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? I was trying to finish by the end of December, but I clearly didn’t make it.
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: complete!
- 1935-1944: complete!
- 1945-1954: entry needed for 1948
- 1955-1964: entries needed for 1955 and 1960
- 1965-1974: complete!
- 1975-1984: entry needed for 1981
- 1985-1994: entries needed for 1990, 1991, and 1993
- 1995–2004: entries needed for 1995, 1997, 2001, 2002, and 2003
- 2005-2014: entries needed for 2005, 2006, and 2007
- 2015-2024: complete!
I had a little confusion this month with the year 1980. I finished The Name of the Rose only to find that the year was already occupied by Tropical Issue, a renamed book by Dorothy Dunnett. However, I looked that book up again, and it actually belonged in 1983. So, I filled two slots at once.
Since December 25, I read the following books. The ones for this project are listed in bold. As you can see, I concentrated this month on books for this project. I completed books for two more decades:
- How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn for 1939
- The Feast by Margaret Kennedy for 1950
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (from 1811, too early to count)
- The Temptations of Big Bear for 1973
- A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul for 1979
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco for 1980
- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende for 1982
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones for 1986
- The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri for 1994
- Malice by Keigo Higashino for 1996
- Island by Alastair MacLeod for 2000
As of today, it looks like I have 15 books left to read for this project, although it will take a bit longer for me to post all the reviews.
What? Me Read? 
Crikey you’re doing well! I remember reading lots of Mary Wesley and Joanna Trollope in the early 90’s and Tales of the City!
I think I have the 90’s covered. I am waiting for some books from the library, but the only books I haven’t obtained yet are all from the 2000’s!
You’re nearly there! One more big push! (Why is this sounding like the birthing scene on a medical drama? 😉 )
Well, thank you very much for the encouragement. 😉
Well done! You’re coming to the end, and you might just finish this year!
I hope to finish this next month, not getting all the reviews posted, but reading all the books!
You go, Girl!
Thanks, Davida!