Reading the 20th Century discussion
Archive
>
Group Reads -> March 2024 -> Nomination thread (1940s) (Won by Winter in Madrid by CJ Samson)
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/20...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/23
https://lithub.com/a-century-of-readi...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
Mod
by Patrick Hamilton and published in 1947. Measuring out the wartime days in a small town on the Thames, Miss Roach is not unattractive but no longer quite young. The Rosamund Tea Rooms boarding house, where she lives with half a dozen others, is as grey and lonely as its residents. For Miss Roach, 'slave of her task-master, solitude', a shaft of not altogether welcome light is suddenly beamed upon her, with the appearance of a charismatic and emotional American Lieutenant. With him comes change - tipping the precariously balanced society of the house and presenting Miss Roach herself with a dilemma.
Mod
Thanks Susan
Mod
Every cloud and all that, this gives me the opportunity to nominate a book and an author that I have yet to read despite hearing many good things about both.
So instead, my nomination is...
Winter in Madrid (2006)
by
C.J. Sansom
More about this historical novel which is set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War....
1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless march through Europe. Britain now stands alone while General Franco considers whether to abandon neutrality and enter the war.
Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett: a traumatized veteran of Dunkirk turned reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of old school friend Sandy Forsyth, now a shady Madrid businessman, Harry finds himself involved in a dangerous game – and surrounded by memories.
Meanwhile Sandy's girlfriend, ex-Red Cross nurse Barbara Clare, is engaged in a secret mission of her own – to find her former lover Bernie Piper, a passionate Communist in the International Brigades, who vanished on the bloody battlefields of the Jarama.
Mod
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters.
Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked out streets, illicit liaisons, sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch is the work of a truly brilliant and compelling storyteller.
This is the story of four Londoners – three women and a young man with a past, drawn with absolute truth and intimacy. Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now dresses in mannish clothes and wanders the streets with a restless hunger, searching. Helen, clever, sweet, much-loved, harbours a painful secret. Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly, even foolishly loyal, to her soldier lover. Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. Their lives, and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways. War leads to strange alliances…
Tender, tragic and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of feats of heroism both epic and ordinary, here is a novel of relationships that offers up subtle surprises and twists. The Night Watch is thrilling. A towering achievement.
Mod
I loved our last SW read The Little Stranger and would love to continue reading more by her
Mod
Great choices so far! I will nominate Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector, published in 1943.
Mod
It's funny to think of Clarice having written this book in the 1940s when it feels so modern.
Mod
I loved our last SW read The Little Stranger and would love to continue reading more by her"
I thought the same! Plus there's always lots to discuss in her books.
Mod
"Three great nominations so far. Nigeyb, you do know that C.J. Sansom wrote the Shardlake series, I have been nagging you about reading for years ;)"
I do indeed. Part of the reason for the nomination. Start with a stand alone
One day I will get to Shardlake 🤠
Mod
"Great choices so far! I will nominate Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector, published in 1943."
Thanks David
My goodness we've already quite the array of very tempting nominations
Yes, wonderful ideas already! It's a great decade for books, and I can't resist adding a nomination. I've been meaning to read this for ages.
West with the Night by Beryl MarkhamFrom the blurb:
Beryl Markham chronicles her experiences growing up in Kenya (then British East Africa) in the early 1900s, and her stellar careers as racehorse trainer and bush pilot. Markham was the first woman in East Africa to be granted a commercial pilot's license, piloting passengers and supplies to remote corners of Africa. She became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west.
Mod
I had my idea all picked and went out for the afternoon only to return and find I'm already message #16 and so many great nominations. But nevertheless my two cents....My nomination is The President by Miguel Asturias, a Nobel Prize winner I otherwise know little about. This book has been on my to-read list forever!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
Guatemalan diplomat and writer Miguel Angel Asturias (1899–1974) began this award-winning work while still a law student. It is a story of a ruthless dictator and his schemes to dispose of a political adversary in an unnamed Latin American country usually identified as Guatemala. The book has been acclaimed for portraying both a totalitarian government and its damaging psychological effects. Drawing from his experiences as a journalist writing under repressive conditions, Asturias employs such literary devices as satire to convey the government’s transgressions and surrealistic dream sequences to demonstrate the police state’s impact on the individual psyche. Asturias’s stance against all forms of injustice in Guatemala caused critics to view the author as a compassionate spokesperson for the oppressed. My work,” Asturias promised when he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature, “will continue to reflect the voice of the people, gathering their myths and popular beliefs and at the same time seeking to give birth to a universal consciousness of Latin American problems.”
Mod
Am I mixing her up or did Beryl Markham have an affair with Dennis Finch-Hatton from Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa? - Robert Redford in the Meryl Streep film.
Roman Clodia wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "Yes, wonderful ideas already! It's a great decade for books, and I can't resist adding a nomination. I've been meaning to read this for ages."Am I mixing her up or did Beryl Mark..."
