As I mentioned in my last post, I am participating in HRCYED 3.0 and I wanted to share my tentative tbr for the challenge. I spent a long fricking time working out what I wanted to include and hopefully achieve. NOTE, this is most definitely subject to change and will be predominantly built of my existing physical tbr.
To start, what is HRCYED? I will link to the announcement video again, The Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do Round 3 0 Full Announcement with Prompts and More!!!, but the TL;DR is, HRCYED is a readathon created by QWORDY on YouTube and is a nearly impossible reading challenge to complete. The prompts are meant to help expand your reading habits and get you thinking about the types of books you are reading. For 3.0, there are a few different ways you could play (discussed in detail in the announcement video); I will be taking part in the No Nonsense Version of the reading challenge which is considered the Standard version.
Rules include,
– Every book read can count towards 2 different bingo squares, but not within the same square
– Rereads are allowed IF it has been over 5 years since it was reads
– DNFs don’t count for the challenge
I think the easiest way to do this is to split this up by prompt, give a short description of the prompt and tell you the books I intend on reading for them. This will most definitely be a long post so strap in!
Chose Your Party
This prompt relates to the professions of the protagonists and aligning them with a DND roles. 5 books for 5 different roles. The profession could be a literal interpretation (a genuine bard in a fantasy book) or it could be an interpretation of the profession in the real world (a bard could be seen as an author, musician, artist, or a news report IRL)
- Bard: Beach Read – Emily Henry
- Cleric: Apothecary Diaries Manga
- Monk: A Prayer for the Crown Shy – Becky Chambers
- Sorcerer (magic innate): The Well of Ascension – Brandon Sanderson
- Wizard (magic learned): Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo
Saying it here, but you will see a lot of Leigh Bardugo and Emily Henry sprinkled throughout the sections as they are both huge backlist authors for me. I’m also super excited to finish the Monk and Robot series by Beck Chamber. I adored the first book and I can’t explain why it has taken me so long to pick up the second book. This prompt was also the perfect excuse to pick up the second book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson.
Periodic Table
Read 5 books that contain an element in. Must be 5 different ones.
- Golden Son – Pierce Brown
- Iron & Embers – Helen Scheuerer
- Silver & Smoke – Helen Scheuerer
- Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
- Arsenic and Adobo – Mia P. Manansala
Excited to finally have the motivation to continue the Red Rising series, as well as more from Helen’s catalogue – I practically devoured The Legends of Thezmarr series in a day or 2 so very excited!
Familial Term
Read 5 books that have different familial terms in the title.
- Daughter of the Moon Goddess – Sue Lynn Tan
- The School for Good Mothers – Jessamine Chan
- Sisters in Yellow – Mieko Kawakami
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Windrush Child – Benjamin Zephaniah
Traipsing Through Regions
Read five books from five different regions – can be cultural or natural regions
- Southwest Asia/North Africa: Fundamentally – Nussaibah Younis
- East Asia: Tokyo Ueno Station – Yu Miri
- Western Europe: A Sunday in Ville-d’Avray – Dominique Barberis (reread)
- Northern Europe: A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman
- Latin America: Silver Nitrate – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
For this category I decided to do global regions. A lot of these books have been on my physical TBR for years – Tokyo Ueno Station I received years ago as part of a subscription service for translated literature (it was called Osusume Books and they have since stopped their service – for the purpose of this post I went through all my email accounts and organised all my emails to find it).
Choose You Curriculum
Find books based on classes you would take in school. They do not have to be nonfiction topics but must involve the theme as a whole.
- Physics: Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Biology: The Martian – Andy Weir
- Foreign Languages: Babel – R.F. Kuang
- English: Great Big Beautiful Life – Emily Henry
- History: The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
I’m a little embarrassed to say but I have owned Babel since it was in its OG hardback run and I have yet to read it – I think its just a little intimidating. I’ve also not had the best track record with R.F. Kuang’s books (they all sit very middle of the road for me). I’m also excited to finally read The Martian by Andy Weir after watching the film recently with my partner.
Road Trip
Chose five books from different states; they cannot be set in New York or California.
- Pennsylvania: Saturnalia – Stephanie Feldman
- Maryland: And Now, Back To You – B.K. Borison
- Wyoming: Swift and Saddled – Lyla Sage
- Texas: Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid
- South Carolina: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix
Bookception
Find a book that mentions another book that exists in the real world. Read both of them!
