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2026 Reading Challenge: Exploring Books From the Year I Was Born


by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@ashley_dicksonellison)


I loved seeing Jen's post about the books she's considering reading from the year she was born for our Unabridged Reading Challenge, and I thought it would be fun to do that as well. I was born in 1981, and there are several iconic books that I did not realize were written that year.


To get started, I also used the Goodreads list for the most popular books written in the year of my birth, and it was a helpful way to get a sense of what I'd already read and what I might want to consider reading.


It was fun to reflect on impactful books that I've read but didn't realize were published in '81. Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic came out in '81, as did Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby, Age 8. I remember Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation blowing my mind a bit when I read it in college, but I didn't realize it was written in '81.


Now, what am I considering reading for the challenge? There are quite a few books from 1981 that I haven't read and could add to my list, but here are a few at the very top of that list.

Toni Morrison's Tar Baby (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)


Synopsis: "Ravishingly beautiful and emotionally incendiary, Tar Baby is Toni Morrison’s reinvention of the love story. Jadine Childs is a black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women."


Why I'm Considering It: This is one of the few books by Morrison I have not yet read, and I absolutely love her brilliant work. In fact, I'm interested in going back and finishing the remaining books I haven't yet read by her, and this would be a great start.


bell hooks' Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)


Synopsis: "A groundbreaking work of feminist history and theory analyzing the complex relations between various forms of oppression. Ain't I a Woman examines the impact of sexism on black women during slavery, the historic devaluation of black womanhood, black male sexism, racism within the recent women's movement, and black women's involvement with feminism."


Why I'm Considering It: I know how impactful hooks' work has been and what a foundational text this is, but I have never read this one and would like to change that.


Ian McEwan's The Comfort of Strangers (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)


Synopsis: "A vacationing English couple find more than they bargained for, in this inventive and unsettling novel from the Booker Prize winner and bestselling author of Atonement.


"Visiting an unnamed city, Mary and Colin attract the interest of Robert, a charismatic older man with a story to tell. But the more they get to know Robert—and his disabled wife, Caroline—the more apparent it becomes that there’s something not quite right about their new friends. A shocking work of violence and obsession, The Comfort of Strangers is Ian McEwan at his very best."


Why I'm Considering It: We've talked recently about McEwan, and I realized that I really need to read some of his books. Atonement is definitely on my list for this year, but I'd also love to read this one.


Cynthia Voigt's Homecoming (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)


Synopsis: "It's still true... That's the first thing James Tillerman says to his sister Dicey every morning. It's still true that their mother has abandoned the four Tillerman children somewhere in the middle of Connecticut. It's still true they have to find their way, somehow, to Great-aunt Cilla's house in Bridgeport, which may be their only hope of staying together as a family.


"But when they get to Bridgeport, they learn that Great-aunt Cilla has died, and the home they find with her daughter, Eunice, isn't the permanent haven they've been searching for. So their journey continues to its unexpected conclusion -- and some surprising discoveries about their history, and their future."


Why I'm Considering It: I remember people loving this book, but I don't believe I ever read it. I also wonder if it's one that my girls would enjoy.


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