I am always creating book lists for myself. And so I decided to look up novels published the year I was born which was 1958. I typed in 1958 Goodreads and up popped Most Popular Books Published in 1958. It was a list of about two hundred books. I scrolled through the list and chose the following ten:
1. Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
2. Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
3. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe
4. Ice Palace by Edna Ferber
5. Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
6. Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
7. Web of the City by Harlan Ellison
8. Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym
9. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
10. Breakfast at Tiffanys by Truman Capote
I was surprised by the high quality of the novels published in 1958 and I suspect anyone who types in their birth year followed by Goodreads into the search engine will have the same experience. Really great books are published every year.
As for the ten I chose I may not post about all of them but I will try to read them all and Breakfast at Tiffany's is already on my Back to the Classics list. Six of these writers I have read before, though not their above novels. The remaining four (Alan Sillitoe, Robert Traver, Anya Seton and Chinua Achebe) I have yet to read but I am looking forward to doing so.
Finally, the fun of choosing from Goodreads ten of the most popular books published the year you were born is you end up with an interesting mix of novels. I was pleased to see Harlan Ellison published a novel in 1958. I am not a science fiction fan but Harlan wrote non-fiction as well which I very much enjoyed. He was not only a talented writer but quite an interview guest! 😄 He passed away recently and his writing and his voice are greatly missed.
Super post
ReplyDeleteThanks, I like your posts too.
DeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteI commented yesterday, but I think my comment ended up in either your spam folder or somewhere in internet limbo. It's been happening a lot lately. But I just wanted to say how much I love Nine Coaches Waiting. It's my most favorite Mary Stewart book. I hope you like it, too. Happy reading! :D
ReplyDeleteYes, something is happening commented on your review of 12 Years a Slave but I can't seem to post with my usual penguin icon. It keeps coming up as annonymous. Oh well, I am looking forward to 9 Coaches I really like Mary Stewart and many say this is her best book.
DeleteThere is a little down arrow next to the word Anonymous when you click on the comment box, and that sometimes brings down another way to comment...like with a google account or with your name and URL. You could try that next time and see if it works.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Lark it seems to have worked. I hope.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. I am ten years older than you so I checked for 1948 Goodreads and the Most Popular books popped up. Top of the list was I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, which surprised me. It is on my Classics List so I knew its date of publication at one time.
ReplyDeleteCapture the Castle is a book I have always wanted to check out. I have heard very good things about it. I was surprised too that no matter what year one is checking out there were really fine books written during that year.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun way to see what the world was like on the day you were born. I had no idea that little trick would work, so thanks for the heads-up.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam, it is fun! And what's surprising is no matter what year one was born if you type in the year and goodreads you will easily come up with 10 books you want to read but just never thought about reading
DeleteI love Barbara Pym and I hope you do too. Keeping a list on your blog to keep you accountable is a good idea. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ruthiella and I must get back to Barbara Pym. It's been way too long.
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