Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

We're looking way back this week at a book published before 1950. You can sort your TBR by publication year to see what fits this topic.

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Suggestions:


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Optional Questions:
- What are you reading for this category?
- Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?

I finally decided on I Capture the Castle. I also have The Good Earth on my book shelf and was thinking about reading it this year but it didn't happen. I tend to resist reading older books in favor of newer or new releases and more contemporary books BUT, once I start the older ones I almost always really enjoy them. It just takes me a while to warm up.

Earlier this year I made a list of vintage classics I'd like to read so I have oodles of choices for this one. I think the one I'm going to use for this prompt is Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann.

This prompt is easy for me since I read quite a few classics. I hope to read my first or second choice as I own those two.

The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford

Tracy wrote: "I finally decided on I Capture the Castle. I also have The Good Earth on my book shelf and was thinking about reading it this year but it didn't happen. I tend to resist re..."

I plan on reading I Capture the Castle this month, so I'll let you know how I find it! I am a contemporary reader too (my average publication year this year is 2009... and I'm pretty sure that one Agatha Christie that I read is bringing the average lower than it should be...), so I'm hoping I'm pleasantly surprised by these classics.

I think I'm going to read a children's book for this topic as I am already planning on reading pride and prejudice for my 'something old' topic and classics aren't really my thing. Maybe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass or Peter Pan. The Hobbit is another option I have for this prompt.

I'm slightly addicted to downloading free classics on my Kindle, so I have lots of options here, even sticking to my 'already owned' goal. My plan is to go with The Red House Mystery, which is adult fiction by A.A. Milne who wrote Winnie-the-Pooh.

Tracy wrote: "I finally decided on I Capture the Castle. I also have The Good Earth on my book shelf and was thinking about reading it this year but it didn't happen. I tend to resist re..."

The Good Earth is phenomenal.

This is an easy category for me as I read a lot of classics. I'm not sure what I'll wind up with here. My short list is:

Absalom, Absalom!
As I Lay Dying
Go Down, Moses
Farewell, My Lovely
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Murder at the Vicarage
Oliver Twist
Spoon River Anthology

Angie wrote: "This is an easy category for me as I read a lot of classics. I'm not sure what I'll wind up with here. My short list is:

Absalom, Absalom!
As I Lay Dying
[book:Go Down, ..."

I hatedddd As I Lay Dying, and my department head loved it and made me keep it on the curriculum. Poor unsuspecting sophomores picked that book up as summer reading and it was ALWAYS a resounding "I hated it and ended up just reading sparknotes".

BUT! Spoon River is one of my favorite texts to teach! So I recommend that one!

Raquel wrote: "I'm slightly addicted to downloading free classics on my Kindle, so I have lots of options here, even sticking to my 'already owned' goal. My plan is to go with The Red House Mystery..."

I loved The Red House Mystery. I even have a paperback copy of it.

For those adverse to the stuffier classics, I'd recommend Passing by Nella Larson (1929) and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (1940). Passing is only 114 pages. Heart is longer, at 368 pages, but is beautifully written and one of my favorites of the year. I also loved Cry, The Beloved Country and Brave New World but don't know if they would be as popular.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad written in 1889 is on my TBR shelf. It is supposed to still be controversial today. Plus it is relatively short.

Emily wrote: "Tracy wrote: "I finally decided on I Capture the Castle. I also have The Good Earth on my book shelf and was thinking about reading it this year but it didn't happen. I ten..."

Did you calculate your average publication year yourself or is it a hidden feature on Goodreads? I'm very curious about mine now!

Melanie wrote: "Emily wrote: "Tracy wrote: "I finally decided on I Capture the Castle. I also have The Good Earth on my book shelf and was thinking about reading it this year but it didn't..."

I have it included on my spreadsheet stats... wish I had an easier option for you!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

I'm leaning towards:
So Big
The Robe
Cold Comfort Farm
Rebecca

Emily wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Emily wrote: "Tracy wrote: "I finally decided on I Capture the Castle. I also have The Good Earth on my book shelf and was thinking about reading it this ye..."

I should take up spreadsheeting for fun. It'll be good practice for work, haha.

I wouldn't say I prefer modern books, but they do often cover topics that appeal more to me. I do like to slot in a few classics each year though, and some of my favourite books are definitely oldies. For this prompt I'm going for Madame Bovary.

Tracy wrote: "I finally decided on I Capture the Castle. I also have The Good Earth on my book shelf and was thinking about reading it this year but it didn't happen. I tend to resist re..."

I loved I Capture the Castle, and felt it was still pretty fresh!

I've gone with The Wreath by Sigrid Undset but, assuming I don't hate it I plan on reading the other two books in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy as well.

Another 50/50 pick I capture the castle by Dodie Smith. I struggle with classics I find them boring.

Mom2triplets04 wrote: "Another 50/50 pick I capture the castle by Dodie Smith. I struggle with classics I find them boring.

"

I started this one but didn't finish it earlier this month. It was good, just not what I was in the mood for. I'm going to try to pick it up again next year though! (If you liked We Have Always Lived in the Castle or The Thirteenth Tale, it has a very similar feel. Gothic lit where the house feels like a main character.)

I just finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

- Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?

I do not have a preference, statistically I read more recent books.