I decided to read Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It has been on my TBR for the longest time (I received it as a blind date with a book when I was in college and I have had every intention of reading it, I just never did). BUT I am aware that this book mentions a lot of classics, so I’ve ear-marked Pride and Prejudice as my second book.
Not-so-Secret Prompts Anymore
During HRCYED 2, there were a series of secret prompts that were announced throughout the year. Read one book for each prompt.
- Read a whole book outside: Undecided
- Pun in the title: They Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde
- Audiobook whilst crafting/Craft on the cover: Undecided but very easy
- First & Last Name in title: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands – Heather Fawcett
- I’ll Get Around to It: Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
- A book that shares a title with another book: Send Flowers – Emily Buchanan
- Missed childhood chapter book: Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
- Joseph’s technicoloured coat: Petty in Pink – L.J. Shen
- Doomscroll your next read: Undecided but easy
- Movement on the cover (read whilst moving): Strange Weather in Tokyo – Hiromi Kawakami
- Most recent acquisition: Undecided but easy
- Author’s last name can also be a first name: The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon
You will see some books are marked as undecided, this is simply because they are quite easy categories and will be pretty much when I get round to doing them – for example, audiobook whilst crafting is pretty much most audiobooks I listen to, or most recent acquisition is when I finally get back out to buying books.
Cover Styles
Read 4 books that have completely different cover styles
- Illustrated: You’ll Love it Here – Natalie Sue
- Landscape: Orange – Curtis Garner
- Real People: Strange Weather in Tokyo – Hiromi Kawakami
- Big Symbol: Queerphoria – Verve Voices collection
I loved Natalie Sue’s debut book ‘I Hope This Finds You Well’, so I have high hopes and much excitement for her sophomore novel. I’m also really excited to read the VERVE Voices Queerphoria collection, they are one of my favourite indie publishers so I’m interested in seeing what’s included.
Titular Counting
Read books with different amounts of words from 1 to 10 (this is length of title essentially)
- Orbital – Samantha Harvey
- Slashed Beauties – A. Rushby
- Heart the Lover – Lily King
- Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan
- The Ballard of Never After – Stephanie Garber
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Return to the Dallergurt Dream Department Store – Miye Lee
- The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix
- What You Are Looking For is in The Library – Michicko Aoyama
- I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki – Baek Sahee
In the time of making my initial TBR and finishing this post, I have adjusted these choices many times and it is highly likely to change after I post this, BUT this is a collections of books I own and I’m hoping to decide if I like them enough to keep. I’m very much an aggressive mood reader and I want to be in the mood to read these. I should also note, I added ‘Return to the Dream Department Store’ when I am yet to read the first – I was feeling optimistic.
Characters to Authors
Build a chain of reads by taking the main character’s name and finding an author with the same first name. Complete this three times
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte (MC – Jane)
- Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen (MC – Elizabeth)
- A Forgery of Fate – Elizabeth Lim
The gentleman in the bookshop suggested I find harder Characters and Authors but considering I’ve read neither of the classics I have included, I thought that was enough – I’ve been extremely apprehensive reading classics since studying English Lit at college, my teachers weren’t the nicest and made enjoying classics painful. To Ms C who openly told me you were surprised I passed, it most definitely wasn’t down to you <3
Shiritori
Take the title of a book and then use the last letter of that title to start your next book. You must connect all five books in one chain. The/A/An can be skipped when connecting titles.
- Deathbringer – Sonia Tagliareni
- The Red Winter – Cameron Sullivan
- Ripe – Sarah Rose Etter
- The Elsewhere Express – Samantha Sotto Yambao
- Starside – Alex Aster
A lot of fantasy books in this section for me, super excited to get into these. You’ll see in the next section I have the sequel to Starside noted, so it is important I actually read these books – I’m trying to get better at reading books close to when I receive them rather, than after getting the second/third/fourth book before getting into it and discovering I’m not that keen.
HRCYED MASHUP
Take one prompt from HRCYED 1 and mash it with one prompt from HRCYED 2 (permitted they are not essentially the same prompt). For this I chose to combine ‘New Releases within 30 days’ from HRCYED 1 with ‘By the 100s’ from HRCYED 2, meaning for my 5 books of choice they have to be a new release that I read within 30 days of their publication (a challenge for me), but they also have each fall within a different range of page count. I have explained this awfully but essentially I can only read one book that has 100 – 199 pages, one that has 200 – 299 pages, etc.
