Monday 18 April 2022

The 1954 club

I've not been able to join in with this challenge before, which involves the choice of a particular year and asking people to read books from said year. But this year I'm free to do it! 


The challenge is run by Simon and Karen, it will last all week and the year that's been chosen is 1954. 

So, I've just started this:


Because of Sam by Molly Clavering is set in the Scottish Borders and is about a widow, Millie Maitland, and her adult daughter, Amabel. Millie boards dogs to scrape a living, life is good but the daughter is an awkward, difficult character. It's gentle in the manner of D.E. Stevenson, everything is in the detail and the circumstances and I love it already.

Other possiblities if I manage to finish this by the end of the week, which I should do:

Maigret Goes to School - Georges Simenon

The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov

The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien

The Toll-Gate - Georgette Heyer

If you're joining in as well do tell what you're planning to read.


14 comments:

kaggsysbookishramblings said...

Excellent choice - look forward to your thoughts on your reads! :D

Sam said...

I love books from the fifties because it reminds me of how much has changed over the span of my lifetime...some of it good and some of it disturbingly bad. I'll look forward to seeing what you think of this one and any others you manage to get to.

TracyK said...

I agree with Sam's comment on why reading books published in the 1950s is interesting. While reading the two I chose for the 1954 Club, I kept thinking how much they were or were not like my life at the time. At the exact time I would have been 5 or 6 but still in general I have memories of that decade and what my parents and neighborhood was like.

I am working on a review for Death Likes It Hot by Edgar Box (pseud. for Gore Vidal) right now. And will be reviewing Go, Lovely Rose by Jean Potts after that. Both are new authors for me. Both set in the US.

I look forward to your reviews.

Lark said...

This sounds like a fun challenge. I'm not joining in this year, but maybe I will the next time they do it. Happy reading your books from 1954!

Nan said...

I loved Because of Sam. Am on my fifth Molly Clavering book. She has become a real favorite of mine. I'm reading in print version a 1956 book. I do love older books. Have fun!

Simon (StuckinaBook) said...

So glad to have you on board!

Cath said...

Karen: Thank you! I couldn't put the book down and have already finished it. Absolutely delightful, I'll review it asap.

Cath said...

Sam: Yes, 1950s books can definitely be 'of their time' but that doesn't worry me. When I come across an attitude that has changed dramatically I ponder a bit and am grateful things are now different. There wasn't anything much like that in Because of Sam to be honest. It was a delightful read.

Cath said...

Tracy: Yes, it's very interesting. I was born in 1953 so I can't remember 1954 at all of course, but attitudes didn't change much into the early 1960s and that period I do remember. And people don't change much anyway, the 'types' in 'Because of Sam' were pretty much the same types you get nowadays. I could easily name people who mirror people in the book, the organising, overbearing woman, the vampish woman and so on. It's so interesting that in 70 years not a lot has changed apart from attitudes to various issues.

Cath said...

Lark: This is first year I haven't had something on, visitors, going away, whatever. So I thought I'd give it a go and it's fun!

Cath said...

Nan: This is my first Molly Clavering book and it won't be my last as I was *so* impressed. Read it almost straight through with just one stop. I have one other by her on my Kindle, Mrs. Lorrimer's Quiet Summer, which I'm hoping will be just as good as Because of Sam.

Cath said...

Simon: Thank you!

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

The Simenon or Heyer books should be quite quick infill reads if you have a little time left at the end of the week!

This mini challenge sounds like a blast - maybe next time! :)

Cath said...

Yvonne, I've just started the Simenon book and if I finish that quickly then I have a Gladys Mitchell, vintage crime, story to read. Or I might go for the Asimov. We'll see.

Yes, a nice short little challenge like this is great fun and not too difficult as you're not aiming for a certain amount of books, just one will do.