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Book Riot’s 2025 Read Harder Challenge

Join Book Riot's 2025 Read Harder Challenge to diversify your reading and discover your next new favorite book!

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It’s finally time to announce the 2025 Read Harder Challenge! This is Book Riot’s 11th year hosting this challenge, if you can believe it. If you’re a Read Harder regular, it’s great to see you again! If this is your first time joining us, welcome to the challenge.

Let’s first go over the basics: the challenge is made up of 24 tasks (an average of two per month) that invite readers to explore formats, genres, and perspectives that might go beyond their reading comfort zones. How you approach Read Harder is up to you: you can read one book per task or count one book for multiple tasks. The point of the challenge is to push yourself to diversify your TBR, so we hope you’ll discover a whole bunch of wonderful books you might not have otherwise chosen for yourself. And as always: have fun with it!

Need suggestions for the tasks? Looking for a community to complete the challenge with? Sign up for the Read Harder newsletter! Throughout the year, we’ll provide guidance on each task. We’ll also share other interesting readathons and reading challenges from across the internet. All subscribers get two book recommendations for each task, and paid subscribers get access to more recommendations as well as community features. Click here to learn more, and get ready to Read Harder with us in the new year.

We know some of you like to plan ahead, so we have a bonus for Annual All Access subscribers this year: scroll down and you’ll find three titles the Book Riot editors recommend for each of these tasks.

Click here for a downloadable and editable PDF of the 2025 Read Harder Challenge tasks. Now, let’s get to the tasks!

Read Harder 2025

  1. Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author.
  2. Reread a childhood favorite book.
  3. Read a queer mystery.
  4. Read a book about obsession.
  5. Read a book about immigration or refugees.
  6. Read a standalone fantasy book.
  7. Read a book about a piece of media you love (a TV show, a movie, a band, etc).
  8. Read literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled author.
  9. Read a book based solely on its setting.
  10. Read a romance book that doesn’t have an illustrated cover.
  11. Read a work of weird horror.
  12. Read a staff pick from an indie bookstore. (Preferably, from your local indie bookstore.)
  13. Read a nonfiction book about nature or the environment.
  14. Read a comic in translation.
  15. Read a banned book and complete a task on Book Riot’s How to Fight Book Bans guides.
  16. Read a genre-blending book.
  17. Read a book about little-known history.
  18. Read a “cozy” book by a BIPOC author.
  19. Read a queernorm book.
  20. Read the first book in a completed young adult or middle grade duology.
  21. Read a book about a moral panic.
  22. Read a holiday romance that isn’t Christmas.
  23. Read a wordless comic.
  24. Pick a 2015 Read Harder Challenge task to complete.

Bonus recommendations for Annual All Access members:

  1. Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author. 
  1. Reread a childhood favorite book. 
  • We don’t know your childhood favorites, but feel free to pick up a picture book or chapter book!
  1. Read a queer mystery.
  1. Read a book about obsession.
  1. Read a book about immigration or refugees. 
  1. Read a standalone fantasy book. 
  1. Read a book about a piece of media you love (a TV show, a movie, a band, etc). 
  1. Read literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled author. 
  1. Read a book based solely on its setting.
  1. Read a romance book that doesn’t have an illustrated cover.
  1. Read a work of weird horror.
  1. Read a staff pick from an indie bookstore. (Preferably, from your local indie bookstore.) 
  1. Read a nonfiction book about nature or the environment. 
  1. Read a comic in translation. 
  • Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, translated by Mattias Ripa
  • Aya of Yop City by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie, translated by Helga Dascher
  • Moms by Yeong-Shin Ma, translated by Janet Hong
  1. Read a banned book and complete a task on Book Riot’s How to Fight Book Bans guides.
  1. Read a genre-blending book.
  1. Read a book about little-known history. 
  1. Read a “cozy” book by a BIPOC author.
  1. Read a queernorm book. 
  1. Read the first book in a completed young adult or middle grade duology. 
  1. Read a book about a moral panic.
  1. Read a holiday romance that isn’t Christmas.
  1. Read a wordless comic.
  1. Pick a 2015 Read Harder Challenge task to complete.
  • Too many to recommend!

Join All Access to Unlock This Content

The rest of this article is for All Access subscribers only. Subscribe now for as low as $5 / month. You’ll get:

Access to community features like commenting and poll participation, and the opportunity to interact with other book lovers like you.

Unlimited access to exclusive bonus content, including expert insights about publishing and book culture and recommendations from the editorial desk.

Support the work of an independent media company, and we can’t thank you enough for that.

Join Now

Remember, if you’re looking for recommendations or to connect with other people doing the Read Harder challenge, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter and become a paid subscriber for community features!

Which tasks are you looking forward to, and which will be the most challenging for you? Let’s chat in the comments!

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