2023 Reading Challenge--Book Riot Read Harder

I realized I never posted my reading challenges from last year, so I'm doing that now!

I continued to track any book that met challenge prompts, so I have multiple books per prompt.  For some prompts, I was able to do the bonus challenge of reading books with LGBTQ authors.

2023 BOOK RIOT READ HARDER CHALLENGE
Finished: 10/14/23

Read a novel about a trans character written by a trans author

• Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
• Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• Kisses for Jet by Joris Bas Backer
• Rabbit Chase by Elizabeth LaPensee & KC Oster
• If You're a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist by Gavin Grimm, Kyle Lukoff, & J Yang
• Man o' War by Cory McCarthy
• Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White
• Welcome to St. Hell by Lewis Hancox
• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
• Spell Bound by F.T. Lukensz
• The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta

Read one of your favorite author's favorite books

• Dragonsong (Kim Harrison) by Anne McCaffrey
• Boy's Life (TJ Klune) by Robert McCammon (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• Saga Book One, Two, & Three (Rainbow Rowell) by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
• The Rose That Grew from Concrete (Angie Thomas by Tupac Shakur

Read a book about activism

• "You Just Need to Lose Weight" by Audrey Gordon
• Choosing Brave by Angela Joy & Janelle Washington
• How We Can Live: Principles of Black Lives Matter by Lalena Garcia & Caryn Davidson
• Forest Fighter by Anita Ganeri & Margaux Carpenter
• The Mess That We Made by Michelle Lord & Julia Blattman

Read a book that's been challenged recently in your school district/library OR read one of the most challenged/banned books of the year by a queer and/or BIPOC author

• This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawnson
• All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

Read a completed webcomic

• Crumbs by Danie Stirling
• Artifice by Alex Woolfson & Winona Nelson (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• Scurry by Mac Smith
• Let's Get Burgers by Ash S.

Finish a book you've DNFed

• Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

Listen to an audiobook performed by a POC of a book written by an AOC

• Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar
• Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• Finding Me by Viola Davis

Read a graphic novel/comic/manga if you haven't before; or read one that is a different genre than you normally read

• Cult Girls (fictionalized memoir/anf) by Natalie Grand & Cassandra Bolan
• My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness (manga memoir) by Nagata Kobi
• Sensory: Life on the Spectrum (comic anthology) edited by Bex Ollerton
• A First Time for Everything (comic memoir) by Dan Santat

Read an independently published book by a BIPOC author

• Wonder Doodles by Joanne Shi
• Bedtime in Nunatsiavant by Raeann Brown
• Moose Is Loose on the Palouse by Seema Jot Kaur & Chris Shanahan
• How We Can Live: Principles of Black Lives Matter by Lalena Garcia & Caryn Davidson
• Forest Fighter by Anita Ganeri & Marguax Carpenter

Read a book you know nothing about based solely on the cover

• Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes
• Viking in Love by Doug Cenko

Read a cookbook cover to cover

• Baking by Feel by Becca Rea-Tucker
• Baking Yesteryear by B. Dylan Hollis (bonus with LGBTQ author)

Read a nonfiction book about BIPOC and/or queer history

• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
• Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• The Stonewall Riots by Archie Bongiovanni & A. Andrews

Read an author local to you

• The Family Fortuna by Lindsay Eagar (SLC)
• Rise Up with a Song: The True Story of Ethel Smyth, Suffragette Composer by Diane Warthey (Moscow) & Helena Perez Garcia
• Starhug: A Journey of Hope, Healing & Hugs by Cindy Wong & ShiShi Nguyen (Seattle)
• Braver Than Brave by Janet Sumner Johnson (SLC) & Eunji Jung
• I Am a Warrior Goddess by Jennifer Adams (SLC) & Carme Lemniscates
• Woof Woof, the Bad Dog by Kate Nilson (SLC) & My Vu
• Inclusion Alphabet by Kathryn Jenkins (SLC area)
• A Place for Pluto by Stef Wade & Melanie Demmer (SLC)

Read a book with under 500 Goodreads ratings

• The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen by Gary Eldon Peter
• Changes Book Four: Forever by T Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• Erroll by Hannah Shaw
• Cult Girls by Natalie Grand & Cassandra Bolan
• In the Rabbitgarden by Leo Lionni
• Ferdinand Cheval: The Postman Who Delivered a Palace (1st review!) by Anne Renaud & Ana Salopek
• Moose Is Loose on the Palouse by Seema Jot Kaur & Chris Shanahan
• Cockatoos on a Cruise by Russell Punter & David Sample
• Save Yourself! by Bones Leopard, Kelly Matthews, & Nichole Matthews

Read a historical fiction book set in an Eastern country

• Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi
• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
• A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

Read a romance with bisexual representation

• Rosaline Painter Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall
• Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone
• Hani and Ishu's Guide to fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar
• Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales
• Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
• Only Mostly Devastated; & If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales
• Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
• Forever Is Now by Mariama J. Lockington
• Delilah Green Doesn't Care; & Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake
• Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan
• Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster by Andrea Mosqueda

Read a YA book by an Indigenous author

• The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Read a comic or graphic novel that features disability representation

• Sensory: Life on the Spectrum edited by Bex Ollerton
• The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott by Zoe Thorogood

Read a nonfiction book about intersectional feminism

• Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

Read a book of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author

• The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupak Shakur
• Resistencia edited by Mark Eisner & Tina Escaja
• The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill
• Dark Testament: Blackout Poems by Crystal Simone Smith

Read a book of short stories

• Cool. Awkward. Black. edited by Karen Strong
• Gleanings by Neal Shusterman

Read any book from the Ignyte awards shortlist/longlist/winner list

• Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
• Root Magic by Eden Royce
• A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

Read a social horror, mystery, or thriller novel

• Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans
• The Black Queen by Jumata Emill (bonus with LGBTQ author)
• The Case of the Missing Chalk Drawings by Richard Byrne
• The Mystery of the Love List by Sarah Glenn Marsh & Ishaa Lobo
• Not an Alphabet Book: The Case of the Missing Cake by Eoin McLaughlin & Marc Boutavant
• Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
• Shady Hollow by Juneau Black
• A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

Pick a challenge from any of the previous years' challenges to repeat

• The Banned Bookstore of Maggie Banks (set in bookstore, 2022) by Shauna Robinson
• Sam's Super Seats (disabled author, 2022) by Keah Brown & Sharee Miller