Reading from the older stuff: Doing the 2016 Backlist Books Reading Challenge

When I saw this reading challenge, I figured this could be one of the easy ones. Aside from what I read via NetGalley and Edelweiss, most of what I read tends to be not as new. I review a combination of new and older stuff. One of the things I like to review is older books I find on the library shelves. I  like looking for books that may be a bit older, still interesting, and needing a little reader love. Those will fit nicely into this challenge, so I am going to give it a try this year.

The 2016 Backlist Books Reading Challenge.

 As always, you can click on the link provided above to learn more and/or to sign up for it. Highlights from the rules:

• This is a 2016 challenge, running from January 1st, 2016 to December 31st, 2016.
• For these purposes, I’m counting backlist books as anything published a year or more before the day you read it. So if it’s January 21st, 2016, the book you’re reading must have been published on January 21st, 2015 or earlier. (Yea, a lot of what I read is more than a year old. As a reader, reading brand new is not a priority for me Time may pass, but the book then will still be new to me.)

This should be a good challenge for me overall. The level is open ended; the host did not set specific levels, so technically, if I read one, I am done. However, I will try to read as many as I can. As I said, making a small list should not be a problem by end of the year. I am not committing to a specific number. I will just see how many I can get. As I usually do, I will add books to my reading list as I get to them, and I will link the reviews as I post them to the blog.


List of books read for this challenge:

1. Jane Lyle, The Illustrated Guide to Tarot.
2. Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith (audiobook edition).
3. Paul Barrett, Glock: The Rise of America's Gun. 
4. Elizabeth Warren, A Fighting Chance (audiobook edition).
5. Kevin B. Eastman and Peter A. Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 3.
6. Brandon Badeaux and Rob Williams, Star Wars Rebellion, Volume 2: The Akahista Gamble.
7. Jen Campbell, The Bookshop Book. 
8. Margie Lapanja, Food Men Love. 
9. Julio Patán, Cocteles con historia: guía definitiva para el borracho ilustrado.
10. Jim Berg and Tim Nyberg, The Jumbo Duct Tape Book. 
11. Christopher Hansard, The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking. 
12. Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, My Bad: a Zits Treasury.
13. Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, Zits Unzipped.   
14. Richard Matheson, Hell House. 
15. Josh Mack, The Hobo Handbook. 
16. Scott Adams, When Did Ignorance Become a Point of View? 
17. Staci Mendoza and David Bourne, Reading and Understanding the Mysteries of Tarot.  
18. Josephine Ellershaw, Easy Tarot Handbook. 
19. James Swallow, The Blood Angels Omnibus.
20. Isabella Alston and Kathryn Dixon, Tarot Cards. 
21. Robert Kirkman, Battle Pope, Volume 3: Pillow Talk. 
22. Robert Kirkman, Battle Pope, Volume 4: Wrath of God. 
23. Jeff Jensen, Green River Killer. 
24. Ellen DeGeneres, Seriously...I'm Kidding (audiobook edition).
25. Adrian Tomine, Scenes from an Impending Marriage. 
26. Daniel Way, et.al., Deadpool: The Complete Collection, Volume 1. 
27. Wilfred Santiago, 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente.
28. Bill Maher, New Rules (audiobook edition). 
29. Denis Leary, Why We Suck (audiobook edition). 
30. Nicholas Pileggi, Casino. 
31. David J. Wilkie, Coffee With Jesus. 
32. David J. Wilkie, A Second Shot of Coffee With  Jesus.
33. Benjamin  Law, Gaysia.  
34. Carole Cable, Cable on Academe. 
35. Barbara Moore, Tarot for Beginners. 
36. Sarah A. Chrisman and Thomas E. Hill, True Ladies and Proper Gentlemen. 
37. Stephanie McMillan, The Beginning of the American  Fall. 
38. Gustavo Duarte, Monsters! and Other Stories. 
39. Carol Peachee, The Birth of Bourbon.  
40. Gabriel García Márquez, Yo No Vengo a Decir un Discurso. 
41. Sean Michael Wilson, et.al., Cold Mountain. 
42. Stacey DeMarco (author) and Jimmy Manton (illustrator), The Halloween Oracle.

Update note (12/30/16): This was an open ended challenge, so I am finishing the challenge with 42 books, which is a pretty good showing. I did enjoy doing this challenge as it gave me the chance to find some older books. The public library was a good source of backlist books for this challenge, and I am sure the library appreciated getting a bit of circulation on older titles. I will likely sign up for this challenge again in 2017.