November 4

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Dominic Nolan

I’ve been looking forward to this week for many, many months. If you follow me on Twitter (aka X) you can’t help but have noticed my continued insistence that people should read Dominic Nolan’s excellent Vine Street.

Vine Street utterly blew me when I listened to the audiobook, it was like no story I had read and it put me through an emotional spin cycle.  I described it as a serial killer story which spanned several decades. When I saw Dom at Aye Write and also at Bloody Scotland he described Vine Street as a book about the dance halls of Soho in the 1920s. It’s both those things and so much more.

Why have I been looking forward to this week when Vine Street has been on my mind for the last two years?  Simply because this week sees the publication of White City, Dominic’s new book and I am actively avoiding all spoilers so I can read it on release this week.  The excitment is real people – this is what I blog for, to share my reading highights.

With White City looming into view I asked Dom if he would take on my Decades challenge and add some new books to my Ultimate Library. I was delighted he agreed and I am really excited to share his selections with you.

Before we get to the books I shall quickly recap the Decades Challenge and why these books are being added to my Decades Library:

I am trying to assemble the best collection of unmissable books. In January 2021 I opened the Library with no books on the virtual shelves. I have invited authors, publishers, bloggers and journalists to add their favourite books to my Library shelves so I can ensure visitors to my Decades Library will only have the very best books to choose from.  Why is it a Decades Library?

Two rules govern the selection process:

1 – You May Choose Any Five Books
2 – You May Only Choose One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

It’s a Decades Library as each book which is added to the Library by my guests must be contained wihin a fifty-year publication span. As you will see, this week’s selections begin in the 1960s. It’s time to let Dom take over – brace your TBR, this is going to challenge your book buying willpower…

 

Dominic Nolan lives in London and is the author of the widely acclaimed VINE STREET, AFTER DARK, and PAST LIFE.

In WHITE CITY, his fourth novel, two broken families, unknowingly connected by the biggest heist in British history, fight to get by in a ruined city blighted by crime, corruption, and the fanning of racial tensions among the working poor. It is out November 7th from Headline.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/White-City-stunning-unforgettable-historical/dp/1035416751

Sometimes he’s on twitter @NolanDom, usually when he’s supposed to be writing.

DECADES

 

THE LOWLIFE – ALEXANDER BARON (1963)

 

“I am full of knots that are going to get tighter and tighter unless I put the money on.”

 

Baron was one of the great London novelists, a bard of the poor and downtrodden. WR Burnett said, “I humanize people that other writers don’t even write about,” which could have been Baron’s epitaph. A born loser, a survivor, a dogtrack player, Harryboy is always on the scheme and always in debt, living through the postwar reconstruction of a Hackney of poverty, crime, and gentrification. A slum picaresque.

 

Baron wrote other fine novels, but the sequel to The Lowlife, Strip Jack Naked, was not one of them. A preposterous Euro-jaunt where Harryboy trails after a rich woman from Paris to Venice. For a genuine French-flavoured companion to The Lowlife, track down Jean Cayrol’s Foreign Bodies, published in English the same year.

 

 

BLUE IN CHICAGO – BETTE HOWLAND (1978)

 

“Chicago isn’t a city. Just the raw materials for a city.”

 

Howland’s second book (following 1974’s W-3, a memoir about her attempted suicide and subsequent spell in a psychiatric facility) is a sharply observed collection of autobiographical stories about a working class Jewish family in Chicago. Her world is dilapidated, but not grim; compassionate, but not sentimental; angry, but not cold-hearted. It brims with vitality, and is told in her own off-beat cadence, which might wrongfoot you, but is always honest.

 

Howland was well-received critically on publication, and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship – the so-called “Genius Grant” – in 1984, a year after her third book, Things to Come and Go, a triptych of long stories. She never published again; praise is nothing in the face of expectation. In recent years she has been rediscovered to some minor fanfare, and Picador have published gorgeous new editions of her books. Buy them, please.

 

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LOVE – RAYMOND CARVER (1981)

 

“A man without hands came to the door to sell me a photograph of my house.”

 

A family friend, a librarian, gifted me my first volume of Carver’s stories for my eighteenth birthday. For the first time, I became consumed not by what a writer was saying, but how they were saying it. Carver’s brief, pared down stories of working class purgatory are elliptical. Precarious. His silences have sharp edges. His characters live in fear and expectation. Of what exactly, on either count, they are unsure, other than the certainty it will be a catastrophe. Marriage, infidelity, financial woes, the lethally quiet domestication of bad intentions; sleights of the human heart by which we change out of our own sight. A gallery of blue collar characters sketched in potent prose you catch just out of the corner of your eye. Plant workers and waitresses haunting depressed towns in the death rattle of industry. Travelling salesmen with no place to go and nothing to sell. Good people, surely, doing the best they can. Like all of us, none of them are getting out alive.

 

 

MIDDLE MURPHY – MARK COSTELLO (1991)

 

“I can neither excuse nor blame my father. I can do nothing, it seems, but resemble him.”

