Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
Personal Challenges
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Terry's Personal Challenges
Yes, I love that you're calling a "Multi Year" challenge. It takes a long time to get to all the books you want to read and you don't want to feel pressured or in a hurry. So, read what you can this year, and next year, and the next year.... And enjoy your journey!! :)
MY 20th CENTURY MULTI-YEAR CHALLENGEI am listing my books completed by decade. My intent is to fill in the list as I read a book from that year. I am also listing more than one if I have completed more than one from any particular year.
Thank you to all who have made suggestions by year for books that you have enjoyed reading.
Here is the First Decade: COMPLETED 2022
1900
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum read 2/3/19 ****
1901
- Kim by Rudyard Kipling, read 2/9/19 **
1902
- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, read 2/26/19 **
1903
- The Ambassadors by Henry James, read 4/19/19 **
1904
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin, read 03/01/19 **
and - The Sea Wolf by Jack London; 425 pages; read 04/08/22 **
1905
- The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, read 4/15/19 *****
and - Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster, read 9/2/19 *****
1906
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, read 3/11/19 ***
and - A Man of Property by John Galsworthy 6/19/25 ****
1907
- The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett, read 3/16/19 *****
1908
- A Room with a View by E.M. Forster, read 5/27/19 ****
1909
- A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter, read 02/20/21 ***
Second Decade: I have definitely have 1912 covered!1910
- Howards End by E.M. Forster read 3/9/19 ****
1911
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This was a re-read. 12/15/19 ****
1912
- Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, read 2/16/20 **
- Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey read 6/14/19 ***
- Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, read 3/24/19 *****
-Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, read 5/31/21 ****
1913
- O Pioneers! by Willa Catherread 3/29/19 ***
1914 -
1915 -
1916
- The Shadow-Line by Joseph Conrad; read 4/15/24 **
1917
- Summer by Edith Wharton, 127 pages; read ; 8/28/21, ****
1918
- The Return of the Soldier, by Rebecca West, read 7/18/21 ****
1919
- My Man Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse, read 1/31/21 ***
Third Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge:1920
- This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 254 pages, read 2/29/25. **
- In Chancery by John Galsworthy 229 pages. Read 8/02/25. ****
1921
- Vera byElizabeth von Arnim, 190 pages. Read 8/10/22. ****
- To Let by John Galsworthy 211 pages. Read 9/4/25. ****
1922
- The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot. Read 10/26/24 **
1923
1924
- A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, read 4/14/20****
- So Big by Edna Ferber, read 02/06/21 *****
1925
- Big Two-Hearted River: part 1 and 2 both byErnest Hemingway; read 11/12/24 ***
1926
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd byAgatha Christie, read 06/15/21, ***
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway; 251 pages; read 03/25/22 **
1927
- The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, read 9/21/19. *****
1928
- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, read 11/29/2018 ****
1929
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, read 2/23/19, ****
Fourth Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge:1930
- The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot; read 10/22/24 **
Miss Mole by E.H. Young. 288 pages. Read 11/20/25 **
1931
- The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, read 9/6/21****
1932
- Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons; 233 pages, read 1/8/24 ****
1933
- Lost Horizon by James Hilton, read 02/13/21 *****
- South Moon Under by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; 210 pages, read 12/14/24 **
1934
1935
- Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck, read 10/18/2020 ****
1936
- Jamaica Inn, by Daphne du Maurier, read 1/16/21 *****
1937
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, read 06/13/2020 *****
- Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, read 2/22/2020, ****
1938
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier re-read 12/06/2020 *****
- Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, read 10\31\21 ***
1939
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, read 2/9/2020 ****
- Whose Names Are Unknown by Sanora Babb; counted when written, published 2004; 222 pages, read 4/16/23 *****
Fifth Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge: COMPLETED 20251940
- THE TREES by Conrad Richter; 199 pages, read 7/6/22 ***
- The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark; 256 pages, read 1/13/23 *****
1941
- What Makes Sammy Run? by Bud Schulberg, 328 pages, read 3/13/25. ****
- Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier (1941) 253 pages. Read 8/ 15/25
1942
- The Moon Is Down byJohn Steinbeck; 112 pages, read 4729/23 ***
- Big Sur Trilogy: Part I - The Stranger by Lillian Bos Ross 272 pages, read 11/19/23 ***
1943