So Far I have only chosen 4, mostly from books I have already pre-ordered. It’ll become clearer on the prompt combination I’ve chosen when you see the books I picked. The undecided book will either sit at 100 – 199 pages or 600+ pages and release in December 2026 (just because I’ll be jazzed as hell to fit completing this between Sept 26 and Jan 27)
- A New Kind of Clean – Ian Reid (208 pages, January 2027)
- Taipei Story – R.F. Kuang (320 pages, September 2026)
- As You Wake, Break the Shell – Becky Chambers (480 pages, October 2026)
- Stormside – Alex Aster (512 pages, November 2026)
Numerical Titles
Read books with numbers one through ten in the title, with a bonus book with any number in past that. The word can be translated into a different language, but cannot be vol.1, vol.2, etc.
- Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (this has already been replaced in the category but I am too lazy to adjust the graphic. It is now One Golden Summer – Carley Fortune)
- Two Can Keep A Secret – Karen M. McManus
- The Three-Body Problem – Cixin Liu
- The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah
- The Five-Star Weekend – Elin Hilderbrand
- Six Scorched Roses – Carissa Broadbent
- The Seven Year Slip – Ashley Poston
- Eight Hundred Grapes – Laura Dave
- Nine Perfect Strangers – Liane Moriarty
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E. Harrow
- 28 Summers – Elin Hilderbrand
I think this is genuinely the only prompt where I don’t own any of the books I’ve set to read (as of right this moment in August, I own two and have read one). I’d like to say its because I don’t own a lot of books, but its purely because my books apparently don’t have numbers in the title :’)
A Rainbow of Words
Find titles with the colour in the title as one of the words.
- The Red Garden – Alice Hoffman
- The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon
- Sisters in Yellow – Mieko Kawakami
- Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery
- The Blue Castle- L.M. Montgomery
- Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Petty in Pink – L.J. Shen
- The White Book – Han Kang
- Black Girls Must Die Exhausted – Jayne Allen
- Golden Son – Pierce Brown
- Silver Nitrate – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I have been influenced into reading works by L.M. Montgomery. A YouTuber I watch a lot of, Ariel Bisset, is a huge fan and I was intrigued. As of posting I have read The Blue Castle and it was exceptional, funny and timeless for me – truly a great book and I’m recommending it non-stop.
Animal Families
Read six different books with six different animals on the cover
- Strigformes (owl): My Best Friend’s Exorcism – Grady Hendrix
- Squamata (snake): Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo
- Scorpiones (scorpion): The Familiar – Leigh Bardugo
- Rodentia (rat): Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
- Leporiade (hare): Raising Hare – Chloe Dalton
- Bovidae (lamb): Lost Lambs – Madeline Cash
My partner doesn’t read often, not a judgement just an observation I should add, but he devoured Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton and has told me he doesn’t recommend me books often but as a favour and special request, he would like me to read it. He enjoyed it and found it quite touching at times so I’m definitely looking forward to reading it.
Flowers for Algernon would be a re-read for me, but a much anticipated re-read. I remember enjoying the book and the socio-commentary explored by the book, and I never normally complete re-reads but I have been ITCHING to get one in.
Biomes
Read six books that feature different landscapes and biomes on the cover. The biome must exist in our world
- Mountain: Murder at Mt. Fuji – Shizuko Natsuki
- Deciduous Forest: The Artist – Lucy Stead
- Urban: ASAP – Axie Oh
- Countryside: Broken Country – Clare Leslie Hall
- Beach/Island: Orange – Curtis Garner
- Coniferous Forest: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King
Re-re-remix
Read five books that are different variations of other stories.
- Different POV: Midnight Sun – Stephanie Meyer
- Genderbent: Life and Death: A Twilight Reimagining – Stephanie Meyer
- Villain POV: Malice – Heather Walter
- Side Character gets Spotlight: Circe – Madeline Miller
- Feminist Retelling: Ariadne – Jennifer Saint
Before anyone says anything, I understand there are two different types of retellings for Twilight in here, and I’d just like to say, yes there is :). I have owned both of these for a while, but kept putting off reading them for no other reason than the mood was not taking me.
Food Pyramid
Choose 5 books with 5 different kinds of foods that would fit into the food pyramid (e.g. Proteins, Fruits, Veggies, Grains, etc) – has to be something that is edible to humans.
