My daughter is a librarian in a big school and, obviously, hasn’t been at work for a while, but has come up with little surveys to keep the children (and adults) interested. “Best non-fiction book”, “Best trilogy” etc ....
This week she did “Best book(s) written in the decade you were born. Now, I’ll make no secret of the fact that I’m an old bugger and was born in the Fifties, so (as I have loads of time on my hands!) I went and looked up some of the books which were written (or published) in that decade. Crikey - there are some classics!
On The Beach and A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
The Illustrated Man and Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond
HMS Ulysses - Alistair McLean (one of the best naval war books I’ve ever read)
The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
Under Milk Wood - Dylan Thomas (though I confess to never having read this, I just LOVE the narrated version by Richard Burton)
The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
Was wondering if anyone else would like to have a go and list some of their favourite books which were written in the decade they were born? All except Fat Le Tiss, of course, as, being an ex-footballer, he probably never got past the front page of The Tiger (and do we know who was on that front page?)
(sorry FLT - couldn’t resist!)
Hope everyone is safe and well and reading ......
This is a brilliant idea.
I am quite surprised that some of these books were written as late as the 1950s. Of that list, I have only read one of the books and that is "HMs Ulysses" which I read as a teenager. I believe it was Alistair McLean's debut novel and concerned ships on the Russian conveys during World War Two. It is years since I read this but have to agree that it was an amazing book and totally unlike the other novels he churned out which I loved as a kid until I realised that the goodies were usually baddies and the baddie were usually goodies. The hero always turned out to be a secret agent as opposed to an ordinary person! The list doesn't include any of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels which were also largely written in this decade.
I keep meaning to try Nevil Shute. I believe he wrote a novel in the early 1930s which was about Southampton being destroyed in an air raid which foretold the events to come in World War Two. From recollection, he worked in an airfield near Portsmouth
Being born in the 1960s, the one book that really sums up this decade for me is Len Deighton's "The Ipcress File." The film is a classic too,.
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