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 this month below. If you want to see the details, see my Century of Books page.
- 1925-1934: entry needed for 1928
- 1935-1944: entry needed for 1939
- 1945-1954: entries needed for 1948 and 1950
- 1955-1964: entries needed for 1955, 1957, and 1960
- 1965-1974: entries needed for 1969 and 1973
- 1975-1984: entries needed for all years except 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, and 1984
- 1985-1994: entries needed for all years except 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1992
- 1995–2004: entries needed for all years except 1998, 1999, and 2004
- 2005-2014: entries needed for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2013
- 2015-2024: complete!
Since October 30,, I read the following books. As we’re closing in on the end of the year, I decided to mark the ones that fill one of my holes in bold from now on. I didn’t do well on this project this month because of the several other projects I was reading for in November.
- Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer from 1929
- Murder after Christmas by Rupert Latimer from 1944
- The Late Mrs. Prioleau by Monica Tindall from 1946
- The Dancing Bear by Frances Faviell from 1954
- The Fledgling by Frances Faviell from 1958
- The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence from 1964
- This Real Night by Rebecca West from 1984
- A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black from 2011
- Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin from 2014
- Euphoria by Elin Cullhead from 2020
- The Trees by Percival Everett from 2021
What? Me Read? 
I had to read “The Stone Angel” back in high school and absolutely loathed it. I hope you liked it more than I did!
I sometimes felt sympathy for the main character, but I didn’t like her.
Hmm, maybe you could buy a time machine and go back a couple of months. Or get hold of Hermione’s time-turner and relive the same day thirty or forty times. Or pretend you’re Chinese, so that New Year doesn’t happen till February… 😉
I wish! I can probably finish quite a few in December. I will concentrate on those. I have two book to finish for another project or two, but after that I can just work on this project. If I get to the new year with some undone, I’ll work them in.
I’m amazed at the amount you read, I think you already deserve congratulations! Good luck for December.
Well, thanks! Still quite a bit to go, so I don’t think I’ll make it this year, but maybe I’ll be done early next year.
Super ambitious! This would have to be a ten-year project for me, I fear. The Stone Angel is a favourite of mine.
I think I can do it in one-and-a-quarter or half, maybe.
I’m in awe that you have read all these. Amazing. A very challenging challenge indeed.
Thanks!