#837 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday January 17)
Good morning,
This week is the last of the best books of the decades. This is the 1930s. As I’ve stated before, while we tend to think of decades strictly by numbers, they don’t always fall neatly in ten year increments. The 30s is an example of a decade that I would deem begins with 1929 and the beginnings of the Great Depresssion, and ending with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. From that September forward, the world would be engulfed in war and its aftermath through the 1940s and the Soviet atomic bomb test in 1949, launching the Cold War.
With this, I’ve completed summaries of a century of the best books (or, at least, those that are, in my estimation, the best). It is curious how many have been translated to film over the years, how many are for children, and how many stand the test of time. With this, I’ve completed summaries of a century of the best books (or, at least, those that are, in my estimation, the best). This week I haven’t had the time to indulge in detailed summaries of all these books, so apologies for brevity and lack of color.
So here are the 1930s:
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The first in a series of fantasy novels that gave rise to a franchise of movies.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. The triumph of technology in a dystopian society.
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mead. The hugely popular novel that gave rise to the classic movie. A story of a young woman growing up in the Civil War and Reconstruction South. A Pulitzer Prize winner. Suspend your revulsion with the glorification of the old South and go for a ride through history and an interpretation of history that remains studied today.
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The story of Lennie and George, two migrant workers, one of whom is developmentally disabled. A heartwarming yet ultimately tragic story of difficult lives in the Great Depression.
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. The Joads in Oklahoma during the Great Depression and the dust bowl.
And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and the other Hercule Poirot mysteries, by Agatha Christie
The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Didn’t read this one but how do you not include a book turned into a series starring Michael (“Little Joe Cartwright”) Landon?
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner. The death of Addie Bundren, told from various perspectives of family determined to fulfill her wish of being buried in a town across the river. Their schlep of her body and the various foibles along the way make this a classic.
Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans. Girls in a Catholic girls’ school… “"In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines ..."
The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler. A complex thriller of double-crosses, featuring detective Phillip Marlowe.
Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Semi-autobiographical novel of Dick Diver’s fall into alcoholism and his wife’s decline into mental illness during the Jazz Age.
I, Claudius, by Robert Graves. From Caesar to Caligula, an autobiographical work of historical fiction. Later, a PBS miniseries starring Derek Jacobi.
Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers. The book of the famous nanny who flies in the wind to the Banks home, later adapted into the beloved movie.
The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper. Who doesn’t remember and love, “I think I can. I think I can…”?!
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf. He’d rather smell flowers than engage in bullfighting. What a sensitive (and survivalist) bull!
Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. Really a play, novel both in the written work and the staging. The fictional village of Grovers Corners, telling stories of ordinary folks from “our town.”
Lost Horizon, by James Hilton. The origin of “Shangri-la.”
God’s Little Acre, by Erskine Caldwell. An early book banned in some places, later vindicated for freedom of expression.
PERHAPS NOT THE TOP BUT REALLY INTERESTING RECENT FINDS
And then there are a few more recently discovered or rediscovered that I enjoyed, not in small measure due to their provenance:
I picked up the book The Hopkins Manuscript, by R.C. Sherriff, re-released this year, after reading a positive review. It’s the story of a small town in rural England and its preparations for, and life after, an apocalyptic celestial event that changes the world forever. This early entrant in the genre of post-apocalyptic fiction was written before the Second World War, a period of angst, anxiety, and the unknown. While the story reads like a modern page-turner, it has a wonderful early-20th century focus on character development and the painting of a mental picture not only of the physical environment, but the society, archetypes, and zeitgeist of the moment. The message? A natural cataclysm offers nowhere near the risks to humanity than the risks posed by the people of the world themselves.
The other 1930s era novel I’ve read recently is The Passenger, by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz. The story of a not-too-particularly-religious Jewish businessman is confronted with the slow erosion of rights and changing perspectives and actions of people around him during the ascendant days of the Nazi regime. Through the story of a man leaving his home through being a passenger on trains around Germany as he tries to sort out his circumstances, this book provides a compelling glimpse into Jewish life in Germany shortly before some of the most extreme policies of the Nazi regime went into effect. It reached prominence when re-issued in 2021 after his niece had discovered the manuscript, achieving generally positive reviews.
BOOKS, BOOKS, AND BOOKS
Now the effort to create a compendium of the best books of the 1930s through the 2020s shared over a ten week period—nearly 100 years of great literature—is complete. I’m always curious to see what others might add to the list…
In the next six to either weeks, on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week, I’ll share several specialized lists of books. Sharing next week a list of great book club books.
Have a great day,
Glenn