 

A writer who loved words, who wielded language bizarrely, Costello couched comedy in despair. Seventeen years after his debut, Murphy Stories, he returned with another collection of connected stories about his eponymous working class protagonist from Decatur, Illinois. The tales almost cohere novelistically, are perhaps something more than a collection but not quite a novel. They require the space between them that the shorter form grants. “My aesthetics when it comes to writing are novels that read like short stories, short stories that read like poems, and poems that read like prayers.” I would say he was a writer’s writer, but he’s so woefully underread even by his published peers that he was more like a writer’s writer’s writer. Joy Williams passed Costello’s work to Gary Fisketjon in the 1980s, but the editor showed no interest. Tastemakers often lack requisite taste. Costello remained obscure until his death, and now beyond it. His books have never been reprinted, but old University of Illinois editions can be spotted by eagle-eyed hunters. Go find them.

 

TREE OF SMOKE – DENIS JOHNSON (2007)

“Ninety percent of what goes through my mind on a daily basis is against the law.”

Given he’s a writer much admired for thin, chiselled classics such as Jesus’ Son and Train Dreams, Denis Johnson really went on safari without a hat when he gave us Tree of Smoke, a 600+ page whacked-out hallucinogenic leviathan that lurches through various mishaps of American intelligence in Vietnam, the land and its invaders drawn in a perpetual state of delusional madness. A big novel in all ways – size, ambition, theme, span – it moves at a pace that belies its tombstone heft.

“I don’t have much interest whether any of my books work or not,” Johnson said, in an interview shortly after Tree of Smoke won the National Book Award. He took risks, he put himself and his writing in the path of hazard, and that’s surely the way to do it. Anyone can do it the other way.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve long hoped that Dom would take on the role of my guest curator as I knew he would recommend some titles I’d not previously encountered. As it turns out he recommended five books I’ve not read and I genuinely want to read all five. But they will have to wait as I am clearing the decks for White City.  My sincerest thanks to Mr Nolan for expanding the Decades Library with these wonderful sounding books.

 

 

 

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

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October 28

Decades: Compiling The Ultimate Library with Molly Macabre

It is time for a Halloween trip to my Decades Library.

Welcome back to my ongoing quest to assemble the ultimate reading experience – my Ulitmate Library curated by book lovers, readers, authors, bloggers, journalists and publishers. In January 2021 I set out to fill the shelves of a brand new Library. I felt it an almost impossible task; to be faced with rows and rows of empty shelves and challenged with filling those empty spaces with briliant reads.

As I knew I could not possibly hope to fill the empty library alone I invited friends to help me put their favourite books onto those shelves. I ask them to nominate books which they feel should be included in the Ultimate Library – the not to be missed books they loved or that influenced them. So why is my Ultimate Library a Decades Library?

When my guest curators nominate the books to add to the Library shelves they have just two rulest to follow:

1 – You May Select Any Five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

The Decades Library.

If you have not visited the Library before today this site is fully searchable and, as I am approaching the one hundredth instalment of Decades, there are lots of amazing book recommendations and nostalgic reads to catch up on.

As this is Halloween week I am delighted to be able to welcome Dark Bloom author, Molly Macabre to Grab This Book. As ever I pass the Curator Hat to my guest and I take a back seat:

 

Molly Macabre has been writing since middle school, working in genres that explore the dark crevices of mental health. After years of writing short stories and poetry, her debut novel released in 2024. A lover of all things spooky, Molly enjoys horror movies and books, noting Stephen King as her biggest literary influence. When Molly is not writing the darkest things her mind can conjure, she enjoys exploring dungeons, preferably ones rich with loot and guarded by dragons, playing video games, or listening to face-melting metal breakdowns.

You can catch up with Molly through her linktree: www.linktr.ee/mollymacabre

 

 

 

 

DECADES

1986

It by Stephen King

 

It is a creepy adventure and a brilliant tale about facing our fears. King does an incredible job building the lives and emotions of the characters. We watch them endure the ultimate tests of chilling events, and cheer them on in their resiliency.

 

 

 

 

 

1991

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

 

This is not a book I recommend lightly. It is, by far, one of the most difficult books I have ever read regarding gore and torture. It is also one of the most unique books I have ever read. The narrator is unhinged and unpredictable. The events are wild and interesting. I spent the entirety of the book wondering if it was all a metaphor and came up with no answers but the certain feeling that sometimes trying to conform can drive a person utterly insane.

 

 

 

2008

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

 

I loved this series as a young adult. Featuring strong characters and an in-depth dystopian world, the Hunger Games revived my reading hobby after a long hiatus. I devoured this book, loving everything from the intense action to the heartwrenching emotions to the well-earned romance.

 

 

 

 

2016

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

 

A dark tale with many twists and turns, this book was one of the first that got me into eerie thrillers. A man collects women he finds beautiful, hoping to preserve them and accentuate his garden. So many secrets and questions.

 

 

 

 

2024

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

 

This book is told from the point of view of an eight-year-old girl. I listened to this one as an audiobook, and the narrator actually performed as a young girl which only added to the creepyness. The very first chapter sets the pace for this chilling ghost story, putting me on the edge of my seat and leaving me there for the rest of the book. Malerman uses all the right techniques to spook the reader and I loved every minute. I was so curious how it could possibly end after delivering such a well-paced, terrifying narrative. The ending blew me away.

 

 

 

 

My thanks to Molly for making these selections. I have never made my own Decades choices but if (or when) I finally do I will start in 1986 with IT – my favourite book. I actually whooped when I saw Molly had selected It to be added to the Library Shelves.

I am also extremely excited to see Incidents Around The House – the June 2024 publication date makes this the newest of all the titles which can be found in my Decades Library…the previous “newest” book was published in 2022. In chronological order the Library begins with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and culminates with Incidents Around The House. How long until those two books are replaced at the start/end points?

