Last week, I introduced several guided reading challenge possibilities for those of you who wanted to make a resolution to read in 2016. Our wonderful primary blog contributor Arabella also introduced the concept of Hermitage Week. Personally, my reading hermitage runs the entire month of January, instead of just one week, thus my blanket fort is perpetually erected and ready for snow days or any other lengthy reading time. This means that I try to have a book list at the ready for my Hermitage Week (Month) needs. It also is a great time to get a solid lead on tackling those reading resolutions.

With that in mind, I’m breaking down the most intense of the challenges, BookRiot’s 2016 Read Harder Challenge, with an infographic of three possible selections for each of 23 out of the 24 categories.* Hopefully this list provides not only some fuel for the reading challenge fire, but also a list of “hunker down and just read” possibilities as well. One thing I hope you notice is that many of the books suggested here can apply to several categories. For example, one of the “Read a book over 500 pages long” suggestions will also cover the “Read a horror book” category. A couple of the “Read a book out loud to someone else” books also covers “Read a book under 100 pages.” One of the “Read a food memoir” books also covers the “Read a collection of essays” category, and so on. BookRiot gives kudos to those resourceful multi-taskers who use the same book for multiple categories, so don’t feel compelled to read a different book for each category. This will allow you the space to accomplish your reading goal but still enjoy your reading and leave yourself time to read other books that are unrelated to a challenge. Remember when I recommended resolving to be kind to yourself? This is a great way to put that into practice!

To help you further, I’ve put together a “Resolving to Read” Pinterest board that has links to all the books shown in the infographic below. They are all available through the Peabody Library (a majority are available directly through the South Branch) and/or Overdrive, so all you have to do is click on the cover in Pinterest and you’ll be taken to the book in our catalog. If none of the books mentioned here suit your fancy, feel free to stop into the library and discuss additional possibilities. We are always ready to talk book recommendations with our great patrons! And if that’s not enough, the New York Public Library has also compiled a list of suggestions, most of which are different from the ones I’ve suggested, so you’ll have plenty to choose.

Hopefully, even if you don’t take up a reading challenge, you’ll still find something worthwhile to read on this list sometime this year or in the future. Plus, these books will make great company during your reading hermitage, however many you decide to tackle or however long your hermitage is. Above all, dear readers, reading is meant to be savored and enjoyed. There’s still a day left to the “official” Hermitage Week, so feel free to hang out in your book fort (or armchair, bed, couch, floor, bean bag chair, etc.) and linger over some particularly engrossing passages. Till next week, I’ll be in my fort…

*The notable exception here is “Read a book originally published in the decade you were born.” Our patron base is as varied as our reading tastes and I don’t presume to guess the age of anyone reading this blog or tackling a book challenge. Should you require some help tracking down a book from the decade you were born, feel free to stop in and ask! We’re always happy to help! Alternately, you can check out Goodread’s list of best books by decades.