Challenge Complete
Yesterday I finished the Book Riot 2019 Read Harder Challenge. This is my second year doing the challenge and I've found I really enjoy it. It has diversified my reading and led me to authors and books I would not have found otherwise.
The challenge is 24 categories. If you read a book that fulfills more than one category that is a-OK but I typically try to read a book per challenge. Earlier this year I wrote a blog about finishing the first twelve challenges. Here is a link to the post if you want to go back and read it.
The final half of the challenge included the following: Read an alternate history novel; an #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America; an #ownvoices book set in Oceania; a book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse; a book of mythology or folklore; an historical romance by an author of color (AOC); a business book; a novel by a trans or nonbinary author; a book of nonviolent true crime; a book written in prison; a self-published book; and a collection of poetry published since 2014.
Of all the books I read for the challenge, only two were in my personal library at the start of the year -- Reporting Live by Lesley Stahl and Love in a Tuscan Kitchen by Sheryl Ness. I've written about how I approach the challenge before. When I first look through the reading challenges I always check to see if there is a book that I own, but haven't read yet, that would fit a particular category. I then look at my "Wish List" on Amazon and see if any of the books I've saved meet the challenge. After that I just do a ton of online searching to see what is out there and what books others recommend. Ultimately, if I don't already own the book, a lot of it comes down to whether I can get the book through my local library system.
So, first up. Seeing as how I am currently living in Italy I thought it would be fitting to start with a book about Italy -- Sheryl Ness' book Love in a Tuscan Kitchen.
Earlier this year I became a member of Dream of Italy -- a PBS series and newsletter curated by Kathy McCabe -- you can follow Kathy on Instagram. One of the perks of joining at the time was getting a copy of Sheryl's book. It was part of a promo for the new Dream of Italy Book Club. I watched the Book Club interview between Sheryl and Kathy, which I think was around Valentines Day, but I hadn't read the book yet. I was really excited to learn that the book had been self-published so I marked it down for the read a self-published book challenge.
Sheryl writes about her experience moving to a small village in the Chianti region of Italy and having her entire life changed when she meets and falls in love with a chef named Vincenzo. I found her descriptions of village life vivid and it was helpful learning about her experiences becoming familiar with the local culture and also learning Italian. It's also a very heart-warming love story. She also shares some of her favorites places -- restaurants and tourist spots, which I saved on my phone in case we're ever in the area. The book also includes recipes, which is great too. I referenced her recipe for focaccia earlier this year when I made it for the first time.
Next up is read a business book. There are certainly a ton of ways I could have approached this category -- leadership, finance, strategy, planning, etc. I chose to read a Malcolm Gladwell book. He is someone I have been familiar with for more than a decade but I've never read one of his book. I had his book Outliers on my Kindle so I went ahead and read that one. He shows that success stories can often be explained by a series of events, circumstances, a lot of hard work, and often when and where a person is born. It's been a couple months since I read it but I remember a chapter on professional hockey players and how something like a birth month can often determine if a player will go pro. I also remember a chapter talking about the ethnicity and expertise of lawyers in New York City and how a lot of it boiled down to hiring prejudices of certain firms back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. He also wrote about birth years having a strong determinate on what opportunities certain people had. I got really interested in that idea and found it interesting that four of our last three presidents were born in the same year - 1946. Presidents Trump, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton. Coincidence? Maybe not.
#Ownvoices is something I was not familiar with before the challenge. It means the author is part of the culture, community, marginalized group they are writing about. I looked at a lot of possible books for read an #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America. Some of the books I considered were I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez and The House of Broken Angles by Luis Alberto Urrea. I could have gotten both from the library but I settled on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Laura's book is one I actually own but it is in long-term storage. It is a book I have been familiar with for a long time but had never read. I figured the book challenge was a perfect opportunity to finally read it.
