I'm doing a reading challenge that includes reading a book set in each decade of the 1900s. So a book set in 1900-1909, one for 1910-1919, and so on. Some decades are obviously easier than others (there will never be a shortage of WWII novels) but I'm curious what others would suggest for the different decades.
by Teary-EyedGardener
9 Comments
I know you’re more concerned with decades other than the World War decades, but I cannot let this thread go by without mentioning *Catch-22* by Joseph Heller for 1940-1949.
For 1900, I recommend the play “Silent Sky” by Lauren Gunderson
*How Long Has This Been Going On?* by Ethan Mordden was one of the best things I read this year. The only problem is that it’s a big saga and spans 1930s to about 1991.
For the 40s, I would do *The Charioteer* by Mary Renault, which is set during WW2 but is not a war novel. Noted for being the first British book to give queer characters a reasonably happy ending.
I haven’t yet read *Last Night at the Telegraph Club* by Malinda Lo, but people rave about it and it would check off the fifties. *Last Exit to Brooklyn* by Hubert Selby Jr. would also work.
What about books that were actually written in an earlier decade? John Rechy’s *City of Night* would take care of the 60s, and Armistead Maupin’s *Tales of the City* is written/set in the 70s.
I’d get outside traditional prose and read the script for *Angels in America* to cover the 80s.
Great idea!
1940’s: **Torchlight Parade** by Jeanpaul Ferro. Captures the essence of the time perfectly. It’s like Mad Men meets For Whom the Bell Tolls.
No suggestions, but I just have to say I love this reading theme! I’ll be watching the suggestions you get 😊
Ken Follett’s Century trilogy is three books and covers from the Russian Revolution to the 1960s (or a little later)
Kindred by Octavia Butler is set in the 1970s (and the 1800s, there is a time travel element, but the FMC lives in the 1970s)
Moonrise over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks is set in the 1960s. This is a great story about a Black woman at the start of the American civil rights movement.
No-No Boy by John Okada is set in the 1940s. It’s about a Japanese American man returning home after being interred and imprisoned by the US government during WW2.
Life by Lu Yao is set in the 1980s. This is about life in 1980s China. An ‘ordinary’ man trying to make his way.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is set mostly in the 1920s I think. It’s and out a young Black woman building her life in Florida.
Have a fun challenge!
* 1900-1909: *A Room With a View* by E.M. Forster
* 1910-1919: *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* by Betty Smith
* 1920-1929: *The Light Between Oceans* by M.L. Steadman
* 1930-1939: *March Violets* by Philip Kerr
* 1940-1949: *City of Thieves* by David Benioff
* 1950-1959: *Snow Falling on Cedars* by David Guterson
* 1960-1969: *How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents* by Julia Alvarez
* 1970-1979: *Vinegar Hill* by A. Manette Ansay
* 1980-1989: *My Best Friend’s Exorcism* by Grady Hendrix
* 1990-1999: *Little Fires Everywhere* by Celeste Ng