2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

A few weeks back I was playing Trivial Pursuit: Book Lover's Edition at the monthly bookstore mingle that Cupboard Maker Books hosts and realized that I have dramatically narrowed the field of books that I read and am knowledgeable on. This thought troubled me but I didn't really see a way to fix it. You can't help but read what you enjoy, and if what you enjoy has narrowed down to Science Fiction and Fantasy that leaves a lot you aren't reading.

For 2016 I decided to participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge which has you set a goal for how many books you want to try to read in the course of the year. While this encourages me to read more it doesn't encourage me to read more broadly. That's where the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge comes in.

2016 Read Harder Challenge Checklist via bookriot.com

The challenge consists of 24 reading tasks designed to make you read outside of your comfort zone and think more about what you are reading. Tasks range from the simple like "Read a play" or "Read a horror book" to more challenging like "Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia" or "Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate the differences".

Anyone who is interested in broadening their literary horizons should definitely check this challenge out, even if you don't do everything at least you will have read something you wouldn't have otherwise. As a bonus, Book Riot offers a 30% discount to their store for anyone who submits a picture to them showing that they completed the challenge. A .pdf version of the checklist is available on their website where I linked it earlier.

This really ought to get me reading more outside of my Sci Fi/Fantasy niche this year! Who knows, maybe next time we bust out the Trivial Pursuit: Book Lover's Edition I might know some more answers.