Usually, when we do our week of Club reads, I always manage to dig out some previous reads from the year in question. However, 1944 is proving to be an odd one.. I haven’t managed to identify many books that I’ve read from that year, and I’m hampered by the fact that it’s only recently that I’ve started to record the publication date of the books I’ve finished. However, there are a few that I can pinpoint…
Transit by Anna Seghers
I read Transit back in 2014, and found it to be a powerful work. I found it “a haunting and gripping novel which is relevant today, in a world which is still troubled by wars and refugees. Seghers gets inside the mind of people in exile like no other writer I’ve read, and “Transit” is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the effect of WW2 on real, ordinary people, reduced to fleeing for their lives.” Alas, I don’t think much has changed, has it? 😦
The Custard Heart by Dorothy Parker
This is drawn from Parker’s 1944 collection “The Portable Dorothy Parker”, so I’ll count it! I reviewed this little Penguin Modern recently and was impressed once more by Parker’s writing. Such a sharp wit, and yet such an astute understanding of women’s lives.
A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair
As I mentioned in my introductory post for the #1944Club, there are several Persephones which were published in 1944 and I own two of them, having read this one. It’s one of my favourites from the publisher, and I read it and loved it pre-blog. However, I find I put a review on LibraryThing in which I said “This is a remarkably good novel about the way war affects those who are fighting and those who have to stay at home and ensure. The contrast between the two types of war is beautifully written by Playfair who, although she does not go into detail about the horrors, gives us enough to imagine what is going on.” I’ve kept this one on the shelves which says a lot about how much I liked it.
And then there are the Agathas….
I’ve read all of these; I’ve read everything the woman published, dammit! But this was all well pre-blog so I can’t point you to a review or tell you anything much about them. Except that the woman was a damn genius writing machine.
And that’s all I can find in the way of previous #1944club reads. No doubt if I was more organised mentally and had more time to research the shelves I might reveal a few more. But no matter – there are plenty of lovely books from 1944 to be read and tomorrow I’ll review one of them (which is actually a re-read…) 😉
Oct 18, 2018 @ 08:59:23
Christie had 4 novels published in one year or were these new editions?
Oct 18, 2018 @ 09:19:07
Two of them seem to be the same book 😉
Oct 18, 2018 @ 11:11:03
I’m known for my multiple copies of books…. 😉
Oct 19, 2018 @ 18:35:37
Ah!
Oct 18, 2018 @ 11:12:15
As Simon said, there is a duplicate there – but she was indeed a prolific author!
Oct 19, 2018 @ 18:35:23
I knew she wrote tumps but am still bowled away by the idea that she churned them out so much in just one year
Oct 19, 2018 @ 19:21:22
She was a real writing machine! 🙂
Oct 18, 2018 @ 14:35:36
She also published Sparkling Cyanide in 1944! So there were 4.
Oct 18, 2018 @ 15:47:14
Well, yes and no! In book form it was actually first published in 1945, but it was serialised in 1944 – so you can include it in the Club I think, but I didn’t put it in my picture! 😀
Oct 18, 2018 @ 15:50:06
Oh, how interesting! The “official” Agatha Christie website has it published in 1944, and nothing published in 1945!
Oct 19, 2018 @ 06:14:26
That’s so interesting! I’m going by Wikipedia and unfortunately my ancient paperback has its title page missing. However The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie by Charles Osborne which has always been my Christie Bible gives Sparkling Cyanide as 1945 so go figure!
Oct 19, 2018 @ 18:33:50
Thanks for that insight Christine
Oct 18, 2018 @ 09:24:05
I’d forgotten the Jocelyn Playfair was 1944 – I only looked at my books on LibraryThing that weren’t already tagged ‘read’!
Oct 18, 2018 @ 11:10:44
It’s a good one – one of my favourite Persephones. I need to read another Persephone soon!
Oct 18, 2018 @ 09:45:38
I’d like to start reading some Christie, which do you consider her best novels and where to start?!
Oct 18, 2018 @ 11:00:56
Well, TBH you could do no worse than start with her first book, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” which introduces Poirot. And then there’s “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”, regarded as one of her finest. And “The Murder at the Vicarage” introduces Miss Marple. Really, with early Christie you can’t go wrong! 😀
Oct 18, 2018 @ 14:36:06
Are the Westamacott books worth tracking down? They are a bit difficult – but not impossible – to locate.
Oct 18, 2018 @ 15:46:30
It depends, really! They’re romances, which is not a genre I read very often to be honest – so I’m perhaps not the best person to ask. I have them for completeness but I read Christie for her mysteries!
Oct 18, 2018 @ 15:51:33
I do occasionally read romance – I love Georgette Heyer’s regencies far more than I love her mysteries, for example. I think I’ll have to start checking for them when I make the occasional pilgrimage to Powell’s Books. Which one did you like the most?
Oct 19, 2018 @ 06:10:25
Ermmm, if I could remember them at all I would tell you, but it’s an awfully long time since I read them! ☹️ I know that Absent the Spring is one that often gets mentioned.
Oct 18, 2018 @ 16:34:31
I’ve only read A House in the Country which was worth it.
Oct 19, 2018 @ 06:08:57
It really is, isn’t it? Such a good book!
Oct 18, 2018 @ 16:47:54
Oct 18, 2018 @ 19:36:51
Great post! The Playfair especially appeals. I’m going to be maxing out my credit card in the Persephone bookshop when my book-buying ban is over, I can see it now…
Oct 19, 2018 @ 06:08:02
Thanks Madame B – the Playfair is highly recommended from me!
Oct 18, 2018 @ 20:39:24
I read a Dorothy Parker collection years ago and really loved it. Such wonderful wit.
Oct 19, 2018 @ 06:07:26
She was amazing – funny and yet very, very pithy.
Oct 18, 2018 @ 23:00:59
It’s ages since I read A House in the Country, hadn’t realised it was 1944 too. It is an excellent novel. Definitely one I would like to read again one day. Transit is definitely on my wishlist after I read The Seventh Cross. There must be an Agatha for almost every year between the 20s and the 70s.
Oct 19, 2018 @ 06:06:49
Yes, House has to be one of my favourite Persephones – great book, as is Transit!
Oct 19, 2018 @ 00:10:31
I was hoping to find something on my shelves from this year. But I couldn’t come up with a single book. I’m so disappointed in myself for not participating in this one. I am hoping to do better with the next year you choose!
Oct 19, 2018 @ 06:04:16
Not to worry Melissa – sometimes the timing isn’t right, but there will always be another Club! 😁