The Hardest Reading Challenge You'll Ever Do 3.0

I keep talking about this reading challenge I signed up for, but I haven't really talked about it. A video about this challenge came up on my feed on YouTube. I was like, "What's this?" I watched a couple of videos and thought, "Wow. That's a lot. I don't think I have the energy for that." Then I watched more videos, and realized that, honestly, most of those challenges aren't difficult to find books for, there are just a lot of them. Then I watched the announcement video where the creator of the challenge went over the whole thing, and I signed up. For one, I liked her (she has a lot of pets), and for two, it kind of sounded like fun. Did I get out a blank notebook and create a whole system for this challenge? Yes. Yes, I did. And it has already come in extremely handy. There is a spreadsheet available, and I do have that too, but having it all in print is a much faster way to reference the descriptions of each prompt.

The Rules: Each book can only be used for 2 prompts. If you DNF a book, you can't count it. Nothing that in any way references J.K. Rowling, as the creator refuses to support her in any way.

The challenge is set up like a Bingo Board. There are 25 prompts, but each prompt requires at least 2 books read to complete it. Some require a whole lot more than that. Let's begin:

ROW 1:

Choose Your Party - This prompt is a reference to Dungeons and Dragons. The goal is to read 5 books in which characters represent different Dungeons and Dragons characters. The options are: Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Rogue, Warlock, Bard, Druid, Mon, Ranger, Sorcerer, and Wizard.

Periodic Table - For this one you have to read 5 books with different elements in the title. The most likely elements you might find in the titles are: Oxygen, Copper, Neon, Arsenic, Aluminum, Silver, Silicon, Gold, Sulfur, Tin, Chlorine, Platinum, Titanium, Radium, Iron, Mercury, Cobalt, and Lead. I own many books with the words silver and gold in the titles. After that, I have Radium Girls and Iron Raven. I may have to do some research for a fifth element.

Familial Terms - This one means to read books with words in the title referencing a person's place in the family: mother, father, sister, brother, husband, wife, etc. This one also requires 5 books to complete. I have a bunch of books with sister in the title. I have at least one with brother. I have one with wife. I'll have to keep an eye out for family titles.

Traipse Through Regions - In the second version of this challenge, there was a prompt to read books in different continents. This year, the area is shrunk a little bit to "regions", meaning Central Asia, East Asia, Siberia, Sahara, etc. Again, this one requires 5 books in 5 different regions.

Choose Your Curriculum - There is a new trend happening where people are assigning themselves curriculum to study just because they want to do a deep dive into a subject. For this prompt you read 5 books that could count for 5 different classes. When I finish Who Is Government? I will count that for a class. Ooo! I wonder if that book on my TBR, When the Moon Hits Your Eye, could count for astronomy.

ROW 2:

Road Trip - For this one, read 5 books set in 5 different states, but none of them can be California or New York. The creator says there are far two many books set in those states, and it's time to give some other places some love. For people outside the United States, you can do counties or provinces, or whatever, but not the most popular areas for your country. I feel like this is going to be pretty easy to do, so I haven't really put a lot of thought into this prompt.

Bookception - I like this one. This prompt requires you to read a book that names another book in it, and then read that book, also. There are only 2 books required for this one, which is nice. I'm using Just Plain Filthy for the first book because it references that book written by my friend, Book Banning in the 21st Century. How nice that I already own that one.

Not So Secret Prompts - In the second version of this challenge, the creator put out monthly secret prompts to add side quests to the challenge to earn bonuses you could use at the end of the year to help complete challenges you are struggling with. For this version, you just choose one book for each one of those secret prompts from last year. Those prompts are:

• Read a Whole Book Outside (I used Just Plain Filthy. I don't go outside, but I counted this one that I read entirely in the car.)
• Pun in the Title ( This is the one I was thinking about using The Dog Who Knew Too Much)
• Missed Childhood Chapterbook (I read The Phantom Tollbooth)
• Joseph's Coat Color in the Title - This is referencing Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, in which the colors are listed in a song: red, yellow, green, brown, scarlet, black, ochre, peach, ruby, olive, violet, fawn, lilac, gold, chocolate, mauve, cream, crimson, silver, rose, azure, lemon, russet, gray, purple, white, pink, orange, and blue. Lots of options here for colors in the title.
• Doomscroll Your Read - Basically, you get on social media and scroll until you find a book to read. I will try to find one that I already own.
• Last Name is a First Name - For this one, read a book written by an author whose last name could be a first name. So like Laura Dave, would work.
• Craft on the Cover - This one might be a struggle for me. I don't have many books with a craft. I feel like that might be a thing mostly found on cozy mysteries. I don't have many of those, but I'll give them a look.
• First and Last Name in the Title - I have plenty of books with full names in the title. Easy peasy.
• A Book From the "I'll Get Around to It Eventually" Tag - Essentially, this is a book that you've been meaning to read for awhile. (I used The Name of the Wind which is one of the oldest books on my shelf. Perfect.)
• Title is The Exact Same As Another Book - Pretty much what it says on the tin. I plan to use Arcadia for this one.
• Cover Features Motion - For this one, the cover of the book has to clearly show something or someone moving. Falling, running, walking, swimming, etc.
• Most Recent Acquisition - So, the most recent book you received. Easy enough. Whenever I decide to do this one, I'll just review my list of acquisitions.

This prompt requires 12 books to finish. This is a lot, but there are even longer ones.

Cover Styles - This one only requires 4 books. This is hard for me, because these style descriptions all sound the same to me. I can tell the difference between like a cover that was drawn vs. one that is a photograph, but past that. I have no idea. Here are the options: Illustrated with line art, illustrated without line art, real people on the cover, adaptation poster, symbol-based, filigreed, minimalist, protraited, landscape, double exposure, object-based, typographic, scene-setter, and maximalist. I might be winging this one. I think as long as the covers are clearly in very different styles, it will be fine. Oh! Also, no AI art on the covers. This may take some investigation.

Titular Counting - For this one, you count the words in the title and read 10 books. So, a book with one word in the title, 2 words, 3 words, etc. I feel like the longer titles will be the most difficult.

ROW 3:

Characters to Authors - This is a little convoluted. So you read a book. Then you read a book by an author with the same name as a character in the first book. Then, for the next book it should be written by an author with the same name as a character in the second book. This on only requires 3 books. That's good. It could get a little crazy to carry on.

Shiritori - The creator of this challenge used to live in Japan. They have a game called Shiritori, and this prompt is based on that game. For this one, you read five books. The second book's title starts with the last letter in the title of the first book. Then the third book's title starts with the last letter in the title of the second book. It sort of creates a chain. I'm not sure how hard this will be. The first book will be pretty easy, anyway.

HRCYED Mashup - For this one, you take one of the prompts from HRCYED 1.0 and a prompt from HRCYED 2.0 and read books that meet both prompts at once. This one requires 5 books to complete. From 1.0 I chose a book set in or written by an author from anywhere but USA/UK/Canada. From 2.0 I chose the prompt to read books in different sets of page numbers. Basically, 100-199 pages, 200-299 pages, etc. I feel like this ought to be two reasonably easy prompts to find five books for.

Okay, that's half of the board. I feel this could be a good place to take a break. I'll bring you part two soon.