Monday, January 1, 2018

A Century of Books Challenge




Simon at Stuck in a Book has declared 2018 as the year of A Century of Books – henceforth to be known as ACOB. Back in 2012, he put together a challenge to read and review a book for every year of the 20th century – not in order. I joined in a bit late and made my timing flexible (because Simon is good with a little flex in the rules).  This time he has shifted the  century is shifting a bit –1919-2018 – making it a century including this year. I'm going to join him and, like before, I'm going to plan on taking two years to complete it. If I get at least 50 years covered in 2018, then I may count it towards completed challenges for the year. I'll keep track of my list below. To make it even trickier, I'm going to try and fulfill every year with a mystery or mystery-related nonfiction book.

If you'd like to join in, please click the link above. 

Added 12/29/19: Well, it's pretty obvious that I'm not going to finish this in two years as planned [there's no way I can read 16 appropriate books in two days...]. So, I'll have to give myself an extension and say that if I can manage to read the right 16 books in 2020, then I can count this challenge towards next year's tally.

Update 11/2/20: Making this a mystery-only challenge caused me to run into an extra year. BUT I have finally read a mystery from 1972 and the challenge is officially complete!!


1919: The Mystery of the Skeleton Key by Bernard Capes (10/2/20)
1920: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1/18/19)
1921: Jerry Todd & the Rose-Colored Cat by Leo Edwards (8/3/20)
1922: The Crimson Circle by Edgar Wallace (11/18/18)
1923: Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (3/9/19)
1924: The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (4/13/19)
1925: The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie (6/6/19)
1926: Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L Sayers (1/12/19)
1927: The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham (1/1/18)
1928: The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (5/28/18)
1929: Death of My Aunt by C.H.B. Kitchin (11/7/18)
1930: About the Murder of Geraldine Foster by Anthony Abbott (3/22/18)
1931: The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers (5/19/19)
1932: Nothing Venture by Patricia Wentworth (7/19/18)
1933: Red Warning by Virgil Markham (1/25/18)
1934: A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh (1/7/18)
1935: Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh (2/7/18)
1936: Death in Ecstasy by Ngaio Marsh (4/7/18)
1937: Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh (5/7/18)
1938: Then There Were Three by Geoffrey Homes (4/30/18)
1939: Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (8/19/18)
1940: The Odor of Violets by Baynard Kendrick (2/27/18)
1941: With Blood & Kisses [apa: The Snark Was a Boojum] by Richard Shattuck (2/23/18)
1942: The Dead Shall Be Raised by George Bellairs (1/13/19)
1943: The Death of a Quack by George Bellairs (1/14/19)
1944: Avalanche by Kay Boyle (2/8/18)
1945: Payoff for the Banker by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3/15/18)
1946: Green for a Grave by Manning Lee Stokes (3/13/18)
1947: Another Woman's House by Mignon G. Eberhart (2/10/18)
1948: Blueprint for Murder by Roger Bax (10/25/19)
1949: A Wreath for Rivera by Ngaio Marsh (3/11/19)
1950: Terror in Times Square by Alan Handley (6/5/18)
1951: Beverly Gray's Secret by Clair Blank (2/13/18)
1952: The Blind Spot by John Creasey (8/23/18)
1953: Stand Up & Die by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3/31/20)
1954: The Body in the Basket by George Bagby (5/22/18)
1955: Before Midnight by Rex Stout (10/4/18)
1956: Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie (8/15/18)
1957: The Haunted Showboat by Carolyn Keene (8/2/18)
1958: Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus (8/24/18)
1959: False Scent by Ngaio Marsh (9/15/19)
1960: Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney (1/3/20)
1961: The Mystery of the Fire Dragon by Carolyn Keene (7/29/19)
1962: The Lacquer Screen by Robert Van Gulik (7/28/18)
1963: Dead Water by Ngaio Marsh (11/9/19)
1964: The Perfect Murder by H. R. F. Keating (10/19/19)
1965: Some Beasts No More by Kenneth Giles (6/22/18)
1966: Eyes at the Window by George Selmark (11/25/19)
1967: The Mystery of the Fiery Eye by Robert Arthur (11/24/18)
1968: The Father Hunt by Rex Stout (6/18/19)
1969: The Stately Home Murder by Catherine Aird (2/16/18)
1970: Deadly Pattern by Douglas Clark (5/18/20)
1971: Basil & the Pygmy Cats by Eve Titus (8/24/18)
1972: Foot in the Grave by E. X. Ferrars (10/28/20)
1973: Devious Murder by George Bellairs (11/13/18)
1974: Black Aura by John Sladek (9/9/19)
1975: Time of Terror by Hugh Pentecost (7/20/18)
1976: The Trouble in Hunter Ward by Josephine Bell (7/18/18)
1977: Table D'Hote by Douglas Clark (11/14/18)
1978: The Invisible Thief by Thomas Brace Haughey (9/5/18)
1979: The Zero Trap by Paula Gosling (4/8/18)
1980: Golden Rain by Douglas Clark (5/21/20)
1981: A Summer in the Twenties by Peter Dickinson (8/2/18)
1982: Lament for a Lady Laird by Margot Arnold (2/3/18)
1983: Scotland Yard Photo Crimes from the Files of Inspector Black by Henry Black (3/24/18)
1984: A Very Private Enterprise by Elizabeth Ironside (8/16/18)
1985: Dekok & Murder by Installment by A. C. Baantjer (5/30/18)
1986: Night of the Fox by Jack Higgins (2/19/19)
1987: Bound to Murder by Dorsey Fiske (9/16/20)