The second #ownvoices challenge was read an #ownvoices book set in Oceania. I found some debate online about what countries actually comprise Oceania but I settled on The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, which is set in New Zealand and features a Maori tribal family. This is another book I have been aware of for more than two decades but had never read. The challenge provided another perfect opportunity to finally read it. Plus, this was a rather difficult category to find books through my local library.
I wasn't familiar with the terms neurodiverse and nonbinary before the challenge so I had to learn about those first before looking for books to match the category. Neurodiverse includes individuals who have dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, tourette syndrome, and are on the autism spectrum. I had originally planned on reading a Temple Grandin book for the read a book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse but ended up reading Ron Fournier's book Love that Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations. Fournier's son Tyler has Aspergers and wasn't diagnosed until he was maybe around 8 or 10 years old.
The book is Fournier's journey to confronting his own expectations of his son, reflecting on his own father and upbringing, accepting his son for the unique person he is, and seeking ways to connect. The book is framed around them sitting down with two former presidents (Bush 43 and Clinton) and making some road trips to presidential birthplaces and libraries. I found myself reflecting a bit on my own childhood while reading it.
Towards the end of the book, Fournier writes about the death of his father and the family is gathered together and his sister becomes very emotional and walks away to be by herself. Tyler sees her and says, "I don't know what to say to make you feel better, but I can give you a hug." This is a huge moment because someone with Aspergers has to learn how to read visual cues to determine how someone is feeling -- this is not natural to them -- and giving hugs and personal touch are not something they typically do either. I thought this was such a tender moment. I think we are all uncomfortable and don't know what to say when we interact with people who are grieving the loss of a loved one. I love this simple statement - I don't know what to say but I can give you a hug, if you want. I plan to use that in the future.
Next up is read a novel by a trans or nonbinary author. I was familiar with transgender -- when a person associates with a gender that does not match their birth sex -- but I was not familiar with nonbinary. I had to look that up. Being nonbinary means the individual does not identify as either masculine or feminine. I can't say I have ever read a book by either a trans or nonbinary author so I did some research online to get some recommendations. I looked at If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, and Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg. I could have gotten any of those through the library system, which I was happy to learn. They all sounded like good books but I settled on Revolutionary by Alex Myers.
I chose Myers' book for a few reasons. Revolutionary is a fictionalized account of the real life of Deborah Samson, who disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army in 1782, serving in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment's light infantry company. I first learned about Deborah Samson last year when I was researching a
speech for a commemoration of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the
right to vote in 1920. I was looking for women who were first in service to the nation. I was interested in learning more about her. Plus I also just enjoy historical novels in general. I really enjoyed the book and I know, without a doubt, that I never would have found it without the reading challenge.
For read a collection of poetry published since 2014, I found Look by Solmaz Sharif. She is an Iranian-American poet who explores the cost of war. She draws from her own personal experiences and also pulls terms from the Department of Defense's Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. I found the concept interesting.
You can probably deduce that the poems are serious and sobering but I'm really glad I read it. I can't remember the exact context but I think she is writing about a family member who is in combat when she writes: "You are surrounded by the tall grass and still I want to hiss 'get down get down' so lit and tall a stupid thin helmet between you and the gods." Another section I copied in my journal: "Is this what happens to a brain born into war / a city of broken teeth / the thuds of falling / we have learned to sing a child calm in a bomb shelter / I am singing to her still". Writing this just now reminds me of a documentary I recently learned about earlier this week and hope to see in the coming year. It is a National Geographic documentary called The Cave. It's about a female doctor named Amani Ballour who works in an underground hospital in Syria. Here is a link to the trailer. It is so powerful. Please take the two minutes to watch it.
I had several books in my Amazon Wish List that would have met the category of read a book of mythology or folklore. However, I ended up reading Alexander McCall Smith's The Baboons Who Went This Way and That: Folktales from Africa. We were flying home after our vacation in Greece and I was looking through my Kindle for something to read on the plane. I came across this book. My work focuses on the African continent so I thought it might be interesting. It was also a fairly short read. I didn't particularly like the book but it was interesting learning some of the traditional stories and morality tales told in some African nations. I think McCall Smith pulled from stories told in southern Africa.
