hogglestock

It will be interesting to see how many of these touch on the war. I’m guessing it won’t be The Ox-Bow Incident.

[For those who don’t know, I am participating in A Century of Books this year which requires me to read one book from each year from 1919 through 2018.]

1940

Mr Skeffington – Elizabeth von Arnim
Final Edition – E.F. Benson
The Ox-Bow Incident – Walter van Tilburg Clark
Steffan Green – Richmal Crompton
A Stricken Field – Martha
The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
Bethel Merriday – Sinclair Lewis
The Living Mountain – Nan Shepherd
Landfall – Nevil Shute
George Passant/Strangers and Brothers – C.P. Snow

Well, it won’t be the von Arnim. I’ve already given that one away. I think I’m done with her. I’ve read half of The Power and the Glory but it has been so long since I put it down that I would have to start from the beginning. It obviously wasn’t gripping me in the way his novels have. 

1941

The Land of Spices – Kate O’Brien
Mrs Tim – D.E. Stevenson
Over to Candleford – Flora Thompson

It really is time I discovered Mrs Tim. I’ve read so many other Stevenson’s but this classic has so far escaped my attention.

1942

Enduring Riches – Margaret Flint
Farmer Takes a Wife – John Gould
The Company She Keeps – Mary McCarthy
A Time to Be Born – Dawn Powell
One Small Candle – Cecil Roberts
Marling Hall – Angela Thirkell

I can’t believe I loved Victoria 4:30 by Cecil Roberts so much and I haven’t yet read this other Roberts. Then again I love Mary McCarthy and I might need her as a foil to all the British authors.

1943

Two Serious Ladies – Jane Bowles
Also the Hills – Frances Parkinson Keyes
Celia’s House – D.E. Stevenson
Candleford Green – Flora Thompson

The Jane Bowles is apparently avant-garde. I am not sure how I will feel about that, but this might be a good time to try.

1944

Liana – Martha Gellhorn
Green Dolphin Street – Elizabeth Goudge
Rest and Be Thankful – Helen MacInnes
The Friendly Young Ladies – Mary Renault
The Signpost – E. Arnot Robertson
Chedworth – R.C. Sherriff
Listening Valley – D.E. Stevenson
Growing Up – Angela Thirkell

At some point this year I will read one of the many Helen MacInnes’ that I have. She can kind of scratch my Ambler itch.

1945

The Green Years – A.J. Cronin
Thursday Afternoons – Monica Dickens
Prospero’s Cell – Lawrence Durrell
Loving – Henry Green
The House in Clewe Street – Mary Lavin
The Journey Home – Zelda Popkin
Miss Bunting – Angela Thirkell
Apartment in Athens – Glenway Wescott

I’ve read a lot of Monica Dickens lately so that one might stay on the shelf for now. I’m kind of in the mood for Durrell right now. He isn’t quite as sunny as his brother Gerald, but writes about sunny Corfu and Egypt. I didn’t really enjoy Glenway Wescott’s The Pilgrim Hawk but the title of this one has me thinking of Rachel Cusk’s Outline. I know that is a weak link, but might be enough for me to give it a whirl.

1946

Jill – Philip Larkin
To Bed with Grand Music – Marghanita Laski
Then and Now – W. Somerset Maugham
Doreen – Barbara Noble
That Lady – Kate O’Brien
Bright Day – J.B. Priestly
The Bridge of Years – May Sarton
Britannia Mews – Margery Sharp
Bell Timson – Marguerite Steen

Philip Larkin is the poet and friend of Barbara Pym who helped revive interest in her work which then in turn led to her publishing more novels. He also wrote a couple of novels, both of which I own and neither of which I have read. It’s definitely time to see what the man was about.

1947

Albert Sears – Millen Brand
The Path to the Spiders’ Nest – Italo Calvino
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – M. Barnard Eldershaw
A Girl in Winter – Philip Larkin
One Fine Day – Mollie Panter-Downes
The Evenings – Gerard Reve
Letty Fox: Her Luck – Christina Stead
Stillmeadow Seasons – Gladys Taber
A View from the Harbour – Elizabeth Taylor
Friday at Noon – Benedict Thielen
Peace Breaks Out – Angela Thirkell
The Old Bank House – Angela Thirkell

If I had to choose at this moment I would pick One Fine Day. 

1948

The Casino – Margaret Bonham
Narcissa – Richmal Crompton
Joy and Josephine – Monica Dickens
Catalina – W. Somerset Maugham
That Winter – Merle Miller
Long After Summer – Robert Nathan
The Locusts Have No King – Dawn  Powell
The Foolish Gentlewoman – Margery Sharp
Another Year – R.C. Sherriff
Tomorrow Will Be Better – Betty Smith
Love Among the Ruins – Angela Thirkell
Private Enterprise – Angela Thirkell

I may need a little Betty Smith to put it all into perspective. Then there is Merle Miller, an author I never would have heard about if not for Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust. I think I have read three of his and not been disappointed. They are medium hard to find at used bookstores so that always makes for  a happy moment to find one in the wild.

1949

Strong Citadel – Katherine Newlin Burt
The Matchmaker – Stella Gibbons
The God Seeker – Sinclair Lewis
Prairie Avenue – Arthur Meeker
Tea with Mr Rochester – Frances Towers

I really disliked Cold Comfort Farm, but the Vintage edition of The Matchmaker was pretty enticing. I bought Prairie Avenue because it had an interesting old dust jacket. But I think the action takes place about 50 years prior so it may not be the best representation of 1949.

For the whole list:

TBR Chron