It will be interesting to see how many of these touch on the war. I’m guessing it won’t be The Ox-Bow Incident.

[For those who don’t know, I am participating in A Century of Books this year which requires me to read one book from each year from 1919 through 2018.]

1940

Mr Skeffington – Elizabeth von Arnim
Final Edition – E.F. Benson
The Ox-Bow Incident – Walter van Tilburg Clark
Steffan Green – Richmal Crompton
A Stricken Field – Martha
The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
Bethel Merriday – Sinclair Lewis
The Living Mountain – Nan Shepherd
Landfall – Nevil Shute
George Passant/Strangers and Brothers – C.P. Snow

Well, it won’t be the von Arnim. I’ve already given that one away. I think I’m done with her. I’ve read half of The Power and the Glory but it has been so long since I put it down that I would have to start from the beginning. It obviously wasn’t gripping me in the way his novels have. 

1941

The Land of Spices – Kate O’Brien
Mrs Tim – D.E. Stevenson
Over to Candleford – Flora Thompson

It really is time I discovered Mrs Tim. I’ve read so many other Stevenson’s but this classic has so far escaped my attention.

1942

Enduring Riches – Margaret Flint
Farmer Takes a Wife – John Gould
The Company She Keeps – Mary McCarthy
A Time to Be Born – Dawn Powell
One Small Candle – Cecil Roberts
Marling Hall – Angela Thirkell

I can’t believe I loved Victoria 4:30 by Cecil Roberts so much and I haven’t yet read this other Roberts. Then again I love Mary McCarthy and I might need her as a foil to all the British authors.

1943

Two Serious Ladies – Jane Bowles
Also the Hills – Frances Parkinson Keyes
Celia’s House – D.E. Stevenson
Candleford Green – Flora Thompson

The Jane Bowles is apparently avant-garde. I am not sure how I will feel about that, but this might be a good time to try.

1944

Liana – Martha Gellhorn
Green Dolphin Street – Elizabeth Goudge
Rest and Be Thankful – Helen MacInnes
The Friendly Young Ladies – Mary Renault
The Signpost – E. Arnot Robertson
Chedworth – R.C. Sherriff
Listening Valley – D.E. Stevenson
Growing Up – Angela Thirkell

At some point this year I will read one of the many Helen MacInnes’ that I have. She can kind of scratch my Ambler itch.

1945

The Green Years – A.J. Cronin
Thursday Afternoons – Monica Dickens
Prospero’s Cell – Lawrence Durrell
Loving – Henry Green
The House in Clewe Street – Mary Lavin
The Journey Home – Zelda Popkin
Miss Bunting – Angela Thirkell
Apartment in Athens – Glenway Wescott

I’ve read a lot of Monica Dickens lately so that one might stay on the shelf for now. I’m kind of in the mood for Durrell right now. He isn’t quite as sunny as his brother Gerald, but writes about sunny Corfu and Egypt. I didn’t really enjoy Glenway Wescott’s The Pilgrim Hawk but the title of this one has me thinking of Rachel Cusk’s Outline. I know that is a weak link, but might be enough for me to give it a whirl.

1946

Jill – Philip Larkin
To Bed with Grand Music – Marghanita Laski
Then and Now – W. Somerset Maugham
Doreen – Barbara Noble
That Lady – Kate O’Brien
Bright Day – J.B. Priestly
The Bridge of Years – May Sarton
Britannia Mews – Margery Sharp
Bell Timson – Marguerite Steen

Philip Larkin is the poet and friend of Barbara Pym who helped revive interest in her work which then in turn led to her publishing more novels. He also wrote a couple of novels, both of which I own and neither of which I have read. It’s definitely time to see what the man was about.

1947

Albert Sears – Millen Brand
The Path to the Spiders’ Nest – Italo Calvino
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – M. Barnard Eldershaw
A Girl in Winter – Philip Larkin
One Fine Day – Mollie Panter-Downes
The Evenings – Gerard Reve
Letty Fox: Her Luck – Christina Stead
Stillmeadow Seasons – Gladys Taber
A View from the Harbour – Elizabeth Taylor
Friday at Noon – Benedict Thielen
Peace Breaks Out – Angela Thirkell
The Old Bank House – Angela Thirkell

If I had to choose at this moment I would pick One Fine Day. 

