Decades of Reading Mini-Challenge

Hello!  Me again.  Yes, I'm hosting a second mini-challenge.  This time around, we are celebrating our own reading decades.  For this challenge, tell me a book that represents your reading from each decade in which you have been able to read. (Decades on the calendar - 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, etc.)  For some of you, this will only require two or three books.  Since I'm a more "experienced" reader, I need six books. The book can be your favorite, one of a favorite series, a sample of a genre you liked, or whatever you feel describes your reading during that calendar decade.  For example, if you were born in 1984, your reading for the 1980's may be represented by the first book you read alone.  If you were born in 1987, chances are you didn't do any independent reading in the 80's, so you can skip that decade, or you can include a favorite story someone read to you.  For clarification - the book does not have to be published in the specific decade - it just has to be what YOU READ in that decade.


As in my previous challenge (Hour 4 - there's still time to enter, if you haven't) your answer can be in the form of a list, picture, video, poem, interpretive dance, or any other form you choose - as long as you can leave it, or a link to it, in the comments below OR in a Tweet using the hashtag #readingdecades.  

The winner will be drawn randomly at the end of the readathon, so be sure and leave me a way to get a hold of you.   The winner will receive a $15 Barnes and Noble gift card or a $15 credit at Book Depository.  This challenge is open internationally.

AN ADDITIONAL WINNER will be drawn from those who correctly identify the six books I selected to represent my six decades of reading, using the clues below.  The winner will receive the same prize as above, and will also be drawn at the end of the readathon.  Good luck!

1960's:  A young girl writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best friends.  When her notebook ends up in the wrong hands, her friends read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she's written about each of them.

1970's:  As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing.  But as the harsh winter sets in, the idyllic locations feels ever more remote ...and sinister.

1980's:  [This book] takes us back to the dawn of mankind and sweeps us up into the amazing and wonderful world of Ayla.

1990's:  With cats Koko and Yum Yum for company, Qwilleran heads for a cabin owned by a family friend.  Soon Qwill enters into a game of cat and mouse with a killer.  (Identify the series or the specific book.)

2000's:  In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit.  [This book] tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it. 

2010's:  After twelve years of wrestling with the conflicts of retirement, [the main character] realizes he doesn't need a steady job to prove himself.  Then he's given one.  As for what it proves, heaven only knows.  It's life as usual in this small town.  (Identify the series or the specific book.)