- The Human Comedy by William Saroyan; 256 pages. Read 7/ 27/25. ***
1944
- Big Sur Trilogy: Part 2 - Blaze Allan byLillian Bos Ross, read 1/15/24 ***
1945
- Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, read 07/09/2020 *****
1946
- Hiroshima by John Hersey, read 1/18/21 ***
- The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers; read 5/23/24 ****
1947
- The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie Jr., reaad 07/09/2020 ***
- A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor , read 7/12/21 ****
1948
- Curtains for Three by Rex Stout, read 8/29/19 ***
- Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, 256 pages, read 4/11/21 ****
- The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh; 176 pages read 10/11/23 **
1949
- Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford, read 06/27/2020 ****
- The Way West by A.B. Guthrie Jr., read 05/07/21 *****
- A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold; 240 Pages; read 04/15/22 *****
Sixth Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge: COMPLETED 20231950
- A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, read 8/14/21****
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis; read 10/22/24 *****
1951
- Foundation by Isaac Asimov, read 04/11/19 **
- The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, read 6/03/19 ****
- Love in a Dry Season by Shelby Foote, read 2/24/24 **
1952
- My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier, read 02/01/2020 *****
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck, read 05/10/2020*****
- The Birds by Daphne du Maurier, 1952; 31 pages; read 11/29/22 *****
1953
- The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono; 33 pages, read 3/26/23 ****
- The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley; read 8/24/24 ****
1954
- Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose; 96 pages, read 1/17/23 ****
- The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty; 168 pages, 8/3/23 ****
1955
- Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo; 128 pages, read 7/30/22 **
1956
- These Thousand Hills, by A.B. Guthrie Jr., read 8/12/21 ***
1957
- A Death in the Family by James Agee read 6/29/2019 ****
- Justine by Lawrence Durrell, read 02/17/2019 ****
1958
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, read 05/19/2020 **
- Night by Elie Wiesel 05/16/2019 ****
1959
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, read 5/13/2019 ****
- A Separate Peace by John Knowles, read 12/19/22 ****
- Momento Mori by Muriel Spark; read 6/4/24
Seventh Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge: COMPLETED 20251960
- Welcome to Hard Times by E.L. Doctorow; 212 pages, read 7/14/23 ****
- Rabbit, Run by John Updike; 337 pages; read 10/7/23 ****
- Nathan Coulter by Berry (2-Aug-2008) Paperback by Wendell Berry128 pages; read 12/31/23 ****
1961
- Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote, read 1/22/21 *****
- The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeckread 3/3/21 *****
- The Chosen by Chaim Potok; read 10/21/24 *****
- No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym; read 11/12/24 ***
1962
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin read 11/20/2020 ****
- Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, read 08/12/2019 **
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, read 1/18/2020 *****
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 232 pages, read 4/21/21 ****
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey; read 11/11/24 *****
1963 - The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré, read 6/8/2020 ***
- They Divided the Sky by Christa Wolf, read 3/31/2021 ***
- The Graduate by Charles Webb; 272 pages, read 5/21/23 ****
1964
- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, read 6/27/2019 ***
- Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey; 715 pages; read 6/19/22 *****
1965
- Stoner by John Williams, finished 1/11/20 *****
- Dune by Frank Herbert, finshed 9/20/19 ****
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote read 2/26/21 *****
- Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce; 304 pages; read 7/16/22
1966
- Father and Son by Larry Brown; 304 pages; read 3/31/23 **
1967
- A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter, read 5/30/25 ****
1968
- True Grit by Charles Portis; 235 pages, read 2/26/23****
1969
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., read 1/04/2019 ****
- The Moonshine War byElmore Leonard, read 1/19/25. ****
-The Promise byChaim Potok, read 5/25/25 *****
Eighth Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge:1970
- 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, read 11/19/2020 ****
1971
- Rabbit Redux by John Updike, read 2/7/24 ****
- The Inn of the Sixth Happiness by Alan Burgessl. Read 8/19/2020 ***
- Post Office by Charles Bukowski. Read 4/19/25 **
1972
- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson; 172 pages; read 2/14/23 ****
- My Name Is Asher Lev byChaim Potok; read 4/1/24 *****
- Augustus by John Williams 336 pages, read 2/02/25 ****
1973
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman, read 06/22/2019 ****
- The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton; 416 pages, read 8/6/22 *****
- Sula by Toni Morrison; 192 pages, 12/17/23 ****
- Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.; 303 pages, read3/1/25 ***
