Tuesday, February 27, 2024

A Century of Books (1925 - 2024): Another Project



This is another project (I won't call it challenge, to not adding pressure to the otherwise fun and exciting activity) I undertake starting this year, which is inspired by Simon @ Stuck in a Book. The idea is to read 100 books published during the last hundred years - one title for each year. I don't set any timeframe for myself, but I guess I'd able to finish this in two years. Part of the fun is to browse and find new books I have never heard of before, or books that I have wanted to read in the past but have been forgotten. The other is, of course, reading an interesting assortment of those books! :)

Here is my initial list in Google Sheet, with links to the ones I have read and reviewed. It's still incomplete, and I will keep adding (or changing) books along the way. Just reading one book for each year, how difficult will it be, right?

A Century of Books
1925Under the Tonto Rim (Zane Grey)
1926The Blue Castle (L.M. Montgomery)
1927The Wintringham Mystery (Anthony Berkeley)
1928The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye (Brian Flynn)
1929Missing or Murdered (Robin Forsythe)
1930Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase (Carolyn Keene)
1931Danger Calling (Patricia Wentworth)
1932Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons)
1933High Rising (Angela Thirkell)
1934Miss Buncle's Book (D.E. Stevenson)
1935The Cornish Coast Murder (John Bude)
1936The Wheel Spins (Ethel Lina White)
1937How Do You Live? (Genzaburo Yoshino)
1938Artists in Crime (Ngaio Marsh)
1939The Black Spectacles (John Dickson Carr)
1940Sapphira and the Slave Girl (Willa Cather)
1941Babbacombe's (Susan Scarlett)
1942The Moving Finger (Agatha Christie)
1943The Five Find-Outers: The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage (Enid Blyton)
1944Death Comes as the End (Agatha Christie)
1945The Moomins and the Great Flood (Tove Jansson)
1946Fire in the Thatch (E.C.R. Lorac)
1947Kate Hardy (D.E. Stevenson)
1948Finn Family's Moomintroll
1949Crooked House (Agatha Christie)
1950Old Herbaceous (Reginald Arkell)
1951The Daughter of Time (Josephine Tey)
1952Apricot Sky (Ruby Ferguson)
1953Excellent Women (Barbara Pym)
1954Sweet Thursday (John Steinbeck)
1955Fresh from the Country (Miss Read)
1956Near Neighbors (Molly Clavering)
1957A Winter Away (Elizabeth Fair)
1958The Greengage Summer (Rumer Godden)
1959My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George)
1960Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O'Dell)
1961Travels with Charley: In Search of America (John Steinbeck)
1962The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Joan Aiken)
1963
1964
1965
1966The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy Gilman)
1967From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (E.L. Konigsburg)
1968Picture Miss Seaton (Heron Carvic)
1969
1970The Woods in Winter (Stella Gibbons)
1971When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (Judith Kerr)
1972
1973The Princess Bride (William Goldman)
1974Mister God, This is Anna (Flyn)
1975Crocodile on the Sandbank (Elizabeth Peters)
1976Letters from Father Christmas (J.R.R. Tolkien)
1977Quartet in Autumn (Barbara Pym)
1978The Bookshop (Penelope Fitzgerald)
1979
1980Duncton Wood (William Horwood)
1981The Hotel New Hampshire (John Irving)
1982
1983
1984Cold Sassy Tree (Olive Ann Burns)
1985The Ruby in the Smoke (Philip Pullman)
1986Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones)
1987The Shell Seekers (Rosamund Pilcher)
1988Dances with Wolves (Michael Blake)
1989Blitzcat (Robert Westall)
1990Animal Dreams (Barbara Kingsolver)
1991Toujours Provence (Peter Mayle)
1992The Thief of Always (Clive Barker)
1993The Club Dumas (Arturo Perez-Reverte)
1994At Home in Mitford (Jan Karon)
1995The Persian Pickle Club (Sandra Dallas)
1996Under the Tuscan Sun (Frances Mayes)
1997
1998The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith)
1999Bud, Not Buddy (Christopher Paul Curtis)
2000Scarlet Feather (Maeve Binchy)
2001Five Quarters of the Orange (Joanne Harris)
2002The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (Jan-Philipp Sendker)
2003The Housekeeper and the Professor (Yōko Ogawa)
2004Ten Big Ones (Janet Evanovich)
2005
2006
2007
2008Bruno, Chief of Police (Martin Walker)
2009The Easy Life in Kamusari (Shion Miura)
2010Days at Morisaki Bookshop (Satoshi Yagisawa)
2011The Martian (Andy Weir)
2012Cigarette Girl (Ratih Kumala)
2013The Murder at Sissingham Hall (Clara Benson)
2014Murder Most Unladylike (Robin Stevens)
2015In the Market for Murder (T.E. Kinsey)
2016The Whistler (John Grisham)
2017The Cat Who Saved Books (Sosuke Natsukawa)
2018
2019The Secret Guests (John Banville)
2020Snow (John Banville)
2021The Man Who Died Twice (Richard Osman)
2022The Golden Mole (Katherine Rundell)
2023What You Are Looking For Is in the Library (Michiko Aoyama)
2024Eleven Huskies (Philipp Schott)


Do you find your favorite books in the list? Or books you're exciting to read? Or do you want to recommend books I'd love to read for certain years? Please tell me on the comment section. I would love to hear some suggestions!

3 comments:

  1. That book about Hitler stealing a pink rabbit sounds interesting! I had the idea last year of doing a long reading series on the 20th century, with nonfiction covering the most important events of different decades, and fiction featuring titles from the decade I was on that month. I need a break from epic challenges, though!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks like it's shaping up to be a great century! Just to pick one, I really enjoyed Babbacombe's. I look forward to following your ACOB reading.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are several favorites of mine on this list: Shell Seekers, Under the Tuscan Sun, Animal Dreams, The Princess Bride, Quartet in Autumn and more. What a fun reading project! :D

    ReplyDelete

What do you think?