Our friends at Book Riot came up with a doozy of a New Year's resolution: Spend a whole year reading consciously, thoughtfully, and outside your comfort zone.

Book Riot's latest Read Harder Challenge lays out 24 new reading tasks to complete in 2016. Here at The New York Public Library, our expert recommenders have come up with a few book suggestions to fit the criteria of each task.

We used a “something old; something new” theme: The books on this list were (mostly) published before 1950 or in 2015. Our picks range from 19th-century Gothic literature to new YA bestsellers. And, of course, all of them are available from the public library or downloadable for free online.

More than 4,000 (!!) people became members of the challenge's 2015 Goodreads group last year. This year's tasks are even more inspiring and challenging, and we—Gwen, Jessica Pigza of the Rare Book Division, Carolyn Broomhead of the Research Libraries, and maybe some other NYPL book experts if we can convince them too—have both accepted the challenge this year ourselves!

Follow along on our blog, Bibliofile, or find us on Twitter @NYPLRecommends.

Read a horror book.

Bits and Pieces, Within these Walls, Slade House, Frankenstein



Read a nonfiction book about science.

Black Man in a White Coat, The Only Woman in the Room, Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated our Bedrooms and Took Over the World, Notebooks, English virtuosi, and early modern science



Read a collection of essays.

Letter to a Future Lover, The Opposite of Loneliness, Thoreau: Essays, The Souls of Black Folk

Read a book out loud to someone else.

Wolfie the Bunny, The King and the Sea, The Popcorn Astronauts, Felicity



Read a middle grade novel.

Echo, Dream On, Amber, The Jumbies, Look Both Ways in the Barrio Blanco



Read a biography (not memoir or autobiography).

The Goddess Pose, Symphony for the City of the Dead, Most Dangerous, The Boys Who Challenged Hitler



Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Gold Fame Citrus, Find Me, The Country of Ice Cream Star



Read a book originally published in the decade you were born.

Check out Goodreads' great list.



Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award.

Yes Please, Furious Cool, The Graveyard Book, The Bully Pulpit



Read a book over 500 pages long.

City on Fire, Winter, A Brief History of Seven Killings, A Little Life



Read a book under 100 pages.

The Country of the Pointed Firs, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Nose



Read a book by or about a person that identifies as transgender.

What We Left Behind, George, Trans: A Memoir, Becoming Nicole



Read a book that is set in the Middle East.

The Wrath and the Dawn, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Orhan's Inheritance, Written in the Stars



Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia.

America is in the Heart, Doveglion, Of Bees and Mist, Sympathizer



Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900.

An Ember in the Ashes, The Winter Queen, The Wake, The Just City



Read the first book in a series by a person of color.

Sorcerer to the Crown, The Book of Phoenix, Dawn, Sparks of Temptation



Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years.

Lumberjanes, Decender, Roller Girl, Rat Queens



Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate which is better.

The Secret in Their Eyes, The Price of Salt/Carol, In the Heart of the Sea, The Mayor of Casterbridge



Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes.

Bad Feminist, Spinster, Headscarves and Hymens, The Cycling City



Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction).

The Witches: Salem, 1692, The Library at Mount Char, Islam and the Future of Tolerance, After Buddhism



Read a book about politics, in your country or another (fiction or nonfiction).

In the Country, Citizen: An American Lyric, A Woman in Arabia, The Prize



Read a food memoir.

Stir, Audrey at Home, Life From Scratch, Day of Honey



Read a play.

Sequoyah and His Talking Leaves, Mother Courage and Her Children, Antigone, The Invisible Hand



Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness.

Placebo Junkies, Challenger Deep, Furiously Happy, Tender Points



Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!