#1962 Club: No Dust in the Attic by Anthony Gilbert

Arthur Crook, travelling to London, comes across a couple at a Railway restroom and immediately suspects that something is amiss. It certainly is. Janice Grey, had in her young days married Pat Wylie after a chance encounter outside a phone booth (and phones play an important role in the story). However, when she realized that …

Forgotten Classic of 1962: Combat of Shadows by Manohar Malgonkar

Indian author Manohar Malgonkar's third novel, Combat of Shadows is set in the North-Eastern Indian state of Assam over the course of a few months. When the novel opens in September 1938, we meet Henry Winton, the manager of a tea-estate who is happy with his life, lording over the Indians and delighting in his …

#1962 Club: The Cactus and the Crown by Catherine Gavin

Except for a handful of countries like the UK, USA, France, Germany, Russia where I do have some idea about their histories (at least the highlights) the world is blank to me. I know the names of the countries but little else. Mexico is one such country and so when I saw a historical novel …

#1962 Club: Portrait in Brownstone by Louis Auchincloss

Everything in New York reminded one of the prevalent dust to which, almost immediately, it seemed, one was condemned to return. If one didn't seize that day, a contractor would. Linn Tremain, who as a young man, had gone to Florence to get an education in art, made an Italian woman his mistress and finally …

#1962 Club: Whistle for the Crows by Dorothy Eden

It is the start of another Reading Club: a bi-annual even hosted by Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Karen @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings. The year this time is 1962 and I am happy to state that I have a few books of that year on my shelves, some of them, in fact, on …

Forgotten Book: The Fever Tree by Richard Mason

Richard Mason (1919-1997) was a British author who served in the RAF during the second world-war and fought on the Indo-Burmese front, later becoming an Intelligence officer. Best known for his 1957 novel, The World of Suzie Wong, Mason also wrote a handful of other novels, two of which, The Wind Cannot Read (1946) and The …

Short Notes: Two Books on Greek Literature

The Iliad is the first extant book of European Literature. Part of an oral tradition of poetry, it is supposed to have been composed by a blind,wandering minstrel named Homer who is also considered to be the writer of that other great Greek Epic, the Odyssey. Over the years both these books have influenced writers …

Forgotten Books: The Arthur Abdel Simpson Novels by Eric Ambler

Eric Ambler (1909-1998) is a British writer known for his thrillers and spy novels. Last year I read him for the first time when I read his most famous book A Coffin for Dimitrios, a book that almost inevitably features in top mystery lists.In 1962, Ambler created the character of Arthur Abdel Simpson, a British-Egyptian, …