Beat the Backlist 2021: 01/01/21

Hosted by Austine of Novel Knight.

I'm starting off the new year by thinking about my reading goals. Once again I completed by GoodReads reading challenge of reading 300 or more books. I plan to do the same this year.

The Beat the Backlist goal, though, is focused on books published in previous years. My most basic goal for this challenge is to have half my reading be backlist. Numerically that would be a minimum of 150 books. Last year I surpassed that goal with more than 171.

My focus, though, will be on the remaining books purchased in 2020 and 2019 that I've yet to read. While I won't limit myself to these books only, I'm posting my current list of TBR books and their release months for the last two years. I do have older books on hand I'd like to read but they are primarily in storage. Getting them out of storage, read, and weeded is another longer term goal.

My 2020 purchases weren't as numerous as 2019, but I still have some left overs. For 2021, I plan to purchase fewer books. I know now from three years of doing this challenge how many new books I can easily read and review in a timely manner. I will do my best to keep my purchase numbers closer to that ceiling.

Below is my list of unread books from 2020 and 2019. I will cross them out as I read them. I will also add other books to the list as I read them, and will bold them.

TBR from 2020

December

1. Ascender, Volume 3: The Digital Mage by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
2. The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley
3. Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez
4. Tin by Candace Robinson and Amber R. Duell

   November

5. The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage by Jeff Lemire, Denys Cowan (Illustrator)
6. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
7. Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story by Lauren Myracle and Isaac Goodhart

   October

8. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
9. Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
10. Death by French Roast by Alex Erickson
11. Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella
12. The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
13. Muffled by Jennifer Gennari
14. One Way or Another by Kara McDowell
15. Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker
16. Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
17. A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong
18. Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater and Morgan Beem (illustrator)
19. Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright (Illustrations)

    September

20. The Canyon's Edge by Dusti Bowling
21. Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds
22. Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh
23. Hatch by Kenneth Oppel and Sophie Amoss (Narrator)
24. Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn and Christa Lewis (Narrator)
25. Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore
26. My Life in the Fish Tank by Barbara Dee
27. Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi
28. Smash It! by Francina Simone
29. Tune It Out by Jamie Sumner
30. Turning Point by Paula Chase
31. Well Played by Jen DeLuca
32. The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen

    August

33. Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim

    July

34. War Stories by Gordon Korman
35. Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

    June

36. Ascender, Volume 2: The Dead Sea by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
37. Nightschool: The Weirn Books Collector's Edition, Volume 2 by Svetlana Chmakova

    May

38. Camp by Lev A.C. Rosen
39. Julieta and the Diamond Enigma by Luisana Duarte Armendáriz
40. Read or Alive by Nora Page
41. This Coven Won't Break by Isabel Sterling

    April

42. This Spell Can't Last by Isabel Sterling

TBR from 2019

December

1. A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh
2. Reverie by Ryan La Sala

   November

3. Color Outside the Lines by Sangu Mandanna
4. A Constellation of Roses by Miranda Asebedo
5. Coral by Sara Ella
6. Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 1 by G. Willow Wilson
7. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

   October

8. The Burning Queen by Kathryn Lasky
9. Bury the Lede by Gaby Dunn
10. Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett
11. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
12. The House of Brides by Jane Cockram
13. Jackpot by Nic Stone
14. Laughter at the Academy by Seanan McGuire
15. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (Artist)
16. On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young and Dina Pearlman (Narrator)

    September

17. The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams
18. Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo
19. The Big Shrink by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins
20. How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters
21. It's a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories by Katherine Locke
22. Just Because by Mac Barnett and Isabelle Arsenault
23. More to the Story by Hena Khan
24. No Judgments by Meg Cabot
25. Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
26. Some Places More Than Others by Renée Watson
27. Well Met by Jen DeLuca

    August

28. Cookies and Clairvoyance by Bailey Cates
29. Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
30. The Killing Tide by Dani Pettrey

    July

31. Blastaway by Melissa Landers
32. The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess

Older books

1. Read and Gone by Allison Brook (2018)
2. Samantha Spinner and the Super Secret Plans by Russell Ginns (2018)
3. Feast: Recipes and Stories from a Canadian Road Trip by Lindsay Anderson and Dana VanVeller (2017)
4. Moriarty the Patriot, Volume 3 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi (2017)
5. Potions and Pastries by Bailey Cates (2017)
6. Body on the Bayou by Ellen Byron (2016)
7. Ghosts from Our Past by Erin Gilbert, Abby L. Yates, and Andrew Shaffer (2016)
8. Flipped for Murder by Maddie Day (2016)
9. Restaurant to Another World Volume 3 by Junpei Inuzuka and Katsumi Enami (Illustrations) (2016)
10. Death of an English Muffin by Victoria Hamilton (2015)
11. Shopaholic to the Rescue by Sophie Kinsella (2015)
12. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (2014)
13. Muffin But Murder by Victoria Hamilton (2014)
14. The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier (2014)
15. Foul Play at the Fair by Shelley Freydont (2012)
16. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (2012)
17. Revenge of the Horned Bunnies by Ursula Vernon (2012)
18. Stray Bullets by Robert Rotenberg (2012)
19. The Walled Flower by Lorraine Bartlett (2012)
20. Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn McKinlay (2011)
21. A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett (2011)
22. Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly (2011)
23. Death by the Dozen by Jenn McKinlay (2011)
24. Negative Image by Vicki Delany (2010)
25. Ghastly Glass by Joyce Lavene and Jim Lavene (2009)
26. Red Bones by Ann Cleeves (2009)
27. Rockridge by Robin Wolf and Tom Wolf (2007)
28. The Ghost and the Dead Deb by Alice Kimberly (2005)
29. The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly (2004)
30. The Last Treasure by Janet S. Anderson (2003)
31. Made You Look by Diane Roberts (2003)
32. Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert (2001)
33. The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1986)
34. This is Munich by Miroslav Sasek (1961)
35. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller (1945)