Surveying my stacks of books that have now spilled out from the bookshelves and into piles, I decided it was time to participate in the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge. As per the challenge, it 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 2023 challenge, anything published in 2022 or earlier counts).
- You have to start and finish the book in 2023.
- I’m adding a third guideline that I have to own a physical copy of the book, as this is the real impetus behind reading these
Any format, any genre. Re-reads count, and you don’t have to own the book. It’s open for the entire year so whenever you feel like jumping in, you can!
Prompt: meant to read it last year (and every year for the past 6 years)
Do Not Say We Have Nothing
by Madeleine Thien (2016)
Prompt: multiple points of view
Of Women and Salt
by Gabriela Garcia (2021)
Prompt: recommended by a bookseller
The Hierarchies
by Ros Anderson (2020)
Prompt: more than 450 pages
The Warmth of Other Suns
by Isabel Wilkerson (2010)
Prompt: featuring travel (time optional)
I’m Waiting for You and Other Stories
by Kim Bo-Young (2021)
Prompt: set on a continent you don’t live on
The Republic of False Truths
by Alaa Al Aswany (2018)
Honestly, I’ll be very happy if I get to these 6 this year without getting distracted by shiny new books!
NOVELS AND TEACUPS 
Ooh, I *just* reread Do Not Say We Have Nothing (it was my first book of the year!) Very interesting to revisit it after adoring it upon its release. I would definitely recommend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah brilliant! That’s given me the motivation to pick it up next. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person