The 1954 Club has started! Karen and I are asking everyone to read one or more books published in 1954 – in any language, format, or place – and share your reviews. Together, we’ll put together an overview of the year. I think it’s our 14th club year, which is incredible.
Pop a link to your review in the comments, and I’ll put together an overview of all the links. It can go to blog, social media, GoodReads, wherever – if you have nowhere to post a review, feel free to put it in the comments.
Excited to see how everyone found 1954!
Lease of Life by Frank Baker
Stuck in a Book
Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
What Me Read
Good Work, Secret Seven by Enid Blyton
Literary Potpourri
Death Going Down by María Angélica Bosco
Words and Peace
The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
Staircase Wit
Death Likes It Hot by Edgar Box
Bitter Tea and Mystery
The Cuckoo in Spring by Elizabeth Cadell
Staircase Wit
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron
Staircase Wit
Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie
Veronique on GoodReads
What Me Read
Because of Sam by Molly Clavering
Read Warbler
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
Harriet Devine
Karen’s Books and Chocolate
Madame Bibi Lophile
The Last Train by Bernard Cronin
Whispering Gums
The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
Literary Potpourri
Mary Ann by Daphne du Maurier
Hopewell’s Public Library of Life
Pining for the West
Whole Days in the Trees by Marguerite Duras
1st Reading
Doctor’s Children by Josephine Elder
Stuck in a Book
The Native Heath by Elizabeth Fair
Adventures in Reading, Running and Working From Home
Stuck in a Book
Staircase Wit
The Cretan Counterfeit by Katharine Farrer
Stuck in a Book
Jill Enjoys Her Ponies by Ruby Ferguson
Scones and Chaises Longues
The Case of the Restless Redhead by Erle Stanley Gardner
Literary Potpurri
Beside the Pearly Waters by Stella Gibbons
Stuck in a Book
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Reading Envy
The Desperate Hours by Joseph Hayes
A Hot Cup of Pleasure
Tintin Goes to the Moon by Hergé
Finding Time To Write
The Toll Gate by Georgette Heyer
Desperate Reader
She Reads Novels
Wicked Witch’s Blog
The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes
Neglected Books
The Bird’s Nest by Shirley Jackson
What Me Read
Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson
Bookish Beck
Pictures from an Institution by Randall Jarrell
Bookish Beck
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
JacquiWine
Brona’s Books
Death in Rome by Wolfgang Koeppen
1streading’s Blog
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
Annabookbel
Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Calmgrove
Entering the Enchanted Castle
Staircase Wit
Mio, My Son by Astrid Lingren
Becky’s Book Reviews
Shroud of Darkness by E.C.R. Lorac
Literary Potpourri
The Refuge by Kenneth Mackenzie
Reading Matters
Confessions of Felix Krull by Thomas Mann
Lizzy’s Literary Life
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
What Me Read
Mad Cap Hat
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Mr Kaggsy
Faintley Speaking by Gladys Mitchell
Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford
The Captive Reader
Literary Potpourri
Contempt by Alberto Moravia
Winstonsdad’s Blog
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
Kinship of all Species
Book Word
Go, Lovely Rose by Jean Potts
Bitter Tea and Mystery
Story of O by Pauline Réage
Reading and Watching the World
Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
Reading and Watching the World
Katherine by Anya Seton
Becky’s Book Reviews
What Me Read
The Gypsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp
HeavenAli
Madame Bibi Lophile
Maigret Goes to School by Georges Simenon
Harriet Devine
Maigret and the Minister by Georges Simenon
Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
The New Men by C.P. Snow
Winston’s Dad
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Winstonsdad’s Blog
Charlotte Fairlie by D.E. Stevenson
HeavenAli
Bag Full of Books
The Black Mountain by Rex Stout
My Reader’s Block
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
Staircase Wit
She Reads Novels
Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
Let’s Read
Bookish Beck
The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook by Alice B. Toklas
Scones and Chaises Longues
Madame Bibi Lophile
The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
Calmgrove
Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
The Two Towers by JRR Tolkein
Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Legions of the Eagle by Henry Treece
Pining for the West
Dishonoured Bones by John Trench
Stuck in a Book
Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman
The Captive Reader
Messiah by Gore Vidal
746 Books
The Golden Waterwheel by Leo Walmsley
Stuck in a Book
The Untidy Pilgrim by Eugene Walter
ANZ Litlover’s Litblog
Highland Rebel by Sally Watson
Staircase Wit
The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud
Beyond the Glass by Antonia White
Madame Bibi Lophile
Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson
Stuck in a Book
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse
Karen’s Books and Chocolate
Old Geezer Re-reading
Literary Potpourri
Overview of 1954 in books
Whispering Gums
Brona’s Books
Gallimaufry Book Studio
I’m almost finished a book that I doubt anyone else has heard of, much less read, and will try to post a review during the week.
