2024, what a year, huh? It feels both like forever ago and just last week when I started the Read Harder Challenge. For anyone following along, or anyone who read the blog title, you might think, “this is it! Michael is going to share their last four books of the challenge!”, and dear reader, I failed. I came very close to finishing the challenge, and I stumbled at the very end, which I knew was going to be the most difficult part.
From the Book Riot website, “the challenge is made up of 24 tasks (an average of two per month) that invite readers to explore formats, genres, and perspectives that might go beyond their reading comfort zones. How you approach Read Harder is up to you: you can read one book per task or count one book for multiple tasks. The point of the challenge isn’t to do the thing one particular way but to push yourself to diversify your TBR.” My goal was to read 24 different books that met the tasks, and review them, sharing my first attempt at reading harder, and I managed to read and review 21 books! As it turns out though, starting the challenge a full month into the year, and then plotting out what to read when and leaving two 500+ page books for the last two months of the year, while also taking multiple graduate school classes is uhhhh, not a good idea! And we find ourselves thus.
Of the books I did read though, how did it go? Well, I limited myself to only reading books available from the library, which is where I do the majority of my reading anyways. I chose not to rate 2 books, and the average rating for the other 19 was 3.89 stars, with the lowest rating being two 2-star books, of which I have to say, it could have been so much worse! I would certainly take on the challenge again, although maybe not with the intention of blogging about it, and certainly starting even sooner. I’ll leave you with the one book I did manage to read and review for this last post, as well as the tasks I missed, and what I planned on reading for them. Until the next time!
Task 10 – Read a historical fiction book by an Indigenous author
Book Read: “Monkey Beach” by Eden Robinson
Robinson is an Indigenous Canadian author, and is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations, and “Monkey Beach” was her debut novel. The book opens with the information that the younger brother of our main character, Lisa, is missing, possibly lost at sea after taking on a fishing job. The question of Jimmy keeps popping up throughout the rest of the book, but is almost secondary to Lisa and her relationships with her family and community. Lisa, and through her, Robinson, bounces between multiple timelines: the present and Lisa’s childhood primarily, although there are dips into other pieces of the past and other characters on occasion. Speaking of the past, “Monkey Beach” is historical fiction, with Lisa growing up in the 1970s and 80s, although it is important to note the addition of magical realism as well. There’s space for a conversation about the difference between magic and myth and what constitutes spiritual and religious beliefs, and is it magical realism if it just pulls from a different set of beliefs, but that’s for another post, or possibly an academic paper.
It is difficult to talk about the book without getting into details that could be considered spoilers, but as I was reading, I found myself thinking about it in terms one might use to describe a more traditional mystery or thriller. There are a lot of family secrets, some of which don’t come out until people are gone, and the tension between characters left me unsure what was going to happen next. And at the same time, it was a coming of age story, a spiritual journey, a young woman learning to become a person and live with grief and trauma and life’s many complications.
For a more contemporary adult comp, I would recommend “Jonny Appleseed” by Joshua Whitehead, and for a young adult comp with more magical realism, I would recommend “Elatsoe” by Darcie Little Badger.
Task 23 – Read a howdunit or whydunit mystery
Book (to still be) Read: “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt
Task 24 – Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat! From 2022, Task 14: Book of a Movie or TV Adaptation Seen but not Read
Book (to still be) Read: “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
Task 12 – Read a genre book (SFF, horror, mystery, romance) by a disabled author
Book (to still be) read: “An Unkindness of Ghosts” by Rivers Solomon
