23 Backlist Books In 2023
23 Backlist Books in 2023
You may have seen this trend going around Bookstagram and BookTok in the last few months — reading 23 backlist books in 2023. But what the heck does that mean? Well, it’s a challenge for us avid readers to focus our reading time and energy on the books that we already own. Maybe even those that we’ve owned for a long, long time and just can’t seem to read the dang thing!
For me and my reading goals for the year, this challenge complimented it perfectly. Initially, I’d pulled aside 35 books from my physical and owned TBR that I was commited to reading in 2023. I have so many unread, owned books from years past that’s IT’S TIME to focus there. There will always be opportunities to buy new books and read new releases, but 2023 is a year to adjust my focus and pull from, basically, my very own library of books. And once I saw a few other bookstagrammers, @lemonyreads, @bookswithnopictures and @thebookscript, turn this general idea into a challenge for the year, I was immediatly hooked! It was a no-brainer to join their challenge and commit even further to this notion.
Now, my reading selections did change slightly and okay, hear me out, there’s actually 27 books on my new list LOL (I really should have just rounded up to 30 😂). BUT. I’m getting ahead of myself. Today, I just wanted to showcase the amazing challenge I’m participating in as well as the books I’ve selected and my plan for getting them read!
Here are the 27 backlist books I plan to read in 2023. Oh, and backlist just means any book that was published in years past. I believe technically it’s any book published more than 5-10 years ago, but for our purposes, it’s just those books we already own that are probably a couple of years old that we finally want to commit to reading.
Blog Contents
The Books
My Reading Plan
The Challenge
Pin Me For Later
The Books
Alright, here we go. When I decided to join the 23 in 2023 Challenge by @lemonyreads, @bookswithnopictures and @thebookscript, I ended up selecting more than 23 books. That was due to a few things. First, for any series, I decided to include every book rather than just the first. I did that because I want to get better at continuing a series more timely once I start it! In the process of all this as well, I ended up finding two more unread gems hidden on my finished shelves that I felt needed to be added to this pile. My large bookshelf in my reading room showcases all the books I’ve read that I currently own. Some books that I’ve read are in electronic format and I either just haven’t gotten the chance to purchase them yet OR I didn’t enjoy the book enough to warrant owning a physical copy. And honestly, since then and commiting to these 27, I’ve pulled aside two more. Thankfully, this challenge offers a bonus 10! More on that later.
So here are all the backlist books I plan to read in 2023.
The F A N T A S Y Series
The Other F A N T A S Y Books
The R O M A N C E S & Lone H I S T O R I C A L F I C T I O N Novel
I definitely went fantasy heavy with just a touch of balance in the romance department and that lone historical fiction novel! But, for me, that makes complete sense. Fantasy is my go-to, most favorite genre. Naturally then, I’d own more of those as well as gravitate more that way. Ash Princess, Children of Blood and Bone and The Lord of the Rings series I have been side eyeing on my TBR shelves since 2020. The Bear and the Nightingale and Lifelike series are more recently owned for me, but I’ve had my eye on them since 2020 as well. The same goes for a lot of the remaining selections! These were just books that kept getting pushed down my TBR for some reason. Whether it was because of overwhelm when selecting my next read or getting caught up in the endless ARC and requesting books wheel, I just could never seem to pick these up. But I was always looking at them like I WANT TO READ YOU. It sounds so silly, but it’s one of those bookworm problems that’s pretty consistent across the board!
I’m so excited to dive into this list further. In January, I read The Bear and the Nightingale (just book 1) and Dreams Lie Beneath! And that’s a great segway into how I plan to read all of these in 2023.
My Reading Plan
For me, I feel like selecting and commiting - those initial steps towards a goal - are the easiest for me. It’s just like a creative idea. I have endless, and I mean endless, amounts of ideas for my creative work, but it’s that execution and action part that can completely throw off my progress and commitment.
So, after selecting all of these books, I knew I had to dive deeper and actually plan out how I was going to read them. Because, clearly, I was already having issues with that! Right? I mean that’s exactly why they are on and apart of this challenge for 2023. Not only that, I knew amongst all my other obligations and goals, I’d have to make these books a priority. Once I set my reading goal number for the year - I’m definitely pushing myself at 100 books - I calculated how many books per week (for that general goal) I needed to read and then just looked at this list to calculate that number as well. In my case, that became a monthly number. To read all of these 27 books in 2023, my calculation said I had to read 2.25 per month. So my plan is to read two books a month from this list.
To help facilitate that monthly commitment, my plan is to pick up those books first as much as possible. That also requires me to make a loose monthly TBR list which can be tricky because I’m such a moody reader! But I’m doing it! I also have a general understanding of which of these, especially for the fantasy books, are available in audiobook from my library. I love tandem reading the physical copy and audio when it comes to fantasy books. This will be a great way for me to read quickly and start knocking these books out!
Other than that, I plan to participate in the group chat as much as possible, as regularly as I can to stay engaged. And I also have these books pulled out to the side and visible to me everyday. That way, this challenge is always at the front of my mind. And so far, all of these tactics have worked!
The Challenge
So, now, let’s talk about the challenge itself! Now this is absolutely something you can do without participating in the challenge. That was initially my plan. But I knew the challenge would be a good way to hold me even more accountable. @lemonyreads, @bookswithnopictures and @thebookscript have done a great job facilitating this challenge so far. To commit to the challenge and be apart of their planned activities for it, potential participants had to select and post their 23 books in 2023 before January 31st. Then these lovely ladies divided us all into chat groups on Instagram based on our reading selections. I’m in the fantasy group since most of my selections are fantasy based. They also created templates for tracking finished reads, posting reviews, and explaining the point system. The point system is self-imposed, but basically, it says that for every book read up to the 23 selected, you get 1 point. For every book read after those 23, up to 10 only, you’ll get 1 extra point. And for any book read over 500 pages, give yourself an additional point. Now, no one is tracking this except for yourself and there won’t be a winner based on this point system. It’s just a fun way to help you keep track of the reads and hopefully motivate us even more to read and have fun with it! Those templates are below!
Otherwise, it sounds like there will be perodic challenges and other giveaways throughout the course of the year.
Post/Grid Graphics
Story Graphics
That’s it! All it’s really going to take is a commitment to reading and finding unique ways to make it fun and engaging for you! I’m so excited to continue down this journey in 2023. In fact, our first challenge came in this morning while I was writing this blog! It’s called Music In Review. This should be fun!
Are you participating in any reading challenges this year whether in a group or self-imposed? I’d love to hear about it!
Shop This Post
Pin Me
More On The Blog
Disclaimer
Hey friend. I wanted you to know that this post may contain affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission should you chose to sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link. I don't want you to worry because I only recommend tools and products that I personally use and love and I always have my readers' best interest at heart. Thanks for hangin' with me!
Oh hey, friend!
I’m Leah. Cozy connoisseur and bountiful book buyer. I have a minor obsession with getting lost in the pages of a good book, guzzling coffee, and thriving at home. Leggings, wine, and essential oils are also my jam. I'm truly just a bookworm and homebody at heart with a knack for content creation & cozy shots. This is my creative space.
I love a good book tag challenge. It’s such an easy way to garner inspiration for your next post, whether it’s on a blog or your bookstagram account. I love how simply it sparks that creativity in me. I thought this one would be fun to participate in. So here are mine: books I love and will read soon, my autobuy authors, my favorite genres, and the places I love to read.