- Grain: I Want To Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki – Baek Sahee
- Fruits: Midnight Sun – Stephanie Meyer
- Beverages: I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin – Katy Brent
- Sweets/Desserts: Ms Ice Sandwich – Mieko Kawakami
- Vegetable: The Pumpkin Spice Café – Laurie Gilmore
Mother Nature
Read six books with different weather or nature events on the cover
- Sun: The Sun and the Starmaker – Rachel Griffin
- Snow: And Now, Back to You – B.K. Borison
- Rain: Weather Girl – Rachel Lynn Solomon
- Arora Borealis: Beartown – Fredrik Backman
- Fog: The Reformatory – Tananarive Due
- Clouds: Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones
PSA, extensive research has told me Beartown has the Arora Borealis on the cover, no matter how faint it may seem in the photo I’ve used here.
It’s Your Birthday
Celebrate yourself! Read seven books that identify with the given prompts that interpret best for you and your birthday.
- Your Month’s Birthstone: Diamond – The Missing Diamond by Lynn Morrison & Anne Radcliffe
- A Book Published in you Birth Month: April – Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
- Your Zodiac Sign: Aries – Zodiac Academy Cursed Fates by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
- Your Chinese Zodiac Sign: Rat – Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
- Your Birth Flower: Daisy – Picking Daisies on Sundays by Liana Cincotti
- Your Birth Tree: Alder – Whispers in the Alders by H.A. Callum
- The Meaning of your name: Ewe/Lamb – Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
April is already a fantastic month, and this prompt really helped me understand a lot of the things associated with me as a person – I genuinely didn’t know what my birth tree was, but now I do it’s my entire personality.
Backlist Author
Read five books from favourite authors you haven’t read yet or want to read more from. Can be five books from the same author or five books from different authors
- Babel – R.F. Kuang
- Beach Read – Emily Henry
- People We Meet on Vacations – Emily Henry
- The Body – Stephen King
- Girl Dinner – Olivie Blake
I Must Endeavor to Acquire These Creatures
Read five books that personify five different types of pocket monster (iykyk). Can be featured on the cover, a word in the title, or the overall vibe of the book.
- Poison: Devil’s Breath – Jill Johnson
- Ghost: Japanese Gothic – Kylie Lee Baker
- Dragon: Blood Bound – Elise Hunter
- Flying: Unearthly – Cynthis Hand
- Steel: The Well of Ascension – Brandon Sanderson
An Anthology of Authors
Read an anthology and then pick and read six books from authors featured in the anthology. Must be one book from each of the authors.
My chosen anthology is In These Hallowed Halls. I have had this for a while and have read one of the short stories in the collection in the past, but I’m definitely looking forward to reading through it. I then chose the following books based on the authors included in the anthology – half I own, and half I don’t at present.
- Girl Dinner/Dreamland – Olivie Blake
- Hot Wax – M.L. Rio
- The Truants – Kate Weinberg
- The Whispering Dark – Kelly Andrew
- A Very Bad Thing – J.T. Ellison
- The Second Death of Locke – V.L. Bovaline
Second Chances & Hidden Gems
Read five books that you may have DNF’d, passed on reading, or something out of your comfort zone
- Soft DNF: Zodiac Academy Cursed Fates
- Hard DNF: Red & Dead – Violet Fenn
- Under 3.5 Average Rating: Tokyo Ueno Station – Yu Miri
- Less than 100 reviews: Idriel’s Children – Hayley Reese Chow
- Rec from different taste person: Replay – Ken Greenwood
Replay by Ken Grimwood was bought for me by my dad and he is super excited for me to read this – I did start it a couple years ago, around the time I had surgery, and the only reason I put it down was because my surgery meant I was unable to sit down and holding physical books in the waiting room before appointments was tiring – No judgement to my hospital but it was a mad free for all on being seen. You’d be instructed to come in for 7am when clinic opened so you could have your stitches checked, but wouldn’t be seen for 3 hours. The wait was painful and my feet were numb. BUT I digress.
And there we have it, we made it to the end. I appreciate this took a long ass time to write – I lost the motivation to compile this seven times over the last two months, but we have reached the finale. I know a lot of sections do not have a quippy paragraph accompanying them but as a lot of the books are mentioned in other sections, or the rationale is similar to things said before, I didn’t want to stretch the word count and time taken to read for no reason.
We will be referring back to this post when I do my quarterly check-ins for the reading challenge, and also when we complete other reading challenges that’s prompts compliment the books I’ve chosen for this as well (looking at you Magical Readathon wo has just dropped the Autumn Equinox prompts and so many have cohesive titles).
Thank you again for reading and let me know if you have read any of the books I have mentioned, or any other book you could recommend.
Love,
Eliza x
elizalilysmiles 