From Antigua to Anniversaries (of Notable Novels)

Posted by

92

A street in Antigua, Guatemala, that has nothing to do with the topic of this literature post. 🙂 (Photo by me on January 8.)

Glad to be back! I missed writing a post last week because of a trip I took with my wife Laurel and younger daughter Maria to Guatemala, where Maria was born. A memorable visit that included stops in Guatemala City, Tikal, Antigua, Panajachel, and Guatemala City again.

Today, as I do every January, I’m going to mention well-known novels — many of which I’ve read, some of which I haven’t — reaching major round-number anniversaries. So, in 2026, novels published in 2001 are turning 25, 1976-released books are turning 50, 1926 novels are turning 100, etc.

The first 2001 novel that came to mind was Richard Russo’s riveting Pulitzer Prize winner Empire Falls, set in a Maine blue-collar town.

Released that year, too, was Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, about a couple and their three adult children. I liked it better than the author’s much-touted Freedom, though that 2010 novel was pretty good as well.

Also, Yann Martell’s Life of Pi, which features a boy stranded on a boat with a tiger after a shipwreck; Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, which has a lot to say about female relationships as well as racism; Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, a riveting look at a mass-hostage situation; Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter, about a Chinese-American woman and her immigrant mother; Ian McEwan’s Atonement, which I found both compelling and annoying; John Grisham’s semi-autobiographical A Painted House; Neil Gaiman’s fantasy tour de force American Gods; and Jasper Fforde’s clever The Eyre Affair.

Kristin Hannah’s peak as an author was yet to arrive, but her somewhat-early-in-career 2001 novel Summer Island was quite absorbing as it focused on a fraught mother-daughter relationship and rapprochement.

In the series realm, Diana Gabaldon’s fifth Outlander novel (The Fiery Cross) and Lee Child’s fifth Jack Reacher novel (Echo Burning) came out 25 years ago.

The year 2001 also saw the publication of Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind and Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, neither of which I’ve read.

In 1976, the most famous release was Alex Haley’s Roots, which was of course the multi-generational American slavery saga about Kunta Kinte and his descendants.

There was also Margaret Atwood’s third novel Lady Oracle, about a woman with multiple identities; and Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, a sci-fi-ish work whose lower-income protagonist is unjustly committed to a psychiatric institution.

Notable 1976 books I haven’t read include Anne Rice’s debut novel Interview with the Vampire and Judith Guest’s made-into-a-memorable-movie Ordinary People.

Exactly a century ago — 1926 — saw the appearance of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, which I thought was good not great.

An underrated classic that year was L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle, about a young woman who gets very bad news that turns out to be very good news.

There was also Colette’s The Last of Cheri, the sequel to the 1920 Cheri novel about the relationship between a younger man and older woman; and My Mortal Enemy, one of Willa Cather’s lesser works.

Well-known 1926 novels I haven’t read include Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Upton Sinclair’s Oil!

Published 150 years ago, in 1876: Mark Twain’s iconic The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, about a rascally boy and his friend Huckleberry Finn.

That year also saw the release of Daniel Deronda, George Eliot’s final novel and one of her best. Its title character, who discovers he’s Jewish, interacts with some very memorable people.

In addition, there was Thomas Hardy’s not-famous-but-interesting The Hand of Ethelberta.

Two 1826 highlights were Mary Shelley’s apocalyptic, late-21st-century-set The Last Man and James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans that unfolds in 1757 during the French and Indian War. Two novels with “Last” in the title that lasted.

And in 1726, 300 years ago, Jonathan Swift’s iconic Gulliver’s Travels was published!

Any thoughts on the novels I discussed? Any other titles you’d like to mention from those anniversary years? (I’m sure I missed some.)

Misty the cat says: “Tofu falling from the sky was not on my 2026 bingo card.”

My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for the book features a talking cat: 🙂

I’m also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more, including many encounters with celebrities.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — about two meetings, a local anti-ICE protest, and more — is here.

