Why am I passionate about this?

I’m tired of playing by the rules of a game I’m not allowed to win. I’m tired of being bound to a standard of being in the world that we know isn’t working but are too scared to confront head-on. I’m tired of being told to beat around the bush when pruning it, uprooting it, or burning it altogether would serve it better. I reject the tenet of white supremacy that claims a constant right to comfort. Brave and honest discourse matters. Our commitment to each other and to the future of every single creature on this earth matters. Bring on the badasses who love passionately, laugh loudly, and live bravely.


I wrote

Sister Dragon

By Charlene Challenger ,

Book cover of Sister Dragon

What is my book about?

Haunted by a traumatic past, Brenna's world shatters when her son is stolen from her. To save him, she embarks…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Lying Life of Adults

Charlene Challenger Why I love this book

My aunt was a misunderstood social misfit who rode a bucking bronco bareback and held on for as long as she could. One of the two central characters of this book is just like the woman I remember my aunt being–brash, unapologetic, a little self-destructive, and possessing an unshakeable faith in a humanity that didn’t understand or deserve her.

I wish she wasn’t taken from me. I wish I knew her better. When I read this book, I can feel her spirit. 

By Elena Ferrante , Ann Goldstein (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Lying Life of Adults as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"AN INCENDIARY PORTRAIT OF THE VOLCANIC CURRENTS OF SEX AND BETRAYAL."-Mail on Sunday

THE INTERNATIONAL No. 1 BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF MY BRILLIANT FRIEND

A BBC2 Between The Covers Book Club Pick

BRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2021 - SHORTLISTED FOR FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

Soon to be a NETFLIX original series

18M OF ELENA FERRANTE'S BOOKS SLOD WORLDWIDE


Giovanna's pretty face has changed: it's turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Where must she look to find her true reflection and a life she can claim as her…


Book cover of Hygiene and the Assassin

Charlene Challenger Why I love this book

I enjoy when misogynist, mansplaining jerks get what they deserve (What? you ask. Spoiler alert, and to quote Inigo Montoya: “humiliations galore”). I’ve been subjected to the presence of men who think they’re smart, funny, and engaging but who are, in fact, none of those things, and let me tell you, I’d rather dig my own liver out with a spoon than waste another minute of my time with them.

I loved reading this book because the intellectual smackdown brought to the main character by a young woman superior to him in every way makes for riveting reading. Nothing makes me feel more hopeful than seeing a loathsome person get what’s coming to them. 

By Amélie Nothomb ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hygiene and the Assassin as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Amélie Nothomb is one of Europe's most successful and controversial authors. She wrote Hygiene and the Assasin, her first published novel, when se was only twenty-five, and it became an instant bestseller across Europe. 

Prétextat Tach, Nobel Prize winner and one of the world's most renowned novelists, has two months to live. He has been in seclusion for years, refusing interviews and public appearances. But as news of his impending death becomes public, intrepid journalists from around the globe flock to his home in pursuit of an interview with the elusive author.

One after the other they discover that, far…


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Book cover of Every Witch Way but Ghouls

Every Witch Way but Ghouls by K.E. O'Connor,

A witchy paranormal cozy mystery told through the eyes of a fiercely clever (and undeniably fabulous) feline familiar.

I’m Juno. Snow-white fur, sharp-witted, and currently stuck working magical animal control in the enchanted town of Crimson Cove. My witch, Zandra Crypt, and I only came here to find her missing…

Book cover of A Telling of Stars

Charlene Challenger Why I love this book

I really resonate with the main character of this book because the author maintains her humanity while making her the hero of the story.

Jaele is allowed to be angry, sad, brave, grief-stricken, optimistic, pessimistic, and every other feeling under the sun while she’s on her quest; she’s not confined to the constant heroic stoicism you get from, say, Jedis or Elves. At one point in the book (my favorite part, actually), she admits that she’s resentful of her grief. I love when stories allow their characters to show their ugly sides.  

By Caitlin Sweet ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Telling of Stars as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At eighteen, Jaele's life is shattered when her family is murdered by a band of Raiders, members of a long-accursed race. Overwhelmed by rage and grief, alone for the first time in her life, and fuelled by childhood myths of a warrior queen, Jaele sets out on an epic quest for vengeance. Traveling through a kaleidoscope of cultures, some compassionate, some fierce, all remarkably fantastic yet potently real, she sheds her innocence, but none of her experiences prepare her for her ultimate confrontation with her enemy.

A Telling of Stars was recommended by the jury panel of the 2004 Sunburst…


Book cover of Half of a Yellow Sun

Charlene Challenger Why I love this book

When the world ends, who will you turn to? For me, I’d turn to someone like Kainene in this book. Kainene isn’t beautiful, doesn’t play by the ridiculous rules of the feminine mystique, and is righteously bitter about a lot of things in her life. She’s also a guileless straight shooter people can count on, to tell the truth in any situation. That truth is never sugar-coated; it’s exactly what the characters in her life need to hear.

I love the bravery of her choice to keep her innermost thoughts private. I admire how steadfast she holds on to her commitment to what she believes will be a better future.

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Half of a Yellow Sun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE BAILEYS PRIZE BEST OF THE BEST

Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, this is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written literary masterpiece

This highly anticipated novel from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is set in Nigeria during the 1960s, at the time of a vicious civil war in which a million people died and thousands were massacred in cold blood.

The three main characters in the novel are swept up in the violence during these turbulent years. One is a young boy from a poor village who is employed at a university lecturer's house. The other is a…


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Book cover of Southern Cross

Southern Cross by P.L. Doss,

This is the fourth book in the Joplin/Halloran forensic mystery series, which features Hollis Joplin, a death investigator, and Tom Halloran, an Atlanta attorney.

It's August of 2018, shortly after the Republican National Convention has nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. Racial and political tensions are rising, and so…

Book cover of Carrie

Charlene Challenger Why I love this book

You know what any misfit with telekinetic powers should do to her enemies after years of torment culminate into a single act of spiteful cruelty? Carrie does! I love how she gains awareness and control of her abilities. I love how she wields her power against her nasty, dim-witted bullies.

I cheer when she locks the door and slowly walks away, leaving them to their fate. I love how she takes revenge on her vicious mother in a way that flies in the face of her vindictive fundamentalist beliefs. A sweet-natured girl, maligned by an entire community, taking a final, violent stand against unbridled ignorance? BADASS.

By Stephen King ,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked Carrie as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Stephen King's legendary debut, about a teenage outcast and the revenge she enacts on her classmates, is a Classic. CARRIE is the novel which set him on the road to the Number One bestselling author King is today.

Carrie White is no ordinary girl.

Carrie White has the gift of telekinesis.

To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie - the first
step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues.

But events will take a decidedly macabre turn on that horrifying and endless night as she
is forced to exercise her…


Explore my book 😀

Sister Dragon

By Charlene Challenger ,

Book cover of Sister Dragon

What is my book about?

Haunted by a traumatic past, Brenna's world shatters when her son is stolen from her. To save him, she embarks on a journey which soon becomes a powerful exploration of healing and redemption. Brave, bold, and fearlessly honest, Challenger's heart-wrenching drama portrays a woman's unwavering strength and the possibility of a brighter future.

Book cover of The Lying Life of Adults
Book cover of Hygiene and the Assassin
Book cover of A Telling of Stars

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In an underground coal mine in Northern Germany, over forty scribes who are fluent in different languages have been spared the camps to answer letters to the dead—letters that people were forced to answer before being gassed, assuring relatives that conditions in the camps were good. 

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