1974
- The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer, read 3/24/2021 **
- A Cry of Angels: A Novel by Jeff Fields; 1974; 343 pages; read 12/10/22 *****
- The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara; 368 pages, read 8/6/23 *****
1975
Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry 410 pages, read 11/10/25 *****
1976
Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart. Read 10/26/25. ****
1977
1978
- The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch, read 2/09/2019 *****
- This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind by Ivan Doig, read 04/06/2020 ****
- The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye; 1189 pages; read 5/29/22 *****
1979
- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, read 5/25/2019 *****
- Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth by James E. Lovelock, read 11/09/2020 ***
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, read 01/04/2021 ***
- Sophie's Choice by William Styron, read 03/10/2021 *****
Ninth Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge:1980
- Elkhorn Tavern, by Douglas C. Jones; 376 pages; read 5/23/22 ****
- The Mist by Stephen King; 176 pages, read 12/16/24 ***
1981
- Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, read 08/02/2019 *
1982
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker finished 12/15/2020 *****
- Fair Land, Fair Land by A.B. Guthrie Jr., read 6-13-21 *****
- The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden; read 6/6/24 ***
- The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King; 128 pages, read 12/15/24 *****
1983
1984
- Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, read 10/09/2020 ****
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, 320 pages, read 5/28/21 ****
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros; read 11/16/24 *****
- The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike, 340 pages. Read 1/25/25 *****
1985
- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, read 09/22/2018 *****
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World byHaruki Murakami; read 5/1/24 ***
- The Cider House Rules by John Irving, 560 pages. Read 11/10/25. *****
1986
1987
- A View from the Harbor, by Elizabeth Taylor, read 8/1/21 ****
- Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow, read 11/16/21, ****
- Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner; Read 12/23/21 *****
- Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton; 229 pages; read 6/24/22 ****
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg; 403 pages, read 3/3/23 *****
1988
- The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, read 04/05/2019 ****
- Beloved by Toni Morrison, read 02/04/2020 ****
- Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood; read 2/27/22; *****
- The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell; read 1/26/22; *****
- Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith; 384 pages, read 4/25/23 ****
1989
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 10/06/2018 ****
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving; read 3/9/24 *****
Last Decade of 20th Century Multi Year Challenge:1990
- The Witching Hour by Anne Rice; 1207 pages, read 11/4/22*****
- The Widow's Trial by John Ehle; 227 pages, read 9/21/23 ****
- Rabbit at Rest by John Updike; read 10/21\24 ****
1991
- Killer Diller by Clyde Edgerton; 272 pages; read 7/9/22 ***
1992
- The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett; 352 pages; read 6/17/22 ***
- How the García Girls Lost Their Accents byJulia Alvarez, 290 pages, read 2/3/25 ***
1993
- The Giver by Lois Lowry, read 5/29/21 ****
- The Shipping News by Annie Proulx; read 10/31/24 ***
1994
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, read 04/24/2018 *****
- These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner; 384 pages; read 04/08/22 *****
1995
- The Liars' Club by Mary Karr08/1//2020 *****
- Beach Music by [author Pat Conroy; read 6/20/24 *****
1996
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, read 1/30/21, 468 pages *****
- Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike; read 6/22/24 ****
1997
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier; read 12/07/21; *****
- The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War by Howard Bahr; 272 pages, read 3/6/22 *****
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant; read 3/3/24 ***
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy; read 5/18/24 *****
1998
- Sea Swept by Nora Roberts. Read 10/30/25 ***
1999
I have decided that I will also add My Pre-1900 Multi Year Century Challenge here too, which I also began to keep track of in 2019. I confess that I do not tend to enjoy the works of that century, or those before it, as much as I do the 20th Century, so I am not as motivated to read the books from those times. (There are notable exceptions, though, such as just about anything by Jane Austin, for example.) Nevertheless, despite my preferences, I have made some progress, which I attribute to this group. Therefore, I am going to list them in the next post in reverse order, and add to this list as I read them.
MY 19th CENTURY MULTI-YEAR CHALLENGE9/7/25 UPDATE: I am turning the 1800 to 1899 entries (which formerly was a list) into my Nineteenth Century Multi Year Challenge, listed in reverse order.
