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It’s been nine months since I started working on the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do (HRCYED) 2.0. Oh, this is actually feeling daunting right now. I did finish off another prompt, but I realized that I haven’t touched a couple of the prompts at all. And somehow, I did not have a single book with the word “wander” in the title. I don’t know how that’s happened. 

Let’s pretend that I never put up those reading lists, yeah? Because I’ll be honest, that I don’t think I’ve kept to any one of them. I am still trying to do the prompts out of books that I own or can get from the library. Each book can be used for two prompts. And for every 10 new books you read, you can re-read a book. I will likely be be rereading the Lord of the Rings for my Series Staircase. I’m due for my annual re-read of the series anyway. And I’ve already made some more notes in my poor beleaguered move tie-in versions. (I will not damage my nice new hardcover special editions I got for Christmas last year. They are definitely shelf trophies!) 

This is my round up of what progress I’ve made so far: 

Completed Prompt: Adaptations (in December):

Completed Prompt: Favorite HRCYED 1.0 Prompt – Garage Sale Books (in December)

Completed Prompt: Subgenres of Choice (in August)

Completed Prompt: 24 Hour Readathon (in September)

Completed Prompt: Non-Fiction (in October)

Completed Prompt: The TBR Game (in February)

Completed Prompt: The Even Bigger Rainbow

• Red: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
• Orange: Food of a Younger Land by Mark Kurlansky
• Yellow: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
• Green: False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
• Teal: The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
• Light Blue: Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
• Blue: This is Your Mind of Plants by Michael Pollan
• Purple: Bluebeard’s First Wife by Ha Seong-Nan
• Pink: Behind the Seams by Dolly Parton
• Black: This Body’s Not Big Enough for the Both of Us by Edgar Cantero
• White: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
• Silver/Gold: Thornhedge by T Kingfisher
• 7+ Colors: The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Completed Prompt: Translation Challenge

• Strange and Perfect Account from the Permafrost – Donald Niedekker
• The Queen of Swords – Jazmina Barrera
• Bluebeard’s First Wife – Ha Seong-Nan
• Portrait Before Dark – Liana Sakelliou
• Love’s Ripening – Rumi

Completed Prompt: Heritage Months

• Deaf Republic – Ilya Kaminsky
• The Nightmare Box and other stories – Cynthia Gomez
• Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
• We Will Rest! The Art of Escape – Tricia Hersey
• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
• Love’s Ripening – Rumi
• The Jewish Book of Horror – ed. Josh Schlossberg
• Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century – Kim Fu
• Rose/House –  Arkady Martine

In Progress: 

• By the Hundreds: 5/7 (71%)
• Series Staircase: 6/10 (60%)
• The Last 10 Years: 10/11 or 11 if you want to earn +5 points (90%)
• Around the World: 5/7 (71%)
• Spooky Creatures: 6/8 (63%)
• Become the Avatar: 1/4 (25%)
• Animals: 3/5 (60%)
• Queer Alphabet: 5/9 (56%)
• BIPOC Authors: 9/10 (90%)
• New Releases: 9/12 (75%)
• Challenge Yourself: 4/??
• Readathon Challenge: 23/25 (92%)
• Make a Quote: 0/6 (0%)
• Disability Challenge: 4/5 (80%)
• Award Season: 5/7 (71%)
• Q’s Reviews: 1/3 (33%)

So, two of the shelves on my bookcase have broken. One of them doesn’t even have double-stacked books on them! It’s so not fair. But also, the local IKEA actually needs to open soon. I need to get some new shelves and I don’t want to drive thirty minutes down the road to get them. Just lazy, me. HRCYED 3.0 will start in July, so get ready! I’ll add the announcement video when it pops up. But that’s really not that far away now and that is frightening. 

Anyway, if you’d like to learn more about HRCYED, and join the madness, you can find the announcement here: