Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge 2026 - September Update: Accountable & Sorrowland

Happy Saturday everyone!  I know it's only the first week of September, but my books came in really early and I got to them first thing this month.  I've now completed 18 tasks for Book Riot's 2026 Read Harder Challenge.  The tasks I completed in September required me to read a nonfiction book about AI or social media and a book by an intersex author.  I selected Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater and Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon respectively.  Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: 

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Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater is an important work of social justice nonfiction for teens.  There is quite a bit of important information and narratives that help make the work of nonfiction more accessible.  The first half of this was quite engaging for me and it went pretty quickly, but then it really started to drag.  This book doesn't need to be nearly 500 pages long.  It's a little tricky to keep track of who's speaking, and the regular interludes get a  bit old as well.  I was also hoping for more of a variety of personal stories.  That said, it's definitely still worth picking up if you liked <i>The 57 Bus</i>.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon was on my tbr for quite awhile, but I'm very glad I decided to pick up more from this author because this was so well done.  I wouldn't quite call it a favorite, but this fantasy horror story's worth picking up.  Going into this, though, for some reason it didn't quire connect that this was set in an alternate version of the present day instead of the past.  No idea where I got that from, but whatever the case the alternate timeline worked for me and I really appreciated where this went. Vern is a great character and the most interesting to follow in my opinion.  I'll have to check out more from the author asap.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

Next Up For October:

October

Read a classic from the Zero to Well-Read podcast: This is a podcast by Book Riot that can be found on most major platforms as well as their website. It started recently, so there are not many books eligible for this prompt, however, that number will increase as the year goes on.

My choice: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - This sounds like it's practically a modern classic.

Read a gothic novel published in the last 10 years

My choice: Lucy Undying by Kiersten White - I really loved the Elizabeth Frankenstein book and this sounds excellent too.

Are you taking part in this challenge?  Have you read these books?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!