A Century of Books: How Am I Doing? June Report

In January, I foolishly decided to join Simon Thomas’s Century of Book Challenge, even though I knew that reading 100 books, one for each year in a century, from 1925-2024, would be tough because last year I only read 169. So, how am I doing?

Here are the holes in my project with the books listed for April below. If you want to see the details, see my Century of Books page.

• 1925-1934: entries needed for 1926-29 and 1931
• 1935-1944: entries needed for 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1944
• 1945-1954: entries needed for all years except 1946, 1947, 1952, 1953, and 1954
• 1955-1964: entries needed for all years except 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1962
• 1965-1974: entries needed for 1967, 1969, 1971, and 1973
• 1975-1984: entries needed for all years except 1975, 1976, and 1978
• 1985-1994: entries needed for all years except 1987 and 1988
• 1995–2004: entries needed for all years except 1998, 1999, and 2004
• 2005-2014: entries needed for all years except 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014
• 2015-2024: complete!

This month I read the following books:

Not eligible for this project, unfortunately, because written too early:

• The Book of Dede Korkut by Anonymous from the 12th or 13th century
• The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins from 1873

Eligible and read since May 29th:

• Turn, Magic Wheel by Dawn Power from 1936
• Table Two by Marjorie Wilenski from 1942
• The House Opposite by Barbara Noble from 1943
• The Killings at Badgers Drift by Carolyn Graham from 1987
• The Birds of the Innocent Wood by Dierdre Madden from 1988
• Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs from 1998
• The Topeka School by Ben Lerner from 2019
• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride from 2023
• My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor from 2023
• The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese from 2023
• Deep Beneath Us by Catriona McPherson from 2024