Ohh now that’s a good teaser Kim! What will it be?
LOL. Well, Australians may have heard of it, but I doubt anyone else has. It’s The Refuge by Kenneth Mackenzie. My review is here: https://readingmattersblog.com/2022/04/23/the-refuge-by-kenneth-mackenzie/
I still haven’t started on my reviews, but as I’d mentioned the other day, I convinced my mom to join in as well; since she doesn’t have a blog, I’ve posted her review on mine (I’ll be tagging her posts Guest Posts)
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/guest-post-book-review-the-case-of-the-restless-redhead-by-erle-stanley-gardner-1954club/
also on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2059747609?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Sounds interesting. I haven’t read any Erle Stanley Gardner, although my husband still watches the old Perry Mason reruns.
They’re great fun, and many fairly complicated cases as well. I haven’t read them all but quite a few. My mom, whose review that is, has read far more than me
Here’s my (slightly early) contribution, Simon – The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins, which I adored:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2022/04/17/the-tortoise-and-the-hare-by-elizabeth-jenkins/
It’s going to be a mega week. Many thanks to you and Karen for organising everything!
This sounds great! I have heard several recommendations of Jenkins lately, so I will look for her.
I was thinking of you Kay as I read this book too. It’s one that fits your Wives Reading Group (sorry forgot the proper name of it) although it’s another one with a sad wife.
I’ve dragged my blog out of semi-retirement specially for this! Many thanks – I missed the last one and possibly the one before so I was determined not to let that happen again. So here’s my first contribution – hopefully another to follow later in the week.
https://harrietdevine.typepad.com/harriet_devines_blog/2022/04/maigret-goes-to-school-1954-club.html
Good morning Simon – here is my first one:
https://sconesandchaiseslongues.blogspot.com/2022/04/for-1954club-jill-enjoys-her-ponies-by.html
I’m hoping to get a second one in before the end of the week.
Thanks very much to you and Kaggsy for running this again.
That looks like a fun choice.
I had every intention of contributing more to this, one of my favourite reading linkages, but things have suddenly got very, very busy. So I only managed a comic book – Tintin. https://findingtimetowrite.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/1954club-tintin-goes-to-the-moon/
Here is my review of Messiah by Gore Vidal:
https://746books.com/2022/04/18/no-381-messiah-by-gore-vidal-for-the-1954-club/
Fun times! I read one of the old standards that I’d never read!
http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2022/04/1954club-lord-of-flies-by-william.html
Found a P. G. Wodehouse published in 1954, so much fun. Here’s a link to my review:
https://karensbooksandchocolate.blogspot.com/2022/04/1954-club-jeeves-and-feudal-spirit-by-p.html
Here’s mine for Mary Ann by Daphne Du Mauirer https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/1954-club-review-mary-ann-by-daphne-du-maurier/
Here’s my first one for the club, Katherine by Anya Seton: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/review-1838-1954-club-katherine/
I read Katherine by Anya Seton. https://blbooks.blogspot.com/2022/04/47-katherine.html
Such fun! Already so many great ideas and reviews!
Oooh, Katherine may be my all time favorite book! I actually thought it was published in 1955 because that is the year my mother graduated from high school and it was serialized in the Ladies Home Journal. She missed an installment in July and had to wait until her library owned the book in order to finish it. But it must have been published earlier in the UK, despite the author being an American.
The same mother (well, I only have one) did a guest review for me, The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. It is no secret where I got my love of historical fiction!
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-eagle-of-ninth-by-rosemary-sutcliff.html
Hi all!
