Now, I love lists. And I love books. So how fortuitous to stumble on a list of the most popular books, by year, from 1945 on. And, naturally, I wanted to see just how many of them I've read. (Turns out, once I started looking through, I also found myself checking out how many I'd never heard of.)
Before launching in, I must note that there was little info given on how these books were chosen.
1945 Well, at least I'd heard of the steamy bodice ripper, Forever Amber, but I never read it. I probably saw the movie - starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde - on Boston Movietime, our local B&W afternoon movie program, at some point. But I also wondered what other books were published in 1945 that Forever Amber edged out. A little google got me to this much more impressive list - all of which I've read - and all of which people are still reading. Unlike, I'm guessing, Forever Amber.
So, who'd I find out there? Animal Farm, Pippi Longstocking, Brideshead Revisited, The Glass Menagerie. Stuart Little...
Forever Amber you say?
Moving on, 1946 brought us The King's General. At least I've heard of the author, Daphne du Maurier. (I have read her Rebecca.) 1947's biggie was the unknown to me The Miracle of the Bells. Ditto for 1948's The Big Fisherman, a novel by the author of The Robe, which I did read at some point. Or saw the movie. Victor Mature, not Cornell Wilde this time, but they're kinda-sorta interchangable. And how was Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. NOT the book of the year in 1948?
I was hoping that my year of birthday, 1949, would have something good to say. The Egyptian by Mika Waltari. Huh? There had to be something better. There was. And plenty of them. 1949 was the year of The Naked and The Dead, 1984, Death of a Salesman, The Lottery and Other Stories, The Third Man, The Train Was on Time, Death be Not Proud, The Story of the Trapp Family, The Color Kittens. All of which I read. The Color Kittens was one of my favorite Golden Books. I can still picture the charming illustrations, maybe because I have a copy around here somewhere. And The Train Was on Time was the first novel written by the brilliant German author, Heinrich Böll. (One of my all time faves; the only Nobel winner I've read on full.) So 1949 was pretty darned OK.
1950 marked the publication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' by C.S. Lewis. Not 100% sure I read it, but I've sure heard of it. 1951? Why come on down, The Catcher in the Rye. Been there, read that, as did pretty much everyone my age when we were in high school. Back to children's fare in 1952, with the lovely Charlotte's Web, which would have been even better if Stuart Little had driven his little roadster into it.
Overall, I was more familiar with the 1950's winners than I was with some of those 1940's oddity. (C.f., The Egyptian.) In 1953, the book of the year was a play: The Crucible. Salem witch trials, so close to home. 1954 was Lord of the Flies, another high school classic of my era. (The Lord of the Rings was also published in 1954. 1955: Lolita. (No comment, other than, yeah, I read it.) 1956's book was The Fall, which I read during my Camus period. On the lighter side of 1957: The Cat in the Hat. The year after, 1958, the book was Breakfast at Tiffany's. He may have been a jerk, but Truman Capote sure could write. 1959's book was another high school classic: A Separate Peace. (Do kids still read books like this?)
Enter the 1960's with To Kill a Mockinbird. Oddly enough, I was allowed to read this (probably a couple of years late), but was not allowed to go to the movie when it came out in 1962. The Legion of Decency rated the movie a B.Reason enough for my mother's fatwa. Ah, 1961. Ah, Catch-22, which I read a few years later. And loved. Ah, 1962, Ah, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which I read a few years later. And loved. 1963 brought Where the Wild Things Are. What's not to like love? Another kiddo - slightly older - book for 1964. I'm not sure I ever read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But I sure know Willie Wonka.
More of the list over the next couple of days...
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One source for alternative best books was Good Housekeeping. That and random googles.
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