I can point to exactly the things that are keeping my books-read numbers down this year. I’ve found and been really engaged in some new hobbies, and I’ve really invested a lot of time and effort into writing for myself. I love these things, and as much as it’s a little sad not to be reading as much as I once did, I feel like I’m doing way better with choosing my books because I know I want to spend time with things I’ll enjoy and want to talk about.

During the first week of April, I had minor oral surgery, and I used the recovery time to read a lot. Since I didn’t want to leave the house, laying about and reading was nice. I picked up a couple of new and forthcoming titles, and I picked up Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. I’d never read it before, which surprised me, given it was set in Chicago and the exact kind of book I’d have loved in school. Lucky for me, I got to fall in love with it now, as an adult, and after I finished it, I knew immediately I needed to clear at least one month this year to do nothing but read backlist titles I’ve always meant to read but hadn’t yet.

July — the long, lazy, hot month where there are few new releases and the cooler days of fall aren’t yet in sight — felt like the right month to do it.

I’m really excited to dedicate an entire month to reading backlist titles. The publishing industry defines that as a book published 6 months ago or longer. So, books published in 2015 or before are fair game. I plan to pick up a number of classic/backlist YA titles I haven’t yet read — I’ve got, for example, Hard Love and Black Girl in Paris that I picked up in a used bookstore earlier this year, and I know there are some backlist titles of favorite authors I need to still read. I’m also going to read some more Atwood, perhaps A Tale for the Time Being, and the copy of Americanah I’ve had sitting on my shelf for two years now. I’m going to pull a few classics by women out, too, to sort of discover things I have always meant to, but haven’t yet.

As I was thinking about this, I thought it would be really fun to ask others to take part in a backlist July, too. But I dislike formalities or structures for these kinds of things because at the end of the day, reading is about having fun, about learning for yourself, and about the impact a book has on you. Instead, I thought it might be fun to host a read/blog along in the same sort of style that I’ve done with others before (like for The Chocolate War and Jane-Emily).

I debated for a long time what backlist book would be a great choice. Since I am reading only women, of course it would be a female-identifying author, and I realized that choosing an easy-to-get paperback would be a smart bet for those who want to buy it or who want to track it down at a library.

So here’s the winner:

Norma Klein’s Domestic Arrangements. You can snag a copy of the Lizzie Skurnick reissue anywhere you want to online, and it’s quite likely you could track down a library copy. Klein is a classic YA author who I’ve never read, and the book’s description hit everything that interests me in YA lit:

Originally published in 1982, Domestic Arrangements is the story of a fourteen-year-old New York teen named Tatiana, an unintentional ingénue who becomes notorious for filming a nude scene for a major movie. Tatiana’s newfound fame—which includes interviews, magazine covers, and publicists—is set against the backdrop of an increasingly adult personal life, as her parents file for divorce, her sister becomes increasingly jealous of her sibling’s success, and she must choose between her teenage boyfriend and new, older loves. A stunning example of Norma Klein’s fearless take on the complexities of adolescence, Domestic Arrangements is an indelible portrait of a girl on the cusp of adulthood, learning to balance the challenges of life in the spotlight with love, family, and friendship. This edition features a brand new introduction by Norma’s long-time friend, renowned children’s author Judy Blume.

Norma Klein was best known for young adult works that dealt with family problems, childhood and adolescent sexuality, as well as social issues like racism, sexism, and contraception. Her first novel, Mom, the Wolf Man and Me (1972), was about the daughter of an unmarried, sexually active woman. Her subsequent works included Sunshine, It’s Okay If You Don’t Love Me, Breaking Up, and Family Secrets. Because of their subject matter, many of her books sparked considerable controversy, and a 1986 American Library Association survey found that nine of her novels had been removed from libraries. In an interview that same year with the New York Times, Klein said: “I’m not a rebel, trying to stir things up just to be provocative. I’m doing it because I feel like writing about real life.” She died in 1989 at the age of fifty.

For those who pick up the Skurnick reissue, there is an introduction by Judy Blume, too.

Taking part in the read/blog along is easy. Pick up the book, read it in July, and then write about whatever you want to relating to the book, if you want to. You can take photos, you can write a review, you can write on the topics in the book, anything goes. I don’t care where or how you do it, and STACKED is, as usual, open for those who want to write a guest post on the book or something relating to it. Just shoot an email to stacked.books //@ gmail.com.

If you do choose to write or create anything relating to the book in the month of July, shoot a link to whatever it is to that same email address, and at the end of July, I’ll put together a big round-up to share. It’s low-pressure, completely voluntary fun, so if you don’t want to do anything more than read the book, that is 100% OKAY. Be inspired however you choose and share it wherever you want. This is about reading a classic and seeing where YA was then and where it is now.

Because, believe it or not, YA has been around longer than just most of our life times.