Century of books, part 2

netla

13 years ago

The last message on the old thread posted was this question from Timallan:

Is 1970 still free? I am curious to read the novel Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion.

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Comments (43)

donnamira
13 years ago
I'll take 1979, with Octavia Butler's Kindred. I plan to pick it up from the library today.

and I'll add the link to Lemonhead's blog over on this thread too:

Here is a link that might be useful: Century of Books Blog
rosefolly
13 years ago
I had been planning to read something by Thomas Costain, a very popular writer of the 1940's and 1950's, but the slots are all full.

Meanwhile I noticed that our library system has only one of his novels, The Black Rose, along with some of his nonfiction. I checked it out so it would not get discarded next time they weed the shelves.

Rosefolly
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timallan
12 years ago
Done with my Hallowe'en reading, so I have just started Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion for the year 1970.

If 1965 is still free, I might like to attempt The Sterile Cuckoo by John Nichols. I remember the very offbeat movie with Liza Minnelli.
janalyn
12 years ago
So how does this work. You sign up with a title for an open slot year and then when you have finished it, you let Lemonhead know? No write-ups or anything?

Great idea btw!
veer
12 years ago
janalyn, hunt down the page to 'Century of Books Reading Comments'. I have read a few interesting books that I probably wouldn't have considered otherwise.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
A few RPers have mentioned this project...

It's still happening, although it might be rather slow progress at the moment...

We still have a few gaps to fill if people are interested...

Here is a link that might be useful: RP Century of Books blog
woodnymph2_gw
12 years ago
I think 1972 is still open. I'll take that slot and write of Milan Kundera's little-known novel, "Farewell Waltz". This was first published in France under a slightly different title. The author is a bit of a philosopher and in the book raises interesting questions about morality, guilt, the effects of Communism, and relationships between men and women. The setting is in a small spa town in Bohemia, with only 8 protagonists. It is clear from views expressed by Kundera that he found the Communist regime repressive. He relocated to France after the Prague Spring.

Kundera's skill in depicting complex characters is as great as his formation of unexpected plot twists. I really enjoyed this.
janalyn
12 years ago
Ill do 1997. I googled best books of 1997 and this is the top of the list:

The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Blue Flower 3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 ÃÂ· rating details ÃÂ· 1,397 ratings ÃÂ· 233 reviews
In eighteenth-century Germany, the impetuous student of philosophy who will later gain fame as the Romantic poet Novalis seeks his father's permission to wed his true philosophy -- a plain, simple child named Sophie. The attachment shocks his family and friends. This brilliant young man, betrothed to a twelve-year-old dullard! How can it be?

It sounds appalling to me but maybe Ill be pleasantly surprised...had to order it from another library so it will be a few days before it is here.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
..And I'll fill in 1974 with a read of The Countryman Cottage Life Book - Fred Archer.

Blog will be updated soon.
woodnymph2_gw
12 years ago
Janalyn, for whatever it's worth, I hated "The Blue Flower". I wondered why all the fuss?
lemonhead101
12 years ago
Peace has been restored in the blog of RP Century of Books. All changes have been completed and implemented.

New books are highlighted (as per people's choices).

You may note that in the 1900-1925 table, there are two titles in red. I hadn't noticed before, but these are two titles by the same author, and if we want to be pedantic, we had agreed that one of the rules was no repeats.

So - I went back and checked the old posts, and it seems that Rouan posted with her title choice first (on June 13) whilst FrancesMD posted her title on July 03.

How would we like to handle this? (The "We" was a Queen Victorian touch for you.) Keep both? Do chronological?

Thanks. And if there need to be some revisions etc. on the blog, just let me know. Happy to make those.

lemonhead

Here is a link that might be useful: RB CoB blog (updated 01/17/2014)
lemonhead101
12 years ago
I'd like to volunteer to take 1978 with the title "Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost and illustrated by Susan Jeffers....