1948

The Casino – Margaret Bonham
Narcissa – Richmal Crompton
Joy and Josephine – Monica Dickens
Catalina – W. Somerset Maugham
That Winter – Merle Miller
Long After Summer – Robert Nathan
The Locusts Have No King – Dawn  Powell
The Foolish Gentlewoman – Margery Sharp
Another Year – R.C. Sherriff
Tomorrow Will Be Better – Betty Smith
Love Among the Ruins – Angela Thirkell
Private Enterprise – Angela Thirkell

I may need a little Betty Smith to put it all into perspective. Then there is Merle Miller, an author I never would have heard about if not for Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust. I think I have read three of his and not been disappointed. They are medium hard to find at used bookstores so that always makes for  a happy moment to find one in the wild.

1949

Strong Citadel – Katherine Newlin Burt
The Matchmaker – Stella Gibbons
The God Seeker – Sinclair Lewis
Prairie Avenue – Arthur Meeker
Tea with Mr Rochester – Frances Towers

I really disliked Cold Comfort Farm, but the Vintage edition of The Matchmaker was pretty enticing. I bought Prairie Avenue because it had an interesting old dust jacket. But I think the action takes place about 50 years prior so it may not be the best representation of 1949.

For the whole list:

TBR Chron

Dang. I just went through the list. It seems like it is going to be a good decade, but so many books by authors I love (and many cozy reads), it was actually rather boring to annotate the list. Maybe you all have suggestions which of these gems I should read.

As usual, the full TBR can be found at the bottom of the post.

[For those who don’t know, I am participating in A Century of Books this year which requires me to read one book from each year from 1919 through 2018.]

1930

As We Were – E.F. Benson
The Deepening Stream – Dorothy Canfield
The Shutter of Snow – Emily Holmes Coleman
The Weatherhouse – Nan Shepherd
Journey’s End – R.C. Sherriff and Vernon Bartlett
Miss Mole – E.H. Young

I’m probably going to go for the Sherriff. I was so excited to find this volume as his books are hard to find here in the US, but I’ve been sitting on it for a long time. I have so enjoyed (loved) The Fortnight in September and The Hopkin’s Manuscript, I think I was afraid to read another Sherriff in case it wasn’t good. And this one has a co-author. Those always make a bit wary.

1931

Friends and Relations – Elizabeth Bowen
Mystery in the Channel – Freeman Wills Crofts
Poor Caroline – Winifred Holtby
Simpson – Edward Sackville-West

This one is a total question mark. I have no idea which of these rise to the top when the time comes.

1932

As We Are – E.F. Benson
Secret Lives – E.F. Benson
The Pure and the Impure – Colette
Marriage of Hermione – Richmal Crompton
Portrait of a Family – Richmal Crompton
Orient Express – Graham Greene
Down the Garden Path – Beverly Nichols
Lonely Road – Nevil Shute
Death Under Sail – C.P. Snow
The Gods Arrive – Edith Wharton
One Way of Love – Gamel Woolsey
Jenny Wren – E.H. Young

This could be a really good year. I mean I could read my way through this entire year and be pretty happy. This is the opposite of 1931, all of these jump out at me.

1933

Bonfire – Dorothy Canfield
The Holiday – Richmal Crompton
A Thatched Roof – Beverly Nichols
A Pass in the Grampians – Nan Shepherd
High Rising – Angela Thirkell
Frost in May – Antonia White

This may be the earliest Thirkell I have, so that one may win the race.

1934

Luminous Isle – Eliot Bliss
The 12.30 from Croydon – Freeman Wills Crofts
Chedsy Place – Richmal Crompton
A London Child of the 1870s – Molly Hughes
A Pin to See the Peep Show – F. Tennyson Jesse
Devoted Ladies – Mary Keane
Rumour of Heaven – Beatrix Lehmann
Work of Art – Sinclair Lewis
Going Abroad – Rose Macaulay
The Flowering Thorn – Margery Sharp
The Search – C.P. Snow
The Curate’s Wife – E.H. Young

An obscure Sinclair Lewis. That’s probably going to be the winner. I’ve read most of his novels and I’ve owned this one for a long time. I feel like  Stuck in a Book recently posted something about A Pin to See the Peep Show, and what about that title. Hmm.

1935

Untouchable – Mulk Raj
England Made Me – Graham Greene
O These Men, These Men! – Angela Thirkell

My guess is a book I wrote with that title would not be similar in anyway to the one Thirkell wrote.

