1938 Club
(I’m cross-posting here my original introduction to the 1938 Club and I’ll add links to posts below as and when they appear – please do leave a comment if you’ve reviewed something from 1938!)
When Simon suggested, towards the end of last year, that we co-host a mini-project of reading books from a particular year, in this case 1924, I was delighted to join in. I don’t know that either of us foresaw how popular this would be, but loads of bloggers had great fun joining in. So we are reprising the event with a new year – 1938! The week concerned is 11th – 17th April and this time you have a reasonable amount of warning in which to start planning and reading.
I think this year might have been suggested by a number of participants (I’m sure Heavenali was one) and it’s a great choice. The thirties were an odd decade, full of fear and trembling and change in Europe, and 1938 in particular was a year where a cataclysmic event was brewing, which will no doubt be reflected in some of the works.
And there are some fabulous books to choose from! I’ve been ferreting through my stacks and I’ve come up with a number of possibles so far. Some would be new books which have been lurking on Mount TBR for a while:
Young Man with a Horn – Dorothy Baker
Enemies of Promise – Cyril Connolly
Antidote to Venom – Freeman Wills Crofts
The Gift – Nabokov
But there are quite a lot of possible re-reads too – for example, these ones, and I had no idea I’d read so many books published in 1938!!
Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre
Out of the Silent Planet – C.S. Lewis
Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell
Appointment with Death – Agatha Christie
Death of the Heart – Elizabeth Bowen
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
The Children Who Lived in a Barn – Eleanor Graham
Child of All Nations – Irmgard Keun
There are no doubt many, many more and we’ll look forward to your suggestions in due course. So please do join in with The 1938 Club and let’s get more discussion and thoughts and ideas going. I’ll do a separate page here where I’ll link to other reviews and you can leave comments. So here goes with planning for The 1938 Club – get reading!
New Reviews:
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen from Harriet Devine’s Blog and JacquiWine’s Journal
Princes in the Land by Joanna Cannan from Madame Bibliophile Recommends
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson from Madame Bibliophile Recommends and JacquiWine’s Journal and Bag Full of Books and Other formats are available
How We Went to Mars by Arthur C. Clarke from Vulpes Libris
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh from Kate Macdonald
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Simenon from Lizzy’s Literary Life
Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf from Somewhere Boy
The Midas Touch by Margaret Kennedy from Beyond Eden Rock
Wait Until Spring, Bandini by John Fante from Intermittencies of the Mind
Enemies of Promise by Cyril Connolly from Stuck in a Book and Vulpes Libris
Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell from The Sleepless Reader and Sarah/Hard Book Habit
Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Trent Intervenes by E.C. Bentley from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker from Vulpes Libris and Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Pechorin’s Journal
and HeavenAli
Chateau d’Argol by Julien Gracq from 1st Reading
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell from Other formats are available
The Squire by Enid Bagnold from Hogglestock and HeavenAli
God and the Wedding Dress by Marjorie Bowen from She Reads Novels
Journeying Wave by Richmal Crompton from Stuck in a Book and Richmal Crompton Reader and Adventures in Reading, Writing and Working from Home
Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler from Annabel’s House of Books
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight from Vulpes Libris
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Lady Fancifull and Other Formats Available
Barren Lives by Graciliano Ramos from Somewhere Boy
Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie from The Book Jotter and HeavenAli and My Book Strings
The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King) by T.H. White from Shoshi’s Book Blog
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie from The Book Satchel
The Children who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham from Stuck in a Book
The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham from Harriet Devine’s Blog
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – guest post by Sarah from Stuck in a Book
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss from Intermittencies of the Mind
Pray for the Wanderer by Kate O’Brien from Beyond Eden Rock
The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck from Other Formats Available
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse from Other Formats Available
Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons from Anne’s Space
Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts from Desperate Reader
Older Reviews
Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons from Bag Full of Books
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson from What Me Read and The Captive Reader and She Reads Novels and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Lady Fancifull
Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker from JacquiWine’s Journal
Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell from The Captive Reader
Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith from The Captive Reader
Ruined City by Neville Shute from The Captive Reader
Manja by Anna Gmeyner from The Captive Reader
Princes in the Land by Joanna Cannan from The Captive Reader and She Reads Novels
Swiss Sonata by Gwethalyn Graham from The Captive Reader
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen from Tony’s Book World and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Wait Until Spring, Bandini by John Fante from Pechorin’s Journal
Address Unknown by Kressman Taylor from Pechorin’s Journal
Night and the City by Gerald Kersh from Pechorin’s Journal
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell from Pechorin’s Journal
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene from Lady Fancifull
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier from Lady Fancifull
The Children who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
The Secret Island by Enid Blyton from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
A Child of All Nations by Irmgard Keun from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Apr 11, 2016 @ 15:50:43
Some links to my older 1938 book reviews, in no particular order:
John Fante’s Wait Until Spring, Bandini: https://pechorinsjournal.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/john-fante-wait-until-spring-bandini/. It’s of a bit long review (early days of the blog) but if you read one of these links I’d make it this one.
