1947 was a very good year for novels. More than half the novels on America’s top 10 list for the year are still entertaining and thought-provoking reading. In the next few weeks, I’ll post reviews of all 10, starting with the No. 1 bestseller. Check your public library or WorldCat to locate a copy near [...]
Archive for August, 2007
Best-selling novels of 1947
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Lists of bestsellers by year on August 29, 2007 | Comments Off
Where to Find 1957 Bestsellers
Posted in Asides on August 29, 2007 | Comments Off
If you’re at all like me, the first place you look for books is your public library.
My local library, Kinney Memorial, has On the Beach in its young adult section. Why a tale of nuclear holocaust is considered young adult reading is beyond me. But then The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Moby Dick are in the young [...]
If You’d Rather Watch ‘57 Bestsellers
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Asides on August 28, 2007 | 1 Comment »
I mentioned in an earlier post that Of Love Possessed, the top novel in ‘57, was made into a movie. Other top novels of 1957 that got the Hollywood treatment were Peyton Place; Compulsion; Rally Round the Flag, Boys; and On the Beach. (Look at that. All I have to do is think about [...]
My Picks for 1957
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Asides, My Top Pics on August 28, 2007 | Comments Off
Looking back at the 1957 bestsellers from 60 years later, I rank Compulsion by Meyer Levin and On the Beach by Nevil Shute as the best reading of that year’s top ten.Both these novels are top-notch entertainment on topics that remain timely. Compulsion deals with why smart people commit crimes. On the Beach deals with [...]
Shrug This Novel Off
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Philosophical on August 26, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s philosophy poorly disguised as a novel. Readers who get through the 1000+ page novel deserve a prize—perhaps a “lifetime achievement award”—as compensation for getting so little pleasure.
Salt Has Too Many Stories
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Historical, Romance on August 26, 2007 | Comments Off
Below the Salt is a story with a story within a story—which is two stories too many evey for an accomplished historical yarn-spinner like Thomas B. Costain.
A Novel So Good, It’s Terrifying
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, My Top Pics, Psychological novel, Suspense on August 26, 2007 | Comments Off
On the Beach is a gripping novel of suspense and horrot by a master storyteller. I burst into tears after I finished it.
Nevil Shute (a pen name; his real name is Norway) writes quietly, warmly about people who seem familiar. There’s no blood and gore in this novel: just the raw horror of seeing the [...]
Suspenseful Tale of Exchanged Identities
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Mystery, Romance on August 26, 2007 | Comments Off
Daphne du Maurier’s The Scapegoat is a novel of suspense in the romantic tradition that the Dame’s mid-2oth century readers expected. There’s the requisite isolated setting, suspicious deaths, and a confusion of locals who know more than they are willing to tell.
Eloise Is a Brat on Any Continent
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Humor, Juvenile/Youth on August 24, 2007 | Comments Off
Kay Thompson hit the 1956 top ten with—of all things—a picture book about a child who lives at the Plaza Hotel. It’s sequel, Eloise in Paris, opens with the Eloise, enfant terrible, getting a cablegram: she’s going to Paris.
At six, Eloise can’t travel by herself, so Nanny accompanies her. Hilary Knight’s très agreable drawings show [...]
Blue Camellia makes impossible seem plausible
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Historical, Romance on August 22, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Blue Camellia is a typical Frances Parkinson Keyes novel of the post-Civil War South. Although there’s no long-term value to this novel, Blue Camillia will keep you entertained.
