What a fun 1952 Club it’s been! I’ve tried to collect all of your reviews, though do let me know if I’ve missed anything – and I have an awful lot of them still to read, as it’s been a busy week at work and at leisure. But I am looking forward to keeping my own personal 1952 Club going by spreading out the reading as long as it takes!
I’ve definitely done more reading for the 1952 Club than for any previous clubs, as there were so many tempting candidates. And, indeed, I’m midway through a memoir by Victor Gollancz that I didn’t manage to get into the club in time. But I did read a few books that may well be on my Best of 1952 list – Catherine Carter by Pamela Hansford Johnson, Equations of Love by Ethel Wilson, and Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane. All brilliant in quite different ways.
For the next club, in October, Karen and I have decided to open up for suggestions – what year would you like the next club to do? Let us know in the comments (or on her blog), and why you think it would make a great choice.
And it’s going to be a special one – would you believe it, October 2025 will mark the 10th anniversary of our club years! I can’t believe it’s been going so long, and it’s really turned into a regular milestone of the book blogging year – for which I am very grateful to my co-host Karen, and to all of you who come back time after time with your fascinating reviews. And, of course, to those of you who’ve joined in for the first time for the 1952 Club!
We’ll try to think of ways to mark the 10th anniversary and make it special (and there are no plans to stop the clubs after that, fear not) – but, for now, do pop your suggestions for the reading year in the comments. Bonus points if it has special anniversary significance! And any other way that you think would be good to mark the special 10th year – go for it!
Always a highlight of my year look forward to seeing what year comes up next
It was a great event, thanks so much to you and Kaggsy for hosting as always. Ten years is incredible – congratulations!
Just repeating the message I’ve posted on Karen’s blog by way of an apology…
So sorry, Simon – I’ve had a dreadful rollercoaster of a migraine since Thursday, complete with a couple of rebounds to crush any glimmers of recovery. It’s put paid to any last-minute hopes of reading something new (to me) for the Club, following my earlier failure with a book labelled as copyright 1952 but actually published in 1945. So frustrating!
Looking forward to hearing more about your plans for the Clubs 10th anniversary, once all the feedback is in. Hopefully, I’ll be able to participate in that one!
Just read your comment Jacqui and I wanted to send you my sympathy for your migraines – that’s horrid, especially as it interferes with reading. I do hope you soon feel much better.
Congrats on ten years of Read the Year – it’s one of the book events I look forward to all year. I would honestly be happy to read any year you and Karen decide on, but I am a fan of the early 1920’s in particular and I do enjoy reading books published during WWII if it helps you to have some suggestions in the mix.
A busy week indeed. As always great fun! For the 10th, how about the hostess’s birth year?
It’s been wonderful, and like you, a busy week for me -I still owe you my post and I am slowly reading all the other reviews! Like you, I plan to keep on reading some of the other books I could not. Looking forward to the next club proposal.
Thank you for being a wonderful co host for the club Simon! I still have lots more reviews to read and I have already found a copy of The Equations of Love.
Unfortunately, this week has not been as I’d expected (hospital visits to family) so I’m sorry I did not get to write up my reviews for my two 1952 choices (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) and Tove Ditlevsen’s The Trouble with Happiness – The Umbrella collection to be precise. The latter I would definitely recommend, although the stories are very bleak (but in a way I could cope with); Kaggsy reviewed this one earlier in the year and I would concur with her observations.
I don’t mind for the next club year, although I am biased towards the early part of the twentieth century!
Simon, thanks a lot to you and Karen for all the work that you do. Congratulations on 10 years of this wonderful reading event. It would be interesting if you were to revisit the year of the first club for the tenth anniversary. It’d be fun to see how much the event has grown and the books people choose now for the club.
I’ve only been taking part since 2020; is there a list somewhere of all the years you’ve done so far, and what the criteria are?