Sunday Salon: Read Harder (Without Really Trying?)

I've finished five books this year. Four of them have counted toward my Read Harder Challenge. While I'm excited to be off to such a great start, I didn't pick any of these books based on the challenge. I'm one-sixth done with the challenge, and I haven't even challenged myself yet. To be fair. I completed seventeen of the twenty-four tasks last year without trying, so for me, a lot of the Read Harder challenge is in line with what I'm already doing. This week I got to thinking: given how easy it is to Read Harder, what other tasks are missing? Here's my list of possibilities so far:

• A mystery: Romance and sci-fi get love from Read Harder, but what about mysteries? It's my favorite genre, and I think it deserves a spot with those too
• A historical novel: I love exploring other times and places through historical fiction, and it works across many genres
• A book published the year you were born: Read Harder goes back before 1850 and includes a 2015 book, but what about all of those year in between? Why not have people pick a title from the year in which they were born? 
• A book written by someone from each continent (except Antarctica): Read Harder requires a book set in Asia and one written by someone from Africa, but reading the world should include the entire world.
• A collection of essays: 2014 was the year I realized how much I adore essays, and I wish they were included in Read Harder. As it is, only two categories are mandated nonfiction (microhistory and self-improvement)
• A book by someone of your gender: Admittedly, I read more women than men, but Read Harder requires a book by someone not of your gender. It would be a shame for a man or woman to read only books written by men (or vice versa.) 
• A chunkster: if I have a literary fear, it's chunksters. Requiring a book with more than 500 pages would be truly reading harder for me.
• A book from three different nonfiction subject areas (science, nature, history, criticism, social science, humanities, etc.): Another category to beef up the nonfiction reading.

Now tell me: what tasks do you wish were part of the Read Harder challenge?

As an affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits that bring more content to this blog!