A couple weeks ago I completed my reading list for 1959. These lists are part of what I call My Big Fat Reading Project. I have been working on the project since June 2002, when I started with a reading list from 1940. So finishing 1959 is a milestone because I have now completed the second decade of the project. I also turned 65 last month and am beginning to realize that I may never complete the darn thing. I mean, do the math. Also the lists keep getting longer. However I am getting the education in literature that I envisioned and that is what matters to me.
The 1959 list took me a year and a half to complete for all kinds of reasons. I was distracted by several life changes but most of all it felt like because it was the end of a decade and I was so eager to get into the 1960s, it just went dragging on and on.
You can find reviews for almost all of these books here on the blog. Just put the title into the search window in the top left corner. You can also find all the earlier lists by looking through the archives. I suppose I should gather the links for these in the sidebar. If even one person comments with such a request, I will do it!
BESTSELLERS:
Exodus, Leon Uris
Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
Hawaii, James Michener
Advise and Consent, Allen Drury
Lady Chatterley's Lover, D H Lawrence
The Ugly American, William J Lederer and Eugene L Burdick
Dear and Glorious Physician, Taylor Caldwell
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris, Paul Gallico
Poor No More, Robert Ruark
AWARD WINNERS:
PULITZER: The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, Robert Lewis Taylor
NEWBERY: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare
CALDECOTT: Chanticleer and the Fox, Barbara Cooney
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD: The Magic Barrel, Bernard Malamud
HUGO: A Case of Conscience, James Blish
EDGAR: The Eighth Circle, Stanley Ellin
OTHERS:
Absolute Beginners, Colin Macinnes
The Borrowers Afloat, Mary Norton
The Cave, Robert Penn Warren
Children of the Alley, Naguib Mahfouz
Coal Camp Girl, Lois Lenski
Free Fall, William Golding
The Good Conscience, Carlos Fuentes
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow
Jean and Johnny, Beverly Cleary
The Mansion, William Faulkner
Miguel Street, V S Naipaul
Momento Mori, Muriel Spark
My Brother Michael, Mary Stewart
Passage of Arms, Eric Ambler
The Poorhouse Fair, John Updike
Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut
The Status Seekers, Vance Packard
Time Out of Joint, Philip K Dick
Zazie in the Metro, Raymond Queneau
No comments:
Post a Comment