and 20.

An Unkindness of Ghosts would work for both 6 and 18.

Full Cicada Moon would work for 22 and 24.

Made my book quota for 2018 but not the RH challenge, although I did get 2/3 of the way through. This year I'm double-dipping for the first time, at least on a couple books:
-"The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke" for An #ownvoices book set in Oceania and Alternate History;
-"Faces in the Crowd" for An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America and A translated by a woman

Man in the High Castle will tick off #2 and #13

I don't often intentionally double dip, but lots of books I like cross categories, so if it happens, I'm counting it but might have more than one per category. Yesterday I read The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith), which easily hits both the translation category and the neurodiverse category. For a minute I thought it also qualified for an award, but that was 2016, so nope.

You could double dip #3 and #22 with either of the following books, both of which I have read and really enjoyed:

The Stars Beneath Our Feet, John Steptoe Award 2018
Lucky Broken Girl, Belpre Medal 2018

Allie wrote: "Oh! The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela also work for both epistolary and prison writing!"

As does De Profundis by Oscar Wilde! :)

Like Water for Chocolate hits the following in this challenge:

A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman
An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
An historical romance by an AOC

I love all double-dipping suggestions too! Although my goal is to read an individual book for each prompt, I'm wanting to focus on double-dippers so that no matter what I can reach 100% (last year only finished 67% before year's end).

No Ceiling, No Walls: What women haven't been told about leadership from career-start to the corporate boardroom by Susan L. Colantuono covers:
#9. A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads
#17. A business book
23. A self-published book

Juliet wrote: "Man in the High Castle will tick off #2 and #13"

How so? I'm planning on reading this for alternate history but I'm not seeing how it relates to the neurodiverse task.

I just read Scattered at Sea and it covers both:

a collection of poetry published since 2014 and

a book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character (there are poems from the POV of a fork and a sassafras tree, among others).

I just finished two books that could work for double dippers:

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera could cover both #8 and #15 and George by Alex Rino could cover #20 and #22.

Correction: George could cover 18 and 22.

For 2 (an alternate history novel) and 18 (a novel by a trans or nonbinary author), I recommend Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg. Really interesting alternate history of 18th century Jack Sheppard (the man at the heart of Brecht’s "Threepenny Opera"). As I wrote in my Goodreads review, the book has academic treatises and satires, literary and queer theory, love stories, surprising twists and turns, colonialism, capitalism, a Big Brother-esque world of surveillance, Plague Ships, gory details of operations. Some of the characters, and the author, are trans.

The Bride was a Boy

may count for 9 (depending when you get there), 11, 18, and 21.

I feel like double-dipping is extra in the spirit of the challenge! Some year I'm going to challenge myself to complete the list in as few books as possible. I haven't made all my picks yet, but so far, I'm doubling up on:

Nelson Mandela: Letters from a Jail-Cell: 1 & 20

An Unkindness of Ghosts: 6 & 18

Like Water for Chocolate: 7 & 16 (& 10, although I'm pulling something else from my TBR for that one)

She and Her Cat: 11 & 12

Started this https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... today. Looks like it counts for #17 and #19.

Historical romance is actually a really popular manga subgenre, so there are a bunch of titles that would meet both 11 (manga) and 16 (an historical romance by an AOC).

Bride of the Water God, Volume 1 by Mi Kyung Yun
Emma, Vol. 01 by Karou Mori
Red River, Vol. 1 by Chie Shinohara
The Earl and The Fairy, Volume 01 by Mizue Tani

I have my list selected now, and I'm also double-dipping The Tea Dragon Society for 21 &22.

Julie wrote: "Allie wrote: "Oh! The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela also work for both epistolary and prison writing!"

As does De Profundis by Oscar Wilde! :)"

I got really interested in this idea of letters from prison (challenges 1 & 20) and also came up with
Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
In the Belly of the Beast: Letters From Prison by Jack Abbott
Letters and Papers from Prison by Dietrich Bonhoeffer - some editions are translated by women (challenge 10)
I Have Waited for You: Letters from Prison - also self published before 2019 & fewer than 100 reviews (challenges 9 & 23)

I just read Ninefox Gambit and only now realized that it qualifies for both 6) A book by an AOC set in or about space and 18) A novel by a trans or nonbinary author.
As an added bonus, it's really good.