John W Campbell Jnr’s Who Goes There?: https://pechorinsjournal.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/who-goes-there-by-john-w-campbell-jr/. SF horror novella that went on to inspire John Carpenter’s movie The Thing. It’s actually pretty good.
Samuel Beckett’s Murphy: https://pechorinsjournal.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/murphy-by-samuel-beckett/. One of the most arresting opening sentences ever written (The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.)
Gerald Kersh’s Night and the City, source of the film of the same name: https://pechorinsjournal.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/night-and-the-city-by-gerald-kersh/
And finally, just recently covered by Kaggsy herself, Kressman Taylor’s rather concentratedly powerful Address Unknown: https://pechorinsjournal.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/addressant-unbekannt/.
Apr 11, 2016 @ 18:09:23
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing these – an interesting lot of titles. I had been considering the Kersh and although I won’t fit it in this week I can still read it any time I like! 🙂
Apr 11, 2016 @ 20:47:59
New review:
Simenon – The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
Apr 11, 2016 @ 20:49:19
Excellent – thanks Lizzy. I had been considering this one but ran out of time! 🙂
Apr 18, 2016 @ 17:55:15
Karen, Would you please include my review in the offic al 1938 Club list. Thanks.
Apr 18, 2016 @ 19:20:02
Certainly Lizzy – it’s done! 🙂
Apr 11, 2016 @ 20:59:39
Hi, I’ve just posted a review of John Fante’s Wait Until Spring, Bandini. I’ll have to check out Max’s review now as well….
Apr 11, 2016 @ 21:01:40
Excellent – I’ve linked above!
Apr 13, 2016 @ 21:01:58
I loved ‘Young Man With A Horn’, ‘Nausea’, and ‘The Gift’, but the only one I have reviewed on my blog is ‘Death of the Heart’. My review is here: https://anokatony.wordpress.com/2014/06/15/the-death-of-the-heart-by-elizabeth-bowen/
Apr 13, 2016 @ 21:04:21
Thanks! I’ll add a link! 🙂
Apr 18, 2016 @ 22:00:50
Karen, if it ain’t too late – I never realised we could include older reads from the year – I have a few :
Apr 19, 2016 @ 09:57:53
Absolutely fine – I’ve linked to your reviews! 🙂
Apr 19, 2016 @ 12:21:49
Thank you so much. PS I am still thinking about Homage to Catalonia. No wonder it was a book which stayed with me all these years. Re-reading important books from your own past, the ones which resonated and shaped who you are is enormously powerful in the present, too
Apr 19, 2016 @ 13:47:20
It’s a really powerful book, which does stay with you. And you’re right – we should revisit the books that made us who we are – I feel a return to Mervyn Peake coming on!
Apr 19, 2016 @ 14:00:55
There’s another!