1899
1898
- Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov; read 7/20/22 ⭐️⭐️
1897
- Dracula, Bram Stoker, read 04/05/2019 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset Maugham; read7/24/21 ⭐️⭐️
1896
- Joan of Arc, Mark Twain, read 10/02/2019 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1895
- Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, read 06/10/21 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde; 96 pages; read 4/21/22 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1893
- Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde; 78 pages, read 8/9/23 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1892
1891
1890
- Hunger by Knut Hamsun, read 10/9/21 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Picture of Dorian Gray] by Oscar Wilde; read 4/9/24 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1889
1888
- The Happy Prince, The Happy PrinceOscar Wilde read ?/2019 unrated
1887
- A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, read about 3/6/21, ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1886
- The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy read 06/01/2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1885
1884
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; 327 pages, read3/13/25 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1883
- Treasure Island, R obert Louis Stevenson read 09/01/2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson; read 12/19/22 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, read 2/13/24 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1882
1881
- The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain; read 1/19/22 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1880
1879
1878
1877
1876
1875
1874
1873
1872
1871
- Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Lewis Carrollread 2/21/2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- A Pair of Blue Eyes. Thomas Hardy read 12/08/2019 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1870
1869
1868
1867
1866 - Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, read 05/15/2019 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1865
1864
1863
1862 - Fathers and Sons, by Ivan Turgenev, read 4/8/21 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1861 - Silas Marner, George Eliot, read 03/22/2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1860
1859
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; read 3/15/24 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1858
1857
- The Professor, Charlotte Brontë read 05/20/2019 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1856
1855
1854
- Hard Times by Charles Dickens, read 1/18/25. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1853
1852
1851
1850
- David Copperfield, Charles Dickens read 12/31/2019 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1849
1848
1847
- Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë, read 5/18/21, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1846
- The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe, read ?January 2020, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1845
1844
1843 - The Gold-Bug by Edgar Allan Poe, read 9-27-21 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1842
1841
1840
1839
1838
1837
1836
1835
1834
1833
1832
1831
1830
1829
1828
1827
1826
- The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, 1826, read 12/5/24 ⭐️⭐️
1825
- Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin read 03/17/2019 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1824
1823
1822
1821
1820
1819
1818
- Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, read 03/03/2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1817
1816
1815
1814
1813
1812
1811
1810
1809
1808
1807
1806
1805
1804
1803
1802
1801
1800
——————————————————————————————-
The books below the line are just a List of books read since joining Goodreads.
1769 - Candide, Voltaireread 01/02/2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1722 - A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe, read 7/24/21, ⭐️⭐️
- Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
read 7/17/21; ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1719 - Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, read 01/08/2021 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
1688 - Oroonoko by Aphra Behn; read 5/21/21 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
minor point - Dune was published in 1965 not 1966
Thanks, Darren. I will make that correction.
I updated, corrected mistakes and added entries, dates read and my ratings.
Yay -- I finished the first decade 1900-1909! My favorites of that decade were A House of Mirth, Where Angels Fear to Tread and The Shuttle.
Mod
Sara, Where Angels Fear to Tread is a quick read, so you should be able to tick that off easily. I found The Shuttle to be quite good, too, with themes along the same lines as Wharton’s and Forster’s. It feels really good to complete a decade. I have been concentrating on my Bingo card so far, but I will turn my attention to this challenge later in the year.
Mod
I guess 1965 was a vintage year! Let's see, I was 15 and loved the Beatles, but just as I was growing up, that year was the start of a difficult time for me which I was very good at hiding away. It took me a long time to recover, and sometimes, when I look back at my life, which has been filled with successes, I wonder how I ever did overcome those years.
Mod
Yes, Sara, I thought we were of the same generation.
Once again, I have a double read in one of the years -- 1961, The Winter of Our Discontent. And right now, I am having a double read for 1979, Sophie's Choice. I don't care. These books are too good to pass by.
Terry,This is really a quite amazing challenge! I am very much inspired!
Yes, Lori, well, it is a years long endeavor, but if you start it, you’ll find that you make good progress. Many of your group reads and bingo picks, etc. will count.I am currently reading at the rate of about 60 books per year. Right now I am ahead of that schedule, but I tend to slow down over holidays. Some of the books I read are contemporary, though, and as I indicated above, for some reason, there seem to be some particularly good years for books, and other years that I struggle to find something that I want to read.
Once I get through my Bingo card this year, I may concentrate on filling in some of those blanks. It definitely feels really good to finish off a decade.
Updated the above entries (5/18/21), but not making much progress in the 20th Century, as I keeping making entries into years which I have already added. Some progress was made in Pre-20th. I am not discouraged though -- this group gives me plenty of inspiration!
I love this challenge! You're doing great, and it's so fun to see the chronology of books. It's interesting how we have years we just don't get to very often. This is quite an inspiration!
