As part of 1925 Club (hosted this week by Karen and Simon), we’re invited to join in the celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the clubs. Yes, beginning in 2015 with 1924 Club, the club reading weeks have now been held twice annually for ten years! I’ve taken part in all of them and have discovered lots of great books, as well as being inspired to try some new authors for the first time. Having looked back at all the titles I read for the various club years, I have picked out ten favourites to highlight below. The books are listed in order of publication year.
1. Beau Geste by P.C. Wren (1924 Club)
Part adventure novel, part mystery, this was the book I read for Simon and Karen’s first club ten years ago and it was a great choice.
2. The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1940 Club) – I really enjoyed this first book in a trilogy following the lives of Lucilla Eliot and her children and grandchildren. I must read the second book soon!
3. They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie (1951 Club)
This is one of Christie’s standalone thrillers (no Poirot or Miss Marple here). It’s great fun and has a very engaging heroine in Victoria Jones.
4. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1962 Club)
I missed out on reading Joan Aiken’s Wolves Chronicles as a child, so I took the opportunity to read this one for 1962 Club!
5. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (1965 Club)
The first in Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series and another children’s book that I came to as an adult and loved.
6. Chocky by John Wyndham (1968 Club)
As someone who doesn’t read much science fiction, I didn’t expect to love this novel about a boy with a very unusual imaginary friend, but I found it fascinating!
7. God is an Englishman by RF Delderfield (1970 Club)
This is the first book in Delderfield’s Swann Saga about a family who establish a haulage business in Victorian Britain. I will definitely be reading the next book at some point.
8. Don’t Go to Sleep in the Dark by Celia Fremlin (1970 Club)
A wonderful collection of thirteen dark, unsettling stories in which Fremlin creates tension from domestic settings and everyday situations.
9. Castle Barebane by Joan Aiken (1976 Club)
Another Aiken book, this time a very entertaining adult Gothic novel set in 19th century Scotland.
10. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (1977 Club) – A surprisingly dark and poigant Pym novel, about four lonely people who share an office. It has stayed with me because of the sadness I felt for the characters.
Some honourable mentions:
Live Alone and Like It by Marjorie Hillis (1936 Club)
The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes (1940 Club)
Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham (1944 Club)
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (1954 Club)
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (1977 Club)
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Have you read any of these? If you join in with the clubs, what are the best books you’ve read for them?
She Reads Novels 
I’ve read 2, 4, 5, and 10, by four of my favorite authors. I always love the combination of old favorites and new discoveries that comes up through the clubs. Some of my highlights have been My Cousin Rachel (1951 Club), Our Town (1938 Club), Orsinian Tales (1976 Club) and The Constant Nymph (1924 Club). I should keep better track of my club reads, I might be missing some.
I was glad I was able to participate this time with The Professor’s House by Willa Cather – I had not prepared in advance, but I managed to read and review it this week already.
I enjoyed My Cousin Rachel and The Constant Nymph too, although I didn’t read them for the clubs. I’m glad you managed to join in this time!
I have Quartet in Autumn lined up for Novellas in November. Looking forward to it!
I have only read one novel by this author but really enjoyed it so on the recommendation of you both, it is going on to my list. I am in Australia and embracing spring but I can still read it and place myself in the autumnal mood. Maybe it is even Autumnal in terms of life seasons and years versus the actual season.
Yes, I think the title refers to the characters being in the autumn of their lives as they approach retirement age. It would work just as well as a spring read!
Quartet in Autumn is unusually dark for Barbara Pym, but I really liked it – hope you do too.
Some great choices there! I’ve read a few of your titles, but there are plenty of nice ideas for future reading! 😀
Yes, I can highly recommend all of these. I’m surprised that most of my favourites seem to have come from the 60s and 70s, though!
I love Elizabeth Goudge’s Eliot trilogy and the second one The Herb of Grace was always my favourite so I hope that you manage to read it soon.
The Bird in the Tree was my introduction to Elizabeth Goudge and it remains a favourite. Lucilla is a powerful character but for me it was always the house itself that stood out. Damerosehay withstands everything and I can easily imagine it, the shelter and the refuge that is, and has remained. I am in a Goudge Substack and so get to enjoy her work every month.
I’m pleased to hear the second book is your favourite, Janette – I’m looking forward to reading it, hopefully soon!
Thanks so much for joining in right from the start! And lovely that we both picked the Goudge. The second is brilliant too, though I did find the third in the trilogy was a bit of a disappointment.
Sorry to hear the third Goudge book was disappointing – I’ll look forward to reading the second one, anyway!
I’ve only read the Pym, I like the sound of the Goudge in particular, I haven’t been involved in a series for ages and would like to be!
I love Elizabeth Goudge! I don’t know why I still haven’t continued with that trilogy.
Only the pym I’ve read from your pick of ten years
I really liked that Pym because it’s so different from the other books of hers that I’ve read.
I’ve read the Susan Cooper and the Barbara Pym. And I think I read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase? I remember the title, but not much else about it. And that was a sad Pym novel.
Quartet in Autumn was very sad, but that made it stand out from the other Pym novels I’ve read. I loved the whole Susan Cooper series!
I read every Wyndham I could get my hands on in my 20’s. ‘The Day of the Triffids’ was, I think, my favourite. I think it might be just about time for a re-read… [muses]
I think The Midwich Cuckoos is my favourite Wyndham so far, but I still have a few more left to read.
Agree that ‘Midwich Cuckoos’ is also VERY good. The British SF books of the era had a unique quality to them – before they went all mid-Atlantic or tried to blend in with the vast American output. I can understand the desire for universal appeal but I do think that they also lost something special.
I guess I missed the suggestion to do this, so I put together a list of my favorites, not 10 and not in order:
I just took a quick look back and came up with We Have Always Lived in the Castle for the 1962 Club, A High Wind in Jamaica for the 1929 Club, The Towers of Trebizond for the 1956 Club, Cakes and Ale for the 1930 Club, and Beginning with a Bash for the 1937 Club.
Of those, I’ve only read We Have Always Lived in the Castle but I would like to read all of the others!
I *love* the God is an Englishman series. Never got into Wyndham. I remember there being TV adaptations of both Chocky and Day of the Triffids when I was at primary school, but I was never into sci-fi.
I have the second book in the Delderfield series ready to start soon! I’m not really into sci-fi either, but Wyndham is one of the few authors I’ve found that I like.
I’ve read (of course!) the Cooper and the Wolves title by Aiken, but do want to read Castle Barebane which I believe has recently been reissued.
I hope you enjoy Castle Barebane if and when you read it! I’m looking forward to reading more of the Wolves series at some point.
We read The Dark is Rising in Year 9 at my all girls Catholic high school in Australia and it was a revelation to me. It introduced me to history and tradition and the rhythms that pulse through the life and seasons of a rural community in ways I had never imagined. I re read it last year for the first time in 35 years and loved it as much.
I loved all five books in the Dark is Rising series. Somehow I never came across them as a child, but I found that, like all good children’s books, they have a lot to offer an adult reader too. I’m glad you enjoyed them.