I know, right!? It’s been a few years since I’ve taken part in good-old fashioned reading challenges!
As I mentioned the other day though, my reading has started to… drift somewhat in recent years, and in 2021 I intend to get back on track. I want to read more from my backlist and fewer sparkly new releases that I invariably have no strong feelings about.
So in addition to my 12 Books in 2021 Challenge, I also want to participate in:
(click to expand and see which books I’ve read)
Beat the Backlist - 14/66 books
This is hosted by Novel Knight, and you can sign up here.
The Beat the Backlist reading challenge is designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t. The guidelines are simple:
- The book must be published in the previous year or earlier (for the 2021 challenge, anything published in 2020 or earlier counts).
- You have to start and finish the book in 2021.
- And that’s it!
I’m aiming to read 66 books from my backlist in 2021, as I usually read 100 books or so and I want to have already owned at least 2/3 of them.
- Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
- A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah J. Maas
- Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Star Wars: Thrawn (Thrawn #1) by Timothy Zahn
- Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Armin
- The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
- And The Rest Is History (Chronicles of St Mary’s #8) by Jodi Taylor
- Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Horrid by Katrina Leno
- Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden
- The Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry
- Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine
Beat the Backlist prompts - 20/52 books
Novel Knight have also come up with 52 prompts to complete throughout the year. They say they’re optional and it’s perfectly allowed to just do the challenge without the prompts… but I’m doing to try to do them anyway.
Here we go:
- more than one author
dragons OR lizards
The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughsit’s on a ship!The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton- purple cover
- set in a major city
- book you forgot you had
caused a major book hangover
A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR#2) by Sarah J. Maas- multiple points of view
- book you’re giving another chance
- quest to find lost/hidden object
- chapter title page has art
- kept you up late reading
- picked by a friend/trusted reviewer
non-human character
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan- first line is less than 10 words
banned book
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guincover features your favorite color prominentlyAnd The Rest Is History (Chronicles of St Mary’s #8) by Jodi Taylor- all about music
- character lets out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding
genre you never/rarely readNight by Elie WieselstandaloneHickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christielost royalty
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor- cover with your country’s flag colors
written in letters or diary entries
Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arminbook centered around politics
Star Wars: Thrawn (Thrawn #1) by Timothy Zahn- features a carnival or circus
- snake on the cover
- on the Indie Bestseller list in 2020 or earlier
historical with a twist
The Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry- character has a dream scene
- set in autumn
based on non-Greek/Roman mythology
Across the Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children #6) by Sean McGuire- non-binary protagonist
- a book with illustrations
- WTF plot twist
- second book in a duology
non-fairytale re-tellingOnce and Future Vol. #2 by Kieron Gillenfrom your 2020 backlist TBRStrangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmithbook where the woods/forest are important
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery- black and white
- novella
person on the coverStar Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden- anthology
has a mapA Court of Wings and Ruin (ACOTAR #3) by Sarah J. Maas- book about bones OR “bone” in the title
- good book, bad cover
- brings out the geek in you
bought it for the coverHorrid by Katrina Leno- book written in verse
- includes a 2nd person point of view
- author has a book releasing in 2021
mentions a pineapple
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Sci-Fi Challenge - 4 out of 10 books
This isn’t hosted by anywhere and it’s not a whole Thing… I just want to read at least ten science fiction novels this year.
And I mean, proper sci-fi. Not like reading a fluffy time travel romance and counting it as sci-fi because time travel = science!
(much as I love time travel romance).
- Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Star Wars: Thrawn (Thrawn #1) by Timothy Zahn
- Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden
This is hosted over at Girl XOXO, and you can find more information here.
The point of this challenge is to read one book each month with a certain word in the title, and to link up each month.
JANUARY – End, Princess, Dance, Midnight, Court, Why, Winter, Story
A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah J. Maas
2. FEBRUARY – Over, Edge, Rain, Blade, Red, Come, None, Glass
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
3. MARCH – Dear, Ink, Mercy, Fly, Lost, Never, Match, True
Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine
4. APRIL – Last, Watch, Save, Girl, Sun, Tell, Garden, Tomorrow
5. MAY – Away, Wait, Book, Raven, Lake, Angel, Nine, Island
6. JUNE – Beneath, Crown, Sing, Rule, Earth, Find, Happen, Cruel
7. JULY – Ever, Shine, Gone, Search, Wood, Under, Road, Like
8. AUGUST – One, Secret, Will, Tree, Blue, You, Flame, Thousand
9. SEPTEMBER – Country, House, Top, Man, Wild, Sweet, Once, Wake
10. OCTOBER – Fear, Night, Silent, Wicked, Hidden, Bones, Lied, Ghost
11. NOVEMBER – Again, Loud, Star, Stay, Air, When, Since, Race
12. DECEMBER – Cold, Room, Life, Bell, Kiss, Dream, Until, Drink
The 2021 Diversify Your Reading Challenge features 16 prompts: 12 genre prompts, and 4 bonus categories. We’ll be reading 1 genre per month, with an additional bonus read for each quarter. Here are the 2021 genres:
January: Literary Fiction
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwanFebruary: Memoir/Autobiography
Night by Elie Wiesel- March: Historical Fiction
- April: Classics
- May: History & Biography
- June: Romance
- July: Contemporary Fiction
- August: Thriller
- September: Crime
- October: Science Fiction
- November: Non-Fiction
- December: Fantasy
Plus the quarterly bonus challenges below:
Q1 (Jan-Mar): Award Winner
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinelin (Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960)- Q2 (April-Jun): Translated Text
- Q3 (Jul-Sep): Banned Book
- Q4 (Oct-Dec): 2021 Best Seller
You can join in here.
I realise I’m potentially over-facing myself here a bit, but I have a healthy attitude about it. Right now I’m just excited about getting to all my books that otherwise might be neglected, but if it all gets a bit much and I don’t tick off all my targets… that’s not the end of the world.
Wish me luck!
Beat the Backlist challenges look awesome for tackling that TBR, hope you run with them. But my favorite is your own commitment to finish 10 proper scifi books. Sounds like something I could emulate too. Is Memory of the Empire one of them?
Good luck. I’ve tried to do backlist challenges before bit then I get sad that I’m missing the shiny new books. I like hanging out in the Popsugar and ATY Goodreads groups so those are the challenges I tend to stick to these days.