Yes, and also with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The book is beautiful and has an interesting story, you can find it on Wikipedia:
Markham's memoir lingered in obscurity until 1982, when California restaurateur George Gutekunst read a collection of Ernest Hemingway's letters, including one in which Hemingway praised Markham's writing (...).
Intrigued, Gutekunst read West with the Night and became so enamoured of Markham's prose that he helped persuade a California publisher, North Point Press, to re-issue the book in 1983. The re-release of the book led to praise for the 80-year-old Markham as a great author as well as flyer.
Mod
Mod
I'm always fascinated - and a bit embarrassed - at how many Novel winners I've never heard of, let alone read!
Daniela wrote: "Roman Clodia wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "Yes, wonderful ideas already! It's a great decade for books, and I can't resist adding a nomination. I've been meaning to read this for ages."Am I mixing her..."
Thanks for the question and answer, RC and Daniela. Interesting! I didn't know, but was hoping this was true. :-)
Mod
I'll get the poll up on Thursday morning (UK time)
Mod
"Last call for nominations
I'll get the poll up on Thursday morning (UK time)"
Nominations so far (an insanely good selection)....
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton (Susan)
Winter in Madrid (2006) by C.J. Sansom (Nigeyb)
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (Roman Clodia)
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector (David)
West with the Night by Beryl Markham (Kathleen)
The President by Miguel Asturias (Ben)
c24 hours left to nominate if you want to make our voting decision even trickier
Mod
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...
Vote now
Nominations....
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton (Susan)
Winter in Madrid (2006) by C.J. Sansom (Nigeyb)
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (Roman Clodia)
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector (David)
West with the Night by Beryl Markham (Kathleen)
The President by Miguel Asturias (Ben)
Roman Clodia wrote: "Thanks Daniela, glad I wasn't imagining that relationship! I have the feeling I read West with the Night as a teenager but can't remember it in any detail, just that Markham was on the margins of t..."Yes, there was controversy over whether she or her husband wrote much of the book. I thought she had written more until I read Errol Trzebinski's book The Lives of Beryl Markham by Errol Trzebinski. Then I came to the conclusion (as mentioned in my review of West) that perhaps she was able to talk up most of her adventures, particularly about flight, with her husband who was able to translate it to the page.
Oh, wow! I missed out entirely on this nomination period. This thread never popped up for me.Oh, well. And it is January and I try not to buy any books between January and March. I've already fallen off the wagon once. In my drinking days, I used to go on the wagon or stay dry from January to March and I try to translate that to my book buying. Because I just buy too many books.
Mod
Beryl Markham has actually just been mentioned in a light historical mystery we've been reading over in Reading the Detectives, Stealing the Crown, because she also had an affair with Harry, Duke of Gloucester!
Roman Clodia wrote: "Thanks Daniela, glad I wasn't imagining that relationship! I have the feeling I read West with the Night as a teenager but can't remember it in any detail, just that Markham was on the margins of t..."It's funny that you mentioned the Happy Valley! I'm just about to read Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya by Nicholas Best and I hope to find them all in the book, Karen Blixen, Denys Finch Hatton, Beryl Markham...
(Forgive me, it's off topic)
Mod
I'm off to a music festival tomorrow so will probably not be posting or even checking so look forward to seeing the state of play when I re-emerge on Monday
Mod
Mod
Mod
We love off topic, Danielle! I remember that old film with young Greta Scacchi and Charles Dance and the murder of her husband in Happy Valley but I think that was a bit later, around WW2?
Mod
Lucky, that - dancing in the wind and rain is no fun!
Mod
Mod
Mod
Mod
Winter in Madrid (2006)
by
C.J. Sansom
More about this historical novel which is set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War....
1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless march through Europe. Britain now stands alone while General Franco considers whether to abandon neutrality and enter the war.
Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett: a traumatized veteran of Dunkirk turned reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of old school friend Sandy Forsyth, now a shady Madrid businessman, Harry finds himself involved in a dangerous game – and surrounded by memories.
Meanwhile Sandy's girlfriend, ex-Red Cross nurse Barbara Clare, is engaged in a secret mission of her own – to find her former lover Bernie Piper, a passionate Communist in the International Brigades, who vanished on the bloody battlefields of the Jarama.
Mod
Here's to another splendid RTTC group read discussion
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
Winter in Madrid (other topics)Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya (other topics)
Stealing the Crown (other topics)
The Lives of Beryl Markham by Errol Trzebinski (other topics)
Out of Africa (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
C.J. Sansom (other topics)Nicholas Best (other topics)
Errol Trzebinski (other topics)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (other topics)
Isak Dinesen (other topics)
More...
With that in mind we're still trialling something new
Going forward we'll rotate between a wild card month (anything set or written in the twentieth century), a decade (anything set or written in a specific decade of the twentieth century), or a twentieth century classic (a classic book written in the twentieth century)
March 2024 is the 1940s
So please feel free to nominate anything set or written in the the 1940s
Please supply the title, author, a brief synopsis, and anything else you'd like to mention about the book, and why you think it might make a good book to discuss.
Happy nominating