Thanks to everyone who put forward suggestions for the next club year, following #1930Club! Karen and I looked through everyone’s ideas, and two decades were definitely standing out – the 1920s and the 1950s.
In the end, we decided upon the #1920Club – first suggested by Paula. It’s right at the beginning of the period we do club years in, and it’ll be the centenary next year – which feels very appropriate. Maybe we’ll turn to the 1950s next time?
Here’s the badge, and as you can see it’ll be next April. Plenty of warning so get hunting for what you might read!
By the way, for those asking why we don’t do earlier or later years, and who haven’t seen the explanation before – the reason we decided to stop at 1980 was basically personal taste! The reason we don’t go earlier than 1920 is because cheap printing and a wider reading public around that time led to a great deal more books being published – and, in practice, it would be harder to get the same diverse range of books (particularly if we want them widely accessible) if we went earlier. Hope that clears that up!
Bizarrely, given that the number of books I read from this era is very small – I have a choice of half a dozen on my shelves! Looking forward to a Fitzgerald re-read with This Side of Paradise.
Oh excellent, Annabel!
It’s a great choice. I might finally reread one of the so-called masterpieces of Romanian literature, Ion by Liviu Rebreanu, which I was never that keen on. (I much preferred his novel published 2 years later, The Forest of the Hanged). Also tempting: a reread of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first success. Wilfred Owen’s war poems were also published that year… My brain cells have started churning, as you can see!
Glad that you’re planning early! They all sound like interesting options
Ooh – exciting! looking forward to getting home tonight and looking through my shelves for possible reads. Thanks, Simon, for running this.
Lovely, thanks Rosemary!
What’s the best way to survey what was published in a particular year? I’m sure I could find some 1920 material on my shelves, but is the only way to do that to literally open up every likely book cover and check the copyright date? If you have any shortcuts, let me know! I’d love to participate.
Good question! There are usually good lists on Wikipedia and GoodReads (though latter sometimes need checking). I went through the not-at-all-shortcut of cataloguing all my books on LibraryThing then manually checking the publication date of all of them!
Excellent choice! 1920 was a prolific year for AAM (4 plays) so I’m set :) Also, I might finally get around to reading Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson.
Oo hope so! And I hadn’t thought about AAM – sorry Alan! – but always happy to reread him, of course.
Thanks for giving us the club date parameters, and the reasons. Makes sense! I went to 1900 literature on Wikipedia and there were hardly any listings! So…..on to 1920. Would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday. And, he almost made it!
Yay. Very happy with 1920. Looking forward to it already.
I am certainly very happy we ended up in my favourite decade!
Thanks Linda!
Such a good year, Simon, and I’m quite excited about the choices we have with this one. And thanks for spelling out why we limit our parameters – I had a look at the earlier suggestions before we made our choice, and it would be quite difficult to get the range of books we find from later years. Roll on 1920! :D
I’m glad people are being understanding about the reasons. I remember from my Century of Books how much harder it was to find a range of things from the first twenty years of the century.
Can anyone join in? 1920 is a favourite decade
Absolutely!
Its going to be a very good club indeed! So much variety to choose from! Lewis’ Main Street and Colette’s Cheri among many others to be reread or still on the TBR pile. Looking forward to it!
Oo I’ve still never read any Lewis, and really should. So many options!
Brilliant badge. Looking forward to joining in!
Thanks Jane!
I’ll be watching… thanks!
You’ve got six months to find a book if you want to join in!
So exciting – if nothing crops up on the TBR in the next six months, I have a Quiller-Couch that fits.
If the choice has to come from our existing shelves, I am getting really stuck. (Or is that just a ‘rule’ for #projectname?)
All I have found so far is Tender is the Night and The Age of Innocence, and at the moment neither of them really floats my boat – though i appreciate that we have a few months to go.
I’ll keep looking!
Oh no rules at all! In fact, I’m not even really using that for a rule in Project Names in the end… though aiming for it where possible :)
I will definitely do this one, and I am excited about it. I will be retired by then and able to take the time to plan ahead. And I have two books on my shelves that appeal to me.
Just that one year,not the decade?
Hoping to join this one as I want to read a number of books I’ve not yet got to, this would be a good start. Thinking of reading In Chancery by John Galsworthy (2nd of the Forsyte Saga books).
So am I..our book club is reading a trilogy for next month’s task.We choose a subject,theme or genre rather than a specific book which means we have plenty to discuss.
Patricia,
Hope you enjoyed it, would love to know what you thought – for various reason I swapped to a short – Fitzgerald. Enjoyable challenge. Janet
I ended up reading Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh.I read Pat Barker’s trilogy Regeneration about WW1.
Thought it would be interesting contrast but completely different.
The Waugh is a cynical,despairing account of a “mature”soldier in the Second World War.Totally absorbing,funny and sad..the sole man in our group grabbed it afterwards and also loved it.