And "Stoner" by John Edwards Williams (1965)...
janalyn
12 years ago
Oh I meant to apologize for the Blue Flower confusion dates. It was published in the US in 1997, so that is the date I first saw when I googled it. Subsequently, I found that it was originally published in the UK in 1995. Not sure if it matters if you choose 1995 or 1997.
I will volunteer for The Dead Zone by Stephen King published in 1979. I haven't read a King novel in a long time. I wonder whatever happened to Rayna (I think that was her name, she was a real King fan).
janalyn
12 years ago
Scratch that King novel. Donnamira took 1979 earlier with "Kindred" and I know she read that novel because she talked about it in the SFF thread. I will find something else and let you know.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
So the RP Century of Books blog has been updated... (see link below.)

Here are where there are gaps if anyone's up for any new reading:

* 1906
* turn of century 2nd decade: 1914, 1916, 1918, 1919
* 1920's - 1923, 1926
* 1930's - 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935
* 1940's - COMPLETE
* 1950's - COMPLETE
* 1960's - 1960, 1967
* 1970's - COMPLETE
* 1980's - 1987, 1988, 1989
* 1990's - 1993, 1999

I need to add Donnamira's Kindred read (1979), but otherwise I think it's up to date. Feel free to let me know if there are edits or revisions.

Just 18 more titles if we'd like to complete this project!

Here is a link that might be useful: RP COB Updated (02/11/2014)
veer
12 years ago
Liz, may I book 1930 please? I have just picked up Corduroy by Adrian Bell recommended at the 'Slightly Foxed' website. An ancient library 'store' copy from 1946; but none the worse for that. ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Slightly Foxed
janalyn
12 years ago
I will read City of Illusions (Hainish Cycle #3) by Ursula K. Le Guin . 1967
This is an author I read decades ago and I have not read this one, although I remember reading the first two.
frances_md
12 years ago
I'm so far behind with everything and just read this thread. Please feel free to remove my 1917 entry that is a duplicate for the author.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
And I've just completed a read of "Plain and Simple" by Sue Bender which completes 1989... Great job, RPers!
rouan
12 years ago
I feel so guilty; I haven't kept up with this. I have the Agony and the Ecstasy on my TBR pile. I signed up for it for 1961 but it keeps staring at me and I keep ignoring it. I did try to read it once but it didn't catch my attention so I put it back on the TBR pile. I think I had better give up that year in case someone else has something they want to read for it. I am so sorry but I just don't want to read it right now.
veer
12 years ago
rouan, I too remember I tried to read The Agony and the Ecstasy and couldn't get on with it. In fact I have found anything by Irving Stone, except for weight to be long on 'guide-book' type descriptions and very short on feeling/empathy/emotions.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
Rouan --

Absolutely no problem with you retiring a book title bc you don't want to read it. I smiled when you said you had been feeling guilty about not reading it, bc I have that same reaction sometimes. (I know, I know...)

But rest assured - there is no pressure on this end, and if you don't want to, that's fine. Thanks for letting us know.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
So - having a spare moment, I thought I'd fiddle around and update the RP CoB blog.

New additions (or perhaps "in progress") are the highlighted entries.

I'm going to see if I can compile a list of books as suggestions to fill in the remaining gaps. Perhaps we could complete this project by the end of summer? (Just an idle thought and only if it's fun for everyone.)

Please feel free to let me know if there need to be edits.

Happy to do so.

Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: RP COB blog Update (05/16/2014)
rosefolly
12 years ago
Friends, I am releasing 1937 back into the ranks of the unread.

I have tried and tried to read Northwest Passage but my brain shuts down every time I pick it up. I don't know why. It's not an intellectually challenging work. Now I am officially giving up.

Sorry to have let the group down. Perhaps I can find a substitute for that or one of the other still unfilled years.

Rosefolly
timallan
12 years ago
Is 1989 still available? I recently finished Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
Tim: Sure, you can take 1989 with Ishiguro.

Rose: Sure, you can release 1937. No pressure from this camp at all. :-)

And to summarize, this is what is still available. I've added a link below to some novels that might give you guys an idea of what was published when if you're interested. 1900Ã¢ÂÂs: 1906, 1914, 1916, 1919
1920Ã¢ÂÂs: 1923, 1926
1930Ã¢ÂÂs: 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937
1960Ã¢ÂÂs: 1960, 1961, 1967
1980Ã¢ÂÂs: 1987, 1988
1990Ã¢ÂÂs: 1993, 1999

Any takers?

