As those of you who follow Simon’s excellent Stuck in a Book blog will know (and I assume that’s all of you!) it will soon be time for the next ‘Club’ read, where we all enjoy books from a particular year. This was a wonderful idea that Simon came up with, and next time we’re going to be focusing on 1947.
Some of you have asked for lists and suggestions, and of course a quick search online will bring up loads of books from that year. As Simon mentioned, the fun here is not having a prescribed list of books, but exploring your bookshelves and the wider book world to see what you have from that year and what you can find – if you can up with new or obscure titles that’s great fun! 1947 certainly does seem to have been a vintage year for publishing and I’m going to have trouble picking what to read! I have a pile of possibles, but for now I’ll do like Simon has and list a few possibles with links to a few reviews of books I’ve already read from that year:
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau
A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
Maigret’s Holiday by Simenon
The Blank Wall by Elizabeth SanxayHolding
The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton
Of Love and Hunger by Julian McLaren-Ross
These are just a few books of what is a very long list I have scribbled in the back of my notebooks as possibles. “One Fine Day” in particular is a fabulous read, as is the Julian McLaren-Ross. I personally plan to revisit a favourite from the Queen of Crime, a French book which had a profound effect on me back in the day, and a novel by a famous poet. Well, that’s what I’m thinking at the moment – but of course anything could happen between now and then so watch this space and Simon’s blog, and do join in – it’ll be great fun!
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Sep 11, 2016 @ 12:43:43
Cool. Count me in, the only difficulty for me is the date as I might be away/offline that week. Either way. I’ll be reading something from that year even if I end up posting a little early. 🙂
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:33:21
Great! Even if you post a little out of sync we can list you in the round up!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 12:49:46
Great! Last time I picked an Agatha C. Let me see if there are any by her written in 1947
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:32:57
Well, there’s at least one – as I did say I was planning to read one by her! 🙂
Sep 11, 2016 @ 12:54:21
Ooo, what fun! Count me in – I shall start scouring my shelves for some suitable possibilities! 🙂
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:32:25
Fab – I’m sure you’ll find plenty of books in your collection!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 13:09:30
I enjoyed the 1924 & 1938 clubs so I’m looking forward to this one. I have some ideas of what to read but have a feeling they’ll be re-reads this time. I have GoodReads shelf for my 1947 books set up to help me.
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:34:27
It’s a really good year, and I’m fighting the temptation to just re-read favourites – I shall try to mix new and old!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 13:11:08
I’m definitely in 🙂
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:24:30
Hurrah! 🙂
Sep 11, 2016 @ 14:55:25
These year clubs are a great idea.I shall have revisit Exercises in Style. I was lucky enough to have been sent a free copy by the publisher some years ago!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:24:22
Great! Glad you can join in! I was really impressed with Exercises when I read it.
Sep 11, 2016 @ 16:50:42
A fine incentive to read a book I have always wanted to read, recently purchased and not yet opened – Camus’ The Plague.
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:23:45
Well, that happens to be the French book I referred to – I read it back in the 1980s on a fateful Sunday when I read four books in a day. I was so knocked out I sent all my friends postcards demanding they read it instantly (ah, those pre-Internet days!) I’m a little scared of revisiting but hoping it will still move me.
Sep 11, 2016 @ 20:30:22
Oh, The Plague is excellent. I’ve read it twice and want to read it again. I won’t read it for the 1947 Club though.
Sep 11, 2016 @ 21:00:07
I *did* re-read it once and loved it then too, so hopefully my views won’t have changed!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 17:17:38
How exciting! I would love to be a part of the “club” this year! I’ve already read A View of the Harbour and enjoyed it. I like Joe’s idea of Camus’ The Plague! I wonder if there are any Persephone titles published in 1947. I will have to look at my shelves!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 18:22:32
Excellent! Searching the shelves is what we want! “The Plague” is one for me to revisit I hope!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 19:29:20
Tell it to a stranger by Elizabeth Berridge published 1947 a superb Persephone collection of short stories.