Thanks, Kathleen. It is a lot of fun, and it is surprising how much inspiration and accomplishment comes from our group!
A very interesting challenge. I guess if you can't find any book for a particular year, you could just check the Pulitzer list.
Yes, Scott, a lot of the books I am reading have won Pulitzers and there are other lists too. I made lists when I started, so I have options for all the years. Some are less interesting to me than others. I am taking it slowly and choosing books as they strike my fancy, although I started the challenge with 1900 and read methodically through the first decade. This year, I have been concentrating on my Bingo challenge, but it is time to get back to this one.
I updated my 20th Century Challenge with the additional reading of The Giver, Tarzan of the Apes and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the last of which gave me a double Bingo. Only The Giver (1993) gave me a new year to add, though.
I added Fair Land, Fair Land and The Murder of Roger Akroyd to my 20th Century Challenge, and added Jude the Obscure to my Pre-20th Century list.
Mod
This looks interesting, Terry. I have been wanting to read 20th-century too, particularly Southern writers. Someday.
Cynda, I have added a lot of books just reading the New School Classics Group Read books, and since I have called it a multi year challenge, and have not given myself a deadline, there’s no real pressure. I suppose it may come when I get to the last few years, but there are lots of good books still to choose from. A lot of Pulitzers and other awarded books are available to satisfy the years, but I do find that I have multiples for some years. I guess some years might just be better than others!
I finished A View from the Harbor, 1987, but still need to update my list above.
Also, I need to add The Return of the Soldier, 1918, and I just noticed that I previously failed to log My Man Jeeves, 1919.
I added These Thousand Hills. Here's a tip: Don't try this while drinking wine. It took me three times to get it right! LOL!
I just updated my multi-year challenge. I am still a long way from completing this one!
Mod
Yes, perseverance is the key, Sara! Actually, I am a little amazed at how far I have gotten!
I updated my 20th Century Multi Year Challenge to add books in years mostly already filled, such as 1987 and 1988. However, was able to fill in 1997 with Cold Mountain. For my Pre 1900 Multi Year Challenge, which lags behind, I added 1881 with The Prince and the Pauper.
Lately, I have been reading books published in years which I have already checked off my list. I updated 1904, 1926, 1949 and 1994 with additional books. It's funny how some years have a lot of books which attract my attention.
Mod
I am continuing my trend of only reading books in years I have checked off by adding another to 1895, An Ideal Husband, for my Pre 1900 Challenge.
In my Multi Year 20th Century Challenge, I added books to 1940 The Trees, 1964 Sometimes a Great Notion, 1965 Cool Hand Luke, 1978 The Far Pavilions, 1980 Elkhorn Tavern, 1987 Walking across Egypt, 1991 Killer Diller, and 1992 The Patron Saint of Liars. Some of these actually accrue to years wherein I had previously not filled!
Hi Terry. I see you read Love in a Cold Climate which comes after The Pursuit of Love which I read this year after watching the miniseries, I think on Prime. Did you see it?
Yes, I saw and liked The Pursuit of Love. I think I have the book here, but not sure when I will get to it. It probably a short easy read, too.Sorry that I haven’t been that active lately. I got overwhelmed with work and with my reading, too. Right now, I am in the middle of The Witching Hour by Anne Rice, which is pretty good, but long. Next up, I have to read Horse by Geraldine Brooks, for my book club, which I am also supposed to be reading for the On the Southern Literary Trail group.
So many books that I meant to read have fallen by the wayside. It’s been frustrating that I have had more time to listen to than to actually read books, and I only like to listen to certain kinds of books. And I haven’t done that well with my challenges this year. I am not going to get to a blackout on my bingo card. There just isn’t enough time left. Nevertheless, I have read some really good books
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
The Cider House Rules (other topics)Miss Mole (other topics)
Terms of Endearment (other topics)
Miss Buncle's Book (other topics)
Weeds (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
E.H. Young (other topics)Larry McMurtry (other topics)
Mary Stewart (other topics)
Nora Roberts (other topics)
Ann Patchett (other topics)
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I hope to finish my 20th Century Multi-Year Challenge in 2026. Consequently, I have turned my list of books published between 1800 to 1899 into my 19th Century Multi-Year Challenge, which I may also try to make progress on as well, in 2026. The books published pre-1800 will stay as a list for now.
I previously started a 21st Century list, not really a challenge. I have not been so diligent in adding books to that list because there have been so many. I may just add the best ones.