I've been reading, but for some reason, the titles I've chosen have been published in years already taken. I'm going to have to start looking at pub dates as well as titles.

Thanks, all!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pulitzer Prize Winning Novels of the 20th Century

This post was edited by lemonhead101 on Thu, May 29, 14 at 13:46
timallan
12 years ago
Can I put in dibs on 1961 for Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates?
lemonhead101
12 years ago
Tim - happy to put you down.

And, going through the RP thread about May reading, I noticed that one of Frieda's reads this month would work for this project (if that's ok).

She read 1960's John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor,
friedag
12 years ago
Liz, it's fine with me unless someone else particularly wants another 1960 book. In the event no one does, I will write up something about The Sot-Weed Factor to post to the comments thread. Which reminds me that I also need to comment about A Coffin for Dimitrios (1939) and The Sand Pebbles (1962), both of which I have now reread.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
Aagh. Frieda - sorry - I had forgotten about the comments part of the project. If it's too long ago, I bet it's ok to not do one. You choose. And I need to add mine as well!

And I'm adding Puck of Pook's Hill - Rudyard Kipling for 1906. I don't think we've had a Kipling yet.
timallan
12 years ago
I was not able to get into The Sterile Cuckoo for 1965. If anyone else wants this year, please feel free.
timallan
12 years ago
If 1923 is still available, I am currently reading Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers. It is first novel.
lemonhead101
12 years ago
Hi everyone -

Just a note to say that the blog has been updated. We're making good progress...

Salient points:

* 1900's - missing 1906
* 1910's - missing 1916, 1919
* 1920's - missing 1926
* 1930's - missing 1931, 1935
* 1940's - COMPLETE
* 1950's - COMPLETE
* 1960's - COMPLETE
* 1970's - COMPLETE
* 1980's - missing 1982, 1987, 1988
* 1990's - missing 1993, 1999

So, list-wise, we are missing eleven books from the years 1906, 1916, 1919, 1926, 1931, 1935, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1993, and 1999.

Any additions floating around that I've missed?

Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: RP COB blog 08/15/2014
iamokathy
12 years ago
Can we add the New York Trilogy by Paul Auster for 1987? And here's one for 1988: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler.

I can't remember if we had to have read them already or if just being on my TBR list counts.
veer
12 years ago
Kathy, I think the original idea was that these should be new reads for us, rather than re-reads, though I don't think you will be thrown into the duckpond by lemonhead/liz for cheating a bit. If you have, as yet, not read Breathing Lessons ask to have it put in the 1988 slot. Was part of the plan to write something about what you read or maybe that was just to be added in the 'month's' reading? LIz??

Here is a link that might be useful: Century of Books
lemonhead101
10 years ago
I happened to be browsing old threads and came across this one, when we were doing the Century of Books. Curious which years to fill (and which ones that I could fill in with my own reading titles), I found out that we at RP are only actually missing titles published in the following years:

* 1906

* 1916

* 1993

* 1999

Would of you be interested and/or have any titles in your recent reading list that would fill in any of those years?

(Just a random thought. It'd be fun to complete this project... )

Note: The original blog has not been updated...
donnamira
10 years ago
I'm willing to help wrap this up! I'll take 1906, with H.G.Wells' In the Days of the Comet.
msmeow
10 years ago
I've read Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. It was published in 1999.

Donna
iamkathy
9 years ago
How about A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce for 1916? Or was that year already taken?
netla
Original Author
9 years ago
You can add 1920 to the list of years not filled. I was going to do that one and chose Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson, but I gave up on reading it.
lemonhead101
9 years ago
Hi there - thanks for digging this thread up. I had completely forgotten about it. I've gone ahead and updated the blog now if you're curious to see how things have (almost) ended up. I have also added some of the titles that I've read this year that would contribute to the project as well.

Once iamkathy and donnamira confirm their finished reads, there will only be 1993 pub year to complete. Any takers?

Here is a link to the Goodreads page for books published in that year as a starting point.

Here is the link to the updated blog related to this project.
donnamira
9 years ago
Yes, I finished the Wells book quite a while ago, so 1906 is done!
lemonhead101
9 years ago
Awesome. Thanks for letting me know, Donnamira...

Century of books, part 2

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