 

Dark Bloom is available in digital and paperback format:

When a disease runs rampant, turning people into cannibalistic horrors, society comes to a halt. Kate manages to escape the sadistic captivity she has endured and collides with Nick, a Marine haunted by the scars of war.

They join forces to navigate a treacherous landscape, battling the undead and hostile survivors. But what happens when the monsters outside are the least of their worries?

Nick’s shame is crushing, and Kate’s distrust is swallowing her whole. Will they overcome the darkness that threatens to consume them from within? And what will become of a world overrun with creatures that cannot seem to stop…laughing?

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

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October 7

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with A.K. Turner

I adopted my alter ego of Grab This Book back in the spring of 2014. Initially I had hoped my blog would encourage someone to buy books I had loved reading. Ten and a half years later that hope endures, I love to know my blog is responsible for someone buying a book and discovering the work of an author they may not have previously enjoyed.

As I prepare to share the latest contribution to my Decades Library I am able to report my blog is meeting my primary goal…someone has bought a book which has been recommended on Grab This Book.  That someone is me. And the person responsible for me buying a new book is my latest Decades Curator, A.K. Turner (Ali), who has drawn my attention to a book published in the 1950’s that sounds right up my street.  You’ll find out which book that is once you scroll further down this post.

But first the Decades introduction:  Since January 2021 I have been assembling the Ultimate Library; a collection of unmissable and much loved books. I tried to put myself into the shoes of a librarian who was presented with a brand new library. No Books, dozens of empty shelves. Which books would the librarian (me) add to those empty shelves to ensure library visitors would only have the very best books to choose from. I decided I could not possibly fill the empty shelves alone so I invite guests to nominate their favourite reads and help me assemble a Decades Library.

Why a Decades Library? This is down to the two rules I ask all my guests to follow when making their choices:

1 – You Can Select ANY Five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

Sometimes my guests will “flex” the rules to ensure their favourite books make the cut. But I am happy to report that this week’s guest curator, AK Turner, has stuck to the rules and made five terrific recommendations. I’ve already bought one and I’ve got my eye on the selection from the 1990s too!  This is a good week for me (but perhaps not for my bank balance) so over to Ali to terrorise your TBR with more temptation than you wanted.

A K (aka Ali) lives in East London where she writes the mortuary-set Cassie Raven mysteries. Ali produces TV documentaries on true crime and science topics. And just for light relief she is a City of London guide.

Ali likes to create memorable characters, throw them into unusual settings, and add a hefty dose of murder and a twisty-turny plot. Her latest series introduces a forensic heroine – a crime-solving Goth-girl mortuary technician who talks to the dead, a character first launched in two crime shorts aired on BBC Radio 4. A K’s previous series, written under the pen name Anya Lipska, starred a London-based Polish fixer who’s happy to crack heads to solve crimes – which saw her being selected for Val McDermid’s prestigious New Blood Panel at Harrogate Crime Festival in 2012.

Ali is on Twitter (X) as: @AKTurnerauthor

Her website is: https://www.anyalipska.com/ and all of Ali’s books can be found here too: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B088P77TFC?ingress=0&visitId=226787bb-40e2-4a4b-a7fa-b09b7cfcfa58

DECADES

FIFTIES

BEAST IN VIEW, MARGARET MILLAR

A US crime novelist famous in the Fifties, Margaret Millar deserves to be better known in the UK. She was a pioneer of the psychological crime genre whose work has (still) rarely been bettered. Her prose is spare yet razor-sharp, the psychology credible, and her ability to conjure a potent noir mood is up there with Ray Chandler. For me, Beast in View – a rattlingly-told, slender but compulsive 160 pages – is her best, and in 1956 the judges of the Edgar Allan Poe Award agreed when they handed her the prestigious prize. Helen Clarvoe, who lives alone in the hotel she has inherited, is brittle and neurotic (I love Millar’s description: ‘skinny in her plaid coat’) and her anxiety is ramped to the max by a series of mysterious taunting phone calls. She hires a private detective to trace the malicious caller – and their relationship provides the emotional bedrock of the tale.

 

 

SIXTIES

IN COLD BLOOD, TRUMAN CAPOTE

Way before true crime became a podcast phenomenon this classic of the genre is Capote’s standout achievement and a work of genius. A journalist/columnist more accustomed to necking Screwdrivers in the Ritz Carlton and peddling high society gossip he was an unlikely character to chronicle the horrendous murder of the Clutters, a blameless mid-Western farming family in rural Holcomb, Kansas. Capote tells the chilling story of how a home invasion by two robbers that spirals inexorably into cold-blooded multiple murder but where his account really excels is in his psychological portrait of one of the killers, Perry Smith, who Truman interviewed – and even befriended – on Death Row over several years. Truman interrogates Smith’s utterly grim upbringing (an alcoholic mother who choked on her own vomit when he was 13, abused by nuns in an orphanage,) arguably the triggers that set him on track for a life of petty crime and eventually brutal murder. A beautifully written journey into the dark side of the American dream.

 

 

 

SEVENTIES

DAY OF THE JACKAL, FREDERICK FORYSYTH

When I was eleven or twelve I wasn’t allowed full access to my dad’s book collection. Undeterred, I would wait until my parents were out and clamber on a chair to reach the upper cupboard where the censored works were (poorly) concealed. Here were adult treasures like the X-rated Lolita and Onward Virgin Soldiers, but the books that really stuck with me – and which influenced my debut crime novel nearly 40 years later – was this stellar example of the thriller form.