As soon as Kags and Simon announced that the next club was to be themed around the year 1954, I went looking around about what kind of book I would choose. I found I had read some of the most famous ones from that year, like Tolkien, Golding, Sagan. I found a Turkish book, The Time Regulation Institute, by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901-62) which I figured would be a good choice. I’ve never read a Turkish book before, so I thought it would be fun, and then put it out of my mind for a few months. As April approached, I started reading the book. I got about 100 pages in until I had to give up. It was too boring! Then I found Nigerian writer Cyprian Ekwensi’s People of the City, but I decided against it. I thought briefly about Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade’s collection Fazendeiro do Ar, but I don’t really know how to review poetry…so I had to abandon that idea too. In all this confusion I found Iris Murdoch, which struck me as a bit of an unimaginative choice, but I figured it was for the best. So I went with it. Here is my contribution to the 1954 club: Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
https://kinshipofallspecies.wordpress.com/2022/04/17/under-the-net-iris-murdoch-1954/
Also considered:
Randall Jarrell – Pictures from an Institution
Max Frisch – I’m not Stiller
George Lammings – The Emigrants
Hi Simon, I’ve just reviewed Because of Sam by Molly Clavering: https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/
Sorry! Wrong link! This is it: https://read-warbler.blogspot.com/2022/04/because-of-sam-by-molly-clavering.html
Here is my second one, Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/04/19/review-1839-1954-club-go-tell-it-on-the-mountain/
Here’s my overview for 1954
https://bronasbooks.com/2022/04/18/the-1954-club/
Will hopefully have a post later in the week for The Hare and the Tortoise.
Good luck with the week!
By lucky coincidence, the Christie I had planned for this month was published in 1954. Here is my very short review for Destination Unknown (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1158322600?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1).
We’re moving home right now, but I really hope I can read and review Lorac’s Shroud of Darkness.
I’ve done an Aussie short story again, Simon. Really glad to have finally read something by this author. It’s a suspense story, The last train, by Bernard Cronin. https://whisperinggums.com/2022/04/20/bernard-cronin-the-last-train-review-1954club/
I’m enjoying seeing some blast-from-the past authors here, like Anya Seton and Rosemary Sutcliffe whom I haven’t heard of for years but were names when I was growing up in the 60s. I was born in the 50s but not aware of authors’ names then, except that perhaps by the end of the decade I knew Enid Blyton!
Thanks again for this great idea, I absolutely love it, even though I didn’t love the book this time but I am glad I read it.
My 1954 read was Under Milk Wood.
From Staircase Wit, The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-children-of-green-knowe-by-lm.html
and
The Cuckoo in Spring by Elizabeth Cadell
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-cuckoo-in-spring-by-elizabeth.html
Thank you! I am still reading . . .
Hi again Simon, I have managed to finish my second review. It is about the Alice B Toklas Cookbook:
https://sconesandchaiseslongues.blogspot.com/2022/04/for-1954club-alice-b-toklas-cookbook.html
This book sent me down so many happy rabbit holes that it took forever to finish, but I loved every minute. It’s so much more than a cookbook.
I’m already enjoying seeing what everyone else has chosen.
Here’s my review of Agatha Christie’s Destination Unknown: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/04/20/review-1840-1954-club-destination-unknown/
Simon, I posted a review for the 1954 Club, on Death Likes It Hot by Edgar Box (a pseudonym of Gore Vidal).
https://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2022/04/1954club-death-likes-it-hot.html
Hi Simon, Here’s my first review for the week, excellent choice of year:
http://readingandwatchingtheworld.home.blog/2022/04/20/bonjour-tristesse-by-francoise-sagan-france-1954club/
Great collection already!
Here is mine: https://wordsandpeace.com/2022/04/20/my-top-8-books-for-the-1954-club/
Death Going Down, by María Angélica Bosco (Argentina)
Thanks Simon for hoisting this club
The Secret Diary of Harold Ickes.
