A reading challenge to broaden your horizons

From Percy Jackson to Marvel's Thor, the ancient tales of some cultures are very much alive and adapting. However the originals can be very different from the modern perspective and it's interesting to see the values represented and how they've evolved over time. Warning: they will probably be far more sexist than their modern counterparts. Make sure you find a translation that doesn’t gloss over the gore and horrors of the time.
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Unlike catchy songs, award winning books are rarely overrated, it must contain something worth absorbing if so many bodies consider it worthy of an award.
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From aliens to animals to death itself, seeing the world through someone else’s perspective can give you insight to the limitations of yours and seeing humans from their eyes can be downright fascinating.
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The bestseller charts and the literary world in general is dominated by white authors and white protagonists. If not, it's about a minority race in a first world country. Try reading something set in a different place with a character you can't even imagine to discover their world.
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If your parents didn't read, ask a friend's parent. It'll give you perspective into generation and life in that time and the fiction that shaped them. It might surprise you to learn how similar or dissimilar your parent and you were around the same age.
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This will be a quick read and a pleasant break from the heavy thought-provoking books advised in this list. Also it gives you great insight into the changing world, after all we were shaped by the books that we read growing up, its nice to see what thoughts are being encouraged in kids these days.
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Some of us have never tried a Sci-fi while some might have never read a political memoir. Try one of the books known to be a classic in that genre this year, just to see how the trend started. Keep in mind the year of release when reading.
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Many countries formed new governments in the past 200-300 years. While history class will have taught you the basics of how your country came to be what it is today, the perspective of one who made it happen is unique.

From Adolf Hitler’s autobiography to books with sexual content explicit for it's time, books have been banned for several reasons. If you can use the internet to read book currently banned in your country, that would be best, but if not, even reading a once banned book shows what governments want to keep from people and that is worth knowing.
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The wealth of knowledge this offers needs no explanation. However make sure you get a good translation of the original, or, if you can, read more than one translation from different countries to see how people from the same religion can be so different.
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Because you probably have no clue what goes on down there. Be it a fiction, a book on it's biodiversity or an account of one of those first few who explored it's daunting landscape, try to learn something about the icy continent.
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While we were made to study poems from across the centuries in school and might find some poetry books in our grandparent’s libraries, now most prefer to follow their favourite poets online to keep up with their work rather than buy their books. This would be light read, to take in in bits and pieces across the year or while you're too busy to get engrossed in a book. It’s lovely to see how different words describe the same emotions poets have always been captured by.
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