The 1976 Club is here! It’s time for the bi-annual event where Karen and I ask readers across the internet to join together to build up a picture of a particular year in books. This week, we’re asking you to read and review a book – or more – published in 1976. Any book published in 1976 counts – in whatever format, language, place.
Just put a link to your review in the comments here – on your blog, GoodReads, Instagram, wherever. If you don’t have any platform to leave a review, you can write your review in the comments.
I also wanted to start the week by sharing this apt quote from Maria Stepanova’s In Memory of Memory (2017), translated by Sasha Dugdale – an eclectic and poetic work of non-fiction that starts from the idea of looking at old family photographs and ranges far and wide. How perfect for the club projects is this? It really captures something of what I hoped we could achieve when I first came up with the club idea.
There is a strange stylistic kinship between texts of the same moment, written in the same cross-section of time, but it has nothing to do with authorial intention and can only be seen in hindsight. With a distance of twenty or thirty years it’s hard not to notice the single intonation, the common denominator welding together newspaper, shop sign, poem read from the stage at the all-women college, the conversation on the way home. It is as if every age produces it owns particular dust that settles on every surface and in every corner. Even those who behave as if they stood outside the idea of the ‘typical’ suddenly make a linguistic gesture that’s common to their contemporaries, without even noticing it, as if they were unaware of the pull of gravity on them.
I read The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov. A short story with HUMANITY as its big theme.
I wonder if this will be a common denominator for 1976?
https://bronasbooks.com/2021/10/11/the-bicentennial-man-isaac-asimov-1976club/
My first read was Tintin and the Picaros: https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2021/10/11/book-review-tintin-and-the-picaros-by-herge-1976club/
My first is Abel’s Island by William Steig and my second is Letters from Father Christmas, by Tolkien. I hope to get to a couple more this week.
My first is Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones:
https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2021/10/power-of-three-by-diana-wynne-jones.html
Constance
Here’s my first review, of Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2021/10/11/review-1735-1976-club-sleeping-murder/
I started with a couple: Philip K. Dick’s Deus Irae & Michael Moorcock’s Sailor on the Seas of Fate
http://reesewarner.blogspot.com/2021/10/pkd-zelazny-moorcock-1976club.html
Here’s mine – “Roots” by Alex Haley. Why not go BIG? https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/10/12/book-review-alex-haley-roots/
I’ve read three books published in 1976 in the past and have two others to read.
Here’s my post – https://booksplease.org/2021/10/12/the-1976-club/
Here’s my review of Castle Barebane by Joan Aiken:
https://shereadsnovels.com/2021/10/12/castle-barebane-by-joan-aiken-1976club/
My second book for this week is 1876 by Gore Vidal: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2021/10/12/review-1736-1976-club-1876/
I chose A Stitch in Time, by Penelope Lively. It’s a wonderful story!
https://relevantobscurity.com/2021/10/12/a-stitch-in-time/
I was rather disappointed with the choice of books I had on my shelves, bar a novel from Palestine, so I borrowed a couple of classic Dutch YA historical novels from the library.
My choice is ‘Blaming’ , Elizabeth Taylor’s final novel, which has turned out to be by far my favourite Elizabeth Taylor novel so far:
https://readingandwatchingtheworld.home.blog/2021/10/12/blaming-by-elizabeth-taylor-uk/
Hi Simon. I reviewed Alas for her that met me! by Mary Ann Ashe (aka Christianna Brand) here: https://brieferthanliteralstatement.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-1976-club-alas-for-her-that-met-me.html
My first book for the 1976 club is Home to Roost by Andrew Garve.
The link is
https://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2021/10/1976club-home-to-roost.html
Thanks Simon. Here is my post, with two reviews: Speedboat, by Renata Adler. And A River Runs Through it, by Norman Maclean: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/10/12/my-top-10-books-for-the-1976-club/
Thank you, Simon! I read Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut for the #1976 read. Grant Rintoul’s stellar work in reviewing this book doesn’t require much more input from me! Suffice to say I loved it. It’s not for everyone; I’d recommend it to true Vonnegut fans (and even they might be disappointed-this book was not generally well received). The relationship between brother and sister was very touching; Vonnegut’s descriptions of people, society, and life are so spot on and timeless. Happy to have read it-thank you for the opportunity to review it here!
Here’s mine Simon, a novel by Beryl Bainbridge and one by Nina Bawden: https://madamebibilophilerecommends.wordpress.com/2021/10/12/i-got-a-brand-new-combine-harvester-the-wurzels-1976/ Thanks!
