Suzanne Tobias offers her book picks for this year’s #ReadICT challenge

Half the fun of accepting a new reading challenge is thinking about what I’d like to read during the coming year and scanning my shelves — or the ones at my local bookstore or library — for possibilities.

Now that we’ve announced the 2019 #ReadICT Challenge, I thought I’d share a few options I’m considering for each of the 12 categories, along with books I have read and enjoyed that might fit into one or more of the categories.

As always, I’d love to hear your recommendations. If you share them on social media, be sure to include the #ReadICT hashtag. And if you haven’t joined our #ReadICT Challenge group on Facebook, what are you waiting for? It’s a lively community of local readers and a great place to talk about books and reading.

Here are some of my 2019 #ReadICT possibilities:

1. A book with a face on the cover

This one is fun. You could go for Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, with the cover that features a black-and-white photo of Jobs in his iconic mock turtleneck.

You could read “Speak,” a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, or “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo.

You could check out Ron Chernow’s “Alexander Hamilton,” which features a noble portrait of the Founding Father, or “Calypso,” the latest collection of essays by humorist David Sedaris.

I’m considering “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, which features a close-up of a bear on the cover, because no one said this has to be a human face.

Whenever you make your selection for this category, be sure to take a “book face” photo like the one above and post it on social media with the #ReadICT hashtag. I can’t wait to see your faces.

2. A book from a genre you don’t normally read

I don’t read much fantasy or science fiction, so I’m considering “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss or “The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemisin. Something from the romance shelves is another possibility — “The Kiss Quotient,” perhaps, or “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”

I read mostly literary, young adult and middle-grade fiction. Readers who would like to explore those genres might consider “A Place for Us” by Fatima Farheen Mirza. This slow-building but powerful novel about an American Muslim family was one of my favorites from the past year.

If you’re looking for a young-adult recommendation, I enjoyed “Scythe” by Neal Shusterman. If you’d like to try a middle-grade book, consider “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” by Kate DiCamillo or “Ms. Bixby’s Last Day” by John David Anderson.

3. A book that makes you LOL

I recently read “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman — yes, there was a book before the movie — and started putting little page flags beside passages that made me laugh out loud.

I nearly ran out of flags.

Other funny books I’ve enjoyed include “Bossypants” by Tina Fey, “Adulthood is a Myth” by Sarah Andersen, “Point Your Face at This” by Demetri Martin, and pretty much anything by David Sedaris or his sister, Amy Sedaris.

Potential books for this category from my to-be-read pile include “Straight Man” by Richard Russo — several people have hinted at a scene that made them laugh out loud — and “Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches” by John Hodgman.

4. A book set in the place you were born

I was born in Fayetteville, N.C., and recently read a fantastic novel set in the marshes off the North Carolina coast — “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens.

A quick search on GoodReads.com for books set in my native state turned up several intriguing options, including “A Short History of a Small Place” by T.R. Pearson and “Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier.

If you prefer nonfiction, look for a book dealing with the history of your home state or country, or a biography of a famous person who was born there.

5. A classic or retelling

Don’t we all have a list of classics we’ve been meaning to read? Mine includes Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” and Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.”

And don’t forget classic works of nonfiction, such as “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, or “Hiroshima” by John Hersey.

For the retelling option, I immediately thought about Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series — a collection of young adult fantasy novels that are new takes on old fairy tales, including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White.

Another idea would be anything from the Hogarth Shakespeare series, which features well-known authors re-imagining famous works by William Shakespeare for a modern audience. Options include Anne Tyler’s “Vinegar Girl,” a retelling of “The Taming of the Shrew,” and Margaret Atwood’s “Hag-Seed,” a re-imagining of “The Tempest.”

6. A book you’ve avoided or didn’t finish

So many possibilities here, including the aforementioned “Anna Karenina,” a book that intimidates me because of its sheer heft. (My edition is more than 800 pages.)

Another book I set aside for no good reason is “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, and then I had to avoid seeing the movie because I wanted to read the book first. Perhaps I’ll get back to it and finish it in the coming year.

7. A translated book

Books translated into English and published in the United States are becoming increasingly popular with American readers, especially those who like to widen their scope of authors, topics and cultural awareness. In 2018, the National Book Award even added a permanent fifth category for translated literature.

Books on my radar for this category include “The Perfect Nanny” by Leila Slimani (translated from French), “Flights” by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish), “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami (Japanese), and “The Vegetarian” by Han Kang (Korean).

Books in translation that I’ve read and recommend include “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (translated from Spanish), “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman (Swedish), and “Convenience Store Woman” by Sayaka Murata (Japanese).

Some options for kids could be “Pippi Longstocking,” which was written in Swedish, or “The Little Prince,” translated from French.

8. An award winner (Pulitzer, National Book Award, etc.)

Picking up a book with an award decal on the cover is like having your reading list pre-screened by experts: An award is no guarantee you’ll love it, but you know at least some judges did.

I still need to read “Less” by Andrew Sean Greer, which won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I’d also like to read Neal Shusterman’s “Challenger Deep,” which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2015.

When considering this category, don’t forget the wide array of past titles that have earned the Newbery Medal, the Man Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award or the Edgar Award.

9. A book recommended by a child or teenager

There are so many great reads waiting to be discovered by just asking a kid or teenager to tell you about their favorite book.

Maybe your niece has been raving about “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” or your son can’t stop talking about Captain Underpants.

Instead of wondering what all the fuss is about, check it out for yourself. There’s a whole generation of middle-aged Harry Potter fans (myself included) who read the books because kids were raving about them — and now they’re among my all-time favorites.

10. A biography, autobiography or memoir

Here’s another category with infinite possibilities.

I love a good memoir, so Tara Westover’s “Educated” is on my list. Other books I’m considering include “All You Can Ever Know” by Nicole Chung and “Becoming” by Michelle Obama.

11. A book featuring a character who is different than you

One of the best things about reading is learning about other people, cultures and perspectives. Checking off this category could be as simple as reading a book about a woman if you’re a man, a Muslim if you’re Christian, or someone of another race or ethnicity.

Earlier this year, I read and adored “Fruit of the Drunken Tree” by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, which is set in Columbia during the chaotic reign of drug lord Pablo Escobar. Other recent favorites that would fulfill this category for me include “Heads of the Colored People,” a powerful short story collection by Nafissa Thompson-Spires, and “This Is How It Always Is” by Laurie Frankel, about a family’s struggles with raising a transgender child.

One book I’m looking forward to reading next year is “Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story” by Jacob Tobia, which will hit bookstore shelves in March. Tobia, a nationally known LGBTQ rights activist, is scheduled to visit Watermark Books for a reading and signing shortly after the book’s release.

12. A book by an author slated to visit Kansas in 2019

Several authors are slated to visit Watermark Books in Wichita over the coming months, including James Sherow on Jan. 15, B.A. Sharpiro on Feb. 6, Charles Finch on Feb. 22, Ariel Lawhon on March 4, and Peter Heller on March 11. Check the calendar on the store’s website, www. watermarkbooks.com.

We expanded the reach of this category this year to include authors stopping anywhere in Kansas, so readers elsewhere in the state may have an easier time choosing books and attending signings. Rainy Day Books, an independent bookstore in Fairway, Kan., hosts lots of great authors that could be worth a road trip to Kansas City.

This story was originally published December 30, 2018 at 5:01 AM.