Sara's I said I wouldn't, but here I go

[Sara, Old School Classics]

My Decade 1940:

✔ 1940 - Mr Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim

✔ 1941 - In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow

✔ 1942 - Laura by Vera Caspary

✔ 1943 - The Last of Summer by Kate O'Brien

✔ 1944 - High Tide at Noon by Elisabeth Ogilvie

✔ 1945 - At Mrs Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor

✔ 1946 - Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz by Olga Lengyel

✔ 1947 - Sisters By a River by Barbara Comyns

✔ 1948 - The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen

✔ 1949 - Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Women's Century:

1850 - Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

1860 - Romola by George Eliot

1870 - A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella L. Bird

1880 - A Strange Disappearance by Anna Katharine Green

1890 - Phases of an Inferior Planet by Ellen Glasgow

✔ 1900 - The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart

1910 - The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

✔ 1920 - Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

1930 - South Riding by Winifred Holtby

✔ 1940 - Strange Fruit by Lillian E. Smith

[Sara, Old School Classics]

[Rosemarie]

Good luck, Sara. You have some good choices on your list. I really enjoyed Brat Ferrar.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Thanks, Rosemarie. Glad to have an opinion on Brat Farrar, since it was a new title for me.

[Terris]

Those are all new titles for me! I'm interested to see if you find buried treasure and can recommend some wonderful new reads to me ;)

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Lots of possibilities for found treasure, Terri, because I don't know many of these works.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Sara, you said you wouldn’t but you did and it looks like you did fine. I enjoyed linking to the books and reading about them. Many I feel confident I would personally really enjoy. I can only speak about two, most of the others are not known to me. I read Mary Poppins last year simply because it is a group book. It was a pleasant fun read. The second is Ruth, I have nominated it several times for the group’s old school collection, it has never done well. It is a wonderful story, with a strong female character, and is my favorite book by Ms. Gaskell. Enjoy your reading, you have some great choices.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Thank you for the encouragement, Bob. I have had Ruth on my TBR for years. I'm glad to hear you say it is excellent, because I have read other Gaskell's and loved them. Maybe I will try nominating it as well and see if I can muster some interest.

I added Mary Poppins because I need to read it (trying to catch up on the group list) and realized I probably wouldn't unless it was on a challenge somewhere.

[Sue]

hahaha Sara, love your title! It should be mine as well. I'm also crazy enough to be contemplating two.

Thanks for reminding me of My Antonia, because that fits on mine if I go for two. I also have Mary Poppins if I go for 2, but may opt for the Pulitzer for that year.

You have lots of great choices that I've never heard of. Can't wait to see your reviews.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

You think we might need intervention, Sue? ;)

I am desperately trying to have a year in which I take more titles off the TBR than I add to it. We'll see how that works out. It will be a delight to be reading with you again!

[Tammy]

I've never participated in the Women's Century or Decade. As a planner I love the concept, but I hate the idea of being limited. I decided to check out my master list for next year and found that I only have 20% dedicated to female authors. I'll really have to think about this issue and work to see if I can make it to 30%. That would put me at about 50 books by women.

Your list looks wonderful and I can't wait to hear your recommendations so that I can add your favorites to my TBR.

[siriusedward]

Wow,great title Sara...

Esp love the second list..since some of them are on my TBR too..

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Tammy wrote: "I've never participated in the Women's Century or Decade. As a planner I love the concept, but I hate the idea of being limited. I decided to check out my master list for next year and found that I..."

This is my fourth year doing the challenge and I have exhausted so many of the earliest woman writers that is is actually hard to make a list. I keep having to move further into the 1990s. However, with the exception of three, all of these books were already on my TBR.

You should try to make a list and see if this would be a viable challenge for you, Tammy. It always encourages me to "get to" the books if I have them somewhere besides the massive TBR.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

siriusedward wrote: "Wow,great title Sara...

Esp love the second list..since some of them are on my TBR too.."

Love hearing that you have some of them on your TBR, maybe we can do some buddy reads!

[Candi]

Good luck with the challenge, Sara! I see many titles there that are on my tbr list, and some others that I have read and loved. I am putting together my list for the challenge as well. I'm going with the century challenge for now :)

[Sara, Old School Classics]

I might not be able to finish them both, but I really enjoyed this challenge this year, so I decided to jump in and see how I could do. Glad to hear you loved some of these. I am mostly going in blind.

[Kathleen]

This is such an interesting list of women writers, Sara. I think you'll have some great variety here. I've long wanted to read Laura, and I'm intrigued by the rest. Can't wait til you start reading!

[Sara, Old School Classics]

I am always anxious to start and then I wonder why I am scrambling to get it done at the end of the year. :) I've got high hopes this year.

[Cynda]

Good for you. I am doing a biography challenge with our other GR group. And I want to do a Old and New challenge here. We can encourage each other!

[Sara, Old School Classics]

I have the Old and New challenge as well, Cynda. I hope you enjoy the biography challenge. It does sound interesting.

[Erin]

Hope you enjoy your challenges! 😃

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Thanks, Erin.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Made a start with The Man in Lower Ten. A good, old-fashioned murder mystery, with a sweet little love story. 3.5 stars.

[Ila]

All new books for me. Enjoy your reading!

[Kathleen]

Off to a good start with a fun one, Sara!

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Thank you, Ila, I have high hopes.

Yes, Kathleen, relieved to enjoy the first one. Most of these are just blind picks. She was an all-new author for me.