1936

The Dark Frontier – Eric Ambler
Caroline – Richmal Crompton
The Old Man’s Birthday – Richmal Crompton
Innocent Summer – Frances Frost
None Turn Back – Storm Jameson
Mary Lavelle – Kate O’Brien
Turn, Magic Wheel – Dawn Powell
Greengates – R.C. Sherriff
Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner

I really want to say Ambler on this one but I’ve had 3 or 4 Dawn Powells on my shelves for a very long time. I think it is probably time to get her a go. Even though I have other of her books (is that grammatical?) I like starting with an author’s earliest books as possible.

1937

John – Irene Baird
Friend of the Rich – E.F. Benson
Janet – E.F. Benson
The Unwanted – E.F. Benson
There Are Four Seasons – Richmal Crompton
Alas, Poor Lady – Rachel Ferguson
The Nutmeg Tree – Margery Sharp
Journey by Moonlight – Antal Szerb
Summer Half – Angela Thirkell
Hunt the Slipper – Violet Trefusis

Boy, the 30s really are a cozy-fest.

1938

I’m Not Complaining – Ruth Adam
Cause for Alarm – Eric Ambler
Journeying Wave – Richmal Crompton
Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
In Hazard – Richard Hughes
Lions and Shadows – Christopher Isherwood
Single Hound – May Sarton
The Professor – Rex Warner

If I was adventurous I would choose In Hazard. I bought it solely for its cover.

1939

Seasoned Timber – Dorothy Canfield
Merlin Bay – Richmal Crompton
The Morning Is Near Us – Susan Glaspell
Manja – Anna Gmeyner
Party Going – Henry Green
The Confidential Agent – Graham Greene
The Lawless Road – Graham Greene
The Brandons – Angela Thirkell
Lark Rise – Flora Thompson

For the whole list:

TBR Chron

I’ve managed to stop doing the Charleston long enough to catch my breath so we can chat about my my 1920s TBR shelf. You will probably note that my shelves are devoid of many of the august books of the 20s which is mainly due to the fact that I have already read most of those.

As usual, the full TBR can be found at the bottom of the post.

[For those who don’t know, I am participating in A Century of Books this year which requires me to read one book from each year from 1919 through 2018.]

1920

Happy House – Jane Abbott
Klingsor’s Last Summer – Hermann Hesse

The Abbott was a vintage find of which I have no knowledge and the Hesse is far too enticing to pass up. I think I may have actually read it when I was on a Hesse binge in college, but that was before I started keeping track.

1921

Vera – Elizabeth von Arnim
Joanna Godden – Sheila Kaye-Smith

I’ve already read Vera this year so 1921 is complete.

1922

The Camomile – Catherine Carswell
My Mother’s House – Colette
Ulysses – James Joyce
The Heir – Vita Sackville-West
Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair
Seven for a Secret – Mary Webb
A Son at the Front – Edith Wharton

There is much here I would like to read, including Ulysses. I had sworn off Joyce until I read The Dead. Then I read a bit of Ulysses and thought “Hmm, that is way more readable than I thought.” But I won’t be reading it this year, I’ve already read Wharton’s A Son at the Front.

1923

Colin – E.F. Benson
Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley
Peter West – D.E. Stevenson

Let’s just be honest, it’s going to be the Benson or the Stevenson. I have tons of Benson on my TBR and quite a bit but much less of Stevenson. Both are likely to be comfort reads so this should be a cozy year to read.

1924

The Unlit Lamp – Radclyffe Hall
Seducers in Ecuador – Vita Sackville-West

I really liked Hall’s The Well of Loneliness because it is still so relevant and so ahead of its time in content. Her writing, on the other hand is a bit tortured at times.  And the Sackville-West is about 3 pages long. Still, it’s up in the air.

1925

Mother – E.F. Benson
Rex – E.F. Benson
Pastors and Masters – Ivy Compton-Burnett
Corydon – Andre Gide

I thought I had sworn off Ivy Compton-Burnett, but then I found a nice edition of this short work and thought I would give it another go. Less likely to read Benson’s Mother as it is literally about his mother. 

1926

Her Son’s Wife – Dorothy Canfield
Marazan – Nevil Shute

This is Shute’s first novel and one of the few I haven’t read. I think it is going to take the prize.

1927

Leadon Hill – Richmal Crompton
Wintersmoon – Hugh Walpole

I know nothing about the Walpole and I’ve loved all the Crompton’s I’ve read. On the other hand, Walpole is taking up a fair amount of space and I have had it for a long time. It might be time to move it along one way or the other.

