1961 Club, hosted by Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, starts on Monday, which means we’ll all be reading and writing about books published in that year. 1961 was a great year for publishing – I have previously read and reviewed six books on my blog and thought I would list them before the week begins. If you haven’t decided what to read yet, maybe you can find some inspiration here.
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The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett – The first book in one of my favourite series, the Lymond Chronicles, and one I would love to see someone read for 1961 Club! I know this book doesn’t appeal to everyone due to the frequent literary references, foreign language quotes, the complex plot and Lymond himself, an enigmatic character seen only through the eyes of other people, always in as bad a light as possible. For those of us who connect with it, though, it’s a wonderful reading experience, so I do highly recommend giving this book a try.
The Way to the Lantern by Audrey Erskine Lindop – Lindop seems to be a truly forgotten author, with all of her work now out of print, but she was very successful in the 1960s, with some of her books made into films. I found a copy of her French Revolution novel, The Way to the Lantern, a few years ago and absolutely loved it. I live in hope of a publisher bringing her back into print so more people can discover her work.
Death of a Tin God by George Bellairs – This is part of Bellair’s Inspector Littlejohn mystery series, although the books work as standalones and don’t need to be read in order. I’ve read four of them and this isn’t one of my favourites, but the Isle of Man setting makes it interesting.
The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart – I love Mary Stewart’s books, including this one, in which Mary Grey is approached by a man who has mistaken her for his cousin, Annabel, and persuades her to impersonate Annabel as part of a scheme to inherit his great-uncle’s fortune. This book has a particularly clever plot and, like all Stewart’s novels, a great sense of place.
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie – A standalone Christie with neither Poirot nor Miss Marple – although another of her recurring characters, the crime writer Ariadne Oliver, does make an appearance, which is always nice to see! With a plot involving three women believed to be witches, this is an atmospheric and unsettling novel with a real sense of evil and a hint of the supernatural. It’s not one of my top few Christies but I did enjoy it.
Castle Dor by Daphne du Maurier – Du Maurier is another author I usually love, but Castle Dor, based on the legend of Tristan and Iseult, is my least favourite of her books by far. That’s probably because it’s not all her own work – the book was begun by Arthur Quiller-Couch and completed after his death by du Maurier. A lot of online sources say it was published in 1962, but the copyright in the edition I read says 1961 so I’ve included it here.
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Have you read any of these? Will you be taking part in 1961 Club next week?
She Reads Novels 
I’m one of the people who’ve never been able to get with the Lymond books. I’ve read the first one twice now but it’s been a slog both times. It’s strange as I loved the House of Niccolo series
I’m the opposite – I loved Lymond but had a much harder time with the first Niccolo book, although I did eventually finish it and went on to enjoy the rest of the series.
I love Du Maurier as well, but haven’t read Castle Dor. It doesn’t really appeal.
Castle Dor doesn’t really feel like a du Maurier novel – much more of an Arthur Quiller-Couch one, I think. I’ve enjoyed all of her other books apart from that one.
I ought to return to the Lymond Chronicles, but probably should reread book 1 first. I recall only being confused by the plot but loving the characters. And The Ivy Tree was a delight! I’d happily read it again too.
The Lymond Chronicles does need a lot of concentration, but it’s definitely worth the effort, I think. Once I got past the first book I found the plots easier to follow, although they’re still complex. And I would like to read The Ivy Tree again too, so I can spot the clues I’m sure I missed the first time!
I have all of your previous reads on my previous reads list, except one. Coming on Monday!
Oops! I mean except two!
I’ll look out for your post!
Good post. I’m a librarian but I found so much conflicting information for books of this year. For once, the Wikipedia entry on books for the year didn’t bring up much–and what little it did I’d mostly read. I finally contacted Dean Street Press to see what they had and that’s what I’m reading. My post went up Monday. I look forward to what everyone ends up reading/reviewing.
Yes, sometimes the Wikipedia entry isn’t very helpful. I’m glad you managed to find something from Dean Street Press!
I’m cautiously curious about The Game Of Kings. Im not sure how I’ll find the literary references and foreign language quotes but I quite like the idea of seeing a character only through other people’s eyes and generally in a pretty poor light. I also really want to try The Pale Horse sometime as the hint of the supernatural is sure to appeal to me. Its great that you’ve already read so many books published within this year and I hope you enjoy any that you pick up for the event.
The Game of Kings is not the easiest book to read and doesn’t work for everyone, but I definitely think it’s worth trying to see how you get on with it. The Pale Horse is a great Agatha Christie novel – although it’s not one of my absolute favourites, I did find it very atmospheric.
Some great options there, and I’ve only read one – the Christie, of course! I’m intrigued by “The Way To the Lantern” though!
The Way to the Lantern is excellent. It’s such a shame her books are all so hard to find.
I have Thunderball by Ian Fleming in my sights but whether I’ll be able to get to it I don’t know. Alternatively I could just read my wrinkles and age spots as it’s my birth year!
I hope you can fit Thunderball in, but if not at least you have an alternative plan! 😂
I’ve only read The Pale Horse which like you wasn’t my favourite but still great of course!
Christie wrote so many novels they can’t all be favourites, but I did still really enjoy The Pale Horse!
I’ve read the Christie but stalled on the Du Mairier – or rather, the probable Quiller-Couch part which I just lost interest in, preferring to return to the medieval originals of the Tristan-Iseult legends. I do have a copy of DdM’s Rule Britannia which I think I’d prefer to try instead!
Castle Dor doesn’t feel like a typical du Maurier novel at all – it’s much more of a Quiller-Couch book, I think. Rule Britannia is a lot more compelling, although none of her books surpass Rebecca, in my opinion.