Reading Project for 2011

So here I am re-launching this blog after about 18 months of non-stop work with lots of changes in my life. And how do I do it?

I announce a project that will keep me — and I hope, some of YOU! — busy in 2011.

The Rochester Public Library will be 100 years old in 2011, and in honor of that auspicious occasion, I intend to read 100 books — one from every year RPL has existed.

100 Books. 100 Years.

I’ve started building lists of books published from 1911-2011. Here are some that look promising:

• 1911 – Queed by Henry Sydnor Harrison – Haven’t found a good description of the book, but this quote from the frontispiece on Google Books is intriguing: “Mr Queed, you are afflicted with a fatal malady. Your cosmos is all ego.”
• 1912 – Tante by Anne Douglas Sedgwick – about the destructive relationship between a concert pianist and her young protégée.
• 1921 – The Sheik by Edith M. Hull – bestselling romance novel which became the basis for Rudolph Valentino’s film of the same name.
• 1926 – The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine – just what the title says. Later made into a film.

There are lots of good stories just waiting to be re-discovered. I plan to write about my year-long journey here, and am thinking about possibly starting a book discussion club if enough people want to join me.