92 thoughts on “From Antigua to Anniversaries (of Notable Novels)”

  2. Dan, that sounds like an amazing trip for you all!

    Wow! So many terrific literary tomes here and I’ve read a lot of them. 2001 was a bumper year. I hadn’t realised Kristin Hannah published a book already then as it’s only recently I’ve become a huge fan of her work. ‘Roots’ takes me back but must have read it in the mid-eighties as a teenager. My copy is rather tatty as I loved it so much! Recently I had a longing to reread this superb book but oh, the letters are so small!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Annika! It was an amazing trip. 🙂 And 2001 was indeed an amazing year for fiction. 🙂

      Kristin Hannah started writing books in the 1990s, I think, and I also was late to reading her work — starting just three (?) years ago. Since then, I’ve read about a dozen of her novels; she is indeed a fantastic author. “The Women,” “The Four Winds,” “The Great Alone,” “The Nightingale”…

      I hear you about “Roots.” And about books with small print. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. It seems that last year you decided to close some backlog in your literary canon reading. That was one of the first things I did before I decided to give writing a try. Very inspirational. You covered lots of territory during your visit to Guatemala in this week. It took us three months, but then we traveled on a shoestring: little money but plenty of time.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Shaharee! Hope your writing went well in 2025!

      Wonderful that you spent three months in Guatemala — albeit with little money. We definitely crammed a lot into a week (perhaps too much; we were exhausted 🙂 ), but we might never get to Guatemala again, so… We did have somewhat more money than when I traveled to various places on a shoestring in my 20s, and U.S. dollars go a long way in Central America.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • It was a very productive 2025, but it came at the cost of my reading time. My major accomplishment was bringing my epic historical fantasy “The Maharajagar” to its conclusion after five years of constantly running out of steam and inspiration. In between I’ve put the last hand on my Standard Literary Theory and in the visual art department finished some works that are themed around the alchemy of chaos. Right now I’m kind of nursing a burnout and working on my neglected and anyway underdeveloped social skills.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  6. What an insight into those past years of publishing. I would recommend the Spanish Shadow of the Wind and the concept of a cemetery for books. Revolving around a bookshop, and the sinister edges of Franco’s dictatorship in a vey well described setting of past Barcelona. Quite edgy.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  7. Hi Dave, do, do read this book, I loved it. It’s The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafor… and also the other three by him, which I have also read, and enjoyed them a great deal. It is, in fact, a series called ‘Cemetery of Forgotten Books’. How could I not like something like this? Just wonderful, I would say – the genres cover mystery, thriller and gothic. Very pleasing!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. Welcome back Dave! I trust your travels went well!

    You have mentioned some brilliant books, as always! I agree with you on ‘The Sun Also Rises’ by Ernest Hemingway. I reviewed it on this site a few years ago. Whilst a good book, it didn’t knock my socks off, so to speak.

    Why did you find ‘Atonement’ annoying? It is definitely on my TBR pile! Interestingly, I am also yet to read Agatha Christie’s, ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ as I have heard so much about it.

    I think Dennis Lehane is great crime/thriller writer. I haven’t read, ‘Mystic River’ but have read ‘Darkness, Take My Hand’ (1996), very chilling!

    Great post Dave! Welcome back, once again!

    Sharon

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. With pleasure have I read about your holidays in Guatemalo together with your family, Dave, but I suppose without Misty!
    I rembember “Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees” that explores the power of women and how their connections among themselves can heal many wounds! Many thanks for your interesting list of precious books!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. I’m glad you had a good (and untroubled) trip.
    Two books on this list I read and liked were The Life of Pi and American Gods. I never warmed up to Jonathan Franzen or Ann Patchett, though all of their books came to me highly recommended.
    And I remember liking Gulliver’s Travels but it’s been a long time. I wonder what I would think about it now?

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Kerfe! “Life of Pi” and “American Gods” are quirky, memorable novels! I agree that Jonathan Franzen, while a very good writer, is somewhat overrated. And, re “Gulliver’s Travels,” it is indeed interesting to think of how we might feel about a book if revisiting it years later. It’s also been a long time for me since reading Jonathan Swift.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. Dave, it’s great to have you back! How wonderful that you could take your daughter to visit her birthplace in Guatemala. In this crazy world we now live in, I pray that Maria will stay safe and well.

    It’s unbelievable that Gulliver’s Travels is now 300 years old. Just yesterday, it was required reading in our elementary school (Guyana). Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn now 150 years old? No way! To an Agatha Christie fan, her novels, even at 100 years old, are timeless. Fifty-year-old Alex Haley’s Roots opened new imaginings about my own African ancestral roots.

    May there always be books that stand the test of time and remind us of our shared humanity.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Rosaliene! Given that my younger daughter is a person of color, we did have some anxiety going through U.S. Customs under the current Trump regime. 😦 But no problems, fortunately.

      It IS kind of amazing thinking about how old certain novels are! “Gulliver’s Travels” is pretty readable for something written 300 years ago, and “Tom Sawyer” was one of my favorite books as a kid.

