August TIOLI #9: Book about year you were born

Here's a place to talk about August TIOLI
http://www.librarything.com/topic/121262

challenge #9: Read a book about or set in the year you were born.

Rules/guidelines include:

By this, I mean a significant portion of the book should either (1) involve an event from the year you were born or (2) be set in the year you were born.

It doesn't have to be entirely about the year you were born or even mostly about it. Just a significant portion of it.

For example, say you were born in 1969. Reading a book about landing on the moon would be fine, as would a book about NASA (presumably, there'd be some coverage about the moon landing). However, a book in which a character thinks back for a paragraph or two about what they were doing when man landed on the moon would not be enough.

Please include the year and also the event or the fact that it was set in that year.

Once someone picks a book about a given year, as usual, anyone can match that book, even though he or she was not born that year.

Not a lot happened in 1965 that was written about so will go with The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton that, per Wikipedia, was set in that year.

#2 I've been planning to read Freedom Summer for quite some time but that's mainly about 1964, I think.

I will see what I can dig up to read for this challenge!

It is hard to remember what happened when I was born. So far I've found
- First supercomputer, Cray-1 is released
- Patty Hearst was sentenced.
- Apple Computer Company is formed
- Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Dallas Cowboys in Superbowl X
- First Concorde flies
- $2 bill reintroduced
- The punk rock group The Ramones release their first self-titled album
- June 1 – The UK and Iceland end the Cod War
- The NBA and the ABA merge.
- July 3 – Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
- United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, the United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
- The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
- July 20 – Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
- July 29 – In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing 1 and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.
- NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
- The first known outbreak of Ebola virus occurs in Yambuku, Zaire.
- Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis reunited on stage for first time in twenty years on Sept 6
- September 17 – The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar.
- September 25 – The Irish rock band U2 is formed after drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posts a note seeking members for a band on the notice board of his Dublin school.
- The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.
- October 21 – The Cincinnati Reds sweep the New York Yankees in four games to win the 1976 World Series.
- November 2 – U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.
- Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.

bunch of people die, bunch of people born.

Oh wiki, ever so helpful:
Works of fiction set in 1976
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following works of fiction are set in the year 1976:
The 2008 CBS television show Swingtown takes place in the summer of this year.
The pilot for That '70s Show is also set in this year.
The movie Dazed and Confused takes place in this year.
In the movie The Sandlot: Heading Home, the main character is sent back to this year.
'76, a comic book mini-series published by Image Comics, is set in this year.
The film Rocky, also released this year, takes place with the Rocky/Apollo match fought on New Year's Day.
The film Nashville is set in 1976.
The film Vigilante Force, starring Kris Kristofferson, is set in 1976.

Oh. One of the books by Peter Lovesey, as Peter Lear, is set in the 1976 Olympics. I finally have an excuse to read that one.

I just added Dog Company Six by Edwin Simmons to this challenge. It starts with the Battle of Inchon which occured just days before I was born, so this one fits the challenge perfectly.

I am thinking of reading a biography of Jackie Robinson for this challenge. He was a first ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

All of these sound good. I was aware of some events from the year I was born (e.g., the founding of the Peace Corp on my birthday) but realized how many other things were going on then.

Stasia, which Jackie Robinson bio do you have in mind?

Surely there must be tons of books on the end of the Cod War!

I'm having a similar issue with 1977. I think the most notably thing that happened was that Elvis died.

> 10 1977

I remember the box office hit Star Wars was an instant sensation. NASA launched the ENTERPRISE and Voyager 2 took off into orbit. Scientist found rings around Uranus. I believe Disco dancing was the rage in 1977.

#9: I Never Had It Made - Robinson's autobiography

#12 I'll be curious to hear what you think. Right now, I'm swamped with planned baseball books but, maybe down the road for me on this one.

#10 The Son of Sam killer was captured in '77. The Roots megaseries was on TV.

The Bronx is Burning, if you like baseball.

Monster Fire at Minong (about the 1977 northwoods fire in Wisconsin), if you like disaster books.

I was struggling to find anything for this one, for my birth year of 1964, at least among books that are already on my shelf. However, I may decide to read a book called Hanging in Judgement about the church and the death penalty in England, since 1964 was the date of a significant vote in Parliament to abolish the death penalty. What is very troubling is that on the news today it is reported that Parliament may decide to hold a debate about re-introducing the death penalty, thanks to a number of online petitions having been received.

The book will only briefly cover 1964, as most of it is about what went before that, but I think the decision taken in 1964 is a significant enough event to justify linking it to this challenge. But even if it doesn't fit the challenge, I will make the effort to read this book which has been on my shlelves for ever, in the light of this recent news.

#14 Somewhere on my shelves, I've got a book devoted entirely to 1964 but I think it's got an American focus.

The Last Innocent Year: America in 1964.

I would agree that 1964 is significant enough for the one you mention.

#15 Thanks Linda.

I just finished Dog Company Six for my 1950 birth year, it was a really good read. So thanks for this Challenge, Linda.

6 - Though written around 1976, Peter Lovesey's book (as Peter Lear) is actually about the 1980 Olympics. I think I've removed it from the wiki.