 Hi everyone and a big welcome back to my channel. So there are so many amazing sounding books coming out in 2021. If you haven't seen my first anticipated releases video of the year then I will leave it linked around. Honestly, the books sound so good. But equally, as ever, there are so many amazing sounding backlist books as well which are just as important as the new releases. So I've compiled a list of around 10 backlist books that I really want to get around to this year. We have some literary fiction, we have some poetry and some fantasy. Some of these books I've been meaning to get to for forever. Some by my favourite authors, some just taking my fancy for whatever reason. I thought we could just chat about this list today. You can get me hyped for these books and perhaps we can check back in with this video later in the year and we can all hold me accountable. I do have a similar list of classics I want to get to in 2021 as well, but that is a whole thing in itself. So look out for that video coming at some point as well in the undetermined future. So let's start with a book that I have actually already read. It was one of the first books I read this year and that is Conversations with Friends by Sally Bruni. This is an Irish literary fiction novel following two university best friends named Francis and Bobby when they become friends with and become involved with this married couple. Of course I've been meaning to read this book ever since I read Normal People in 2019 and it became one of my favourite books ever. I never thought that I would enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed Normal People. Spoiler, I didn't. But I still always really wanted to read this and to see where Sally Bruni came from, see what her debut was like and I also just generally really like her writing style and her introspective character focused writing. So I knew that I would enjoy aspects of this at least. You will be able to hear my full thoughts on this one in my January recent reads video coming soon. Next up is Exciting Times by Nisha Dolan. Kind of a similar vibe to Conversations with Friends. This is another Irish literary novel following a young woman who moves from Dublin to Hong Kong to teach English to kids. I believe there is a male banker, a female lawyer and a love triangle. I need to read this book because everyone and their dog read this book last year including Cameron, my husband who really enjoyed it. Exciting Times, Jasmine hasn't read it, she should. Hang on. It's one that's been on my radar for a while. It's one I've been excited about for a while. Why didn't I just read it last year when everyone else was reading it? Fuck knows. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy this one. It's very me. Literary, millennial fiction, character focused, relationship focused. Plus everyone says it's really good so high hopes. Next book I need to read this year is A Year of Marvelous Ways by Sarah Winerman. This is a historical novel set primarily a couple of years after the end of the Second World War in Cornwall. It follows a 90-year-old woman and a young soldier who form a surprising friendship. You may know if you are familiar with my channel that I absolutely adore Sarah Winerman. She is one of my favorite authors. I first read one of her novels when God was a Rabbit a few years ago after Cameron randomly bought me it as a treat from a charity shop, loved it. I then read Tin Man, her most recent novel, which to this day is just one of the most perfect novels I have ever read. Her only other existing novel is This One, which has been on my shelves for a few years now. And I've actually just started this one. I am buddy reading it with Cameron. He's away at the moment doing eight weeks residential training to be a firefighter, so he suggested that while he was away we could do a buddy read. Interestingly, the premise of this one isn't something either of us would typically go for. We don't really like World War II novels. However, we both do love Sarah Winerman. We are obsessed with her writing, so we really wanted to try this. Very excited. The next book is A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, set in the 1950s in a newly independent India. This is a pretty wide-reaching novel, I believe. It explores four different families with a young woman named Latta at its center, whose mother is trying to find her a suitable husband. So I was first introduced to Vikram Seth when my friend Alex bought me an equal music by him a couple of years ago. Such an amazing novel, criminally underrated. I want to see more people reading it, please. This is Vikram Seth's more popular novel, I believe, especially now that it has been made into a BBC series. I really want to watch the series. I really want to read the book first. I think it's going to be amazing. Vikram Seth is such a beautiful writer, and this just sounds epic and wonderful. It's just a bit of a chunker, I believe, so I need to get into the right headspace to pick it up. Next up is Gilead by Marilyn Robinson. Can you believe I have never read anything by Marilyn Robinson? This is the first novel in a kind of quartet of companion novels, I believe. I don't know much about it. I just know that it is set around the 1950s and tells the story of a dying reverend. Marilyn Robinson is just one of those authors that I have always heard about, always planned on reading, but just never done the thing. Over the past year I've been hearing more and more about her as she brought out her most recent novel, Jack. Everybody loves her. She is so incredibly acclaimed, so I thought let's get this book for Christmas and make it happen. Honestly, I'll be kind of upset if this one doesn't blow me away. Next up is Empire Falls by Richard Russo. Now I think about it, this one was also introduced to me by my friend Alex, weirdly. He has good taste. Once again, I know hardly anything about this one. I know that it is set in a blue collar town in America and follows the life of a man who works in the Empire Grill. So Richard Russo is just one of those names, isn't he? Won the Pulitzer? Probably a big deal. I'm just excited to finally read something by him. I think this is going to be really good. I love chunky, litific books that tell the story of a whole life, really focusing in on lots of different characters and themes, and I definitely get those vibes from this one. The first poetry collection that I wanted to read this year was Falling Awake by Alice Oswald. This is another one that I've actually already read this year. Get a couple under my belt, make myself feel good. This is a relatively new contemporary poetry collection that is incredibly popular. It explores themes of the natural world and our physical selves and mortality. So I really liked this poetry collection. Obviously, you have to wait for my January recent reads to hear my full thoughts, but rest assured this was really good. It was what I hoped for. I am very happy to have read a full collection by Alice Oswald now. I'm excited to read more. Next up is Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney. A bit of an earlier poetry collection. I believe this was Seamus Heaney's first collection written in the 1960s. I've read another one of Seamus Heaney's poetry collections, Human Chain, and I've just seen him everywhere. Obviously, he is a huge deal in Irish poetry and just poetry in general. I came across one poem from this collection in an anthology I read last year. I believe it was called Blackberry Picking. I absolutely loved it, and so I thought this should be the next collection I pick up by him. I believe this collection also has a large focus on the natural world, as well as exploring Seamus Heaney's childhood in Ireland. I already know that this is going to be good. A couple of fantasy books now to spice things up a little. The first one is The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. This is the third book on this list that I have already read. I am very proud. This is a standalone, epic, sapphic, high fantasy novel with dragons. Also, it's fucking huge. That is basically all you need to know before diving into this one. It was all I knew. I had wanted to read this one for around a year. I'd seen so many people on booktube loving it. Cameron then read it as well, also loved it. And yes, thankfully, I also really loved this one. It was so much fun. Great world, fab characters, exciting plot. I also really loved that it was a standalone and everything was contained into one book. Of course, I will talk about this more in my January recent reads. And the final book in my backlist TBR for this year is The Poppy Wall by RF Quang. Book hung. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. Now, this book being on this TBR will not come as a shock to any of you if you have even spent one minute on booktube or book twitter over the past six months. This fantasy trilogy is fucking everywhere. People are obsessed. All I know is that this is an epic military historical fantasy series based off of 20th century China. I have no doubts that I'm going to love this. As we all know, I love an epic fantasy series every now and again. This sounds amazing. I believe the hype. I trust you all. Really excited to experience this whole thing for myself. So there we have some backlist books that I really want to get to this year. Please, please let me know if you've read any of them. Tell me they're amazing. Tell me to read them soon. Please also let me know if there are any backlist books that you really want to get to this year that you've been putting off for whatever reason. Hopefully we can all encourage each other to pick up these books down below in the comments. Thank you so much everyone for watching. I really appreciate it. I hope you're all doing well and I will see you soon in another video. Bye guys.