Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Welcome to my 100 Years Before Me Challenge! This is where I will track all of the books I read, starting with the year 1872, which is 100 years before the year I was born — 1972. Of course, my inspiration was our lovely moderator, Sara, who just completed her own challenge with success! It's such a great challenge, and I thought what a wonderful opportunity to be able to read some great books! I will plug in all the books I've read this year (2025) and continue on to see how long this will take me! So excited!

1872 -
1873 -
1874 -
1875 -
1876 -
1877 -
1878 -
1879 -

1880 -
1881 -
1882 -
1883 -
1884 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
1885 -
1886 -
1887 -
1888 -
1889 -

1890 -
1891 -
1892 -
1893 -
1894 -
1895 -
1896 -
1897 -
1898 -
1899 -

1900 -
1901 -
1902 -
1903 -
1904 -
1905 -
1906 -
1907 -
1908 -
1909 -

1910 - The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett
1911 -
1912 -
1913 -
1914 -
1915 -
1916 -
1917 -
1918 -
1919 -

1920 -
1921 -
1922 - The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
1923 -
1924 -
1925 -
1926 -
1927 -
1928 - A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
1929 -

1930 -
1931 -
1932 - Jenny Wren by E.H. Young
1933 -
1934 - The Curate's Wife by E.H. Young
1935 -
1936 -
1937 -
1938 - Our Town by Thornton Wilder
1939 -

1940 -
1941 -
1942 -
1943 -
1944 -
1945 -
1946 -
1947 -
1948 -
1949 -

1950 -
1951 - The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
1952 -
1953 - Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
1954 - Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
1955 -
1956 -
1957 - Call Me Joe - Poul Anderson
1958 - The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
1959 -

1960 -
1961 -
1962 -
1963 -
1964 - This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
1965 -
1966 -
1967 -
1968 -
1969 - The Promise by Chaim Potok
1970 -

1971 - Tramp for the Lord by Corrie ten Boom
1972 - Augustus by John Williams

Just look at all the great books you already have on the list! You and Augustus came into the world together--that is a good omen. This is going to be fun to watch.

Good luck with your challenge, Lori!

Have fun!

Thank you Sara, Terry and Annette! I can't believe I've already filled in so many! I have even already read a couple of duplicate years! I'm sure that will happen quite a bit!

Too bad my Dickens and Trollope and Gaskell are too old for this challenge!

You girls are tempting me!! I would love to see how many books I could fill in for my 100 year challenge. You have already filled in so many, Lori! I am definitely going to have to look into this challenge -- I don't know if I can stop myself! haha! ;

Terris wrote: "You girls are tempting me!! I would love to see how many books I could fill in for my 100 year challenge. You have already filled in so many, Lori! I am definitely going to have to look into this c..."

Go for it, Terris! You would probably fill it in faster than I will! HA! I think this is an excellent challenge and no books that I know I'm not going to like have to be read - like in the Pulitzer challenge. I abandoned that one because there are just so many I don't want to read. Yet, there are still so many that I DO want to read! I am in a conundrum with that one.

Lori wrote: "Terris wrote: "You girls are tempting me!! I would love to see how many books I could fill in for my 100 year challenge. You have already filled in so many, Lori! I am definitely going to have to l..."

I understand about the Pulitzer challenge -- I've looked into that one too and there are just too many I never want to read!
But you're right, I think I can fill in many that I've already read and there are so many others that I want to read that will work for this challenge!
I did copy all your dates so I didn't have to type 100 yrs worth of dates! -- though I'm a little older than you (more of my Dickens and Trollope reads will fit my challenge! haha!). I printed the years on paper and I'm going to do some looking and writing and then probably enter it all here on GR! (you know I will!) ;)
I'm really looking forward to looking up to see how many of the books I've read that may fit (several of the ones you read were ones that I had read, so I kept them on the list!).

Wish me luck! :)

Quick question -- do short stories count for this challenge (as in: anything we've read in a certain year?) or are we going for books (or possibly "readers choice"?)? :)

Yay Terris! How fun it will be to do this together!! 👏🏻🙌🏻🫶🏻

I decided to include a short story but I don’t read as many as you do. I’ll mostly add books. Oh and of course I included the Bradbury story collection. And I just added my books from this year and will add going forward.