1928

Brook Evans – Susan Glaspell
Quicksand – Nella Larsen
The Quarry Wood – Nan Shepherd

The Shepherd is part of an omnibus that I am not sure I want to commit to. I enjoyed Nella Larsen’s Passing and she might be the only person of color that I have in the 1920s. On the other hand I have never read any Glaspell and am very curious to understand what she is all about.

1929

Paying Guests – E.F. Benson
Sido – Colette
The Other One – Colette
Living – Henry Green
The Lacquer Lady – F. Tennyson Jesse
The Bride’s House – Dawn Powell
Three Came Unarmed – E. Arnot Robertson

Although there is much that attracts me here, I think I might go for one of the Colettes. I want to know if they are like the Claudine books, which I hated, or more like The Ripening Seed, which I loved.

For the whole list:

TBR Chron

 

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.

TBR Chron

For those of you NOT doing ACOB, you just might be curious to see whats on my TBR.

TBR Alpha

 

The other night I was picking a selection of books off of my shelves in order to decide what to read next. While doing so, I was cognizant of my decision to take part in A Century of Books and thought I should start keeping track of the years in which each of them was published.  I made a checklist to make sure I didn’t duplicate years.

After I had pulled together an interesting looking pile of almost 30 books to take up to my nightstand…I had a mental breakdown brilliant idea. Wouldn’t it be great to have a full list of all the books I own but haven’t read organized by year published so that I could make my ACOB choices from all that was available to me?

Here is what I did:

1. Took every book I haven’t read yet off of my shelves.
2. Moved all of the books I have read to one side of my bookcase and kept them alphabetical by author. It turned out that out of 30 shelves of fiction, the ones I have read only took up 10 shelves.
3. Opened up every single unread book to check the publishing date and put it on a shelf corresponding to a decade. (See picture below for what that looked like.)
4. Went by decade and created a spreadsheet with year published, title, and author for every book, then stacked the books according to the corresponding year of that decade.
5. Once I finished a decade I would sort the spreadsheet so I could put the books on the shelf in order without having to alphabetize in my head.

 

Let me say I was astounded by how many unread books I own. I was even more astounded by how inter-shelving read and unread books kept me from understanding how much variety I had to choose from. Once they were all sorted and put in order–all 726 of them–it became clear that I would be able to satisfy 99 out of the 100 years of books for ACOB. 2018 is the only year for which I don’t already own a book. Most years I have at least four or five books to choose from. I think there is only one year for which I only have one book.

In the coming weeks I am not only going to make my full TBR list available, but I am going to be breaking it down by year. In the meantime you can look at the organized shelves. Also check out the video at the end of the post.

I’ve pared my books down to the bone. And still there are books stacked in places my husband would rather not see them. The result is that I get to have more shelves built. In our basement rec room there is a bookshelf built as part of a radiator enclosure that was here when we bought the house. So we are going have some shelves built on top of that.  It should net me about 23 more linear feet of shelf space. I can’t wait.

I said I would never do this again. Simon Thomas at Stuck in a Book has reissued his dastardly A Century of Books challenge. The first time (has he done it more than once?) the century was 1900 to 1999 and participants were to read 100 years of books in a year, one from each year. I made the stupid mistake last time of trying to read them in chronological order which really hindered my progress. And, as much as I read old books, getting through the first 20 years of the century was way more painful than I had thought prior to starting. This time around Simon has proposed that the century consist of 1919 through 2018. This twenty-year shift is just enough for me to make this a much attractive (and doable) challenge.

Although the first 20 years from the last time around had a few books that I truly enjoyed (and one that is an all time favorite), the overall memory of those 20 years still makes my stomach churn six years later.

1900 – Claudine at School by Collette (so boring)
1901 – Claudine in Paris by Collette (so boring)
1902 – The Immoralist by Andre Gide (kind of enjoyed)
1903 – The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers (really needed to be 100 pages shorter)
1904 – Peter Camenzind by Hermann Hesse (loved)
1905 – The Duel by Aleksandr Kuprin (kind of okay)
1906 – Young Torless by Robert Musil (really disliked)
1907 – The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad (why is he so hard to read?)
1908 – Love’s Shadow by Ada Leverson (enjoyed)
1909 – Martin Eden by Jack London (all-time favorite)
1910 – Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett (snooze)
1911 – Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (man, I hated this book)
1912 – The Charwoman’s Daughter by James Stephens (fine)
1913 – T. Tembarom by Frances Hodgson Burnett (enjoyed)
1914 – Penrod by Booth Tarkington (snooze)
1915 – The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela (boring)
1916 – Under Fire by Henri Barbusse (unpleasant writing style)
1917 – Gone to Earth by Mary Webb (kind of liked)
1918 – Patricia Brent-Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins (loved)

I guess that only half the list makes me shudder in recollection.  But then there were 4 more that I only kind of enjoyed. I think the problem was that there are too many “esteemed” books on the list that I should have chucked instead of finished. This time I plan to set books aside and find something more enjoyable.