Nowadays the descriptor ‘thriller’ can be applied indiscriminately, but Day of the Jackal delivers on the original and more precise definition – a story in which we know the identity of the bad guy upfront, and in which the narrative propulsion is whether he is going to fulfil his mission – the assassination of General de Gaulle, or whether his police inspector antagonist will stop him. Why was the book on the ‘top shelf”? I suspect because of the troubling scene in which a woman strays into his path which ends with the pair having an ill-fated one-night stand. Forysth remains unbeatable in my view for sheer storytelling. See also The Odessa Files.

 

EIGHTIES

NAME OF THE ROSE, UMBERTO ECO

Proof positive that an intellectual like Eco can also write a cracking whodunnit – while in the process exploring the power of heretical ideas that conflict with Church dogma of the medieval era, Greek philosophy, the history of theology, and more. From the moment the

daring thinker Brother William sets foot in a Benedictine monastery in the Italian mountains where he is charged with exploring the mysterious death of one of the brothers, you’ll be hooked. His characters are unforgettable as are his descriptions of the snow-bound monastery and its spooky and labyrinthine scriptorium, where lie hidden forbidden manuscripts which doom the reader to instant death. Cracking stuff.

 

 

NINETIES

THE THREE EVANGELISTS, FRED VARGAS

I enjoy having to navigate the unfamiliar both in terms of place and the different vibe non-UK writers, especially the French, bring to the genre. The crime fiction of continental Europe feels more quirky and less mainstream than much of our homegrown crimefic, where writers can face a more commercial attitude from the publishing industry.

Fred Vargas is one of my favourite crime writers of any nationality. Her Inspector Adamsberg policier series is a reliable treat but The Three Evangelists is my standout favourite. The ‘evangelists’ – friends Marc, Mathias, and Lucien – are hard-up historians in a dilapidated house-share who notice that a new tree has unaccountably appeared in the back garden. Soon afterwards a neighbour is murdered and they are drawn into investigating the death. The resulting tale – off-beat, amusing, and indefinably French – effortlessly transported me from workaday East London into a different world.

 

 

Five terrific selections which I am adding to my Library shelves.  I’ve started collecting the Fred Vargas books but have not yet reached The Three Evangelists so it is really exciting to see this book being nominated for inclusion in the Decades Library, it bodes well for my future reading. I am so grateful to Ali for finding time to make her choices, her Cassie Raven series is easily one of the best collections I have been reading over recent years and I await each new title with an unhealthy obsession. If you have yet to discover the world of Cassie Raven then the best move you can make today is to seek out the first book (Body Language) and then thank me later.

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

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September 30

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with J.M. Simpson

Welcome back to the Decades Library. My ongoing quest to assemble the ultimate collection of unmissable reads returns once again (this is Decades number ninety five) and this one is an absolute cracker – five brand new titles will be added to the shelves of the Decades Library by the time you have reached the end of this post.

As pen the ninety-fifth variation of what my Decades Library is (and why we are making these choices) I rue my lack of foresight at not drafting an all-purpose introduction which I could have copied and pasted each week. However, if this is your first visit to my Library I am extremely happy to welcome you, let me explain what is about to unfold.

Back in January 2021 I was pondering the impossible dilemma a librarian may face if they were presented with a brand new library, dozens of empty shelves but ZERO books (the trauma of it still haunts me). I wondered where you would start if you were tasked with filling those shelves with nothing but the very best books which had ever been published…an Ultimate Library.

As I knew I could not answer that question alone I invited some friends to help me choose. Ninety Five friends…and counting.  Each guest curator to my Decades Library nominates their favourite books or books they feel everyone should have the opportunity to read – I put their selections into my library. Why is it a Decades Library?  That’s down to the two rules I ask each of my curators to follow:

1 – You May Choose ANY Five Books
2 – You May Only Choose One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

Apparently following the rules causes cussing. It usually also involves Googling publication dates, revisiting favourite books from your childhood or school days and a bit more cussing as you frantically try to work out how to flex the rules to your advantage. But we have to have rules or there would be chaos.

This week I am thrilled to welcome J.M. Simpson to my Decades Library.  I’ve just finished the first book in Jo’s Castleby series (Sea State) and I am rolling straight into book two as I loved the characters and I need to find out what happens next.

But time to pass control over to Jo, she has five cracking books to share with us….

 

J.M. Simpson was born in Essex, but was raised primarily in the West Country, never far from a rugged coastline, a sandy beach, or harbour. With a degree and PhD, much of Jo’s working career has been spent undertaking research; primarily in development and housing where her expertise lies.

Staying in the Welsh town of Tenby some years ago and watching the local lifeboat launch one stormy night, gave Jo the beginnings of an idea for a book. Jo’s novels are the Castleby series; Sea State, Sea Change, Sea Shaken, Sea Haven and Sea Rift – they are crime suspense thrillers set against the backdrop of a lifeboat crew in a coastal town. Jo also has a Castleby Christmas special planned for this coming November.  In the new year (2025), Jo will release the first novel in a new Scottish series set in the Highlands. The Ophelia Murders – First in the Whistlers Peak series.

Jo lives in Kent, with her two (occasionally stroppy) teenage daughters, her extremely long-suffering husband and her rescue Border Collie, Merlin.  She also runs a successful research consultancy and sits on the board of a local housing association, but dreams of becoming a full-time writer.

