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Can you believe this year is the 10th Read Harder Challenge? We’ve been doing them since 2015! There have been a whole lot of tasks in that time—240, to be exact—which means there are a lot of options for the final task of the 2024 Read Harder Challenge: Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat.
This may be the easiest task on the list; between all those previous years of tasks, you’ve probably completed at least one accidentally this year. It’s also one of my favorite tasks, because there’s so much flexibility, and it’s a good excuse to take a trip down memory lane. Below, I’ve selected a task from each year and a recommendation for a book that completes it.
This is the last recommendation post I have for the 2024 Read Harder Challenge, but we have still have lots more excitement coming before the end of the year: I want to check in with you about your favorite books you’ve read for the challenge this year, and the 2025 Read Harder Challenge will be announced in December. In the meantime, some of us still are still aiming to squeeze in a few more tasks before the year ends!
2015: A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
These books are delightful because the amateur sleuth who solves the crimes is an 11-year-old girl who lives in a decaying mansion in 1950s England. Her name is Flavia de Luce and she’s reviled by her older sisters and ignored by pretty much everyone else, which leaves her time for her hobby: learning about poisons. In this book, Flavia must use her wits to clear her father of a crime. —Liberty Hardy
(This book was published in 2009, when Alan Bradley was 71.)
2016: Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Moon of the Crusted Snow is a post-apocalyptic novel set in a small northern Anishinaabe community. When the power goes out, so do the phones and the internet, leaving this community completely isolated. This is a quiet apocalypse, as they struggle to adapt to the sudden change, especially when the food supply begins to run out and strangers start to arrive. It recently got a sequel: Moon of the Turning Leaves! —Danika Ellis
