As I was putting together the list of books I wanted to read for the 2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge I thought it would be nice to compile a list of recommendations. I've tried to include as many books and categories as possible, but the numbers are a bit unequal given my reading preferences and my weariness of particular categories (mainly due to assigned reading). I've also tried to stay away from as many massively popular books as possible, so that you can hopefully find something new. Watch this space if you're interested in mini reviews for any of these books. As before, the categories listed are abbreviated, to see the full descriptions check out the challenge post linked above.
Horror
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Syndrome E (Franck Sharko #3) by Franck Thilliez (can be read as a stand-alone)
Science Nonfiction
General Notes; I've read a lot of environmental science nonfiction that I've loved, but nothing immediately springs to mind as a narratively-compelling/fictionesque read, which I know is what a lot of people new to the genre or people looking for something outside their comfort zone are often looking for. Michael Pollen and Barbara Kingsolver both have excellent books (In Defense of Food/The Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal Vegetable Miracle are my favorites) which skirt into memoir territory.
Essay Collection
To my knowledge I have never finished a book of collected essays. You're on your own with this one.
Book to Read Aloud
General Suggestions: poetry, children's or middle grade books, and short stories
Middle Grade
The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Animorphs Series by Katherine Applegate
Time Windows by Kathryn Reiss
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
The Anne of Green Gables Series by L.M. Montgomery
In My Father's House by Ann Rinaldi
Biography
General Notes: I'm having a hard time figuring out what it is exactly fits in this category in the strictest sense, particularly as it relates to memoir. Most of what I've come across is biographies of white men (mostly politicians) which I have no particular interest in. Halp.
Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Abhorsen Trilogy (aka The Old Kingdom Series) by Garth Nix
Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century #1) by Cherie Priest (can be read as a stand-alone)
Dies the Fire (Emberverse #1) by S.M. Stirling (can be read as a stand-alone)
Published in 1980s
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Audie Award Winner
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (the full cast edition)
500+ pages
The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
The Dublin Murder Squad Series by Tana French (these can be read as stand-alones)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century #1) by Cherie Priest (can be read as a stand-alone)
Dies the Fire (Emberverse #1) by S.M. Stirling (can be read as a stand-alone)
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Less Than 100 pages
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
By/About A Transgender Person
Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Set in the Middle East
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend
The Tel Aviv Trilogy by by Edeet Ravel (these can be read as stand-alones)
Southeast Asian Author
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Historical Fiction Set Before 1900
The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
In My Father's House by Ann Rinaldi
First Book in Series by POC Author
Legend by Marie Lu
What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang
Parable of the Sower (Earthseed #1) by Octavia E. Butler (can be read as a stand-alone)
Non-Superhero Comic Published after 2013
The Texan in Tokyo comic series by Grace Buchele Mineta (these can be read as stand-alones)
Read a Book and Watch its Film Adaptation. Discuss.
A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
Legend by Marie Lu
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Nonfiction Feminist Text
The Second Shift by Arlie Russell Hochschild and Anne Machung
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Religion
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by ThÃch Nhất Hạnh
Pagan Time by Micah Perks
Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought by Patrick S. Bresnan
Politics
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner
Food Memoir
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Play
General Notes: I love contemporary theatre but I'm not sure where to get my hands on scripts. I also prefer to watch a performance over reading the script, particularly initially, so this was a bit slim pickings outside of compulsory school reading.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Shakespeare: Hamlet or Macbeth
Possible Worlds by John Mighton
Mentally-Ill Main Character
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Horror
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Syndrome E (Franck Sharko #3) by Franck Thilliez (can be read as a stand-alone)
Science Nonfiction
General Notes; I've read a lot of environmental science nonfiction that I've loved, but nothing immediately springs to mind as a narratively-compelling/fictionesque read, which I know is what a lot of people new to the genre or people looking for something outside their comfort zone are often looking for. Michael Pollen and Barbara Kingsolver both have excellent books (In Defense of Food/The Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal Vegetable Miracle are my favorites) which skirt into memoir territory.
Essay Collection
To my knowledge I have never finished a book of collected essays. You're on your own with this one.
Book to Read Aloud
General Suggestions: poetry, children's or middle grade books, and short stories
Middle Grade
The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Animorphs Series by Katherine Applegate
Time Windows by Kathryn Reiss
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
The Anne of Green Gables Series by L.M. Montgomery
In My Father's House by Ann Rinaldi
Biography
General Notes: I'm having a hard time figuring out what it is exactly fits in this category in the strictest sense, particularly as it relates to memoir. Most of what I've come across is biographies of white men (mostly politicians) which I have no particular interest in. Halp.
Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Abhorsen Trilogy (aka The Old Kingdom Series) by Garth Nix
Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century #1) by Cherie Priest (can be read as a stand-alone)
Dies the Fire (Emberverse #1) by S.M. Stirling (can be read as a stand-alone)
Published in 1980s
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Audie Award Winner
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (the full cast edition)
500+ pages
The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
The Dublin Murder Squad Series by Tana French (these can be read as stand-alones)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century #1) by Cherie Priest (can be read as a stand-alone)
Dies the Fire (Emberverse #1) by S.M. Stirling (can be read as a stand-alone)
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Man Under My Skin by Juliana Gray
By/About A Transgender Person
Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Set in the Middle East
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend
The Tel Aviv Trilogy by by Edeet Ravel (these can be read as stand-alones)
Southeast Asian Author
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Historical Fiction Set Before 1900
The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
In My Father's House by Ann Rinaldi
First Book in Series by POC Author
Legend by Marie Lu
What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang
Parable of the Sower (Earthseed #1) by Octavia E. Butler (can be read as a stand-alone)
Non-Superhero Comic Published after 2013
The Texan in Tokyo comic series by Grace Buchele Mineta (these can be read as stand-alones)
Read a Book and Watch its Film Adaptation. Discuss.
A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
Legend by Marie Lu
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Nonfiction Feminist Text
The Second Shift by Arlie Russell Hochschild and Anne Machung
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Religion
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by ThÃch Nhất Hạnh
Pagan Time by Micah Perks
Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought by Patrick S. Bresnan
Politics
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Play
General Notes: I love contemporary theatre but I'm not sure where to get my hands on scripts. I also prefer to watch a performance over reading the script, particularly initially, so this was a bit slim pickings outside of compulsory school reading.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Shakespeare: Hamlet or Macbeth
Possible Worlds by John Mighton
Mentally-Ill Main Character
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
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