Sep 11, 2016 @ 19:48:36
Nice one – I *knew* there would be Persphones!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 19:28:10
I’m looking forward to the 1947 club. I will have three books to choose from The Loved One, In a Lonely Place and One Fine Day. Another one for your list could be Tell it to a stranger by Elizabeth Berridge a Persephone book of short stories which is superb.
Sep 11, 2016 @ 19:49:03
I’ve read both The Loved One and One Fine Day and like them both – good choices!
Sep 11, 2016 @ 19:56:39
I’ve been looking forward to this. I’m also thinking about reading Agatha Christie but I’m going to see what else I can find too. 🙂
Sep 11, 2016 @ 21:00:29
You can’t go wrong with an Agatha!
Sep 12, 2016 @ 01:07:22
Looking forward to joining this one round, with a perspective from across the pond!
Sep 12, 2016 @ 07:05:28
Excellent – the more the merrier! Look forward to seeing what you read!
Sep 12, 2016 @ 07:56:33
I’m considering Exercises in Style or doing an Arthur Ransome re-read and getting to Great Northern? in the week in question …
Sep 12, 2016 @ 09:30:14
Excellent – one day I will read Arthur Ransome!
Sep 12, 2016 @ 09:36:47
I seem to have slipped, fallen into the Internet and ordered a copy of E.H. Young’s Chatterton Square. Oops!
Sep 12, 2016 @ 10:06:23
Gosh! I wonder how that happened! :)))
Sep 12, 2016 @ 16:30:38
I just had a quick look through my shelves, and the ones that stand out, for me, are Doctor “Faustus” by Thomas Mann, Anne Frank’s Diary, “If This is a Man” by Primo Levi, and “The Plague” by Albert Camus.
Not surprisingly, given the year, all of them deal with the trauma of Nazism and the war – the second and third in the form of personal experience, the first and last in metaphorical terms. Quite honestly, I don’t know that I want to read Anne Frank’s diary or Primo Levi’s book again: they’re books that demand to be read, I know, but I *have* read them once, and don’t know if I could steel myself to go through them again.
I might try “All My Sons” and “A Streetcar Named Desire”, as I never really got either Arthur Miller or Tennessee Williams. “The Maids” by Jean Genet could also be interesting.
Sep 12, 2016 @ 18:12:55
All of those are such good choices. Levi is a marvellous, if painful read, and I can understand you not wanting to revisit him. I definitely want to pick up The Plague again. I’ve read Genet’s fictions but not his plays so I’ll be interested to hear what you think of The Maids if you do decide on that one.
Sep 12, 2016 @ 16:54:30
CHATTERTON SQUARE by EH YOUNG–i posted this on STUCKINABOOK as well.1947.
Sep 12, 2016 @ 16:55:33
i am pleased with myself as i rarely “come up with” a suitable title for the book club for specific years.
Sep 12, 2016 @ 18:09:38
Well done! But are you going to read that one?
Sep 13, 2016 @ 08:04:03
Yes –i will re read Chatterton.I read it 10 years ago.There are many books that deserve re reads.I once knew a man who said he never read the same book twice.
Sep 13, 2016 @ 08:37:14
I agree – and that man was wrong! Re-reading can be great!
Sep 12, 2016 @ 18:09:48
Good spot!
Sep 13, 2016 @ 09:05:57
I’m in. the difficulty now is deciding what to read. I am hankering after something not from the western canon and in translation. Any suggestions anyone?
Sep 13, 2016 @ 09:08:05
“The Plague” by Camus is in translation, though I’m afraid it’s western! But I do hope to re-read it!
Oct 06, 2016 @ 12:47:27
How about The Path to the Nest of Spiders by Italo Calvino?
Oct 06, 2016 @ 14:58:07
A good choice! (and one I have on my shelves) Whether I have the time is another matter…. :s
Oct 07, 2016 @ 01:53:56
That’s what I’m thinking about the Thomas Mann, which I have on my shelves…
Oct 07, 2016 @ 14:22:40
🙂 Yes, some of the books can be daunting when you have a limited time to read them in…
Sep 13, 2016 @ 16:07:38
When’s this happening Kaggsy?
