1954 Club
This page is for the latest of our club reads, books from the year 1954. Please join us in reading, exploring, commenting on and recommending any exciting books you’ve discovered! I’ll collect here links to everyone’s posts, and if I miss yours please leave a comment so that I can add it in! Happy reading! 😀
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
Jill Enjoys Her Ponies by Ruby Ferguson
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P. G. Wodehouse
Katherine by Anya Seton
The Gypsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp
Madame Bibi Lophile Recommends
Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman
The Case of the Restless Redhead by Erle Stanley Gardner
Literary Potpourri – guest review
The Native Heath by Elizabeth Fair
Adventures in reading, running and working from home
The Golden Waterwheel by Leo Walmsley
Messiah by Gore Vidal
Maigret Goes to School by Simenon
Explorers on the Moon by Hergé
Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier
Because of Sam by Molly Clavering
The Alice B Toklas Cookbook
Madame Bibi Lophile Recommends
Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson
The New Men by C.P. Snow
Whole Days in the Trees by Marguerite Duras
The Last Train by Bernard Cronin
Lease of Life by Frank Baker
The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes
The Alice B. Tokas Cookbook
The Horse and his Boy by C.S. Lewis
Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford
Good work, Secret Seven by Enid Blyton
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
Madame bibi Lophile Recommends
Beyond the Glass by Antonia White
Madame bibi Lophile Recommends
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Charlotte Fairlie by D E Stevenson
The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson
Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
The Untidy Pilgrim by Eugene Walter
Legions of the Eagle by Henry Treece
The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
The Refuge by Kenneth Mackenzie
Contempt by Alberto Moravia
Doctor’s Children by Josephine Elder
Dishonoured Bones by John Trench
The Cretan Counterfeit by Katharine Farrer
Beside the Pearly Water by Stella Gibbons
Death in Rome by Wolfgang Koeppen
Confessions of Felix Krull by Thomas Mann
Lizzy’s Literary Life (Volume 2)
Shroud of Darkness by E.C.R. Lorac
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
The Desperate Hours by Joseph Hayes
Pictures from an Institution by Randall Jarrell
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
She Who Was No More by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
Mockingbirds, Looking Glasses & Prejudices
Highland Rebel by Sally Watson
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron
The Cuckoo in Spring by Elizabeth Cadell
Friends From Philadelphia by John Updike
The Emigrants by George Lamming
A Proper Marriage by Doris Lessing
General posts:
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Apr 18, 2022 @ 08:52:07
I still haven’t started on my reviews, but as I’d mentioned the other day, I convinced my mom to join in as well; since she doesn’t have a blog, I’ve posted her review on mine (I’ll be tagging her posts Guest Posts)
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/guest-post-book-review-the-case-of-the-restless-redhead-by-erle-stanley-gardner-1954club/
also on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2059747609?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Apr 18, 2022 @ 20:04:15
Wonderful – happy to have her along. the more the merrier! 😀
Apr 19, 2022 @ 16:08:40
Hi, I’ve just reviewed Because of Sam by Molly Clavering: https://read-warbler.blogspot.com/2022/04/because-of-sam-by-molly-clavering.html
Apr 19, 2022 @ 16:10:13
Fab! I shall check it out and link it here! 😀
Apr 21, 2022 @ 13:50:09
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/20/guest-post-book-review-jeeves-and-the-feudal-spirit-by-p-g-wodehouse-1954club/
(on her goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4674409829?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)
And Good Work, Secret Seven by Enid Blyton
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/guest-post-book-review-good-work-secret-seven-by-enid-blyton-1954club/
(goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4674394638?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)
Apr 21, 2022 @ 13:51:01
My mom’s second and third picks
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/20/guest-post-book-review-jeeves-and-the-feudal-spirit-by-p-g-wodehouse-1954club/
(on her goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4674409829?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)
And Good Work, Secret Seven by Enid Blyton
https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/guest-post-book-review-good-work-secret-seven-by-enid-blyton-1954club/
(goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4674394638?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)
Apr 21, 2022 @ 14:12:28
Excellent – thank you!
Apr 22, 2022 @ 04:44:43
Finally, the first of my own picks: Madame de Pompadour https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/book-review-madame-de-pompadour-by-nancy-mitford-1954club/
Apr 22, 2022 @ 13:59:59
Oh, excellent – will be keen to see what you think of this and will link later!
Apr 22, 2022 @ 15:18:53
I got THE PONDER HEART by Eudora Welty’s review posted…all 5* of five of it!
https://expendablemudge.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-ponder-heart-light-hearted-fun.html
Apr 22, 2022 @ 16:59:48
Fab – will link! 😀
Apr 23, 2022 @ 06:03:20
Lovely review. I’d completely forgotten that this was from 1954. This was my first (and so far only) Welty (a collection of short stories awaits), but I loved it–so funny, and the solution to the mystery I never saw coming at all!
Apr 23, 2022 @ 20:38:53
Thank you! I’d never considered the story a mystery, but that element is certainly there now you’ve pointed it out.
Apr 23, 2022 @ 00:23:39
Here we are, but it’s not great reading I’m afraid! The Untidy Pilgrim by Eugene Walter:
Apr 23, 2022 @ 12:25:48
Not to worry – they can’t all be good…. ;D
Apr 23, 2022 @ 05:59:23
My second pick–I’m really cutting it close
Apr 23, 2022 @ 12:24:34
Thank you – will check this out and link!
Apr 23, 2022 @ 12:31:58
🙂
Apr 23, 2022 @ 07:34:11
Hi Kaggsy, I’ve just reviewed an Australian classic: https://readingmattersblog.com/2022/04/23/the-refuge-by-kenneth-mackenzie/
Apr 23, 2022 @ 12:20:11
Thanks! Will check it out and link!
Apr 23, 2022 @ 16:42:04
https://harrietdevine.typepad.com/harriet_devines_blog/2022/04/who-was-changed-and-who-was-dead-1954-club.html
Apr 23, 2022 @ 19:51:31
Thanks Harriet – will link!
Apr 24, 2022 @ 11:58:05
My third: Shroud of Darkness by ECR Lorac: loved this
Apr 24, 2022 @ 13:58:59
Excellent! Looking forward to your thoughts on it – will check out and link!
Apr 24, 2022 @ 14:19:22
It’s not a book but I read John Updike’s first story published in The New Yorker, “Friends From Philadelphia,” which happened in 1954. It’s in his Collected Early Stories. He also had a handful of poems accepted for publication and signed an agreement with the magazine that year, granting the NYer first-reading rights on all of his future writings. I’ve been enjoying all of the context for 1954 in literature!
Apr 24, 2022 @ 16:29:58
How interesting! A short story is great and I think you make a good point about the clubs – all the different posts and readings and comments do build up a wonderful picture of the year!
Apr 24, 2022 @ 16:06:29
Thanks Karen for hosting this. Only one read this time: The Desperate Hours by Joseph Hayes. https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpress.com/2022/04/24/1954-club-the-desperate-hours-by-joseph-hayes/
Apr 24, 2022 @ 16:27:47
Fab – thanks for taking part and I shall check this out and link!!
Apr 25, 2022 @ 21:00:07
Here’s my review of The Tortoise and the Hare by E. Jenkins — thanks!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4658000175
Apr 26, 2022 @ 13:45:11
Fab – thanks! Will link later! 😀