Not your typical club entry, likely of interest only to historians and FDR fanatics.
https://neglectedbooks.com/?p=9040
I read Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren. It was published in Sweden in 1954, translated into English several years later. https://blbooks.blogspot.com/2022/04/49-mio-my-son.html
Here’s are my mom’s second and third picks
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse: https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/20/guest-post-book-review-jeeves-and-the-feudal-spirit-by-p-g-wodehouse-1954club/
(on her goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4674409829?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)
And Good Work, Secret Seven by Enid Blyton
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/guest-post-book-review-good-work-secret-seven-by-enid-blyton-1954club/
(goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4674394638?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)
Of my own picks, I’ve read Madame de Pompadour and The Wheel on the School, but yet to complete my reviews–fingers crossed to have them up on time; and also reading Shroud of Darkness by ECR Lorac which I hope to finish by Saturday
Another 1954 Club post! https://karensbooksandchocolate.blogspot.com/2022/04/1954-club-who-was-changed-and-who-was.html
Thank you for harvesting my link and I’ve of course rushed off to examine the previously unknown to me bloggers writing about Iris Murdoch …
The first of my own picks: Madame de Pompadour https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/book-review-madame-de-pompadour-by-nancy-mitford-1954club/
My second review this week: The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
https://shereadsnovels.com/2022/04/22/the-eagle-of-the-ninth-by-rosemary-sutcliff-1954club/
The first two from me :)
https://bookishbeck.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/the-1954club-moominsummer-madness-and-under-milk-wood/
Here’s another one from me: The Bird’s Nest by Shirley Jackson: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/review-1841-1954-club-the-birds-nest/
The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/23/book-review-the-wheel-on-the-school-by-meindert-dejong-1954club/
Here’s my review of Charlotte Fairlie, Simon.
https://bagfullofbooks.com/2022/04/23/charlotte-fairlie-by-d-e-stevenson/
Such a cozy novel
Just one more. Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/04/23/review-1842-1954-club-nectar-in-a-sieve/
A last minute contribution
https://harrietdevine.typepad.com/harriet_devines_blog/2022/04/who-was-changed-and-who-was-dead-1954-club.html
Finally remembered to read one from 1954! https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-black-mountain.html
I hope to get another done before tomorrow.
Managed to finish my review in time! Phew
https://bronasbooks.com/2022/04/24/the-tortoise-and-the-hare-elizabeth-jenkins/
Simon, I posted a second review for the 1954 Club, for Go, Lovely Rose by Jean Potts:
https://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2022/04/1954club-go-lovely-rose.html
Here’s mine for The Horse and His Boy: https://enterenchanted.com/narniathon21-the-boring-one/
Here’s my third: Shroud of Darkness by ECR Lorac
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/24/book-review-shroud-of-darkness-by-e-c-r-lorac-1954club/
Sneaking in a last review, The Story of O by Pauline Reage – sorry!
https://readingandwatchingtheworld.home.blog/2022/04/24/story-of-o-by-pauline-reage-a-pseudonym-for-anne-desclos-1954-france/
Thank you, Simon and Karen, this was a lot of fun! I wish I had got to Because of Sam – I downloaded it from the library as it was only available electronically, then forgot about it because of the enticing physical pile of books. Another time! Here are my last two:
The Horse and His Boy – C.S. Lewis
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-horse-and-his-boy-by-cs-lewis.html
Highland Rebel – Sally Watson
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2022/04/highland-rebel-by-sally-watson-1954club.html
Constance
My Review! Thank You for a great reading event!
https://madcaphat.wordpress.com/2022/04/24/once-upon-a-time-in-india/
Thanks Simon for hosting this. only one read this time: The Desperate Hours by Joseph Hayes.
https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpress.com/2022/04/24/1954-club-the-desperate-hours-by-joseph-hayes/
Fitting in one more very last-minute one! https://bookishbeck.wordpress.com/2022/04/24/the-1954club-pictures-from-an-institution-by-randall-jarrell/
Just got my last review done: https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2022/04/lieutenant-pascals-tastes-in-homicides.html
Got my final review done at last. https://read-warbler.blogspot.com/2022/04/maigret-goes-to-school-1954club.html
Thanks, Simon!
Oops, late to the party, but I did read Under Milk Wood and write a review on our Oxfam bookshop blog https://www.oxfambookshernehill.co.uk/stuck-in-1954-with-dylan-thomas/
Thanks for the inspiration, Simon, and I will be more organised for the next book club.
xx