Sep 13, 2016 @ 16:09:08
As it says on the little logo, 10th-16th October! 🙂 Do join in – there’s a fabulous choice of books from that year!
Sep 13, 2016 @ 16:38:10
Now I see it. I’m just back from holiday then. I’ll try to join in. The question is, what book…
Sep 13, 2016 @ 17:19:27
It *is* a hard decision – I could probably easily do a fortnight of books!
Sep 14, 2016 @ 07:44:35
“MRS TIM GETS A JOB” by D E STEVENSON is 1947.
Sep 14, 2016 @ 10:24:32
Another good spot – I keep meaning to read the Mrs. Tim stories.
A quick book challenges and acquisitions round-up #books #1947club | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Sep 15, 2016 @ 12:08:51
Sep 15, 2016 @ 19:56:27
Haha, I remember I put a book with a green cover and a woman on it aside to read for this event. I wonder what it was and if I will find it in time to read it. 😉 No matter, I will find *something* to read, even if I am not sure yet what it will be…
Sep 15, 2016 @ 20:18:16
Ooops….. Well, I’m sure you’ll manage to find *something* appropriate from the year! 🙂
Sep 24, 2016 @ 08:29:30
I found thi list which seems to be rather different from those on Wikipedia. Might give people more options https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~immer/books1940s
Sep 24, 2016 @ 16:54:16
Excellent – thank you! 🙂
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada | Recent Items
Sep 25, 2016 @ 19:23:25
Sep 26, 2016 @ 00:56:01
The 1947 club is a great idea – thanks to Jeff at Recent Items for alerting me. This may well be my chance to re-read La Peste after 28years but I’m looking forward to checking out what other 1947 delights are on my shelf.
Sep 26, 2016 @ 06:45:33
That’s one I want to revisit too – but there are so many good titles there!
Books On My Autumn TBR List | BookerTalk
Sep 27, 2016 @ 10:14:47
Oct 01, 2016 @ 21:02:08
Thank you for choosing 1947, my birth year! I plan to celebrate by listening to audio versions of The Labors of Hercules read by wonderful Hugh Fraser and a Michael Innes mystery, A Night of Errors. I recently re-read Angela Thirkell’s Peace Breaks Out (1947) and enjoyed as much as the last 2 or 3 times. Betty McDonald’s The Egg and I also belongs on the list.
Oct 02, 2016 @ 13:28:29
Some good choices there – “Hercules” read by Hugh Fraser must be fabulous!
A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin | JacquiWine's Journal
Oct 04, 2016 @ 07:11:01
Oct 04, 2016 @ 16:46:57
I have been following the Club’s previous activities from distance. This time I decided to join in. I will be reading Cesare Pavese’s The Comrade. Looking forward to it!
Oct 04, 2016 @ 19:18:01
Excellent – so glad you can join in! I have read some Pavese so I’ll look forward to your post!
Oct 05, 2016 @ 08:26:24
Not the #1947 Club, or – my reading challenge #Fail! | Hard Book Habit
Oct 10, 2016 @ 06:03:30
Nightmare in Berlin | 1streading's Blog
Oct 11, 2016 @ 20:01:46
Oct 15, 2016 @ 04:20:54
Oct 15, 2016 @ 08:23:20
Excellent! Thanks for sharing – I’ll add a link to my 1947 Club page! 🙂
Oct 15, 2016 @ 17:33:10
The Bull Calves by Naomi Mitchison #1947Club – Beyond Eden Rock
Oct 16, 2016 @ 16:55:31
Oct 16, 2016 @ 18:25:25
Book Review – Chatterton Square (Virago) #1947Club #amreading #books #reviews #viragobooks | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Oct 19, 2016 @ 14:03:52
#GermanLitMonth -‘Alone in Berlin’ by Hans Fallada | Hard Book Habit
Nov 16, 2016 @ 05:14:47