Does anyone remember the Birth Year Reading Challenge that I started last year? I didn't get very far with it...my birth year was kind of a dud (except for me, that is). There were not so many new books just after the WW2, I guess. It was so long ago that the library no longer had those few books around. So, this year you'll see that there's a little twist been added. I can climb aboard a Time Machine.
I chose to go forward and clicked on the virtual dice to see what number I would add to my birth year. 7 - a lucky number, I think! I dialled in 1953 and stepped out into a whole new world of literary offerings. I was doubly pleased with this year because it's the year I started school - a huge milestone in my life.
I had been kept out until I was almost 7 - despite the fact that I could read and write and color in the lines. The rules were age 6 by the end of November. Just a few days more and I'd've made it. But being a Baby Boomer had it's downside and schools were overcrowded. The rules were applied rigorously.
But here I am with a whole new set of books to read. This was a wonderful year for new stuff - many I've already read and a second time 'round will be a treat. I wonder if I'll react the same way?
Here's the whole list taken from Wikipedia's info...see what I mean?
- Sholom Aleichem - Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son
- Isaac Asimov - Second Foundation
- James Baldwin - Go Tell It on the Mountain
- Saul Bellow - The Adventures of Augie March
- Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man
- Zealia Bishop - The Curse of Yig
- Ray Bradbury
- Gwendolyn Brooks - Maud Martha
- William S. Burroughs - Junkie
- John Dickson Carr - The Cavalier's Cup (as by Carter Dickson)
- Raymond Chandler - The Long Goodbye
- Agatha Christie
- Arthur C. Clarke
- Beverly Cleary - Otis Spofford
- Ivy Compton-Burnett - The Present and the Past
- A. J. Cronin - Beyond This Place
- L. Sprague de Camp
- The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens
- Sprague de Camp's New Anthology of Science Fiction
- The Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales
- L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt - Tales from Gavagan's Bar
- Lloyd C. Douglas - The Robe
- Ian Fleming - Casino Royale
- Ernest K. Gann - The High and the Mighty
- Davis Grubb - The Night of the Hunter
- Mark Harris - The Southpaw
- L. P. Hartley - The Go-Between
- James Hilton - Time and Time Again
- David Karp - One
- Ira Levin - A Kiss Before Dying
- C. S. Lewis - The Silver Chair
- James A. Michener - The Bridges at Toko-Ri
- Zoe B. Oldenbourg - The Cornerstone
- Mervyn Peake - Mr Pye
- Ellery Queen - The Scarlet Letters
- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - The Sojourner
- Samuel Shellabarger - Lord Vanity
- Wilmar H. Shiras - Children of the Atom
- Rex Stout - The Golden Spiders
- Leon Uris - Battle Cry
- Boris Vian - Heartsnatcher
- A. E. van Vogt - The Universe Maker
- Evelyn Waugh - Love Among the Ruins
- Ben Ames Williams - The Unconquered
- John Wyndham - The Kraken Wakes
There's also a handful of new plays and some short stories that also could be fit in. Is the year long enough? If you want to join in on this challenge, sign up over at the Hotchpot Cafe. Should be fun and I''m sure to do better than last year.
5 comments:
That's quite the reading list.
Good luck!
You could search for a knitting pattern printed around that time for a knit along!
I've read hundreds of books in my life, but I haven't read a single one of these!! Though of course I've heard of many of them. I didn't start school till I was 7, as well!!! With a huge overcrowded classroom, I think over 30. Back then, there weren't many kindergardens, that was a new thing. And forget about pre-schools!!
Welcome back to the BYRC, and what a great list to choose from! Do consider the Mark Harris. Even though it's a baseball book, Harris has a way with words and characters that makes this book more than a sports story.
What a cool idea! I'll have to see what's on the list for 1960!
I wondered whether you had gone any further with it last year.
Delighted that you found rich pickings 7 years on!
And I like Rudee's idea of an old knitting pattern!
Post a Comment