In what little spare time Jo has, she spends writing, seeking out live music (except difficult jazz), walking the dog, being an armchair movie critic, dreaming of Scotland or the Pembrokeshire coast; drinking endless coffee’s in various local café’s (on the pretence of writing) or drinking copious amounts of wine in her most favourite pub with friends, (where no writing occurs whatsoever).

Her Amazon page is:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/J.M.-Simpson/author/B09L6Y97RZ?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1725359827&sr=8-1&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Books can also be purchased from Jo’s website.

https://jmsimpsonauthor.co.uk/

Jo is on Twitter/X, Instagram and threads

@jmsimpsonauthor

 

 

DECADES

Huge thanks for Gordon for asking me to do this. I have so enjoyed scrolling back through my memory to try and find a book choice! Some were a very tough call and at one point I think I had a list of about three each for two decades – hard to whittle down – but here we are! Thanks for the opportunity to share!

 

1980 – 1989

John Grisham – A Time to Kill

I found this book in a cafe. Someone had left it on the table, and I sat and devoured it for much longer than I should have, hoping that the owner didn’t come back for it.  It was my first foray into John Grisham. After that I read loads of them, but this was the one that stayed me and really affected me in a way that no book had ever before. The horror, sadness and outrage at the injustice. I still remember the feeling of being so outraged at some of the events that occurred in the book and Grisham is the absolute master of holding your emotions hostage. To this day, I think that the screen adaptation of it, with Samuel L Jackson as the father is one of the best book to film adaptations ever made.

 

 

 

1990 – 1999

Joe Simpson – Touching the Void

In my younger days, in a particularly difficult period when I was trying to finish my PhD (which was nothing related to writing), my PhD supervisor at the time, gave me a copy of a book. He attached a note that said. ‘Jo, same name, different struggle. Keep going.’ This book was by the wonderful Joe Simpson, famous climber and mountaineer. The book was ‘Touching the Void. This book is all about life changing decisions and hard, endless struggles. It showcases how we draw on the reserves and resilience we never knew we had, carrying on until the end is in sight. Joe’s story has always stayed with me, and I have often thought of it in really difficult times. If you’ve not read Touching the Void, then do. You’ll never hear a certain Boney M song in the same way ever again.

 

 

 

2000 – 2009

Linda Castillo – Sworn to Silence

I absolutely LOVE this series of books. Ever since I first saw the movie ‘Witness’ with the delectable Harrison Ford, years ago, the Amish community has really intrigued me. I discovered these books and have (it’s safe to say) consumed them all. Castillo has a wonderful way of writing, and you genuinely feel the main characters struggles, both emotionally, and in her trying to balance the past and present, together with her previous ties to the Amish community.  Brilliantly written and pacey, the whole series is an absolute must.

 

 

 

 

2010- 2019

Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert

I don’t normally read books like this at all, but I heard the author talk on the radio, and she was discussing the book, with the wonderful, hugely missed, Steve Wright. Intrigued, I bought a copy, and it was this book that got me started in writing – reading it and her narrative about living more creatively, almost gave me ‘permission’ to think, ‘Yes, I don’t write fiction for a living, but could I have a go?’ And this is what I did. So, for me, this book was pivotal in my author journey. It is genuinely inspiring for people who want to live more creatively.  I highly recommend it!

 

 

 

 

 

2020 – 2029 

The Running Grave: Cormoran Strike – Robert Galbraith

Irrespective of all the stuff in the press about this author – I almost had a Harry Potter book in this list as I adored the Harry Potters. I remember reading the first one to my daughter (now 18), when she was a tiny baby.  I read them to her and then later, her sister; as a family, we love Harry Potter. However; I do love The Cormoran Strike books – (well, most of them). This one is down as a firm favourite – as there is a cult involved and I found the whole thing fascinating. The relationship between Robin and Cormoran is developing, with both of them steadfastly ignoring how they feel about each other which adds to another dimension. The detail of the cult and the controlling aspects of it for the residents is superb.  Apart from a few niggles, I think this has to be one of my favourites of the series.

 

 

My thanks to Jo for these fantastic selections – five brand new books added to the shelves of my Decades Library and it’s always great to see some non-fiction included in the mix. I am particularly excited to see Touching the Void included, I don’t read much non-fiction but this is one I’d inhaled many years ago and it stuck with me long after the last page was turned.

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

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September 23

Decades: Compiling The Ultimate Library with Donna Morfett

Decades took a snooze last weekend as I was snoozing after a busy long-weekend at Bloody Scotland up in Stirling. The festival remains the absolute high point of my reading year and once again I had an absolute blast meeting old friends, making new friends and listening with rapt attention to the stories and anecdotes of so many wonderful authors.

But the important matter of filling the shelves of my Decades Library cannot be ignored for too long and it is with great pleasure I welcome a new guest curator to Grab This Book. Before I hand over the controls to Donna I’d best explain a little more about my Decades Library and the rules I set all my guest curators…

Back in 2021 I pondered the dilemma a new librarian may face if they were presented with an empty libarary and given carte blanche to add absolutely any books to the library shelves. Where would you start? Which books would you choose? How could you be sure the books you were picking would be loved by readers?  Realising I could not answer this question alone I invited guests to join me and get them to tell me which books they would add to my library shelves.  I wanted the Ulitmate Library, the best, the most loved and the gems which my guests have read down the years.

