Welcome to the first Backlist Bingo 2024 Check in! We are enjoying working through our backlist and in this post, we will talk about what we read in January. Also, a look at what other participants have been reading and which year of books we have been gravitating to as a community. At the end of the post, we have compiled some suggestions for the novellas prompt.
Ariel’s Backlist Bingo Update
Prompt: A Fantasy Novel
Book Name: The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker | Goodreads
Quick review: Ever since its release last year, this was a highly anticipated book. I especially loved the historical fantasy setting and the alchemical magic system. This was a great buddy read with Kriti, and the intrigue made for great discussions!
Prompt: A Graphic Novel
Book Name: The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag | Goodreads
Quick review: a quick read, this graphic novel has lovely art with a colorful style, and an overall sweet and heartfelt young adult story.
Prompt: A Physical Book
Book Name: Crow Winter by Karen McBride | Goodreads
Quick review: This has been on my TBR since Kriti reviewed it back in 2019! I’m very happy to have gotten to this book for this challenge, and the mystery kept me hooked throughout the story.
Kriti’s Backlist Bingo Update
My focus with Backlist Bingo is to tackle my indie books from authors and I am very happy with my progress so far!
Prompt: A Graphic Novel
Book Name: Snowlands by Morr Meroz | Goodreads
Quick review: This book feels like watching a movie. It is emotional, immersive, captivating with beautiful and expressive art. The story captured me from the very start. The art in the book is beautifully drawn. I love the expressions of the characters. To be able to show cockiness, playfulness, disgruntledness, love and so many facial expressions in these animal characters is mastery. The themes of friendship, authenticity, leadership, and camaraderie were well portrayed. Snowlands was darker in mood than I had anticipated. I enjoyed it and would read it again.
Prompt: A Novella
Book Name: Overlap: The Lives of a Former Time Jumper by N. Joseph Glass | Goodreads
Quick review: This story was perfect as a novella! The writing is concise and there are moments when I felt creeped out. There are mentions of current events to ground the reader on a common understanding of the 2020s though they have been long past and the world is decades ahead and different from our present today. Very well done! See my longer review here.
What have people been reading?
Between us and the participants, we have picked up 17 books so far, the oldest being from 1962 (shown under pre-1990 category) and 2023 emerging as the year with the most books read.
- Short stories/anthology – Multiverses: An Anthology of Alternate Realities
- Third book in a series – Death in the Vines
- A non-debut novel – Notes from a Small Island
- Historical Fiction – The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- An audiobook/ebook – A Slender Thread
- A book of your choice – House of Secrets
- Poetry – Amber and Clay
- A debut novel – Molly of the Mall
- A nonfiction novel – The Romanov Sisters
- A physical book- Beneath a Scarlet Sky
- An award nominated book – The Guns of August
- More than 400 pages – The Self Beyond Itself
Ideas for A Prompt: Novellas
Contemporay/Literary Fiction
SFF
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone | Goodreads
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers | Goodreads
- Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark | Goodreads
- Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor | Goodreads
- Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee | Goodreads
- Flight & Anchor by Nicole Kornher-Stace | Goodreads
- The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown | Goodreads
- The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho | Goodreads
- A Sorrow Named Joy by Sarah Chorn | Goodreads
Series
- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
- Dead Djinn Universe Series by P. Djèlí Clark
How was January for your backlist? Tell us in the comments or add to our spreadsheet. 🙂
As always, we love reading with you and even if you didn’t sign up before, you can join us for this challenge now. 🙂 Add your name to the list of participants here. In the same spreadsheet, you can add your books through the year so please bookmark it. You can tag us on X, BlueSky, Facebook and Instagram (Ariel, Kriti) with your updates. Download a printable copy of the bingo, Instagram story templates and post here.
Check back for updates at the end of next month!
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