2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge Wrap Up

For the third year in a row, I joined the Beat the Backlist Challenge in 2021. Basically, the challenge is about reading books published before 2021. For the challenge, I set a modest target of 40 books; it was the same target I had in 2020. Thankfully, I was successful in hitting my target, in both years. It is no secret that I am a backlist reader after all. Of the 92 books I read in 2021, 71 books were backlists, which is four books more than my 2020 output of 67 books.

For the Beat the Backlist Challenge, I don’t simply set a target. I also prepared a list of backlist books that I resolve to complete for the year. In 2019, I had listed fifteen books. Unfortunately, I fell short of this target so I reduced my target to twelve books in the next two years. Thankfully, I managed to complete all these twenty-four books before the year ended. I generally enjoyed the books in my 2021 Beat the Backlist challenge list, such as Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country, and Charlotte Brontë’s Villette. However, there were some that fell short of my expectations. Nevertheless, I am glad that I came up with the list for I have crossed out several books that have been gathering dust in my bookshelves.

Here’s my 2021 Beat the Backlist challenge list:

What I missed out on was joining the Beat the Backlist Bingo. Nevertheless, I will try to check I fared in the bingo.

More than one author – None. I rarely read books written by more than one author.
Multiple Points of View – Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur
First Line is Less than 10 Words – “Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton.” The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Lost Royalty – None, unless A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles qualifies as a “lost” royalty
On the indie Bestseller list in 2020 or earlier – The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, bookseller in 2020
WTF Plot Twist – Go Set the Watchman by Harper Lee. Despite the caveats, I was really looking forward to the book. Sadly, it was not what I deemed it to be.
Person on the Cover – Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Dragons or Lizards – The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Book you’re giving another chance – I don’t know for I rarely give second chances to books. Perhaps The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
Banned book – Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
Cover with your country’s flag colors – by slim margin, Crossing the Mangroves by Maryse Condé. The cover has shades of blue, red, gold, and white, the four colors that comprise the Philippine flag.
Historical with a twist – Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Second book in a duology – Go Set the Watchman by Harper Lee. However, I do agree with what many fellow readers have reiterated: this book can be read separately from To Kill A Mockingbird
Anthology – None
It’s on a ship – There was none that was primarily set in a ship but some parts of Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights were set on a cruise ship.
Quest to find lost/hidden object – The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño, although what the “savage detectives” were looking for is not an object but an individual.
Cover features your favorite color prominently – Waterland by Graham Swift. My favorite color is blue.
Written in letters or diary entries – The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif. The narrative was divided into two: the past and the present. The past was related through letters and journals by Lady Anna Winterbourne
Character has a dream scene – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens of course.
Non-fairytale re-telling – None. I only have Madeline Miller’s A Song of Achilles. Does it qualify as fairytale?
Has a map – Watership Down by Richard Adams
Purple cover – Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn
Chapter title page has art – Crossing the Mangrove by Maryse Condé
All about music – Utopia Avenue by David Mitchel
Set in autumn – The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
From your 2020 backlist TBR – The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. I planned to read the book back in 2019, and in 2020 as well.
Book about bones or “bone” in title – None
Set in a major city – The Elegance of a Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. The story was set in Paris, France.
Kept you up late reading – Secrets by Nuruddin Farah. It kept me late reading mainly because I was in a hurry to complete the book, which happens to be my 900th read novel.
Characer lets out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding – Secrets by Nuruddin Farah. This book was riddled with secrets, and hidden agenda.
Book centered around politics – Burger’s Daughter by Nadine Gordimer. Technicallly it is more about history but it touches base on the anti-apartheid movement.
Based on non-Greek/Roman mythology – Unfortunately, Madeline Miller’s A Song of Achilles was based on Greek mythology.
Book where the woods/forests are important – Satantango by László Krasznahorkai
Good book, bad cover – Umrao Jan Ada by Mirza Mohammad Hadi Ruswa
Book you forgot you had – None qualified I guess for I keep a tab of all the books I have. HAHA.
Picked up by a friend/trusted reviewer – None. I guess because I don’t ask for recommendations that much.
Genre you never/rarely read – Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
Features a carnival or circus – None. The last book I read that featured a circus or carnival was Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, way back in 2018.
Non-binary protagonist – Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Black and white – Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Brings out the geek in you – The Librarian of Auschwitz y Antonio Iturbe I guess because it is also about books.
Caused a major book hangover – A House in the Country by Jose Donoso
Non-human character – Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Standalone – Kokoro by Natsume Soseki. Except for a couple of books, majority of the books I read in 2021 are standalones.
Snake on the cover – None
A book with illustrations – The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe. Drawings/illustrations were by Machi Abe
Novella – Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Bought it for the cover – Drop City by T.C. Boyle
Book written in verse – None
Author has a book releaseing in 2021 – Elif Shafak. I read my second novel by the Turkish novelist, The Bastard of Istanbul, in 2021. Her latest novel, The Island of Missing Trees was released in May 2021.
Includes a 2nd-person point of view – The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda
Mentions a pineapple – None. There might have been but I missed it.