2015 Challenges | BookRiot Read Harder (1)

I'm not going to put pressure on myself for any challenge, but I still like pushing myself to read more or places where I feel like I'm lacking. Not putting pressure means I'm not officially joining anything, posting about it here is enough of a declaration to keep me to it, but also enough I won't feel horrible if I don't complete them all. I tend to aim high and hope for the best, in all honesty, and even if I don't make it all the way to my ridiculous goal, I'll have gotten a lot done between.

I wanted to put all of the challenges into one post, all nice and tidy, but it would of been a post that'd been probably as long as I am tall (though, considering how short I am, I guess that doesn't mean much, but it would of been really freaking long. And some don't go the whole year or whatever. Parts. Doing it in parts).

First off, one you might heard about it, is the BookRiot Read Harder challenge. (Link to their post, which includes links if you're unsure about what something means or need a recommendation). (Also, while on the topic of BookRiot, I'd like to point out their post from last year about why setting challenges/goals is good).

• A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
• A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
• A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)
• A book published by an indie press
• A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ
• A book by a person whose gender is different from your own
• A book that takes place in Asia
• A book by an author from Africa
• A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
• A microhistory
• A YA novel
• A sci-fi novel
• A romance novel
• A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
• A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
• An audiobook
• A collection of poetry
• A book that someone else has recommended to you
• A book that was originally published in another language
• A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind (Hi, have you met Panels?)
• A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)
• A book published before 1850
• A book published this year 
• A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)

Some of these should be pretty easy for me to complete - specifically: a young adult book, romance, SciFi, graphic novel/such, published this year (I'm taking to mean 2015) - but others I know I might have trouble completing, I might not even complete all of them.

I had a huge rambling thing here about diversity and how I feel like it's important, but that I can't honestly say it's the first thing I think of when picking up a book. I cut it out. Why? Because I didn't feel like it helped anything. It isn't always the first thing I think of, when picking up a book, though, that part is true. I tend to be more interested in the story then the author and, even then, sometimes I just want a fluffy romance or a quick YA novel. I read by mood, completely, and it's been working for me if the last year is anything to by. 

However - diversity is important. Especially right now, it seems like. And I do want to read a lot of books by a large, diverse bunch of people. And I think this is a good way to try and remind myself of that, even if I don't hit all of them (I'm mostly eyeing the 'self-improvement' one, that might not happen. Unless Amy Poehler's new book counts). Actually, I have a surprising amount of ideas for them and am trying to compile a list on goodreads for possibilities (If you have any recommendation - books by people of color or LGBTQ+, or anything different, feel free to leave a comment or rec it to me on Goodreads).

I also always enjoy reading diverse books - a different culture is very intriguing to me, especially one that I'm not familiar with at all, or one I've just barely grazed the surface on. Or LGBTQ+ characters. I haven't read a lot of books with that and I'd really like to read more, it definitely can make the story more interesting (there are probably more problems to face, along with the normal ones).

Saying that, I am going to try and not buy all the books in 2015, so that'll hurt my ability a bit to branch out too much, though I do have quite a bit (at least I think, from what I expected, in all honesty).

So now I want to know - do you make it a priority to read diversely? Even as small a thing as your male/female ratio (that's something I payed attention to in 2014)? Are you considering myself taking on some of these challenges for yourself? Let me know! And let me know if you have any recommendations!