1988: The Grub-&-Stakers Pinch a Poke by Alisa Craig [Charlotte MacLeod] (9/10/18)
1989: The Death of a Joyce Scholar by Bartholomew Gill (1/31/20)
1990: The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes by June Thomson (1/25/19)
1991: Death of a Warrior Queen by S. T. Haymon (10/24/20)
1992: The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Seventh Bullet by Daniel D. Victor (4/27/18)
1993: The Christening Day Murder by Lee Harris (4/7/20)
1994: A Vow of Penance by Veronica Black (4/11/18)
1995: The Winter Women Murders by David A Kaufelt (1/5/19)
1996: Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas (3/4/18)
1997: The New Year's Eve Murder by Lee Harris (4/25/20)
1998: The Charles Dickens Murders by Edith Skom (9/15/18)
1999: River of Darkness by Rennie Airth (6/3/19)

2000: The Quotable Sherlock Holmes by Gerard Van Der Leun (5/12/20)
2001: Mrs. Malory & the Lilies That Fester by Hazel Holt (4/13/18)
2002: Death of a Hoosier Schoolmaster by Marlis Day (4/10/18)
2003: Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner (10/14/20)
2004: The Lover by Laura Wilson (5/17/19)
2005: The Sign of the Book by John Dunning (3/23/18)
2006: When Gods Die by C. S. Harris (8/27/20)
2007: The Hellfire Conspiracy by Will Thomas (6/1/18)
2008: The Case of the Ill-Gotten Goat by Claudia Bishop (9/14/19)
2009: Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes by J.R. Campbell & Charles Prepolec (8/5/19)
2010: A Holiday Yarn by Sally Goldenbaum (12/24/18)
2011: Between the Thames & the Tiber by Ted Riccardi (7/20/20)
2012: Books to Die For by John Connolly & Declan Burke, eds (3/22/19)
2013: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (2/28/18)
2014: Murder at Midnight by C. S. Challinor (7/23/18)
2015: Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chamblis Bertman (3/24/18)
2016: Act One, Scene One--Murder by A. H. Richardson (1/30/18)
2017: The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards (1/23/18)
2018: Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer (10/30/18)



4 comments:

Simon T - StuckinaBook said...

Great to have you back for another round! And how exciting that you're aiming for all mysteries too - that will be really fun.

Claire (The Captive Reader) said...

So great to see you're doing this! And how interesting to focus on mysteries - I can't wait to see what you read.

Bev Hankins said...

Well, Simon and Claire, we'll see if I can manage to do it with all mystery (or, I think I'll amend that to mystery-related) books. It's especially tricky because I'd like to try and use books from my own TBR piles....

Gypsi said...

I finished this last year; I'd been working on it for years. It's a great feeling!