As noted previously, I’ve decided to pursue A Century of Books based on Stuck in a Book’s plan to read the century 1919-2018 rather than 1900-1999. As I went through my giant TBR re-sort recently, it became clear that this was a good idea. I would have had a hard (and boring) time filling those years from 1900-1919.
The only weird thing about this shifted century is that I have this one year is a bit of an orphan and doesn’t have any decade pals. So it stands here on its own.
As you can see below the year 1919 is pretty darn compelling. I’ve only ever read (and loved) Canfield’s The Homemaker, so I am curious about that one. I really love Hermann Hesse and I really want to read this one, but there is more Hesse coming up so I thought I would give this one a pass for now. I’ve read a lot of Lewis and this one looks interesting. For some reason the May Sinclair novel doesn’t speak to me at the moment. And then there is the Morley. I know there is lots of blogger/reader chatter about him, but I really know nothing about him or his work. With a title like that, however, I decided to give it a go and am actually already about 10 pages in.
With a great selection like this for 1919 (and even better ones in other years as you will soon see), it makes me want to read everything I have for that year. Like maybe I change my ACOB approach to reading every book that I already own from each year. With 725 books on my TBR that would take about 7 years. Hmm…
1919
The Brimming Cup – Dorothy Canfield
Strange News From Another Star – Hermann Hesse
Free Air – Sinclair Lewis
The Haunted Bookshop – Christopher Morley
Mary Oliver: A Life – May Sinclair
For those of you participating in ACOB and needing ideas for your list I thought I would post the whole list at once rather than make you wait for my blog posts about each decade. Also helpful because it has all of my TBR books published prior to 1919 as well.
For those of you NOT doing ACOB, you just might be curious to see whats on my TBR.
hogglestock 
Seeing how many TBR books you have makes me feel so much better about how many I have. 🐧🐧🐧
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Free Air is very good.
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Good to know. I think it is going to end up being the one.
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This is one of my favorite decades in literature (and also to read about) – I’m planning a return to book blogging and this challenge seems just the thing to get me back into the community :)
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I will take this to the next nerd level, by pruning it out. When you review a book, I will color code it. If I am looking for a book for a particular year, this will direct me. Thanks so much!!!!
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Not “pruning”, “printing”. 🤓
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I love the list. What a great resource – thanks for sharing!
I’m hoping to read more Dorothy Canfield Fisher for a ACOB too and have heard good things about The Brimming Cup.
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Thanks so much for sharing this! Most of my books are in storage until March so I can’t do much in the way of planning for ACOB, but this will be a great resource for organization once I’m settled again and can see what books remain in my library. As ever, I envy your gorgeous bookshelves.
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I am very tempted by ACOB but I have about 200 books on the TBR piles and I think I can only cover 65 years from my own shelves, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to actually do it. But I agree with Traveling Penguin, I feel slightly better about my own list now!
I haven’t read The Haunted Bookshop but I read Parnassus on Wheels which immediately precedes it. It is absolutely delightful and I can only assume The Haunted Bookshop is equally wonderful.
And I LOVED getting a peek at your TBR list. So many book I love and so many more I want to read. Trollope! Thirkell! E. F. Benson!
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I remember The Haunted Bookshop as more of a light, cozy not-that-mysterious mystery with a lot of delightful exposition on the benefits of reading and enjoyment of books thrown in.
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This year I’m reading as if I were living in 1918, and I just came across your list. I thought I had the period pretty well covered, but most of yours are new to me. I just posted a 50-book 1918-era reading list (almost all women), and it will be good to have your list on hand when I update it.
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