Sticking with the theme of tales. Yesterday I finished the challenge with Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale for read an alternate history novel. I have not seen the Hulu series but I did see the movie adaptation in 1990. The structure of the novel is not linear. The narrator bounces back and forth from the present to different points in the past. It took me a while to settle into the style. I actually didn't know if I'd finish it. I was also interested in reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A classic I have never read. But I ultimately found Atwood's writing style very effective at telling the story. I also found it a very visual book. It was very easy for me to imagine. I'm glad I stuck with it.
For read an historical romance by an Author of Color. I really wanted to read another book by Alyssa Cole. I read her book An Extraordinary Union last year for the book challenge and really enjoyed it. I was looking for either An Unconditional Freedom or A Hope Divided but I couldn't get them through the library. I actually had a lot of trouble finding romance books by authors of color but combined with needing an historical romance it was even more difficult. I ultimately found Courtney Milan's book Unclaimed in a Stateside bookstore last month. I read it on my nearly 24+ hour trip back to Italy -- flying from Omaha to Washington DC to Boston to London and then into Venice. I really liked the storyline and it's not what you would assume a romance novel might be.
I know this has been a long post...thanks for hanging in there. We are nearing the end.
I initially read Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell thinking it would work for a book of nonviolent true crime. I figured I'd make it work since its about the exclusive and legal diamond industry but there was so much violence and death surrounding the story, which is largely set within the Sierra Leone civil war in the 1990s. I just couldn't place it in a nonviolent crime category. I eventually settled on Michael Lewis' book The Big Short. I read Elizabeth Warren's book A Fighting Chance earlier this year and it got me interested in the collapse of the housing market, big banks, and loans gone wild back in 2007-2008. I don't know that anyone went to prison over the collapse but I think there was definitely criminal behavior in what took place.
I want to end this post and my challenge with one of my favorite books of this set. Anthony Ray Hinton's book The Sun Does Shine, which I read for a book written in prison.
I took some liberty here because the book was not actually written in prison but Mr. Hinton wrote it after he was freed, having spent nearly three decades on death row for a crime he did NOT commit. This book opened my eyes to realities of our criminal justice system. Since reading this book I have watched the 13th, a very powerful documentary by Ava DuVernay, and I've read Bryan Stevenson's book Just Mercy. Stevenson is Mr. Hinton's lawyer and worked his case for nearly two decades, if I recall correctly. I think books have a powerful way of opening our hearts and minds. And this book certainly expanded my understanding of a very important and serious issue. I'll end with a few quotes from the book, which I wrote in my journal.
"I knew if the mind could open, the heart would follow."
"Everything, I realized is a choice. And spending your days waiting to die is no way to live."
"Despair was a choice. Hatred was a choice. Anger was a choice. I still had choices and that knowledge rocked me. ... I could choose to give, give up, or to hang on. Hope was a choice. Faith was a choice. And more than anything else, love was a choice. Compassion was a choice." Amen!
Here's to the power of books. Their power to open our minds and open our hearts. So grateful for all these authors and their contributions. Keep reading!
The challenge is 24 categories. If you read a book that fulfills more than one category that is a-OK but I typically try to read a book per challenge. Earlier this year I wrote a blog about finishing the first twelve challenges. Here is a link to the post if you want to go back and read it.
The final half of the challenge included the following: Read an alternate history novel; an #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America; an #ownvoices book set in Oceania; a book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse; a book of mythology or folklore; an historical romance by an author of color (AOC); a business book; a novel by a trans or nonbinary author; a book of nonviolent true crime; a book written in prison; a self-published book; and a collection of poetry published since 2014.
 |
| The last half of my 2019 Read Harder Challenge |
So, first up. Seeing as how I am currently living in Italy I thought it would be fitting to start with a book about Italy -- Sheryl Ness' book Love in a Tuscan Kitchen.
