I love backlist books.
How do I define backlist?
- Published more than one year before I read it
I looked at the books I have read so far this year. On the day I did my count, I had read 156 books so far. Of those books:
- 34 were published in 2017
- 10 were published in 2016 and less than a year before I read them
- That’s only 28% of the books I read being new this year. Honestly, that’s more than I would have thought.
Of those 44 recently published books:
- 11 were nonfiction – I guess I like my facts fresh.
- 10 were new books in series I like so I was looking for them
I’m always amazed at people who can write lists like “Top Books I’m Looking Forward To This Fall.” I never have any idea what books are coming out. There are still thousands in the library I haven’t read.
Reasons Why You Should Read More Backlist Books
1. Be Different!
Who wants to read the 42nd review of the newest hyped book?
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.†–Haruki Murakami
2. Let people know what amazing books are already out there
“My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.†–Abraham Lincoln
They may have missed it when it came out. This is especially true in the vast worlds of adult and genre fiction where most of the time there isn’t the hype that seems to exist in YA.
3. Save money, go to the library!
Did you see the 156 books by September stat above? There is no way I can afford to buy all those books. I wouldn’t want to anyway. Where would I keep them? I’m a library person.
What is the oldest non-classic book that you have read this year?Â
Mine was The Cost of Sugar from 1987.
The Cost of Sugar by Cynthia Mc Leod
I’ve also read some great books from 1994 and 1992.
I used to have a problem reading books that were written as contemporary novels years before I read them. If the technology or geopolitical references were out of date, I got frustrated. Then I realized that I could just think of them as very realistic historical fiction novels!
So go forth and find those forgotten gems!
I’ll confess that I read mostly new books, but that’s because I get them for review and they always manage to crowd out the older books. I did do a reread of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy recently, though!
I absolutely agree! There are just so so many books already out there, how can you ignore them all?
I am with you 100%. I make good use of our local library and I seem to always get books that have been out for quite a while. There are some authors that I look forward to and get their latest books (Peter Robinson and Tana French) but I agree with you about older books.