A Few Read Harder 2018 Challenge Selections

At the beginning of the year, I read this article about the Read Harder Challenge, which challenges people to get out of their reading comfort zone and check out some different genres and different authors than they might otherwise gravitate toward.  A few of the categories covered books I'd already picked out to read for the year, but here are a few I probably wouldn't have read but for the challenge, and that's kind of a cool thing (I think!).

Romance by a Person of Color

  

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon: I'm not too familiar with the Romance genre.  When I think of it, I imagine books with Fabio on the cover, but like any genre, I'm sure it spans a wide spectrum - isn't Pride and Prejudice basically a romance?  I have no idea - but When Dimple Met Rishi was a nice "introduction."  Dimple Shah is headed to Stanford - she has big dreams, including spending her summer at an elite web development program - and not including any arranged marriage.  Rishi is headed to MIT - he's not so sure about the summer program, but his parents have told him that his future bride, Dimple, is set to be there - so he's in!  Of course, the two inadvertently meet, hate each other, find themselves stuck together as partners in the program, and hilarity frustration and love ensue.  I can't say that I loved this book - it was silly and predictable.  But, it was super cute and feel-good.  I do love a happy ending - and seems like this genre is poised to give that to me!

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory:  Ms. Guillory is a local author, so I've seen her book cover around - because I'm a judge a book by its cover kind of person, I was drawn to it.  The book starts out with the implausible scenario of two strangers stuck in an elevator together - and one invites the other to be his date at a wedding set to take place the next night.  She agrees.  Predictably, they attend the wedding together, experience an attraction, but have no idea where to go from there.  Both individuals seem to have an incredible amount of relationship baggage, destined to sabotage the relationship before it even gets started.  But, of course, they stay in touch and attempt to keep things going long-distance.  Ups and downs and miscommunications follow, as they are both forced to discover what really matters.  A perfect romance!  Again, as with When Dimple Met Rishi, it was predictable, frustrating, and ultimately happy.  Ms. Guillory has another book out (The Proposal) and one on the way in 2019 (The Wedding Party) and both have been added to my to-read list.

A sci-fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author: The Power by Naomi Alderman

I recently re-read The Handmaid's Tale, and found myself so infuriated - not simply because of how infuriating it is to consider the women in that novel, but because there are too many parallels to the actual world we live in - with men in power attempting to control the bodies and minds of women.  So, I think I welcomed with open arms the concept in The Power which is that girls and women suddenly wake up one day with the power to generate electricity from their bodies - with differing abilities to control their power - they have the unexplained and unpredictable ability to harm and control others (read: men).  The book then follows several characters as they navigate this strange new world - one that flips gender norms, and of course, maybe gives men just a glimpse at the actual world that many women live in every day.

A celebrity memoir: Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes is the incredibly successful mastermind behind television shows like Grey's Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder.  Before reading this, I didn't know a thing about her - except my assumption that she must be an incredibly talented and driven individual.  After reading this book, it is clear that these things are very true - but the impetus of this book is the fact that Ms. Rhimes is a self-proclaimed introvert.  Despite her presence in the media industry, she herself has no desire to go to elaborate Hollywood functions or to socialize at the many many events she is invited to each year.  And so, she found herself repeatedly saying "No" to people who asked her to attend such events.  But then, she decided that for one year she would actually say, "yes," to everything that came her way and see where life took her.  Rhimes has a lovely sense of humor and while this isn't the best written book out there, it is a really interesting look at how a seemingly small shift in perspective can dramatically change one's entire outlook on life.

A one-sitting book: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie is an absolute genius. I have read and loved all her novels, and saw this one on display at the library.  We Should All Be Feminists is adapted from her TED Talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc), and is her call to arms - and argument for why, indeed, we should all be feminists.  She talks about her own experiences in Nigeria, in the United States, and abroad, to highlight the existence and the dangerous power of sexual politics in our time.  In speaking of the institutional sexism that pervades nearly every area of our lives, she makes the obvious, but not so widely accepted, case that we are all harmed by the existence of these systems in our world.  And that we all need to take steps to eradicate them.