2019 Challenge #1: Beat the Backlist!

That’s right! This year, I’m doing Beat the Backlist hosted by NovelKnight (again! And for realsies this time!).

This is a challenge I’ve joined for the past two years and failed miserably at. But I really and truly need to get through my backlog/backlist. Both my personal collection and my *gulp* past publication date galleys (puts K2 to shame, I tell you!) are the kind of out of control I never could have fathomed, and I just can’t take it anymore. Above and beyond any other challenges I commit myself to, getting through “what I have” (or what I had as of the end of 2018) is at the tippy top of my list (more on my overall reading goals later/sometime soonish), so this challenge, more than any other, fits in beautifully.

The rules for this year:

  • It can be any kind of book (any genre, any length) in any kind of format (print, digital, audio, etc.) from any kind of source (library, publisher, gift, purchased, borrowed, etc.) so long as it was RELEASED prior to 2019
  • You have to start it and finish it in 2019.
  • You have to post an initial TBR list (go here for specifics) on some sort of social media platform so that others can see it (but you aren’t obligated to follow that list; it’s just a starting point!). 

This year there are additional challenges, like joining a Hogwart’s House to earn points together, simply for bragging rights, and several types of Bingo challenges. I think I’m signing up for the Hogwart’s House Mini Challenge (Ravenclaw, obviously) because the sense of community will help motivate me, and hopefully I can help motivate others. Not certain about the Bingo challenges, but I’m seriously considering at least one. Sounds fun, right?

If you want more information about the challenge, or are ready to sign up, just head on over to the information page: Beat the Backlist.

Wish me luck!!!

For a short listing of some of the books on my 2019 Beat the Backlist TBR, scroll down a little further. For a much lengthier list, you can visit the Goodreads shelf I created purely for this challenge.


2019 Beat the Backlist TBR


In no particular order:

  • Vision in Silver (The Others #3) by Anne Bishop
  • Ritual (Jack Caffery #3) by Mo Hayder
  • The Mortal Word (Invisible Library #5) by Genevieve Cogman
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (#3) by J.K. Rowling
  • A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #2) by Louise Penny
  • Storm Glass (Harbinger #1) by Jeff Wheeler
  • The Tiger’s Daughter (Their Bright Ascendency #1) by Rivera K. Arsenault
  • Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang
  • Lost Books and Old Bones (Scottish Bookshop Mystery #3) by Paige Shelton
  • Lost Lake by (Detective Gemma Monroe #3) Emily Littlejohn
  • Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  • Melmoth by Sarah Perry
  • Face Off (Evelyn Talbot Chronicles #3) by Brenda Novak
  • Reading Up a Storm (Lighthouse Library Mystery #3) by Eva Gates
  • The Spook in the Sacks (Lighthouse Library Mystery #4) by Eva Gates
  • The Power by Naomi Alderman
  • The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (The Road to Nowhere #1) by Meg Elison
  • The Book of Etta (The Road to Nowhere #2) by Meg Elison
  • Tin Man by Sarah Winman
  • Circe by Madeline Miller
  • Severance by Ling Ma
  • Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter
  • The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton
  • The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
  • The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre

14 Replies to “2019 Challenge #1: Beat the Backlist!”

  1. Ha! I wonder if there is any book blogger out there who doesn’t have a TBR backlist. It just seems to go with the territory. Have fun and good luck–for realsies😏

    • Thank you! Having more fun is definitely part of my goal this year!

      I think I know a couple of bloggers who don’t get too far behind and manage to control their requests, but I lack that self-control. I can only be so good for so long. And I did say only a couple! How can you turn away all the wonderful books?!?

    • Thanks! Have an awesome week yourself. If I could get my NG ratio up by 10% by the end of the year, I’ll have a party! Herculean effort, but I’m going to do what I can. πŸ™‚

    • Good for you! I had planned to as well, but this really does suit my existing goal for the year, so I’m hoping it will just fuel my fire a bit. Has never worked in the past, but on rare occasion, things change. 🀣

    • Thanks! I’ll try and do regular updates with my progress. Still working my way through books that don’t count, and then I’ll start at least one book for the challenge. Here’s hoping I can stay on track this year!

    • You and me both, Renee! Fortunately, galleys count for the backlist challenge as long as they published prior to 2019. Sadly, I have lots of those, so I’m hoping this challenge will help me make progress on my overdue galleys along with my poor bookshelves (Kindle and physical).

  2. Good luck! I keep saying I’ll clear my now published galleys but the list keeps growing . . . . hope you’re more successful than I was last year, but I’ll keep working on it this year (and next . . . .)

    • Thank you! Good luck to you as well. And I’ll take a step forward (instead of three backward) when it comes to my galley pile. At my current reading rate, it would take me YEARS to get through all the galleys I currently have. πŸ˜€

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