I am reading How Green was my Valley by Richard Llewellyn. I like reading old books as well as more modern writers.

I'm starting Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust. It's published in 1921.

And I don't have a preference over old or new books. They both have an allure to them.

So i was having a hard time finding something that sounded interesting so while i was traveling down the rabbit hole of searching, i stumbled upon a list made by people born in the fifties and what they were reading so i picked something from their lists. I choose The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and it happens to take place before the fifties. :)

Statistically speaking I read more modern books. And I do so because I tend to find classics to be stuffy as heck and far too wordy. I'm still trying to read more of them because I feel like it's a thing that I should do, but I enjoy modern books a whole lot more.

In any case, I whizzed through The Outsider this afternoon, and it was originally published in 1942. So that's another one down for this year!

I just wanted to point out that this is really a super broad category that covers like thousands of years so it should be easy for everyone to find something that appeals.

Vintage lit (early 20th century)
Victorian lit (19th century)
Classic lit (18th century)
Renaissance lit (16th and 17th century)
Medieval lit (5th - 15th century)
Ancient lit (pre-5th century)

And if you are super adverse to "old books" you might very well be surprised by vintage lit. Often if you weren't aware of the publication date you'd think it was a more recently published novel.

- What are you reading for this category?
I read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
- Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?
I read all kinds. I love 'classics' but also try to keep up with current trends.

What are you reading for this category?
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?
I enjoy reading all types of books, new or old

What are you reading for this category?
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie

Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?
Well until I checked my stats I thought I read a lot more older books, but it looks like the majority of my books are publishes from 2000 and up. So based on my stats it looks like I like the newer books more.

Sadly, I struggle with classics-the language is difficult for me and I find the humor infuriating. Sooooo, I just finished Crooked House by Agatha Christie, published in 1949. I really enjoyed it, even more than other Christie’s. I definitely recommend it.
I definitely enjoy reading more modern books, but they don’t need to be terribly recent. I tend to shy away from ‘new releases’ for some reason, favoring instead books that are at least a couple of years old. I would say that I generally stick with books written in the last 50 years-which, I just realized, means I prefer books published during my lifetime.

De Profundis was my choice. I read books old and new, no preference at all.

I chose Anne of Green Gables (first published in 1908)

I’m planning to read On the Origin of Species because I’m a biology teacher and somehow have never read the whole thing.

I just finished The Maltese Falcon

It was written in the 30's.

I found it OK. Not really a fan of Noir, but as it's a classic of the genre I wanted to give it a go.

I read Dorothy L. Sayers, Murder Must Advertise (1933) for this topic - a clever, delightfully written Lord Peter Wimsey detective story.

What are you reading for this category?
I read A Wreath for Rivera by Ngaio Marsh

Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?
I prefer to read old books

What are you reading for this category?

Alexander's Bridge -- It was published in 1912.

Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?

I tend to read books that came out 2 years ago as I'm always so behind on my reading list.

I had a few different ones I was tossing up on reading but in the end I decided to go with The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius. Published in 121. So a little before 1950. Just a bit.

I tend to just read whatever I feel like. Sometimes that takes me back a lot of years. This year I'm working my way through a bunch of the ancient histories, so I think it would be interesting to discuss some of the stories I come across.

- What are you reading for this category?
I read The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie. Originally published in 1923.

- Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?
I am equally happy reading both. Though with older books, there is the definite advantage that the series are complete, so you never have to wait for the next installment to be released!

What are you reading for this category?
I read Bushranger of the Skies by Arthur W. Upfield - published 1940 - 3 stars. Because of the times it was written in, there are some racist attitudes, and it's the 8th in a series, so I wouldn't actually recommend it, but I am enjoying listening to the series.

Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?
I tend to hover around the middle more - I don't read a lot of old books (although I did have about 10 different options on my TBR shelf), but nor do I read new releases as soon as they come out. However, I notice that about 86% of my reads this year are from 2010 or later! So still very contemporary!

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

What are you reading for this category? The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases? A mix of both.

I read Crime and Punishment. I like a mix of both older and newer books. Unfortunately, I did not like this particular book.

I read The Pearl2/5/19

- What are you reading for this category? A Modest Proposal
- Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases? I tend to like prefer releases but this was really good.

Roughing It in the Bush was published in 1852. She is writing a biography of her immigration to Canada. I like reading first hand stories of the times.

Her insights to the rigors of moving to a new country without amenities as well as her prejudices are very educational. She has a low opinion of Americans, she is British, and a higher opinion of Indigenous people. She also does not understand others with lower incomes hardships.

I definitely do not agree with her opinions but it is interesting to learn about how someone from a higher status thought when "taming" the wilderness.

Like a few others, I read I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

I'm not a fan of older books - I find the women tend to be needy and pathetic, their only aims in life are finding a man, getting married and having children. I don't read brand new releases, but definitely prefer more recent books, even if they're set in the past, with more independent female characters.

- What are you reading for this category?
The Ebbing Tide published in 1947
- Do you enjoy reading old books or do you prefer new releases?
This was an easy category for me, since most of what I read are older books and finding something before 1950 was less of a problem than narrowing it down to which book to choose. As it turned out, I was just ready to read this third book in the Tide Trilogy, so it won out.