The 1937 Club

~ This Reading Life

Once again, the seasons have rolled around and it’s time to think about another year club with Karen and Simon. Apparently we have been doing these for nine years! I’ve missed some along the way, but I do enjoy researching which books and poems were published in the year of choice and seeing what the rest of you manage to read.

It’s turning into a gorgeous autumn in Sydney (after a ghastly hot, humid summer that no-one was sorry to see end) as we celebrate the year in publishing that was 1937. I’ll start with the books I’ve read from 1937. As per usual many of them were from my pre-blogging days, but the more recent reads will have my blog post linked to them.

  • Agatha Christie
    • Death on the Nile
    • Dumb Witness
    • Murder in the Mews
  • Arthur Upfield
    • Mr. Jelly’s Business
    • Winds of Evil
  • Children’s books
    • Enid Blyton – The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair
    • Carol Ryrie Brink – Baby Island (oh how I loved this book when I was about 7-8)
    • Laura Ingalls Wilder – On the Banks of Plum Creek

The following titles are the books from 1937 on my TBR – all of which are now safely packed away in their book boxes ready for our imminent move to the mountains.

  • C. S. Forester – The Happy Return (also known as Beat to Quarters)
  • Rumer Godden | The Lady and the Unicorn (maybe it’s time to reinstate Rumer Godden reading week?)
  • George Orwell – The Road to Wigan Pier
    • Spilling the Spanish Beans essay (this is the one I’m hoping to read and review this week)
  • Katharine Susannah Prichard – Intimate Strangers
  • Angela Thirkell – Summer Half (book five in the series – I will have to read books three and four before I can read this one)
  • Virginia Woolf – The Years (I’m reading Woolf in chronological order, so this one will have to wait until the right time too)

Have you read any of these books?

When I finally unpack all the boxes at the other end of my move, which ones should I prioritise?

This post was written on the traditional land of the Wangal clan, one of the 29 clans of the Eora Nation within the Sydney basin. This Reading Life recognises the continuous connection to Country, community and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They are the traditional custodians of the lands, seas, and skies on which we live and they are this nations first storytellers.

Published by This Reading Life

28 thoughts on “The 1937 Club”

    1. I have to assume with some of the Blyton’s too, but if it was on our family bookshelf when I was growing up (which this one was), the chances are I read it, even if I don’t recall many details. Same goes for Agatha Christie.

      When I started highschool, the library had almost all of the Christie’s. By the end of Yr 7 I had read every single one they had (and all the Tintin’s – I never got into Asterix, though the librarian tried). So there is an assumption with those one too, even though I can only remember the plot of a few particular favourites.

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  2. Great selection Brona! I’ll be posting on Thirkell this week, you don’t need to have read the others to read this one (it’s set outside Barchester mostly). I would love a return of Rumer Godden reading week, but no pressure 🙂

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    1. When I was packing up my books, I realised I still had quite a few unread Godden’s, and thought at the time I should reinstate the reading week (in December to coincide with her bday). It’s a very tempting thought 🙂

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  3. I bought Intimate Strangers when I was looking into 1937 though I won’t read it for a while. I missed that Of Mice and Men was published then. Mr Jelly’s Business is one of Upfield’s two or three Bony novels set in WA.

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    1. I suspect if I tried to read the Bony books now, I’d not enjoy them as much as I did when I was 19, but I have very fond memories of scouring the secondhand bookshops in Wagga during my second year at uni for these books. Once I had read one, I wanted to read them all!

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  4. I’ve read the Steinbeck and Hurston but both years ago. I’m interested that you’re reading VW in chronological order, I did that (along with her diary) and really enjoyed it; it’s great seeing her style change. Have you read the diaries? I loved hearing her chat about the books as she was writing them

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    1. I have not yet read her diaries or my two volume set of the common reader essays…they are patiently waiting their turn as well 🙂

      But I like the idea of reading the relevant parts of her diary as I read the next book – thanks Jane.

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  6. Only the Tolkien fantasy is among the titles I’ve read; but I read another Tintin adventure The Black Island as it was first serialised in 1937 though it appeared in book form the year after. (I read the later revision from the 50s.)

    The only Rumer Godden I’ve read is The Battle of the Villa Fiorita but I do have a copy of The Peacock Spring to try at some stage. So much waiting to be read!

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    1. Every club, I think I will take the opportunity to reread one of the Tintin’s to see if I enjoy them as much now as I did when I was 13, but I’m a little concerned about ruining such a wonderful reading memory!

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  9. Aww, I looked for Baby Island but couldn’t find a copy. I’ll keep an eye, though, even past the week’s event, knowing it’s a favourite of yours!

    Dinesen, Hurston, Steinbeck and Tolkien I’ve read. Quite likely the Blyton novel too: they all blurred back then, unless I was lucky to have a copy of one and then I reread them regularly. Much as you did the Brink novel apparently.

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    1. I had another Carol Ryrie Brink as a child that I loved too (Two Are Better Than One) but Baby Island was the winner! Along with Enid Blyton’s Secret Island, I loved the story idea of children fending for themselves on an island without any adults. I read these two books over and over and over again.

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      1. OhEmGee, I loved loved loved Secret Island. It was my favourite Blyton.
        I don’t suppose Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins made it to you over there? But it was quite lauded and from a major publisher, so maybe?
        There were a few of these survival stories in my stack too, much loved. But they’re all American, with the Blyton and one other being an exception to that.

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  10. Of the ones you haven’t read yet, I’ve read Summer Half and The Lady and the Unicorn. I don’t know what I’d prioritize either of them, although they were both entertaining.

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  11. I think I’ve read most of your list, though with the same caveats about Blyton and Christie. I think I’ve read them all, but they’ve blended into each other!

    As I said on Sue’s post, I’ve got three Aussies on the 1937 TBR: Intimate Strangers by KSP, Sun Across the Sky by Eleanor Dark, and The Young Desire, but *sigh* I am weighed down (literally) by two chunksters arriving from the library at the same time and I have to finish them within 10 days because I can’t renew.

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  12. I’ve read various of the adult books on your list and have fond memories of On the Banks of Plum Creek. I’ve pulled it off my shelf for a possible reread. I was put off Blyton by having to read The Magic Faraway Tree and its sequels to my children. I was spared the horror of more Blyton because we had a video of a cartoon version of The Wishing Chair, the best way to experience it.

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