Book Riot’s 2023 Read Harder Challenge
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Hey, did you know it’s December? Because it is. The last month of another year snuck up on us when we weren’t looking and you know what that means: it’s time to announce our next Read Harder Challenge! 2023 will be our ninth year hosting Read Harder and we’ve had a lot of fun coming up with another batch of tasks. If you’re a Read Harder regular, it’s great to see you again! If this is your first time joining us, welcome to the challenge.
Now onto the challenge deets: it once again consists of 24 tasks (an average of two per month) that invite readers to explore settings, characters, formats, genres, and perspectives that might be outside of their reading norms. How you approach Read Harder is up to you: you might choose to read one book per task, or feed a few birds with one scone and count one book for multiple tasks. The point of the challenge isn’t to do the thing one specific way, but rather to to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. We hope you’ll hold yourself accountable, share your insights, and discover some fantastic reads you might not have otherwise chosen for yourself. And remember: have fun with it! No one from Book Riot is going to show up at your door and check your work, promise.
Need suggestions for the tasks? Say less. All you need to do is sign up for our Read Harder newsletter to get recommendations for each task delivered straight to your inbox. Look for those task recommendations starting the first week in January; we’ll send one email per weekday for each of the 24 tasks.
If you want to join a community of fellow challenge participants, share your challenge progress, and get even more suggestions for tasks, make sure to check out the Read Harder Challenge Goodreads group. It’s a great place to hang out, discuss the tasks, and exchange recs and reviews for titles that fit the bill for those tasks. You can also use the #ReadHarder hashtag all over social media and join in on the discussion there.
Click here for a downloadable and editable PDF of the 2023 Read Harder Challenge tasks. Now let’s get to the tasks!
Read Harder 2023
- Read a novel about a trans character written by a trans author.
- Read one of your favorite author’s favorite books.
- Read a book about activism.
- 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.
- Read a completed webcomic.
- Finish a book you’ve DNFed (did not finish).
- Listen to an audiobook performed by a person of color of a book written by an author of color.
- Read a graphic novel/comic/manga if you haven’t before; or read one that is a different genre than you normally read.
- Read an independently published book by a BIPOC author.
- Read a book you know nothing about based solely on the cover.
- Read a cookbook cover to cover.
- Read a nonfiction book about BIPOC and/or queer history.
- Read an author local to you.
- Read a book with under 500 Goodreads ratings.
- Read a historical fiction book set in an Eastern country.
- Read a romance with bisexual representation.
- Read a YA book by an Indigenous author.
- Read a comic or graphic novel that features disability representation.
- Read a nonfiction book about intersectional feminism.
- Read a book of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author.
- Read a book of short stories.
- Read any book from the Ignyte awards shortlist/longlist/winner list.
- Read a social horror, mystery, or thriller novel.
- Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat!
Good luck and happy reading!
