Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
This is the time of year when Toronto is so hot and humid that I generally get a lot of reading done, from new releases to classics to backlist titles that I meant to read a year or two ago but never got around to it.
I don’t know about all of you, but I sure appreciate having books to fall back on as entertainment options while I wait for cooler days ahead.
Here are five backlist books I loved and five more I hope to maybe get started on over the next several weeks of summer.
The Backlist Books I Loved:
1. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
Genre: Science Fiction, Post-apocalyptic
What It’s About: Cloistered monks who rebuilt society after a devastating nuclear war.
2. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic
What It’s About: An English physician who befriends a formerly-wealthy family in the mid-to-late 1940s. The family lives in a crumbling mansion that may be haunted.
3. The Annals of a Country Doctor by Carl Matlock, MD
Genre: Memoir, Medicine
What It’s About: The funny, touching, and sometimes bittersweet memories of a rural medicine physician in the 1970s.
4. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Genre: Fiction
What It’s About: Race, loneliness, and a young girl coming of age.
5. Dracula by Bram Stoker
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
What It’s About: An arrogant man named Jonathan who ignored countless warnings and travelled deep into Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a house. What Jonathan didn’t know was that Dracula was a vampire.
The Backlist Books I Hope I Will Love:
1. Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson
Genre: Nonfiction
What It’s About: How multi-level marketing schemes deceive their customers.
2. Piñata by Leopoldo Gout
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
What It’s About: A modern-day retelling of a classic piece of traditional Mexican lore.
3. After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz
Genre: Historical, LGBTQ+
What It’s About: The lives of queer women at various points in history.
4. This Is Not My Home by Vivienne Chang
Genre: Children’s (picture book)
What It’s About: The difficulties of moving to a new area and making new friends.
5. Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan
Genre: Young Adult
What It’s About: The main character’s transracial adoption, queer family, and coming of age experiences.
I love The Little Stranger and The Bluest Eye!
Here’s my TTT: https://franlaniado.wordpress.com/2023/08/01/top-ten-tuesday-forgotten-backlist-titles/
Weren’t they great? 🙂
Canticle was such an interesting book, though its outlook was a little grim.
I’m glad you liked it. Yeah, it had grim moments for sure.
Ooh I still see canticle and dracula around a lot, the classics have staying power! Great list!
Cool. 🙂 Thanks.
The Little Stranger was good. And Dracula is one of my all-time favorite books. Great list! 😀
Thank you!
It’s been so long since I read Dracula, but I do want to reread one of these days (which I’ve been saying for years, so maybe it’s about time to make it happen). I liked The Little Stranger, but if I were going to pick a Sara Waters book, it would be Fingersmith, which I loved. Great list!
Fingersmith was awesome, too! I hope you like Dracula if or when you reread it.
Yes, I am very glad for books to fall back on!!! I love that there is such a wide variety to choose from too!
It’s wonderful. 🙂
I’m hoping to finally read Dracula this year. Both Meet Me in Mumbai and This is Not My Home look and sound great, too!
I hope you love them all. 🙂
I’ve heard of A Canticle for Leibowitz but haven’t read it. That and Pinata sound interesting! Great list.
Thank you. Happy reading!
I’m eager to read This is Not My Home…if I can ever find a copy. A Canticle for Leibowitz is a great book.
May you enjoy it!
I think Jana talked about making it a goal to read some of the backlist titles vs. all the “shiny” releases everyone else is talking about, and I love that idea! I have so many on my shelf that I may love, but haven’t read yet. Hope you enjoy those you plan to read, Lydia, and as always, thanks for visiting my website. 🙂
It’s a great goal.
And you’re welcome.
This Is Not My Hoe was great
Glad to hear it.
I haven’t read any of these, so it was nice to hear that you liked them.
Thanks. 🙂
Nice list!
I have only read #4 in your first group, but am planning one day to read #1 and 5!
May you enjoy them. 🙂
I’m giving Dracula a go at the minute, on an email service that sends it out by the days corresponding to the diary entries! I’m finding it a little harder to get into as it’s not spooky season, though.
That’s cool. I do remember the beginning being a bit slow. Hope you like the rest.
Dracula was freaky!
I know, right?
Whenever I see your TTT posts I end up adding at least one book to my tbr! This time A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Little Stranger, After Sappho, and Meet me in Mumbai made the list.
What a lovely compliment. Happy reading!
Ha I haven’t heard of any of these but we are alike in naming 5 books from the backlist we want to read. Hope we do so.
Fingers crossed for you! 🙂
Great list! Love the cover for Piñata.
Thanks. Yeah, I liked it, too.
These are all new to me! Happy August reading!
Thanks. You, too.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller is one that is on my list waiting for a Kindle edition.
Great list!
It’s so good. Hope you like it.
Great list! A Canticle for Leibowitz is an old favorite of mine, recommended to me by my father way back when. I think I need to re-read it now that I’m older than he was at the time! Dracula was surprisingly easy to read, I thought, and I really liked The Little Stranger, too.
Very cool! I’m glad you liked those.
I’ve always wanted to give Dracula a shot.
It’s slow but so good. 🙂 Hope you like it.
I’ve only read Dracula from your list… in fact, I think it’s about time I read it again. I like revisiting that one from time to time, and it’s been a while since my last time reading it.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2023/08/01/top-ten-tuesday-forgotten-backlist-titles/
Happy reading! 🙂
The Little Stranger is one of my best friend’s all-time favorite books. It sounds right up my alley, I really must get around to it…
May you enjoy it!
In Arizona, we have a dry heat, with very little humidity. It’s HOT, but at least it’s not also humid. Either way, ugh. The best way to get through it is definitely staying inside where it’s cool and losing yourself in a book!
Other than DRACULA, I haven’t read any of these. I hope you enjoy the ones you haven’t read yet.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Thank you, Susan. I heard Arizona is having quite the heat wave lately. Hope you stay cool.
I read and enjoyed Meet Me in Mumbai, is a realistic and emotional story, hope you like it too
Thank you for sharing. That’s great to hear.
I’m making my way through Sarah Waters’s backlist, I like her writing a lot. https://readwithstefani.com/book-with-one-word-titles/
That’s awesome. Yeah, she’s written a lot of great stuff.
The Little Stranger sounds really good!
It was excellent. 🙂
I hope you enjoy the ones you haven’t read yet!
Thank you. 🙂
You’ve got some interesting ones here!
Hey Hun was well worth it (I put my review link in as my blog link)–I read/reviewed it in May. Dracula surprised me by how much I liked it.
yay! Glad to hear it. Thanks for sharing the link to your review of it.
I really enjoyed Meet Me in Mumbai! The Bluest Eye is on my tbr, and someday I’d like to read some Sarah Waters. Great list!
Thank you. I hope you like both of those.
So many of these sound really good! I’m definitely adding Meet Me in Mumbai to my TBR, and some of the others on your list. I read The Bluest Eye, and Toni Morrison writes some seriously powerful books. Enjoy your week!
Thank you. I hope you like Meet Me in Mumbai.
And, yeah, Morrison is amazing.
The Little Stranger sounds good and creepy. I’d probably save that one for a cold and gloomy weekend. 🙂
It would be perfect for that sort of weekend!
I’ve never read Dracula, but I am intrigued for sure! Glad to hear you enjoyed it.
Thanks. 🙂