To ensure a broad selection of titles I asked each of my guests to follow just two rules when making their nominations for books to add to my Decades Library:

1 – Choose Any Five Books
2 – You May Only Choose One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

Easy – five books from any fifty year publication span.

This week it is my pleasure to welcome Donna Morfett to my blog. Donna has made five terrific recommendations and she has kept things as up-to-date as my rules permit by choosing a book which was published just two years ago!

Time for me to stop milking my part and pass you into the care of Donna…

Born and raised in a small Town in Bedfordshire.

I have loved reading as long as I was able to understand the words written on the page, and the love has remained. Now I use it as a way to help cope with poor mental health.

As with many people across the world, the pandemic left us with lots of time, and twiddling thumbs. As well as trying to complete a degree in Forensic Science at the time, I thought i’d try and write a book!

I took part in NaNoWriMo, in November 2021, and wrote my first full length novel, The Disappearance of Peter Markham. I finished it in June 23 and it was picked up by Rampart Books in Dec 23. Then there is Cassie, which came joint second in a recent short story competition. When entered, they were given covers and proper editing, so I thought, why not release it, and raise some money for charity. So thats how Cassie came to be.

My debut novel The Disappearance of Peter Markham was released by Rampart books on May 23rd 2024. Its the most exciting experience, releasing your first book. If you want to write. Do It!! The follow up is well underway so keep an eye on my socials for news on that.

If you’d like to get in touch or follow me on social media, then please do so here:

FACEBOOK Donnas Interviews Reviews and Giveaways

X @lilmissmorfett

THREADS/INSTA @donnasbookreviewsandinterviews

TikTok @donnamorfett

 

 

DECADES

1980s

Secret Diary of Adrian Mole – Sue Townsend

 

Although I was born in the 80s and I probably didn’t read this until the early 90s, everyone loved these that I recall. They were relatable in some way and hilarious, maybe easing some of our own teenage angst.

 

 

 

 

 

1990s

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone – J.K Rowling 

 

I didn’t read the first Harry Potter until i went to Uni for the first time at 18. I was hooked and I fell in love with the characters and the world created. One of the few series that ive reread multiple times. Its my fall back to get out of rare reading slumps. It was tough to choose between this and The Secret History by Donna Tartt, but the impact this book had long term is greater so edges it.

 

 

 

 

2000s

The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruis Zafon 

 

This book is stunning, beautiful, mysterious, brilliant. Set in Barcelona in 1945, it features the Cemetry of Forgotton books. I mean how can that not pique your interest. It follows a young boy that picks a book everyone is interested in and became a series. Sadly Carlos Ruis Zafon passed away but this lives on long in my memory and I recommend it to everyone.

 

 

 

 

2010s

Abattoir of Dreams – Mark Tilbury 

 

I credit this book at the starting point to changing my life. I read it, loved it, raved about it on social media, received my first ever signed book. From there my life as a blogger began and everything that followed came from that one point. The story is dark, brutal at times, but utterly brilliant. I have a tattoo of the central image of the original cover.

 

 

 

 

2020s

Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus 

 

This was one of those books that was everywhere and one friend whose judgement I trust raved about it, so I read it. It blew me away. As a female fighting a still male dominated society, to read about someone like Elizabeth who was unafraid to just be herself and do what she did because she genuinely couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed was refreshing and wonderful. There was a brilliantly thrown in shock early on as well.

 

 

 

A huge thank you to Donna for five terrific recommendations. All the books are being added to my Decades Library and the “newest” book to join the Decades collection remains a novel from 2022…as we get further into this decade will there be a new contender emerging from the ranks?  There are so many wonderful books out there I am sure it will just be a matter of time.

Don’t miss Donna’s debut: The Disappearance of Peter Markham

 

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category: Decades | Comments Off on Decades: Compiling The Ultimate Library with Donna Morfett
September 2

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Heather Critchlow

When I first opened the doors to the Decades Library (back in January 2021) I had no idea that three and a half years later I’d still be welcoming guest curators to Grab This Book and inviting them to add their five reading recommendations to the Library shelves. Earlier this week I looked back over all the previous Decades selections which feature here on my blog and I was humbled and gobsmacked to learn that this week’s guest, Heather Critchlow, is the 92nd Decades Curator. That is a lot of booklove!

I never assume you have visited my Ultimate Library, my Decades Library, before today so I have written my 92nd explanation as to what on earth is going on.

Back in 2021 I pondered the question…If I was a Librarian and had a brand new library, with no books on any of the shelves. which books would I want to make available to the library visitors to ensure there was nothing but the very best books available for them to read?

I realised I could not answer that question alone as my own reading tastes were far too narrow. So I began to invite authors, bloggers, journalists and publishers to join me and I asked them to nominate some of their favourite books which they believed I should add to the shelves of my Ultimate Library. Now you may wonder why I refer to my Ultimate Library as my Decades Library…it’s due to the two rules I impose upon the selections people make.

1 – Choose Any Five Books
2 – You May Only Choose One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades.

Hence the Decades Library.

This week I am thrilled to be able to welcome Heather Critchlow to the Library. I first read one of Heather’s books ahead of its nomination for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and was not remotely surprised when Unsolved was shortlisted – I had been hooked. With the publication date of the third Cal Lovett book rapidly approaching I was delighted Heather had time to take on my Decades challenge and add five new books to the library shelves.  Over to Heather….