      Re “Roots,” I think I saw the riveting TV mini-series before reading the novel. I can imagine the impact the book had on you with your African ancestral roots.

      Loved your comment’s last line!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  13. Good to have you back, Dave, and ‘m glad that you had a good trip. That’s a great list, and I admire your hard work in finding out and listing so many great books with special anniversaries this year. I’ve by no means read them all, but ‘Daniel Deronda’ I have, along with ‘A Painted House’ – my first Grisham, read only last year – and ‘The Life of Pi’,’The Last Man’, ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ and ‘The Hand of Ethelberta’. All great stories, although it’s been a while since I read them all. So many great books, so little time! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  14. Like others who’ve commented, it was fun checking this list of “anniversary” books for what I’ve read (like AMERICAN GODS, which I remember finding fascinating but haven’t thought about in a while) and what I should read, like BEL CANTO. I recommend MYSTIC RIVER (Dennis Lehane) as a disturbing but brilliant book. Also ORDINARY PEOPLE, even if you’ve seen the movie.

    Wanted to add how much I like the photograph of Antigua, Dave. Very impressive mountains.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Kim! Antigua was one of the more picturesque cities I’ve ever visited — with its cobblestone streets, very old buildings, beautiful mountains/volcanos in the background, etc. Tricky walking on those uneven streets, though. 🙂

      I appreciate the various book mentions, and definitely have the “Ordinary People” novel high on my to-read list. I looked for it during my last library visit just before the Guatemala trip, but it was checked out. 😦 The movie is terrific.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  16. Welcome back, Dave!

    Okay, just to display my literary prowess, Winnie the Pooh The House at Pooh Corner by A.A.Milne was released in 1926.

    Although I’m sure that J.D. Salinger wasn’t trying to beat Winnie onto the stands by releasing The Catcher in the Rye a few months earlier that year.

    And I would be totally remiss not to mention that Grand Avenue by Joy Fielding was released in 2001.

    Misha sends a big virtual fur ball of love to Misty.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  17. Thank you so much for this sweeping post of literature, Dave. Reading through it reminded me that January 1, 2026 is Public Domain Day, that quiet moment each year when stories are returned to all of us. This year, works published in 1929 enter the public domain, and it’s a powerful group. Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own now belongs fully to readers everywhere, as do Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, and Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon.

    What strikes me, reading your list alongside this, is how clearly it shows that books endure because stories endure. They carry our humanity forward. Our questions, our longings, our attempts to make sense of the world. Books, stories, poetry keep speaking across generations and centuries. That, to me, is the quiet miracle behind every anniversary.
    As Virginia Woolf one wrote: “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  18. A Painted House is a masterpiece that made me feel right back in elementary school back in Russia. we only lived there for three years at the house of my stepfather’s parents. it was a very memorable period in time, it was over in 1993 when we moved back to Ukraine leaving my stepfather behind. this novel by John Grisham captures my feelings from those years perfectly fine.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  19. 1726, Gulliver, of course… and as a surgeon, Lemuel can write with authority about safeguarding & financial/legal abuse of seniors. Just make it impossible. No chance of involving the Struldbrugs in new wills, because of their age, nothing would be valid. Laputa ? Who would empty the bins ?

    1926, great year for crime classics, including the murder of Roger Ackroyd and Clouds of Witness. Arguably would be very difficult to film the first Sayers/Wimsey book, Whose Body. (1923) Radio best for such a horrific crime.

    Centenary, and I realise this is possibly a thought crime, but I always detested Pooh , much preferred William books. .

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Esther! Winnie the Pooh was too cutesy in its way, but I guess I could see the appeal — especially to kids. I definitely want to read “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” but it’s always checked out of my local library. Perhaps I should do the sensible thing and reserve it, but when a novel I’m looking for isn’t there, I just move on to the next one on my too-long list. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  23. For 1976, I’ll go with Kiss of the Spider Woman, a River Runs through It, and Gnomes. (My dad loved Gnomes, which he received for Christmas.) Winnie the Pooh came out in 1926! Just out of curiosity, why did you find Atonement both compelling and annoying. I’ve read it, but I don’t recall being annoyed by it.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  24. 2001 was an outstanding year for books that stood the test of time. I read many of the ones on your list, but the best was The Shadow of the Wind. It is on my top 20 books of all time list. I own Empire Falls but haven’t read it. I must change that.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Marie! I totally hear you — hard to believe some of those novels were published 25 or 50 years ago. I also felt a bit old crazily traveling to several places and staying in multiple hotels in just one week. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a reply to Dave Astor Cancel reply