I started the year with a 2025 Read Harder post and am circling back to pick three more challenges and books for you since we’re a quarter of the way into the year. Whether you’re committed to doing each prompt from the challenge or are just looking for your next read, each of these books is worth your reading time.
17. Read a book about little-known history.
The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart’s New York by Elon GreenAt the time, this was not an unknown case and because it was so impactful, Elon Green was able to speak to many people who kept all the files and information from the time, making this a very detailed and vivid book. But I don’t think this is a case that is known today, even though it’s still timely, and Michael Stewart’s life and killing in the ‘80s had an impact on the art world. This is an exceptionally written biography of Michael Stewart and a journalistic true crime of his killing in police custody, the court case that followed, everyone tied to Stewart and the case (celebrities like Madonna included), and New York City. If this isn’t on Best of Lists and award lists at the end of the year, it’s because judges/writers didn’t read it. Bonus: the audiobook is narrated by Dion Graham. |
16. Read a genre-blending book.
The Inheritance by Trisha SakhlechaI read basically every genre, so a blend of them is always something I’m into. In this case, Trisha Sakhlecha has written a family drama—built around a past tragedy, resentments, a family business, and a family reunion—that is building up into a suspenseful, criminal ending. And for fans of remote settings, it’s set on an island off the coast of Scotland that one of the characters owns. Bonus: the audiobook has multiple narrators: Avita Jay, Ellie Kendrick & Tamaryn Payne. |
15. Read a banned book and complete a task on Book Riot’s How to Fight Book Bans guides.
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka SlaterParents have always had the right to opt their child out of any book that they don’t want them to read, so the Republicans censorship campaign against books has always had a much wider reach: wanting to control and censor what everyone can read, while sowing more hatred towards vulnerable communities of people in order to make it as difficult as possible for them to live peacefully, freely, and with the same rights as everyone else. My choices were plenty in the saddest, most infuriating way, so I chose the first book in the crime genre I spotted on the University of Florida’s Censored and Banned Books Collection. We need more YA nonfiction, not less, and this is a must-read title, especially in a time where so many people see nothing more than a headline, have a feeling, and think that’s equivalent to understanding. The 57 Bus explores the case of a Black teen who set fire to a white gender nonconforming teen’s skirt on a bus. Dashka Slater uses compassion instead of sensationalizing the case by exploring the juvenile system, gender, race, and adolescence. |
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
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