Sheryl writes about her experience moving to a small village in the Chianti region of Italy and having her entire life changed when she meets and falls in love with a chef named Vincenzo. I found her descriptions of village life vivid and it was helpful learning about her experiences becoming familiar with the local culture and also learning Italian. It's also a very heart-warming love story. She also shares some of her favorites places -- restaurants and tourist spots, which I saved on my phone in case we're ever in the area. The book also includes recipes, which is great too. I referenced her recipe for focaccia earlier this year when I made it for the first time.
Next up is read a business book. There are certainly a ton of ways I could have approached this category -- leadership, finance, strategy, planning, etc. I chose to read a Malcolm Gladwell book. He is someone I have been familiar with for more than a decade but I've never read one of his book. I had his book Outliers on my Kindle so I went ahead and read that one. He shows that success stories can often be explained by a series of events, circumstances, a lot of hard work, and often when and where a person is born. It's been a couple months since I read it but I remember a chapter on professional hockey players and how something like a birth month can often determine if a player will go pro. I also remember a chapter talking about the ethnicity and expertise of lawyers in New York City and how a lot of it boiled down to hiring prejudices of certain firms back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. He also wrote about birth years having a strong determinate on what opportunities certain people had. I got really interested in that idea and found it interesting that four of our last three presidents were born in the same year - 1946. Presidents Trump, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton. Coincidence? Maybe not.
#Ownvoices is something I was not familiar with before the challenge. It means the author is part of the culture, community, marginalized group they are writing about. I looked at a lot of possible books for read an #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America. Some of the books I considered were I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez and The House of Broken Angles by Luis Alberto Urrea. I could have gotten both from the library but I settled on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Laura's book is one I actually own but it is in long-term storage. It is a book I have been familiar with for a long time but had never read. I figured the book challenge was a perfect opportunity to finally read it.
The second #ownvoices challenge was read an #ownvoices book set in Oceania. I found some debate online about what countries actually comprise Oceania but I settled on The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, which is set in New Zealand and features a Maori tribal family. This is another book I have been aware of for more than two decades but had never read. The challenge provided another perfect opportunity to finally read it. Plus, this was a rather difficult category to find books through my local library.
I wasn't familiar with the terms neurodiverse and nonbinary before the challenge so I had to learn about those first before looking for books to match the category. Neurodiverse includes individuals who have dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, tourette syndrome, and are on the autism spectrum. I had originally planned on reading a Temple Grandin book for the read a book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse but ended up reading Ron Fournier's book Love that Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations. Fournier's son Tyler has Aspergers and wasn't diagnosed until he was maybe around 8 or 10 years old.
Towards the end of the book, Fournier writes about the death of his father and the family is gathered together and his sister becomes very emotional and walks away to be by herself. Tyler sees her and says, "I don't know what to say to make you feel better, but I can give you a hug." This is a huge moment because someone with Aspergers has to learn how to read visual cues to determine how someone is feeling -- this is not natural to them -- and giving hugs and personal touch are not something they typically do either. I thought this was such a tender moment. I think we are all uncomfortable and don't know what to say when we interact with people who are grieving the loss of a loved one. I love this simple statement - I don't know what to say but I can give you a hug, if you want. I plan to use that in the future.
Next up is read a novel by a trans or nonbinary author. I was familiar with transgender -- when a person associates with a gender that does not match their birth sex -- but I was not familiar with nonbinary. I had to look that up. Being nonbinary means the individual does not identify as either masculine or feminine. I can't say I have ever read a book by either a trans or nonbinary author so I did some research online to get some recommendations. I looked at If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, and Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg. I could have gotten any of those through the library system, which I was happy to learn. They all sounded like good books but I settled on Revolutionary by Alex Myers.
For read a collection of poetry published since 2014, I found Look by Solmaz Sharif. She is an Iranian-American poet who explores the cost of war. She draws from her own personal experiences and also pulls terms from the Department of Defense's Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. I found the concept interesting.
You can probably deduce that the poems are serious and sobering but I'm really glad I read it. I can't remember the exact context but I think she is writing about a family member who is in combat when she writes: "You are surrounded by the tall grass and still I want to hiss 'get down get down' so lit and tall a stupid thin helmet between you and the gods." Another section I copied in my journal: "Is this what happens to a brain born into war / a city of broken teeth / the thuds of falling / we have learned to sing a child calm in a bomb shelter / I am singing to her still". Writing this just now reminds me of a documentary I recently learned about earlier this week and hope to see in the coming year. It is a National Geographic documentary called The Cave. It's about a female doctor named Amani Ballour who works in an underground hospital in Syria. Here is a link to the trailer. It is so powerful. Please take the two minutes to watch it.
I had several books in my Amazon Wish List that would have met the category of read a book of mythology or folklore. However, I ended up reading Alexander McCall Smith's The Baboons Who Went This Way and That: Folktales from Africa. We were flying home after our vacation in Greece and I was looking through my Kindle for something to read on the plane. I came across this book. My work focuses on the African continent so I thought it might be interesting. It was also a fairly short read. I didn't particularly like the book but it was interesting learning some of the traditional stories and morality tales told in some African nations. I think McCall Smith pulled from stories told in southern Africa.
Sticking with the theme of tales. Yesterday I finished the challenge with Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale for read an alternate history novel. I have not seen the Hulu series but I did see the movie adaptation in 1990. The structure of the novel is not linear. The narrator bounces back and forth from the present to different points in the past. It took me a while to settle into the style. I actually didn't know if I'd finish it. I was also interested in reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A classic I have never read. But I ultimately found Atwood's writing style very effective at telling the story. I also found it a very visual book. It was very easy for me to imagine. I'm glad I stuck with it.
For read an historical romance by an Author of Color. I really wanted to read another book by Alyssa Cole. I read her book An Extraordinary Union last year for the book challenge and really enjoyed it. I was looking for either An Unconditional Freedom or A Hope Divided but I couldn't get them through the library. I actually had a lot of trouble finding romance books by authors of color but combined with needing an historical romance it was even more difficult. I ultimately found Courtney Milan's book Unclaimed in a Stateside bookstore last month. I read it on my nearly 24+ hour trip back to Italy -- flying from Omaha to Washington DC to Boston to London and then into Venice. I really liked the storyline and it's not what you would assume a romance novel might be.
I know this has been a long post...thanks for hanging in there. We are nearing the end.
I initially read Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell thinking it would work for a book of nonviolent true crime. I figured I'd make it work since its about the exclusive and legal diamond industry but there was so much violence and death surrounding the story, which is largely set within the Sierra Leone civil war in the 1990s. I just couldn't place it in a nonviolent crime category. I eventually settled on Michael Lewis' book The Big Short. I read Elizabeth Warren's book A Fighting Chance earlier this year and it got me interested in the collapse of the housing market, big banks, and loans gone wild back in 2007-2008. I don't know that anyone went to prison over the collapse but I think there was definitely criminal behavior in what took place.
I want to end this post and my challenge with one of my favorite books of this set. Anthony Ray Hinton's book The Sun Does Shine, which I read for a book written in prison.
"I knew if the mind could open, the heart would follow."
"Everything, I realized is a choice. And spending your days waiting to die is no way to live."
"Despair was a choice. Hatred was a choice. Anger was a choice. I still had choices and that knowledge rocked me. ... I could choose to give, give up, or to hang on. Hope was a choice. Faith was a choice. And more than anything else, love was a choice. Compassion was a choice." Amen!
Here's to the power of books. Their power to open our minds and open our hearts. So grateful for all these authors and their contributions. Keep reading!
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