The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.

Newbery Medal for children’s literature: Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer.

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: A Further Range by Robert Frost.

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

Published in 1937:
Dumb Witness, Death on the Nile, and Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie.
Out of Africa by Isak Dineson.
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway. More about Hemingway.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
Life and Death of a Spanish Town by Elliot Paul.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. I was blogging through The Hobbit earlier this year as Z-baby and I were reading it aloud, but I only made it through chapter seven with the blog entries. Z-baby and I finished the entire book and enjoyed it very much.

Published in 1936:
The A.B.C. Murders, Murder in Mesopotamia, and Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie.
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain. Cain’s novella is the source for the screenplay for this movie that I watched last summer, starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.
Jamaica Inn by Daphne duMaurier.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. This book was the #1 fiction bestseller of 1936, and of course, it went on to become the 1939 award-winning movie of the same title.
The Allegory of Love by C.S. Lewis.
Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Also in 1936:
Life magazine is first published.

The Carnegie Medal for excellence in children’s literature, published in the U.K., is created and awarded for the first time to Arthur Ransome for his book Pigeon Post.

Newbery Medal for children’s literature is awarded to Carol Ryrie Brink’s Caddie Woodlawn. Caddie has gotten some flack and bad press in recent years for its stereotypical and inaccurate portrayal of Native Americans. But I think this practice of reevaluating classic literature by modern PC standards is spoiler-y. Caddie Woodlawn is a good story, and the Native Americans in the book are portrayed as a child of Caddie Woodlawn’s era would probably have viewed them. ‘Nuff said.

Best-selling authors of 1936, besides Margaret Mitchell were: Sinclair Lewis, Lloyd C. Douglas, Rebecca West, Aldous Huxley, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and Clarence Day.

Publishing history is made when in 1927 Random House, book publishers, is founded in New York City by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer.

1927 Newbery Medal Winner: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James (Scribner)

Published in 1927:
God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson. One of my very favorite books of poetry.
“The Creation” from God’s Trombones.
“Go Down, Death” from God’s Trombones.
“The Prodigal Son” from God’s Trombones

The Big Four by Agatha Christie. In December of 1926, Agatha Christie, already famous as a mystery novelist, produced her own mystery when she disappeared for ten days. She was found living at a Yorkshire health spa under an assumed name. She probably had what was then called a “nervous breakdown.” But she still managed to publish a new mystery novel in January 1927, The Big Four. It’s not her best,but it satisfied her fans and kept them on board waiting for the next novel. Agatha Christie later wrote her agent saying:

I have been, once, in a position where I wanted to write just for the sake of money coming in and when I felt I couldn’t—it is a nerve wracking feeling. If I had had one MS ‘up my sleeve’ it would have made a big difference. That was the time I had to produce that rotten book The Big Four and had to force myself in The Mystery of the Blue Train.

Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers, the third mystery novel featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. To get a flavor of the 1920’s in England, read these and the early Agatha Christie novels featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. I read this book a long time ago, and I remember thinking that it was quite profound in its treatment of foreknowledge and God’s providence. I’m wondering if I would still think so now, thirty or forty years later.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. Eldest Daughter recommends Virginia Woolf, this book in particular, but I’m afraid that I wouldn’t “get it.” Just as I don’t “get” James Joyce.
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. I’ve heard of this novel, but I’ve never actually read this story of a crooked evangelist. Elmer Gantry is the prototype for the stereotypical character that appears to this day in novels and movies and TV dramas.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. Reviewed by Carrie K. at Books and Movies.

The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon, the first book published in the Hardy Boys series of mystery adventure stories for boys. This book was written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by author Leslie McFarlane, the original man behind the pseudonym Franklin Dixon. The story begins with Frank and Joe Hardy barely avoiding being hit by a speeding driver with bright red hair, and it goes on from there as the brothers follow the trail of disguises and robbery and hidden loot.

Emily’s Quest by L.M. Montgomery, the last of the Emily trilogy. Eldest Daughter likes these books as well as or better than the Anne of Green Gables series.

The Midnight Folk by John Masefield. I put this one on the list because I plan to find a copy and read it someday. Classic British children’s fantasy.

Set in 1927:
Fordlandia by Greg Grandin. Nonfiction. The story of Henry Ford’s experiment in utopian rubber production in the Brazilian rain forest (begun in 1927).
River Rising by Athol Dickson. River Rising is set in southern Louisiana, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, just before and during the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927.
Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith, author of the classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Fourteen year old Annie and twenty year old Carl marry and go together to live at the university campus where Carl is a student.

Hero Over Here by Kathleen Kudlinski. Theodore’s father and brothers are heroes —fighting the enemy during World War I. Theo learns his own lesson about heroism when he must take care of his entire family, mother and sisters, during the deadly flu epidemic of 1918.

A Time of Angels by Karen Hesse. Hannah flees Boston to escape the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, but she must battle both influenza and prejudice in Battleboro, Vermont where she makes a new life for herself.

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan. When Rachel’s missionary parents die in an influenza epidemic in 1919 in Kenya, she is sent by scheming neighbors to England to pose as their daughter for a rich grandfather who may leave his estate to his fake granddaughter if she can endear herself to him.

Winnie’s War by Jennie Moss. Winnie has her courage tested when the influenza attacks her small Texas town of Coward’s Creek. The fun thing about this novel is that Coward’s Creek is a pseudonym for the town of Friendswood, Texas just down the road from our home in southeast Houston.

In 1913, the following significant works were published or were new and popular:

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. I remember a long time ago reading this novel about a pioneer woman who struggles to hold onto the family’s land. I think it would be a good one to revisit, however, since I remember very little of the plot or characters.

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The story of the jungle hero, Tarzan, has been filmed many times. The most fammous Tarzan movie was Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), starring Johnny Weissmuller, who went on to star in eleven other Tarzan films.

Sons and Lovers by D.H.Lawrence. I’ve never read anything by Lawrence, but this book sounds very Freudian and not very pleasant or edifying.

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. Pollyanna, on the other hand, is a little too edifying. However, each to his own, the book inspired eleven sequels and numerous movie adaptations.

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. This play provides the source material for the musical My Fair Lady, although the musical departs from Shaw’s script in several areas, especially the ending.

Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. This three-volume work on the principles and origins of mathematics “is an attempt to derive all mathematical truths from a well-defined set of axioms and inference rules in symbolic logic.” (Wikipedia) Ummmmmmmm. . . . yeah.
Bertrand Russell: “A stupid man’s report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.”

A Boy’s Will by Robert Frost. Frost’s first book of poetry was published while the American poet was living in Great Britain. My 20th century history and literature students will be reading Frost all year long, two or three poems a week. I think there is some value in immersing oneself in the poetry or art or music of one artist for a long period of time, and Frost is a good choice. I’m looking forward to exploring his poetry at a leisurely pace with my students.