Happy #1944Club day, everyone! Until Sunday, we’re asking everyone to read and review books published (in any format, language, or place) in 1944. Pop your review up on your blog, and then let me or Karen know the link – at the end of the week, I’ll compile a round-up, and any thoughts that might lead out of that. If you don’t have a blog, we can link to reviews on LibraryThing or GoodReads, or you can put a review in the comments here.
Happy reading!
‘No More than Human’ by Maura Laverty (1944)
The sequel to Laverty’s earlier ‘Never No More’, which followed teenage Delia Scully growing up in a 1920s Irish village and ended with her Gran’s death.
Now we see her aged 17 and setting off on the adventure of life as a governess in Spain. In the 20s it seems Irish girls were quite in demand for this role here, bringing with them the combination of a Catholic upbringing and fluent English:
‘It was funny to hear those scions of the Spanish nobility deliver their English in a thick Irish brogue. The heir of Sus Exelencias Los Condes de Villa Hermosa would come running up to his Antrim governess with “Mees, thon boy’s after tekken ma wee ball.'”
And in this exotic environment she must steer a path between the prudence and caution advocated by her fellow teachers, and the romance and excitement which her teenage self craves. The children don’t get much mention, as Delia Scully is more involved with the adults around her, from the Irish spinsters, each with her own story, to the employers, the men she meets, and the locals- landladies, servants and others. When governessing proves too constricting, she moves on, but with freedom comes the responsibility of providing for herself.
I preferred this slightly to its prequel. Give a vivid picture of the Madrid of a hundred years ago.
I reviewed The Hundred Dresses and Rabbit Hill.
Here are a couple of links for the 1944 Club:
They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2018/10/15/day-1273-the-1944-club-they-were-sisters/
Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/day-353-fridays-child/
And we’re off! :D So looking forward to hearing about what everyone’s been reading. So many interesting books that I hadn’t realised actually came out in 1944!
I read Green Dolphin Street and stayed up until 3 reading another candidate – slept right through my alarm and got to work at 10 am…
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2018/05/green-dolphin-street-book-review.html
I missed the announcement but have reposted an old review of The Shrimp and the Anemone.
http://harrietdevine.typepad.com/harriet_devines_blog/2018/10/1944-club-the-shrimp-and-the-anemone.html
I’ve re–read Fair Stood the Wind for France by HE Bates, and still loved it forty years later. http://annabookbel.net/bates-fair-stood-wind-france-1944-club
Here’s a review of No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2018/10/16/day-1274-the-1944-club-no-exit/
I reviewed Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie on my blog!
https://allthevintageladies.com/2018/10/16/1944-club-sparkling-cyanide-by-agatha-christie/
I was late learning of this year, too, but I’ve started reading Gwenthalyn Graham’s Earth and High Heaven, which is terrific. Hopefully I can manage to finish this week, amongst various read for the CanLit literary award season.
Here’s my review of Earth and High Heaven, which I loved:
https://shereadsnovels.com/2018/10/16/earth-and-high-heaven-by-gwethalyn-graham-1944club/
Read John Hersey’s A Bell For Adano. A great read. The story of an American military governor in Sicily after the Allied invasion.
I have a post for the 1944 Club, I reviewed The Book of the Dead by Elizabeth Daly.
My blog is Bitter Tea and Mystery and I posted it today, October 17 (in the US).
I tried to add the link in my comment, both here and at Kaggsy’s blog, but the comment would not take. This happens to me at a majority of WordPress blogs.
Anyway it was fun to read this book and join in. Thanks.
I read Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero. I always am happy for any excuse to read Agatha!
http://ruthiellareads.blogspot.com/2018/10/towards-zero-by-agatha-christie-1944.html
Adding Dragonwyck by Anya Seton, which turned out to be an awesome readhttp://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2018/10/dragonwyck-book-review-1944club.html
Would that I could’ve joined in this time, but my library is currently in storage. That said, I see I’ve read and reviewed four books from 1944 over the years, including The Dark Tunnel, the first novel by Kenneth Millar (aka Ross Macdonald). Of the four, the one I most recommend is Fire Will Freeze, by wife Margaret Millar. The only one of her novels to be set in Quebec, it’s a murder mystery full of black humour. If interested, my thoughts are here:
http://brianbusby.blogspot.com/2010/03/kitcheners-grand-dame.html
Life has gone off the rails this week–I’m still hoping to finish The Glass Mask by Lenore Glen Offord before the end of the club. But…in case I don’t, I did read Avalanche by Kay Boyle back in February. I think it gives a good look at France during the German occupation in World War II.
A Maigret for me – http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2018/10/signe-picpus-by-georges-simenon.html
Though I do not wish to repost my review, please feel free to include my essay on a wildly transgressive murder mystery by the gay writing team Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Wheeler. Puzzle for Puppets by “Patrick Quentin” (their pseudonym) is a dizzying detective novel that also happens to feature, IMO, one of the sexiest married couples as sleuths in American mysteries published during the WW2 era. Luckily, these previously hard to find books which had been out of print for more than thirty years are now available in digital format from Mysterious Press/Open Road Media.
Here’s the link: https://prettysinister.blogspot.com/2016/07/ffb-puzzle-for-puppets-patrick-quentin.html
I have two more:
Young Bess by Margaret Irwin (my mother joined in the fun as this is her favorite book)
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2018/10/young-bess-book-review-1944club.html
The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton (someone mentioned this and I wondered how it would hold up)
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-island-of-adventure-book-review.html
Here’s my review for Fair Stood the Wind for France. Loved it so much!
https://bagfullofbooks.com/2018/10/21/fair-stood-the-wind-for-france-by-h-e-bates/
I have a couple of older reviews from the year as well. Seems to have been quite a year for high-strung, emotional literature, which given the circumstances, isn’t surprising.
https://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/11/20/they-were-sisters-by-dorothy-whipple/
https://bagfullofbooks.com/2017/07/25/earth-and-high-heaven-by-gwethalyn-graham/
Thanks so much for hosting Simon.
Hi Simon,
I have read and reviewed Green for Danger by Christianna Brand here: https://brieferthanliteralstatement.blogspot.com/2018/10/green-for-danger-christianna-brand-for.html
thanks,
Victoria
Ridiculously 2 weeks too late here’s the review I wanted to write in time for the club. Read it anyway and very glad I did.
https://harrietdevine.typepad.com/harriet_devines_blog/2018/10/the-razors-edge-by-somerset-maugham.html