Starting on Monday, Karen and Simon are hosting another of their clubs where we all read and write about books published in a certain year; this time the year is 1936, which appears to have been a particularly wonderful year for publishing! I have just finished reading my first book for the club and normally at the end of my review I would include a list of other books from that year previously reviewed on my blog. Usually I have read maybe three or four books from the year in question, but for 1936 the list is so long I decided it really needs a post all to itself! I thought I would post this a few days in advance in case anyone is still looking for inspiration.
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First of all, a real gem reissued by Dean Street Press which I read and loved in February:
Good by Stealth by Henrietta Clandon
Next, some more classic crime:
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
The Ghost It Was by Richard Hull
A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
Some fun with the Scarlet Pimpernel:
Sir Percy Leads the Band by Baroness Orczy
Three great books by authors I love:
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
The book which inspired The Lady Vanishes:
The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White
Two books by Marjorie Bowen published under different pseudonyms:
Night’s Dark Secrets by Joseph Shearing
The Poisoners by George Preedy
And Margery Allingham, also writing under a pseudonym:
The Devil and Her Son by Maxwell March
An interesting insight into 1930s life:
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
Also read before I started blogging:
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
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Have you read any of these? What are your favourite 1936 books?
She Reads Novels 
I’m doing a different book, but I have read quite a few of these and will need to link to my reviews. I’m thinking of re-reading Aspidistra if I’ve got time!
I would like to re-read Aspidistra sometime too, but probably not next week!
Whoa, what a year! Jamaica Inn, South Riding, AND The Talisman Ring? Plus Ballet Shoes? Those are the ones I’ve read, and they’re favorites of mine too. This is going to be an interesting week.
It was an amazing year! I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone has chosen to read.
Good list. I finished Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie and am on to Jamacia Inn which I may or may not get finished in time. I posted my list of past books when the Club year was announced.
I’m hoping to start Murder in Mesopotamia this weekend.
I’m finishing up Double Indemnity for next week – I read Jamaica Inn last year and loved it!
I never thought of reading Double Indemnity. Hope you enjoyed it!
Interesting idea. How are the years chosen? I was SO happy when they started to republish the British Library Classic Crime series. Only read one of them (so far) but I’ve been collecting them for a while. The 30’s and 40’s were a great time for crime novels.
Karen and Simon choose the year, but sometimes ask for suggestions. Yes, the BLCC series is great! I haven’t read many of them either, but have enjoyed most of the ones I have read.
Gone With The Wind!
I love Gone With The Wind!
That is a lot of good books! I’m a fan of the Christie and the Hay mysteries. I think Gone With the Wind and The Story of Ferdinand were also published in 1936; and I like both of those books, too. 🙂
There were so many great books published in 1936! I think it’s one of the best club years so far.
this was such a rich year for literature. I’m reading a G K Chesterton book for this year but have read in the past, Jamaica Inn, South Riding, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Ballet Shoes
I hope the GK Chesterton is good. 1936 was a great year – so many books that have become classics.
Oh, this is a good way to do it. I just included my links in my first post on Monday. You have already read a lot of the same books as I have.
I usually just include my links in my first review post too, but there were so many this time I thought they deserved a whole separate post!
Yes, that was a nice idea.
Some great choices there – so much to choose from! I am reading from England, Russia and Japan i think. Look forward to your posts!
I think this is one of the best years you’ve chosen!
Basically, it’s usually a year which Simon and I think will be interesting, although we sometimes put it out to vote. But generally it’s a year between 1920 and the 1970s – a period we’re both fond of!
I’ve a couple of books already on the go so I’m only going to read a short story published in 1936, H P Lovecraft’s final fiction ‘The Hunter of the Dark’. But it’s interesting to see so many other famous titles published around then — a plethora of Christie mysteries, Jamaica Inn, Gone With the Wind — quite apart from the works you mention.
I’m glad that you’ve still found a way to join in! Yes, 1936 seems to have been a particularly impressive year, with lots of books that have ended up as classics.
This is really Smorgasbord! Thanks for sharing this treasure trove of this vintage year ! Hope I can read all of these …
There was such a great variety of books published in 1936. I hope you’re able to read some of them!
Thanks, this looks like a fun reading challenge, may join in. In any event, have been itching to read Talisman Ring again, so why not? 🙂
The Talisman Ring was the first Heyer novel I read; it’s not a favourite, but I’ll always have fond memories of it for that reason!
Ballet Shoes, Talisman Ring, and Jamaica Inn are definitely my 1936 favorites. I read Cards on the Table this week which I didn’t think I had read but came back to me once I had started. I like Gone With the Wind too. I’ve always meant to read South Riding; somehow I missed that it had been published in 1936 or I might have read that this month. I definitely don’t have time now!
I am in the middle of Christie’s Murder in Mesopotamia at the moment, which was also published in 1936 – I was torn between that one and Cards on the Table. South Riding is a great book; I think you would enjoy it.
It wasn’t until I saw this post that I realised how many books were published and that I had read more than one! Not sure I will have time to read a book for this week, should have been more organised. I might see what my mum has on her shelf that I haven’t read.
I was surprised to see how many 1936 books I’d already read! For most of the club years I’ve only read a handful. I hope you’re able to join in.