So excited you’re joining (I know you will!🤩)

Yes, I think it will be fun!
Regarding short stories -- I think I will use them when they come up -- but later on if I find a book from the same year I might replace the short story.
I'm enjoying working on the list -- I love lists! :)

I'm with Terris--I love lists. And yours will be very fun to follow, Lori! And what an accomplishment when you're done, to experience a century. :-)

I'm really happy to see that you might take up this challenge too, Terris. I think you will be amazed at how many slots you can already fill from this year.

I wonder if it is weird that we all love lists so much. I should be reading, but I am playing with potential book lists instead.

Sara wrote: "I'm really happy to see that you might take up this challenge too, Terris. I think you will be amazed at how many slots you can already fill from this year.

I wonder if it is weird that we all lov..."

Sara, I know this is Lori's thread, but I'm not sure where to find your 100 yr challenge list. I'm having trouble with 1875!! and want to see what you read for that year :) Thanks!

Lori, good luck on your challenge. Back in 2013 I started putting together a list of books for every year since I was born. It is still a work in progress. I have completed all the years except for this year 2025. I thought about the challenge 100 years before I was born but will let that one slide.

In thinking about it I did discover that between 1850-2024 I have read at least one book, novella, or story for every year, except for 1870 and 1883. I will have to fix that. It is interesting to think that, except for two, I have read a book for every year going back 175 consecutive years.

Again, good luck and enjoy your challenge.

Terris, the only read I had for 1875 is The Hand

Terris wrote: "Sara wrote: "I'm really happy to see that you might take up this challenge too, Terris. I think you will be amazed at how many slots you can already fill from this year.

I wonder if it is weird th..."

Terris, I happened to see your post and when considering literature that far back by year I use Wikipedia, literature by year. Here is a link for 1875 with some good books and lesser known works by good authors. If you want another year just search using the new date.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1875_in...

Thank you all for your help! Bob, I have read The Hand! So I will count it!
Unfortunately for you, Lori, I will not be joining you in this challenge because I have already completed it!!! When I looked up 1858-1958, I have read a book for every year! And, I'm sorry, but I don't think I want to type it all out. I thought it might be something to work toward, but.... I guess I'll be looking for something a little more "challenging"! ;)

I will be watching to see how you get along, though.
Happy Reading, Lori! :)

When I did this challenge I did not count any book that I had read prior to that time. I did each year, regardless of whether I had read something in that year before. I will do the same with the new challenge. It will only be books I read starting now.

Here is a link to my challenge:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Sara wrote: "When I did this challenge I did not count any book that I had read prior to that time. I did each year, regardless of whether I had read something in that year before. I will do the same with the n..."

Okay, that makes sense! So, overall you got through 100 years of reading pretty fast! I’m not sure I’m ready to start this ambitious of a project right now. But I might informally keep track of the books I read starting in 2025 and see how it goes. I’m sure I’ll be surprised at how many i read that will fit this challenge, especially while reading with this group! :)

Sorry Lori, your thread has been completely hijacked.

To me, this is one of the most daunting and demanding challenges someone can choose. I admire anyone who attempts it, let alone finishes it. When I started my "every year since I was born" challenge in 2013, it took me six years to achieve an uninterrupted chronology. I declared the challenge complete but have been adding additional years since then. I still find the 100-year challenge intriguing. I might set one up and see what happens in a few years. I think it won't be easy to gather unread, interesting books from 1857-1900, since I have already read a lot. Some years, as many as 4-6 books.

No worries at all, Bob!! I love reading everyone’s thoughts on this.

I probably haven’t read as much as some of you guys so there’s lots for me to choose from still. I’ve been looking at the 1870’s and finding a few books but not a huge amount. I definitely think this will take me a long time to complete. Especially since some books I’m considering are chunksters!! I’m also interested in doing the years since I was born but think one at a time is probably better.

I haven’t sat down and made a list to see what years I’ve already read like you have, Bob. It would be interesting to know. And I agree this is quite a task to accomplish!! But I’m looking forward to it!

Lori, if you need any inspiration, you are welcome to peruse my Personal 20th Century Challenge.

I will most definitely do that Terry!! Thanks! I can definitely use all the inspiration I can get! I’m sure you have some great ideas.

for 1875 I used The Crime Of Father Amaro which turned out to be one of my all-time faves!

One other thought, Lori. For inspirations for the years before 1900, you can scroll further down in my same personal challenge to see the list I am keeping of books I have read in the prior years. It’s not as dense a list, and it’s not really a challenge, but when I complete the 20th Century, I may turn it into a 19th Century Challenge. I also started a list of 21st Century books, but I haven’t been very diligent in adding to it.