I can’t believe how quickly the year is passing – it seems just yesterday we were ringing in the new year, and now it’s almost fall!! This year I decided to really up my reading game after realizing how many books I had on my TBR (not to mention it’s always growing!). So far this year I’m at 154 out of 200 (a good half are audio!) and surprisingly almost finished with Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge.

Here are the tasks I’ve already completed:

Read a horror book:

• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Read a nonfiction book about science:

• Inheritance: How Our Genes Change Our Lives by Sharon Moalem

Read a book aloud to someone else:

• The Pearl by John Steinbeck (read to my cat. Does that count?)

Read a Middle Grade Novel:

• Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Read a biography:

• Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

Read a Dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel (12):

• Brave New World by  Aldous Huxley
• The Scorch Trials (2) by James Dashner
• The Kill Order (4) by James Dashner
• The Passage by Justin Cronin (unfinished)
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Chimes by Anna Smaili
• The Fireman by Joe Hill
• The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
• Bird Box by Josh Malerman
• This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
• The Death Cure (3) by James Dashner
• The Trees by Ali Shaw

Read a book originally published the decade you were born (1990):

• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gayman
• The Pearl by John Steinbeck
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award:

• Euphoria by Lily Kong

Read a book over 500 pages long (9):

• Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• The Lure of the Moonflower by Lauren Willig
• Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
• The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
• The Court of Mist and Fury by Sara J. Maas
• The Fireman by Joe Hill
• The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Read a book under 100 pages long:

• The Pearl by John Steinbeck
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown
• The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

Read a book by or about a person that identifies as transgender:

• The Danish Girl by David Ebbershoff

Read a book that’s set in the Middle East:

• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Read a of historical fiction set before 1900 (18):

• The Known World by Edward P. Jones
• The Chimes by Charles Dickens
• Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• After Alice by Gregory Maguire
• Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig
• A Room with a View by E. M. Forester
• The Lure of the Moonflower by Lauren Willig
• The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Duma-fils
• The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley
• The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
• Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye
• Longbourn by Jo Baker
• The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
• My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
• Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost
• To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
• Currently Reading The Visionist by Rachel Urquhart

Read a graphic novel:

• The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown

Read a book that was adapted into a movie. Debate which is better:

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (both versions are amazing, but book always wins)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (I watched the version with Tom Hardy which was pretty good, but I can’t really decide seeing as I kind of just detest the story no matter the version)
• Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King (the movie was pretty good!)
• The Danish Girl by David Ebbershoff (actually, the movie was better)

Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes:

• Currently Reading Shrill by Lindy West

Read a book about politics:

• White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction):

• Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Alan
• The Relic Master by Christopher Huckley

Read a play:

• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne

Read a book with a main character that has a metal illness:

• Black Hole by Bucky Sinister
• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
• Dear Fang, With Love by Rufi Thorpe
• A World Without You by Beth Revis
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

Looking Back:

My first thought each time I look over my Read Harder list or my Reading Log always seems to be how many genres I’ve read over the year. After so many weeks primarily reading fantasy novels, it’s hard to believe I’ve actually read so many historical fiction novels or even a graphic novel. I’m so proud of myself! My male to female author ratio has even flipped! I’m now at a steady 40% male and 60% female ratio! It really goes to show that once you make the decision, and once you actually start looking and paying attention, how easy it can be to follow through, how my habits are actually changing.

Even though there’s always room for improvement, I’m proud I can look back and see how my reading has become more diverse. Now, to focus on setting, so many of the novels I read are set in America or Britain. I’d like to read more about the world and how life is different, or even the same… I don’t know what I’ll find, but there’s only one way to find out!

Do you consider yourself a diverse reader? What does that mean to you?