Like last time I am going to try and read mainly from my TBR pile, but the shift in dates, and the fact that my TBR is much bigger and more diverse this time around means, I hope, that I won’t run into so many problems finding enjoyable books. Last night I stayed up way too late combing the shelves to fill in my century. So far I like the way that list is shaping up and will post about it in the coming days.

In the meantime, I think this one challenge may encompass every urge I have this year for reading resolutions. Anyone who listened to the year end recap that Simon Savidge and I did on The Readers will know that I am anti-resolution this year, but my resolution to not have resolutions seems to be wavering. By participating in this one challenge, I think I can manage to

1. Read at least 100 books.
2. Greatly reducing my TBR pile.
3. Pick up the pace on my Brookner re-read–If I wanted to, all 12 of the remaining Brookners I have to re-read could be put on the list.
4. Follow whims–the addition of 2000-2018 really allows for room to read recent and diverse novels.
5. Get a complete accounting of my TBR–I’m going to make a list by year so that I know what I have to choose from, and if I have more than one book for a given year I can choose the most enjoyable one.

I do know this. I will fail. My hope is that this time I don’t let that keep me from reading or ruining my year. If it does…well, I can always blame Simon Thomas.

LOS ANGELES – The awards for best reads of 2017 were awarded last night by the Academy of Reading Arts and Sciences during a live telecast from Dorothy Chandler pavilion in Los Angeles. The third annual Hoggie Awards were held earlier than usual this year out of fear the planet would be uninhabitable by mid-January. Academy president Thomas Otto was caught earlier this year at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC on a live mic saying “Atwood couldn’t make this sh*t up. The smell of sulfur coming from 1600 is overwhelming.”

As usual, this year’s ceremony brought out the usual mix of gowns and glamour as the world’s literati arrived to recognize the achievement of the books that most moved, enthralled, and entertained over the past year.

BEST NOVEL – FEMALE 
Judgment Day by Penelope Lively

BEST NOVEL – MALE
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker

BEST AUDIO RECORDING
Nutshell by Ian McEwan

BEST RE-READ
Ben, In the World by Doris Lessing

TROLLOPE OF THE YEAR
Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope

BEST EPIC BOOKER SHORTLISTED BOOK THAT WAS UNFAIRLY PREJUDGED
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster

BEST THOUGHTFUL, INTERESTINGLY TOLD, SLIGHTLY ANITA BROOKNERISH NOVEL
Asa, As I Knew Him by Susanna Kaysen

BEST WORK OF NON-FICTION BY NOW DISGRACED POLITICAL HERO
Giant of the Senate by Al Franken

BEST THRILLER IN WHICH TYPEWRITERS PLAY AN INTEGRAL ROLE
The Intercom Conspiracy by Eric Ambler

 

BEST NOVEL ABOUT CLASSICAL MUSIC
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth

BEST NOVELS BY NEW-TO-THE-ACADEMY AUTHORS
Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
Atlantic Hotel by João Gilberto Noll
Ties by Domenico Starnone
Bitter Almonds by Laurence Cosse
Capital by John Lanchester

THE E.F. BENSON LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR BEING E.F. BENSON
Mrs Ames by E.F. Benson

I know I’m not the only one who has bookmark preferences and proclivities. Mine have certainly evolved over the years. From where are sit today, these are my general rules.

1. They must by paper
2. They must have no metal, fabric, string, yarn, or any other 3D embellishment
3. The thinner the paper the better–without being too thin
4. Shorter is better
5. Free is better
6. I prefer location-specific bookmarks that remind me of a place or bookshop I’ve been to
7. I like finding ones that someone else has used, rather than using brand new one

 

And for a clearer look at how size matters when it comes to bookmarks, check out this video.

I was in Boston last week for about 24 hour for work and I had enough time to get my butt over to Brattle Book Shop and do some serious damage. Before I even started to look at their extensive outdoor book selection (yes, outdoors in Boston on a cold December day with an unignorable wind) I went inside and asked them if they shipped. Since I had less than zero room left in my luggage, this was a crucial question. Thankfully the answer came back in the affirmative.