This lists the books that my grandad recorded reading. It is a work in progress! Brief details are given here by year.
1914
Grandad did not systematically record the books he read this year. He did note buying “Lorna Doone” and a biography of Lord Kitchener.
1915
Again, grandad did not systematically record the books he read this year. He mentioned being lent “Boys’ Own Sea Stories” by Charles Nordhoff and he read “The Farmer of Inglewood Forest” by Elizabeth Helme.
1917
This year grandad started recording systematically the books he read. He read a large number of books by a range of authors including James Fennimore Cooper, Mrs Henry Wood, Frederick Marryat, H Rider Haggard, Walter Scott, George Eliot, R M Ballantyne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jules Verne and Charles Dickens. He read mostly fiction but some non-fiction including books about the Tower of London and the French Revolution. Perhaps one of the surprising books he read was “Three Weeks” by Elinor Glyn given its erotic nature and his Methodist background. He had seen a film based on the book in 1914.
1918
In terms of books read, grandad seemed to read more slowly this year compared to 1917 when he seemed to be reading a book a week. I am not sure if he was reading more slowly or taking on longer books. So, in January, he read “Old Saint Pauls” by William Harrison Ainsworth and, in February and March, he read “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo.
In this year, he read nine books by William Harrison Ainsworth and three by Victor Hugo. Other authors he read this year included James Grant, Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Henry Giles Kingston, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Frances Parkinson Keyes, Francis Marion Crawford, Henryk Sienkiewicz, George John Whyte-Melville, Morice Gerard, Halliwell Sutcliffe, Charlotte Bronte, Silas Kitto Hocking, Jean Webster and Henry Seton Merriman.
Although grandad read mostly fiction, he also read some non-fiction, particularly biographies, including of Sir Samuel Baker, Charles Darwin, James Garfield, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Raikes, Lord Shaftesbury and Henry A Stern.
1919
During 1919, grandad read eight books by H Rider Haggard and two by Joseph Hocking.
He read books by other authors including Miguel de Cervantes, Oliver Goldsmith, Victor Hugo, Walter Scott, James F Cobb, Charles Kingsley, Henry Kingsley, John Buchan, Jules Verne, Frederick Marryat, Baroness Orczy, F Marion Crawford, Jonathan Swift, Marie Corelli, Stanley J Weyman, Edward Phillips Oppenheim, Charles Major, Charles Reade, Samuel White Baker, Gordon Stables and William Harrison Ainsworth.
He mostly read fiction although he did read some non-fiction including a book about Nottinghamshire by Robert Mellors.
1920
Grandad read books by authors whose work he had read before including . Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Joseph Hocking, R M Ballantyne, Mrs Henry Wood, William H G Kingston, Marie Corelli, Josiah Henry Harris, Walter Scott, George John Whyte-Melville and Charles Kingsley.
In 1920, grandad also read four “Tarzan” books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. That year, he also read two books by Ida Alexa Ross Wylie and two by George A Birmingham. He also read books by Alexandre Dumas, Augusta J Evans Wilson, Amelia Louise Gerard, George Edgar, Sax Rohmer and William Clark Russell.
Although grandad mainly read novels, he also read some non-fiction (or books that claimed to be non-fiction) including books about Maria Monk and Maria Marten. The former was an exposé of sexual abuse in convents in the 19th century but is now considered to have been a hoax. The latter woman was killed in the so-called “Red Barn Murder” in Suffolk in 1827. In June 1920, grandad also read a history of York Cathedral and, in October 1920, he read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
1921
Grandad read books by authors whose work he had read before including Edgar Rice Burroughs, George A Birmingham, Walter Scott, H Rider Haggard, Mrs Henry Wood and Jules Verne.
In 1921, grandad also read four novels by Primitive Methodist Minister, Samuel Horton and two each by Thomas Miller and C J Cutliffe Hyne. He also read books by Henry Cockton, James Justinian, Mrs J B Webb, Andrew Balfour, Aaron Watson, Robert Hugh Benson, Willis Boyd Allen, Dora Russell, James Payn, Charlotte M Yonge, Stanton Hope, Jack London, Clarence E Mulford, William Macleod Raine, Ethel L Voynich and Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Although grandad mainly read novels, he also read some biographies or biographical fiction including about Rosamund Clifford, Twm Siôn Cati and Lady Jane Grey.
1922
Grandad read books by authors whose work he had read before including William Macleod Raine, H Rider Haggard, Sax Rohmer, Jack London and Samuel Horton.
He also read two books by each of Zane Grey, Edward Phillips Oppenheim and Mrs Henry Wood. He had previously read books by both Edward Phillips Oppenheim and Mrs Henry Wood. I am intrigued that he read Zane Grey books as I went through a phase of reading and collecting his books when I worked in a secondhand bookshop in my teens.
Grandad also read books by Ethel M Dell, John Joy Bell, E M Hull, Gilbert Parker, B M Croker, Ben Bolt, A E W Mason, Rafael Sabatini, Crona Temple, Fergus Hume, Anthony Hope, Geo Manville Fenn, Douglas Sladen, Rex Beach, Carolyn Wells, William Aubrey Darlington and J F Cargill.
1923
Grandad read books by authors whose work he had read before including Joseph Hocking, H Rider Haggard and William Macleod Raine. Indeed, he read two books by Joseph Hocking bringing the total of his books that he had read to eight.
Grandad also read books by John Burland Harris-Burland, Kathylyn Rhodes, W W Jacobs, Arthur Somers-Roche, Georgina E Troutbeck, James Spilling, Henry Oyen and Grace Aguilar.
In 1923, grandad read “The Life of Christ” by F W Farrar. I am not sure if any of the other books grandad read that year were non-fiction. For example, I came across a book called “The Wolf” but have been unable to identify this. Could this have been a non-fiction book about wolves or even about SMS Wolf?
One book he noted reading, in May 1923, was “Giles’s Trip to London”. This book intrigued me because it relates to Norfolk, in general, and the Norfolk dialect, in particular. What I found particularly intriguing was that grandad was interested in this some forty years before he moved to Norfolk.
1924
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1924.
1925
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1925.
1926
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1926.
1927
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1927.
1928
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1928.
1929
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1929.
1930
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1930.
1931
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1931.
1932
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1932.
1933
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1933.
1934
Grandad did not record any books he read in 1934.