Liberty Hardy is an unrepentant velocireader, writer, bitey mad lady, and tattoo canvas. Turn-ons include books, books and books. Her favorite exclamation is “Holy cats!” Liberty reads more than should be legal, sleeps very little, frequently writes on her belly with Sharpie markers, and when she dies, she’s leaving her body to library science. Until then, she lives with her three cats, Millay, Farrokh, and Zevon, in Maine. She is also right behind you. Just kidding! She’s too busy reading.
Twitter: @MissLiberty
2026 is almost here, which means it’s time for Book Riot’s annual Read Harder Challenge! For a dozen years now, Book Riot has been coming up with new and interesting reading tasks for book lovers of all stripes. It’s a really fun way to change up your reading and maybe discover a new author or genre to love.
There are 24 tasks, so two a month, but you don’t have to do them in any order. And you don’t have to even do them all—any amount of reading you get in is a great amount of reading, because it can increase empathy and lower your blood pressure and stress levels! I did the challenge for the first time this year, and while I didn’t get to all the tasks, I am looking forward to trying again in 2026.
To help you with the tasks on the Read Harder challenge, I am recommending books today that fit Task #21: Read a genre (SFF, horror, mystery, romance) book in translation. We are so lucky to benefit from all the hard work that translators do to make sure that amazing literature is shared with the world. Below you’ll find three speculative novels in translation that I have enjoyed.
And remember, you can get recommendations or connect with other people doing the challenge by signing up for the Read Harder newsletter and joining All Access for bonus recommendations as well as more community features!
Enter for a chance to snag a brand-new Kindle Paperwhite for carrying a pocketful of stories wherever your holidays may take you.
In Reading Color
A weekly newsletter focusing on literature by and about people of color!
The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette
This is a dystopian satire set in modern-day Egypt and inspired by events after the Arab Spring. In this country, citizens from all walks of life must stand in line to speak to the government, known as The Gate, in order to gain permission to do anything (including having a bullet removed from their body). But the doors never open to permit the citizens access, so the line continues to grow, and people become restless and angry, clashing with the security officers patrolling the queue.
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz
In this post-apocalyptic read, a young girl may be the key to escape for a large group of women who have been imprisoned in a cage underground, with no idea how they ended up in their situation or how much time has passed. Originally released in French in 1995, this was a huge hit when it was re-released in English in 2024, so if you’ve been meaning to read it, now you have a perfect excuse to pick it up!
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky, translated by Olena Bormashenko
And last, there’s this classic of science fiction, written by two Russian brothers, about a man named Schuhart who illegally enters the Zone to retrieve alien artifacts and sell them on the black market. The artifacts were left behind during a two-day extraterrestrial event, and they can pose great danger to the “stalkers” who attempt to gather them. I recommend reading the edition with the introduction by Ursula K. Le Guin, because a sci-fi novel loved by one of the greatest sci-fi writers ever is a heck of a recommendation!
Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the BR podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.
English (US) · 