Beat the Backlist

The Beat the Backlist Challenge is a new challenge for me in the year 2020. It is hosted by Austine and Katie at NovelKnight. The goal is to tackle books that have been on your TBR for a little too long. Any book qualifies, as long as it was published prior to the year of the challenge. They can be in any format and can include rereads.

Qualifying books must be started and finished in the year of the challenge in order to count.

The challenge runs from January 1st to December 31st.

And that's it! Anything beyond these rules is open to interpretation.

Beat the Backlist 2020 Progress

22 / 80 Books

1. Dystopian that could happen: Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

2. Set in a city you want to visit

3. Main character has a pet

4. Author you’ve read 5+ books by

5. Author with a middle initial

6. Book by an international (to you) author: The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland

7. Book with chapter titles: Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden

8. Morally gray main character

9. Book you’ve never finished before

10. Book of poems or short stories

11. Book containing a fandom: Ivory Apples by Lisa Goldstein

12. Author shares your initials

13. Book with no romance

14. Book rec from a friend: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

15. Graphic novel or manga

16. Book with less than 200 pages

17. Pink cover: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

18. Author you want to meet

19. Non-human main character

20. A top 10 read for this year

21. Owned for over 2 years

22. Indie Book

23. Book mentioned in Gilmore Girls

24. Genre you never/rarely read: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

25. Title includes the word “strange”

26. Cover redesign is better: The Path Keeper by NJ Simmonds

27. Space travel

28. Wish you had read it sooner

29. Book turned movie/show: Emma by Jane Austen

30. Title is also a song title

31. Memoir: Educated by Tara Westover

32. Main character with a disability

33. By 2+ authors

34. A book set in one season

35. Genre mash-up

36. Book with a love triangle

37. Didn’t live up to the hype

38. LGBTQIA+ rep: Me by Elton John

39. The 4th book in a series: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

40. Middle grade

41. Features your #1 OTP

42. Murder mystery

43. Star(s) on the cover

44. Pirates or set at sea

45. Shocking plot twist

46. Book with a meet cute

47. Wish it had a sequel

48. New to You Author: The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy

49. Almost made you cry

50. From myth to legend

51. Book with a quest: Children of Blood & Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

52. The slowest burn: The Fever King by Victoria Lee

53. One word title

54. Unusual science: Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford

55. Plants on the cover

56. Happily ever after

57. #ownvoices author

58. Good book, bad cover

59. A modern classic

60. Book with 600+ pages

61. Story involves a heist

62. Companion novel: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

63. Opening line contains a color: Voyage of the Frostheart by Jamie Littler

64. Published before you were born

65. Twisted fairy tale retelling: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

66. Book that shares your zodiac sign

67. Social media made you read it: The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

68. Title starts with the letter “z”

69. Bought/borrowed it for the cover

70. Title words start with the same letter

71. Book with or talking about recipes

72. Author who writes multiple genres

73. Historical not set in the UK: Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

74. Written before 2010

75. From your childhood

76. The sequel was better

77. Book with diary entries

78. Last book in a series: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

79. Black and white cover

80. Released in the 2010s