Reading for a challenge?

Reading for a challenge?

Coming up at Backstory

On the radio

I was lucky enough to be on Radio 4’s The World Tonight on Friday evening, talking about all things Backstory. You can listen again here if you want to!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you have had the chance to recharge a bit and that there were lots of great books waiting for you under the Christmas tree. Me? I’m already buzzing for 2024, and not only because I made 69 coffees in the shop yesterday (not all for me!).

I’m a sucker for a ‘new year, new me’ regime — runs and proteins yogurts are in, mince pies very much out — though I will admit that kicking off by weighing myself on New Year’s Day was a very bad idea.

But my whip-smart colleague Megan has come up with a 2024 project we can all get behind, one that promises to be improving and even — whisper it — enjoyable. It might not trim the waist, but it will sure as hell expand the mind.

May we present… The 2024 Backstory Reading Challenge. We challenge you to read one book in each of these dozen categories over the next year. You can do 12 books over 12 months, or tear through it sooner: the choice is yours.

As you will see, the categories are deliberately broad — we’ve had fun coming up with them, now we want to see you have fun with what you pick. (But it’s a firm ‘no’ to the customer who argued yesterday that he could do a historical novel for the travel one on the grounds that the distant past is ‘somewhere I’ve never been’.)

Here are the categories:

Pop into the shop to pick up a challenge card and cross them off as you go along! Even if you don’t live nearby, you can use the template saved on our Instagram highlight (@backstory.london) to tag us as you go along.

When you’re done, come in and tell us all about it — and have a cup of coffee on us.

To get you started, for most of the categories we’ve suggested a few books we love. But remember, you can choose any book you want. Here are our suggestions, all of which are in stock at the shop or available to order with free delivery from our website (just click the book’s title):

A book in translation

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux (translated by Tanya Leslie)

A sensational dip into Annie Ernaux’s complex and brilliant mind — stark, precise and clear notes on desire, grief and romantic obsession. Megan

Diary of A Void by Emi Yagi (translated by David Boyd and Lucy North)

Ms Shibata fakes a pregnancy and enjoys being treated differently at work. Denise

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (translated by Gregory Rabassa)

A beautiful translation of one of the key works of the magical realism genre. Amy

A non-fiction book

Wintering by Katherine May

This is a must-read for anyone wanting to learn more about mental health during the winter. May dives into the topic by detailing a difficult time in her own life while researching the concept of wintering in nature. Darby

Blood River by Tim Butcher

An extraordinary story of a journalist who bravely — foolishly? — decided to travel the length of the Congo. Part intrepid adventure, part primer on colonial history. Tom

A poetry collection

Set Me On Fire: A Poem for Every Feeling, edited by Ella Risbridger

This is one to hold onto forever, and pass down to your kids or your pals’ kids. Poetry at its finest — no pretension, all comfort. Megan

If All the World and Love Were Young by Stephen Sexton

A beautiful collection that plays with form in a unique way. It is both an exploration of grief over his mother’s death and an experiment at writing a poem for each level of Super Mario World — somehow it works! Darby

A short story collection

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

I devoured these stories in a day. They’re lyrical, surreal, and otherworldly with themes exploring transformation, the body, and change. Darby

After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley

The queen of the sharply observed family drama strikes again. These stories are so good you’ll want to read them over and over. Megan

Normal Rules Don’t Apply by Kate Atkinson

I still worry about Franklin, a recurring character in these stories. The silly man. Amy

A book under 200 pages

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A great classic, and a short one. Denise

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

I may be biased (Jessica is Australian), but this slim volume has everything I love: family, identity, memory and sensational sentences. Megan

Wivenhoe by Samuel Fisher

I love a book that packs a concise punch. This one delivers a dark fable including brutal murder, an alternate environmentally ravaged present and a dash of fantasy. Rory

A children’s or YA book

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

A modern classic, this book is so worth reading whether you’re a teen or an adult. A first-person mystery with a lot of heart. Megan

The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig

I cried so much at a couple of bits in this when I read it to my kids. It is one of those books which adults will relate to. Denise

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Sometimes it’s good to indulge our inner child. I couldn’t wait to revisit the world of the Hunger Games, for better or for worse. Crazy and fun. Rory

A book by a debut author

In Memoriam by Alice Winn (of course!)

What, you STILL haven’t read it? Our book of the year for 2023, In Memoriam is such an accomplished novel, yet it is Winn’s debut. Two young men fall in love, then along comes the war… Tom

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

This debut novelist elegantly slots into the literary world of Greek myth retellings that put women front and centre — and she does it in style. So finely written. Rory

Couplets by Maggie Millner

This did not feel like a debut to me: a totally captivating love story told through poetry. You might not be able to resist reading it out loud to yourself… Megan

A book that won a prize in 2023

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch — Booker Prize. A woman fights for her family in a dystopian Ireland.

Fire Weather by John Vaillant — Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction. The gripping story of a blaze in a Canadian oil town sheds light on our burning world.

Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov — International Booker Prize. This book imagines a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s: a home in which each floor evokes a different decade of the 20th century. Europe’s history in miniature.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield — Polari Book Prize. A submarine mission goes wrong and wives become strangers — reality is bent out of shape and romance is deeper than ever in this haunting and lyrical novel.

And three that need to be personal to you: A book published in the year you were born; A book set somewhere you’ve never visited; Your friend’s favourite book.

All of us at the shop are taking the challenge too, so I’ll keep you posted on our progress. Picking a children’s book, fiction in translation and a poetry collection are most likely to keep me on my toes. What about you? What books will you pick, and which categories will you find hardest?

Good luck!
Tom