 

Heather Critchlow grew up in rural Aberdeenshire and trained as a business journalist after studying history and social science at Cambridge university. Published by Canelo in May 2023, her debut novel Unsolved was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and is the first in a series about true crime podcaster Cal Lovett.

Unsolved was followed by Unburied January 2024, while Unsound, the third in the series, is out in September. Heather’s first speculative crime thriller The Tomorrow Project will be published in hardback in Spring 2025.

Heather’s short stories are featured in Afraid of the Light, Afraid of the Christmas Lights and Afraid of the Shadows, collections of fiction written by crime writers. She lives in Hertfordshire. Heather can be found on twitter @h_critchlow and Instagram @heather.critchlow To sign up for her VIP Readers Club visit www.heathercritchlow.com

DECADES

1981

Goodnight Mr Tom – Michelle Magorian

Classic 1980s children’s fiction that has stood the test of time. I read this at school, and have since read it to both of my children. Set during World War Two, it follows the fortunes of Willie Beech, an abused boy evacuated from London and placed with a curmudgeonly old man (Mr Tom). As Tom tends to Willie’s physical and psychological wounds, the boy’s presence unlocks the old man’s grief and changes his isolated life. But then Willie’s mother demands he go back… Goodnight Mr Tom is a tearjerker that deserves its place in the library.

 

 

 

 

1997

Into Thin Air – John Krakauer

This personal account of the Everest disaster that claimed the lives of five climbers is a must-read. Written by a journalist-mountaineer, it attempts to unpick the events of that day and understand how it went so horribly wrong. A reminder of the power and ferocity of the natural world and of the human desire to conquer it, Into the Air is a truly gripping tale of bravery, heroism, bad luck and errors of judgement. Krakauer doesn’t shy away from the guilt he feels over the expedition and the part he played. Haunting.

 

 

 

 

2000

After You’d Gone – Maggie O’Farrell

This is the book that had me stuck in the bus depot, late for work, after I sailed through several stops, utterly oblivious. Maggie O’Farrell’s debut novel is devastating and beautiful. Alice boards a train from London to Scotland, but when she arrives in Edinburgh she sees something so terrible she immediately returns to London. A few hours later, she’s lying in a coma after a possible suicide attempt. The story slips in and out of the past as her family gather around her and Alice drifts through consciousness. A perfectly drawn portrait of love and grief, After You’d Gone is an utter triumph and, rightly, cemented O’Farrell as a literary talent. I’m a fan of all her books (especially also I am, I am, I am and The Marriage Portrait) but this remains my favourite.

 

 

 

2012

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

An enchanting fantasy read about Le Cirque des Rêves – a Circus of Dreams that opens only at night. With its glittering acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, it bewitches all who enter. However, the circus is the setting for a terrible competition between two young magicians, Celia and Marco. Destined to duel, only one can survive – but then they fall in love. The Night Circus is a lyrical, transporting book, unlike anything I’ve read before or since. It’s hard to describe how incredible this read is. I devoured it while feeding a newborn in the middle of the night – an appropriate time for the Circus of Dreams – and the moments whipped past.

 

 

 

2021

The Stranding – Kate Sawyer

I’m a huge fan of dystopian fiction, and this tale of a British woman who crawls into the mouth of a beached whale with a stranger to survive the end of the world, is one of my absolute favourites. Travelling in New Zealand, Ruth emerges from the whale to an altered landscape and the reality that everything she loves is gone. The narrative switches between her efforts to survive in this new world, and the pre-apocalypse events that led to her leaving the UK. Heartbreakingly beautiful and poignant. On finishing it, I immediately turned back to the first page and started again.

 

 

 

 

My thanks to Heather for five brilliant additions to the Decades Library. I am particulary delighted to see The Night Circus make its way to the shelves as I was mesmerised and entranced by that story when I first read it back in 2012. I’m really feeling the urge to revisit that book again – my TBR will cry in anguish.

This evening, as I prepare to share Heather’s selections, I’m aware she is counting down the days to the publication date of Unsound – the third Cal Lovett mystery.

Unsound releases on Thursday 5 September on digital format with the paperback showing a release date of Tuesday 10 September. You can order your copy using this super handy link – https://www.waterstones.com/book/unsound/heather-critchlow/9781804362624?_gl=1*1x8yyh3*_up*MQ..*_ga*ODM4NjM4Nzc0LjE3MjUyMjIyNTM.*_ga_P4C39TQPV3*MTcyNTIyMjI1Mi4xLjEuMTcyNTIyMjI1OC4wLjAuMA..

The first two books in the series were terrific read and I’m really looking forward to reading Unsound, I’ve included the cover and blurb below and (as you undoubtably know) pre-orders are a huge boost to all authors in the days and weeks leading up to publication so I’d encourage everyone to grab this book nice and early.

He left for university… and never came back

Arran went missing in Edinburgh fourteen years ago. The last time his parents saw him he was withdrawn and on edge where he’d once been happy and carefree. Still searching for their son, they turn to their last hope, true crime podcaster Cal Lovett.

Cal begins looking for answers, but is distracted by his sister’s murder trial. He’s so close to getting the justice Margot deserves. Can he finally leave the past – and Margot – behind?

