The week after this one, from 21-27 April, it’s the next year reading club hosted by Kaggsy and Simon: The 1952 Club. As I was going through lists of possible books to read, it struck me there must be five I’ve already reviewed on this blog – so time for a new ‘Five Feat…’ post, I also have five in my possibles pile, so you’re getting two for the price of one today, as I look forward to the reading week. I’ll begin with five 1952 books I’ve read and enjoyed…
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
A truly dark novel of revenge told in the first person that set the scene for so many that followed. Thompson’s modern classic follows Deputy Lou Ford, whom everyone thinks is a good man, but he lets his sickness overwhelm him as he goes on a killing spree to avenge the death of his brother, deluding himself that he won’t be caught. It’s something that I found the 2010 film too sick, but I could cope with Ford’s descriptions of his killings on the page! Also The Old Man & The Sea by Hemingway
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
The third Narnia book sends Susan and Peter off somewhere, and introduces a new character to go on an adventure with Lucy and Edmund, cousin Eustace, and together they enter Narnia through a painting of a ship at their aunt and uncle’s. The ship is that of Prince Caspian, and soon they’re off on a quest to find the missing Lords. Eustace gets turned into a dragon at one stage, Aslan helps with the reversal – natch. Spoilt for me by a heavy-handed ending, but it’s far better than Prince Caspian.
Vanish in an Instant by Margaret Millar
Millar was born in Canada, but lived mostly in California with her husband, the crime author Ross Macdonald. Millar wrote loads of novels between the 1940s and 1980s, specialising in psychological dramas that explored women’s minds, and that is very much to the fore in this book. Claude Margolis is found murdered in the snow, stabbed multiple times in his neck. It’s the middle of the night, and a quarter of a mile away Virginia Barkeley is also found, drunk and covered with blood. To the small-town police, it appears an open and shut case – Margolis is well-known for his philandering, they say Virginia was his latest mistress. But Meecham, the local lawyer isn’t so sure. This was a great, suspenseful read, and I’d love to read the other two of Millar’s books that Pushkin Vertigo have published.
A Buyer’s Market by Anthony Powell
Having met the key characters in the previous volume A Question of Upbringing, in the second book in the sequence It’s now the late 1920s and Jenkins is living and working in London for a publisher of art books. Having concentrated upon the old boys’ network in the first novel and making useful contacts to get one’s career kick-started, volume two is largely concerned with establishing oneself in society and finding a mate. One seeming obstacle to his progress is his continued association with Widmerpool, who crops up all over the place like an eternal gooseberrysubjected to several humiliations throughout the novel and laughed at by his companions; Nick to his credit, although ever the observer, doesn’t join in. In their twenties, life is one long social whirl for these Bright Young Things moving in the higher echelons of society – it really is a buyer’s market.
However, I could only find 4 that I reviewed – so here are a few more 1952 books I’ve read and enjoyed but not featured on the blog.
- The Old Man & The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- The Far Country by Nevil Shute
- The Borrowers by Mary Norton
- Doctor in the House by Richard Gordon
- Love for Lydia by H.E. Bates
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Now for my potential reads:
- Campbell’s Kingdom by Hammond Innes
- Maigret’s Revolver by Georges Simenon
- The West Pier (Gorse Trilogy 1) by Patrick Hamilton
- The Far Country by Nevil Shute (this’ll be a re-read)
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
I’ve already started with the Innes, and the rest are in the order I’ll carry on with. I’m looking forward to seeing all the books others are joining in with too.