I read The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin – review posted today!
https://746books.com/2021/10/13/no-400-the-boys-from-brazil-by-ira-levin-for-1976club/
Mine is a DNF–sorry, but read the great tie-in of another Club member’s post! https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2021/10/13/1976-club-the-plantagenet-prelude-by-jean-plaidy-dnf/
My third read is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor.
Another Death in Venice by Reginald Hill
https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpress.com/2021/10/13/1976-book-club-another-death-in-venice-by-reginald-hill/
Michael Ondaatje’s remarkable debut novel Coming Through Slaughter was just wonderful to read! https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/10/14/coming-through-slaughter-by-michael-ondaatje/
My second pick was The Golden Gate by Alistair Maclean; nice enough but disappointing on some counts: https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2021/10/14/book-review-the-golden-gate-by-alistair-maclean-1976club/
I did a short story as I did for the 1936 Club. I love short stories, so this club might be a way for me to play along AND squeeze in reading a few more while trying to catch up with other reading. I did Aussie Elizabeth Jolley’s Hilda’s wedding. https://whisperinggums.com/2021/10/14/elizabeth-jolley-hildas-wedding-review/
I’ve added A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond (a winner, literally)
http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2021/10/a-string-in-harp-by-nancy-bond-1976club.html
and A Stranger in the Mirror by Sidney Sheldon
http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2021/10/a-stranger-in-mirror-by-sidney-sheldon.html
Here’s another book for the club, Meridian by Alice Walker: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2021/10/14/review-1737-1976-club-meridian/
My second book for the 1976 Club is Catch a Falling Spy by Len Deighton.
https://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2021/10/1976club-catch-falling-star.html
Alas, only had the chance to read one book for this week, but I tried to stick to what I had on my shelves as well. But oh, boy, it was such a good book!
https://findingtimetowrite.wordpress.com/2021/10/12/1976club-too-loud-a-solitude/
A bit of poetry for my first contribution to the club: https://thecaptivereader.com/2021/10/14/how-did-i-get-to-be-forty-other-atrocities-judith-viorst/
Here’s my post about two books by Ursula K. Le Guin: https://enterenchanted.com/the-1976-club-two-by-le-guin/
One more: https://thecaptivereader.com/2021/10/15/travels-jan-morris/
Here’s another one: Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood: https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2021/10/15/review-1738-1976-club-lady-oracle/
At the eleventh hour as usual Simon, here is mine:
The Question of Max by Amanda Cross:
https://sconesandchaiseslongues.blogspot.com/2021/10/for-1976club-question-of-max-by-amanda.html
Thanks so much for organising this ‘club’ – I always enjoy it.
For the #1976Club, a look at an outsider candidate for the Great American — or perhaps the Great North American — novel, Paul Metcalf’s Apalache:
https://neglectedbooks.com/?p=8588
I read The Bride Price by Buchi Emecheta. Thanks to you and Karen for organising the challenge once again.
https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com/2021/10/16/bookreview-the-bride-price-by-buchi-emecheta-1976club/
My third pick, A Stitch in Time https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2021/10/16/book-review-a-stitch-in-time-by-penelope-lively-1976club/
I read A Very Long Way from Anywhere by Ursula Le Guin. Thank you to you and Karen for organising it all. https://piningforthewest.co.uk/2021/10/16/1976-club-a-very-long-way-from-anywhere-else-by-ursula-le-guin/
Another submission, A Little Local Murder by Robert Barnard.
https://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2021/10/1976club-little-local-murder.html
Here are the last two from Staircase Wit:
Home to Roost by Andrew Garve
http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2021/10/home-to-roost-by-andrew-garve-1976club.html
Mystery of the Emerald Buddha by Betty Cavanna
http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2021/10/ya-fiction-for-1976club.html
“Renata Adler’s Speedboat? No, I’ve already read it once. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slapstick? read it as a teenager. Alex Haley’s Roots? Nah. And Bear by Marian Engel just seemed too weird. I did find a possible pick in Bohumil Hrabal’s Too Loud a Solitude. I also considered placing a library order for Christa Wolf’s Kindheitsmuster, but I changed my mind when I came across Herman Sachnowitz’s It concerns you too.”
Thank you for once again organizing this event, Simon and Karen!
It Concerns You Too by Herman Sachnowitz
https://kinshipofallspecies.wordpress.com/2021/10/17/it-concerns-you-too-herman-sachnowitz-1976/
I actually did listen to an audiobook of The West End Horror, but haven’t written it up. Should that occur, maybe I’ll come back and post the link, but in the meantime, thanks for hosting! Phinnea