For 2017 I participated in Novelknight’s year long reading challenge called Beat the Backlist. The point was that you would read more books published before 2017 because we sometimes have the tendency to focus on the newer releases. For a competitive element they added the Hogwarts House Cup Mini Challenge. You could submit your read books for points for your house. But there were also scavenger hunts that you could complete for points. And weeklong instagram challenges.
In the end the creators could not quite keep up with this challenge. Both have their own lives that took over, so I understood that. It is a shame though to not see everything with mini house cup completed. I stopped submitting points from October as it seemed a bit pointles and I didn’t want to stack up on their huge to do pile for this challenge as was.
Main Goal
My main goal was to read 50 backlist books of my reading goal of 60. I did hit the 50, easily even as I ended up reading a whole lot more than 60. Even though I did hit the number I’m not quite as pleased with it as I would like to be. The problem is that I was planning to read a huge amount of backlist books of my total. I read a lot more so the number just isn’t quite as impressive.
If you look at it percentage wise it is 84% what I planned to do. What I ended up reading was about 50%. I had hoped that would have been higher. Even so, it did motivate me to pick up backlist books and I found some pure gems amongst them, especially in adult fantasy.
Scavenger Hunts
I completed two out of the three scavenger hunts for the house cup I tried for. The one I failed was Hermoine’s Library, the abc challenge. Some letters were hard and I didn’t end up picking up the books that I needed for it. I didn’t want to force myself either.
Harry’s Trunk = Completed
The Snitch (a character who wins a battle for their side)
Frost Like Night (Snow Like Ashes 3) by Sara Raasch.
There were plenty of battles in this conclusion to the trilogy and some were won.
Cloack (A character receives a gift from an unexpected source)
The Blazing Star by Imani Josey.
The amulet she received.
Hedwig (A book featuring a beloved pet)
Wintersmith (Tiffany Aching 3, Discworld) by Terry Pratchett.
Granny Weatherwax’ cat and Rolling Cheese of course.
Broomstick (A book featuring unusual transportation)
Sorcerer to the Crown (Sorcerer Royal 1) by Zen Cho. I shall not give it away though…
Lightning-Bolt Scar (A character with scars)
Talon (Talon 1) by Julie Kagawa. One of the characters has scars.
The Weasleys = Completed
Arthur (A book with a tinkerer/inventor character)
Ink and Bone (The Great Library 1) by Rachel Caine
Molly (A book with a highly protective mother figure)
Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
Bill (A book with a character who deals in money)
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard 1) by Scott Lynch
Charlie (A book where a character meets a mythical creature)
De Klauw (Magycker 1) by Adrian Stone
Percy (A book with a pretentious jerk)
Assassin’s Apprentice (Farseers trilogy 1) by Robin Hobb
Fred (A character with a wicked sense of humor)
Heartsnare by Steven B. Williams
George (A book with two siblings/friends that are thicker than thieves)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers 1) by Becky Chambers
Fred (A book with a character who is an underrated friend)
Royal Assassin (Farseers trilogy 2) by Robin Hobb
Ginny (A book with a character who meets/ends up with their famous/celebrity crush)
Greek Heroes (Percy Jackson companions) by Rick Riordan
I was just replying to Annabel’s article on the Beat the Blacklist 2018 and saying I’d maybe wanted to participate as well. Reading this wrap makes me even more excited to participate in the challenge! So awesome with those scavenger hunts and such and you completed practically everything, right? Awesome! I’m planning on reading more adult fantasy as well, got some really promising books on my TBR at the moment so can’t wait to dive into them next year ;)!
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The scavenger hunts were pretty great but for 2018 they are keeping it a bit more simple as it was too hard for the organisers to keep up with. It still looks like it will be a lot of fun though. š
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No matter what the percentages ended up being, 50 backlist books is stellar in my book (no pun intended). Those were some creative scavenger hunts. Too bad they couldn’t keep up with the challenges. Well done! ššš
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True. Yeah it was all just a bit too ambitious. Even so I’m glad they are continuing on with a slightly different format.
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Ik deed niet mee aan Beat the Backlist maar het toeval wil wel dat ik exact 50 eigen boeken las in 2017. Ook dit jaar ga ik gewoon proberen om zoveel mogelijk boeken te lezen die al een tijd in mijn kast staan te wachten. Verder heb ik me tot nu toe enkel ingeschreven voor een Goodreads-challenge.
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Gelukkig telt voor Beat the backlist ook boeken van de bieb die voor 2018 zijn uitgekomen. Dat scheelt dan ook weer. š
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