[Kathleen]

Sara wrote: "Thank you, Ila, I have high hopes.

Yes, Kathleen, relieved to enjoy the first one. Most of these are just blind picks. She was an all-new author for me."

I love finding new things at random, Sara. That is one of my goals for 2019. I'm overwhelmed with recommendations I don't want to miss, but I'm hoping to do more just picking up books that look good this year.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Love that goal. I used to do most of my reading that way, and I admit I found more things I loved back then.

My major goal this year is to read some of the books I have already purchased and have sitting on my bookshelves (or Kindle). I really need to concentrate on the "clear the shelf" challenge!

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I enjoyed your review of The Man in Lower Ten. Always looking for a good mystery.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

And, it is a quickie that can be slipped in between heavier reads!

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Just finished Strange Fruit and believe it is one of those books that deserve to be read by everyone. It is a difficult read, in that the subject matter is weighty, but not a book you can easily walk away from or forget. Kudos to Lillian Smith for tackling the issues of her day without flinching.

[Kathleen]

And this was the heavy read you're balancing with! Fantastic review, Sara.

[Brina]

It’s on my tbr for next year. Can’t wait to read it now.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Kathleen wrote: "And this was the heavy read you're balancing with! Fantastic review, Sara."
Gut-wrenching, so now I need to opt for something light. :)

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Brina wrote: "It’s on my tbr for next year. Can’t wait to read it now."

Prepare yourself, but believe me that you will not regret reading it.

[MK]

I loved your review, Sara. Added it to my TBR, but it will be a challenge to hunt down. Not in my library, but a few libraries in my state have it.

Is, um, well, the fruit what I dread it might be? :-(

(sad, and NOT naturally found blooming from trees?)

[Sara, Old School Classics]

It is a thoughtful and realistic view of 1920's Southern racial interactions, and it is harrowing.

[MK]

Sara wrote: "It is a thoughtful and realistic view of 1920's Southern racial interactions, and it is harrowing."

Thankyou :)

[Marilyn]

I switched Strange Fruit into this year's challenge. Also added One Hour and her nonfiction Killers of the Dream to the TBR list. (Giving thanks to the university library for having obscure and out-of-print books.)

Do you know of the Lillian Smith Book Award? After clicking on the link in the book profile of Roots by Alex Haley, it took a few days for it to click in my brain "Oh, THAT Lillian Smith."

[Sara, Old School Classics]

No, Marilyn, I did not know there was an award in her name. Certainly apt. Perhaps this book is better known and regarded than I had believed. I hope so. It deserves reflection. What struck me the hardest was the knowledge that she had written it in 1944, when it would not have been all that safe to tell the unvarnished truth.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Well I guess I am just an ignorant old redneck. Clayton, Georgia is a little over an hour north of me and Piedmont College is closer than that. I can’t remember ever hearing about Lillian Smith before your review. Next trip to the library I’ll be looking to see what works of hers they have to offer. A Georgia girl has to go to the head of the list.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Hey, Bob. I was born and bred in Smyrna, GA...just north of Atlanta, and she was a newbie to me. You can tell this book was written by a true Southerner. I'm glad she is being pushed to the head of the class.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

My local library system does not have a copy of Strange Fruit available. In a state wide search there are 12 copies available. I was pleased to see that 11 or those 12 are checked out. I’m waiting for the 12th, I don’t know where it will come from, or how long it will take to travel to me, but when it gets here I’m looking forward to adding Lillian Smith’s work to my read shelf.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Anxious to hear your thoughts on this one, Bob. I think someone would probably put this into reprint if it weren't that the language is a reflection of the times and people balk at that. I'm glad to see the that the 12 copies available are being used.

[MK]

I just got my copy in the mail, courtesy of lovely Sara, who got it from Candi :). It's the travelling book, which I have to say, I really sorta dig :D.

It'll be a bit before I can get to it, but I'd like to send it on to someone, after. I mentioned it to Laurie, on the updates feed, on Sara's page, but she didn't say whether or not she'd like it sent to her (not now, in awhile :p). If she doesn't want it, and someone else does, please say so, it'd be my pleasure to continue the chain.

[Brina]

Sara, I just stayed in Smyrna a few nights ago on our way home from Florida. We were around the corner from the new ballpark. If Strange Fruit carries your recommendation, I look forward to reading it.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Hopefully the book will find a new home...and another...and another. I like the idea that it is out there. Candi, just look what you have started. :)

Brina--Smyrna is totally unrecognizable as the little town I grew up in. Atlanta has spread and gobbled it up. I'm always pleased when anyone passes through, though, it makes me smile because I know they would have breezed through and never noticed when I was there. I do hope you will read Strange Fruit. I'm pretty sure it would be something you would appreciate.

[Candi]

Sara, I love that the book is on a journey like this! It's a difficult to find book! This particular one is... shall I say, rather unattractive, lol! Apparently it was printed in wartime or something and everything about it is economical rather than eye-catching :)

[MK]

Candi wrote: "Sara, I love that the book is on a journey like this! It's a difficult to find book! This particular one is... shall I say, rather unattractive, lol! Apparently it was printed in wartime or somethi..."

haha ... yes, brown cover, two words (the title) on the cover, yellow pages, very lightweight, even tho a hardcover :).

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to it! The lovely card with the picture of an old tavern in Williamsburg, VA Sara included, which I'll use as a bookmark, is the perfect match to the stark (appearance) book.