Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

When I was thinking about my reading goals for 2015 I came across Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. The challenge really seems to focus on reading from a diverse range of authors, genres, and cultures that maybe one wouldn't normally choose to read on their own. I love the idea of reading more diversely and putting more thought into type of books I choose to read.

A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25: White Teeth by Zadie Smith

A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65: Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter

A collection of short stories: Tenth of December by George Saunders

A book published by an indie press: The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison

A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ: Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides

A book by a person whose gender is different from your own: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

A book that takes place in Asia: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

A book by an author from Africa: The Stranger by Albert Camus

A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

A microhistory: Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World by Mark Pendergrast

A YA novel: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

A sci-fi novel: Dune by Frank Herbert

A romance novel: Rule by Jay Crownover

A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize, or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

A book that is retelling of a classic story: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

An audiobook: More Than This by Patrick Ness

A collection of poetry: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

A book that someone else has recommended to you: The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart

A book that was originally published in a different language: The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind: Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isobel Greenberg

A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure: Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

A book published before 1850: Candide by Voltaire

A book published this year: One More Thing by B. J. Novak

A self-improvement book: Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

I'm really excited about this list of books. If possible, I tried to choose from books I already own and haven't read first, although there were still quite a few categories that nothing I had fit into. I'm hoping to read more than one book in each category, but here's what I've chosen for now. I've already finished three audiobooks this year so I'll definitely have that category covered at least. As for the "a book published this year" category, I actually made this list closer to the start of January and hadn't done any research on books being published in 2015 yet. Hopefully I'll be able to find a book that's actually being published this year to swap with One More Thing.

So what do you think? Are you planning on participating in any reading challenges this year?

-S