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 - 27/66 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
- Birdsong by Sebastien Faulks
- A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
- This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amar El Mohtar and Max Gladstone
- Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Last Bus To Everland by Sophie Cameron
- Tilly and the Lost Fairytales (Pages and Co #2) by Anna James
- The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melissa Salisbury
- The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells
- The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
- An Argumentation of Historians (Chronicles of St Mary’s #9) by Jodi Taylor
- A Deadly Education (Scholomance #1) by Naomi Novik
- Where Angels Fear To Tread by E.M. Forster
- The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black
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
Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron
5. MAY – Away, Wait, Book, Raven, Lake, Angel, Nine, Island
The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells
6. JUNE – Beneath, Crown, Sing, Rule, Earth, Find, Happen, Cruel
The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black
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 WieselMarch: Historical Fiction
Birdsong by Sebastian FaulksApril: Classics
Gone With The Wind by Margaret MitchellMay: History & Biography
Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism by Barbara Weisberg- 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.