And just like that, 2024 is over. Thank you 2024 for all the memories and the lessons. We’ve successfully completed a 365-day revolution around the sun. As the old adage goes, with every end comes a new beginning. 2024’s conclusion comes with the opening of a new door. We are provided with 12 new chapters with 365 blank pages ]upon which to paint new memories. I hope that we will paint these blank canvasses with memories that we will cherish for a lifetime, may it be with the people we love or all by ourselves.

As has been the tradition in the past few years, I will be kicking off the new year by looking back to the previous year, its hits, and of course, its mishits. It is also an opportunity to take a glimpse of how the coming year is going to shape up. This book wrap-up is a part of a mini-series that will feature the following:

  1. 2024 Top 20 Favorite Books
  2. 2024 Book Wrap Up
  3. 2024 Reading Journey by the Numbers
  4. 2024 Most Memorable Book Quotes (Part I)
  5. 2024 Most Memorable Book Quotes (Part II)
  6. 2024 New Favorite Authors
  7. 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge Wrap-up
  8. 2025 Books I Look Forward To List
  9. 2025 Top 25 Reading List
  10. 2025 Beat the Backlist Challenge

With 129 books completed, 2024 is my second most prolific reading year; it is just second to the 130 books I read in 2023. It still feels surreal how I was able to complete one of my long-time goals and I was able to do it not just once, not just twice, but three years in a row. The pandemic pandemic years have been my most prolific reading years so far. Of the 129 books I read in 2024, only seventeen were new books. The rest were all backlist reads. I have repeatedly emphasized that I am a Backlist type of reader so the glaring dichotomy between backlist and new reads comes as no surprise. This is also evident in my choice of books I read. Nevertheless, I did try to inject some new blood into my reading journeys in recent years.

My bookshelves are also overflowing with backlist books, with some I bought over six years ago. To decongest this, I have been joining the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge; I started back in 2019. Except for the first time I enlisted for the challenge, I have been successful in this challenge. I have exceeded my reading goals. The number of backlists I read in 2024 was nearly double my target of 60 books. I was also able to complete reading all twenty books I specially listed for my 2024 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge. But despite making vast progress in my backlist reads, I still find myself swamped in backlist reads.

As has now become an integral part of my annual reading journey, I am listing myself up again for the 2025 edition of the Beat the Backlist reading challenge. This challenge was brought to life by Austine Decker. Essentially, the challenge is about ticking off older books from your to-be-read list. The books can be of any genre, format, or length.

The Rules

The Beat the Backlist challenge has one goal: helping you show your TBR who’s boss. There were no changes in the rules, which remain to be simple:

1. For a book to count, it must be published in the previous year or earlier. In 2025 that means that anything published in 2024 or earlier is fair game.
2. You have to start AND finish the book in 2025. 
3. And that’s very much it!

Everything beyond that is optional and all for fun! Please note that books of any format and of any genre will count. Re-reads will also count. It is also not necessary to own the book.

My Goal and Goal Tracking

While I can be ambitious once in a while, I have opted to keep my target realistic. My target for the year will again be 60 books, the same target I had in the previous two years. If the past four years were any indicator, I can easily hit 60 books or even more. This is, I guess because I have been working from home. However, things are returning to normal so there is no guarantee that I can hit lofty targets. As such, I want to set a conservative target, a realistic target. For the purposes of this reading challenge, I am enumerating, 20 books that I resolve to read no matter what the circumstances may be. Some of these books were purchased earlier than the pandemic.

Here’s my 2025 Beat the Backlist challenge list:

  1. MY NAME IS RED by Orhan Pamuk b c d
  2. THE KEY by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki d
  3. THE BRIDGE OF HEAVEN by Hsiung Shih-I d
  4. THE RIVER KI by Sawako Ariyoshi d
  5. WAR TRASH by Ha Jin
  6. DOGEATERS by Jessica Hagedorn
  7. UNTOLD NIGHT AND DAY by Bae Suah d
  8. GRIMUS by Salman Rushdie a
  9. BLINDNESS by José Saramago b c d
  10. THE COMMUNIST by Guido Morselli d
  11. SEVEN HOUSES IN FRANCE by Bernardo Atxaga d
  12. WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel
  13. DEATH IN THE ANDES by Mario Vargas Llosa b d
  14. KING, QUEEN, KNAVE by Vladimir Nabokov b d
  15. RITES OF PASSAGE by William Golding a c
  16. DEATH IN VENICE by Thomas Mann a c d
  17. THE BRONZE BOW by Elizabeth George Speare
  18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. a b
  19. THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen a b
  20. THE CRYING OF LOT 49 by Thomas Pynchon a

a 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die – 6
b 2025 Top 25 Reading List – 6
c Nobel Laureate in Literature – 5
d Translated Literature – 11

While it seems that I am setting a lofty target for myself, I am looking forward to both the challenge and the experience. These challenges, after all, are meant to push us beyond our boundaries. Success cannot always be guaranteed. Nevertheless, I am hoping I get to finish all these books. There is also a reason why I cross-marked it with my other reading challenges. For the third year in a row, I will also be participating in the reading prompt. Please note that this is optional and is just meant as a guide. Again, I am shooting my shots so I will be using the 54-prompt card. Below is the reading prompt in Bingo Format.

To help track my progress, I have downloaded the Reading Tracker Spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSnyfnB11qUGyU2un_sEc1HsDEZaX3JGPcVMpYauLOqMl_rrJCS6XZ9WISNGp25roKyNUE0BxPy4cge/pubhtml