As Cal unearths disturbing evidence about Arran’s fate, he suspects the young man’s close-knit group of university friends are keeping secrets to protect each other. It seems old loyalties don’t die easily. But they can’t all stay silent forever…

 

 

 

 

 

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

Category: Decades | Comments Off on Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Heather Critchlow
August 19

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Luke Deckard

Welcome back to the Decades Library and the opportunity to add five highly recommended new titles to your TBR.  I say “new titles” yet the five books which have been recommended by my guest curator this week are actually all over forty years old. Indeed one was actually published in 1940 so it is more accurate to say five books which are new to the Decades Library, if not actually “new” to some readers.

The Decades Library, should this be your first visit, is a collection of unmissable and much loved books which have been recommended to me by the guest curators who have joined me here at Grab This Book.  I set the challenge of filling a brand new library (no books on the shelves) and ask my guests to help me assemble the very best library of books which visitors to the library could enjoy. My guests are set just two rules when nominating the books they feel should be added to my Ultimate Library (the Decades Library):

1 – Choose ANY Five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades.

 

I’m closing in on the one hundreth Decades post so please do take time to browse the rest of the site and take in some of the previous recommendations you may have missed. You may also find some book reviews during your browsing – a happy accident should you read one of those too.

Enough from me, time to pass you over to the care of my guest this week.  It is with real pleasure I welcome Luke Deckard to the Decades Library…

 

Luke Deckard is the author of BAD BLOOD, a 1920s hard-boiled thriller set in Edinburgh now available at AMAZON  UK and AMAZON US. He is also the creator and co-host of the film noir podcast MEAN STREETS, a weekly show dedicated to investigating the best, worst and forgotten movies of the genre. Find Luke on Twitter/X or on his website! 

  

Amazon UK 

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Blood-Logan-Bishop-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0D69CBWKL/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1Z6CYQC4CADO2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.s1ftWd2JKB6R3cwM0E_Xijcda6sCzj2ktYfLFNwor5C9YyrGpeMpjxNtSkpqAJsg-KQ2M2WTNy0FbnuyPMCBs-lpT-bYpDDmirymC-pu9pqTW9QSLJL3lHa9wZvFKg-rRxw1h2-jr-gJ8U1GQxblpWWysq5oUsnXAsV1P4ERFxBQuSbN6oLP0ZFTy5slqweItfKTwKGjKp3mO8ExzVcSLjW2ZNrih7TFKD9b_YBbFs4-6FoX05AU0RaWtPfAjh0KyHVB99Zghp6wUBF5wvajbANqW7xmfVb8TeIqbHesl6A.hiw5lMyzsn1F1K1pm305tDcUWZHvZtEv_obSj8mCh2I&dib_tag=se&keywords=bad+blood&qid=1721746792&sprefix=bad+bloo%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-6

Amazon US  

https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Blood-Logan-Bishop-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0D69CBWKL/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1Z6CYQC4CADO2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.s1ftWd2JKB6R3cwM0E_Xijcda6sCzj2ktYfLFNwor5C9YyrGpeMpjxNtSkpqAJsg-KQ2M2WTNy0FbnuyPMCBs-lpT-bYpDDmirymC-pu9pqTW9QSLJL3lHa9wZvFKg-rRxw1h2-jr-gJ8U1GQxblpWWysq5oUsnXAsV1P4ERFxBQuSbN6oLP0ZFTy5slqweItfKTwKGjKp3mO8ExzVcSLjW2ZNrih7TFKD9b_YBbFs4-6FoX05AU0RaWtPfAjh0KyHVB99Zghp6wUBF5wvajbANqW7xmfVb8TeIqbHesl6A.hiw5lMyzsn1F1K1pm305tDcUWZHvZtEv_obSj8mCh2I&dib_tag=se&keywords=bad+blood&qid=1721746792&sprefix=bad+bloo%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-6  

 

WEBSITE:  

lukedeckard.com  

 TWITTER: 

https://x.com/LukeWritesCrime  

 Podcast:  

Mean Streets The Film Noir Podcast  

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/luke-deckard  

 

DECADES

1940 

Farewell, My Lovely – Raymond Chandler  

Book Quote:

This was the time to leave, to go far away. So I pushed the door open and stepped quietly in.” – Philip Marlowe.

It’s hard to beat Chandler. There’s hardly a crime thriller today that isn’t somehow inspired or influenced by him. Farewell, My Lovely has always been my favourite of his novels, even more so than The Big Sleep. Unlike “Sleep,” Chandler didn’t write “Farewell” by Frankensteining several short stories. It’s easy to read “Farewell” for what it is: a hard-boiled thriller with numerous quotable lines, but the novel is an onion—layered and complex. Here, Chandler presents a slickly plotted story, a much darker and meaner L.A., and a stronger and more brutal social commentary about city-wide/police corruption.

 

 

1950 

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C S Lewis  

Book Quote:

Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools.” – The Professor.

I wanted to include a children’s book in my list. I can’t think of a better one than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It is the first book I really remember from my childhood. It ignited my imagination as a kid. It’s fantastic and terrifying. I have always loved the professor and his rattling about what they teach in school these days. The clash between the professor’s open mind and Peter’s, Susan’s, and Edmund’s desperation to be adults and logical is pure magic on the page. Children’s books are often far more layered and rich than given credit, and this is no exception! Also, anyone sitting down to read the Narnia books for the first time should not read them chronologically, which is how they are published today, but in publication order. The door to Narnia starts with the Wardrobe.

 

 

1961 

Thunderball – Ian Fleming  

Book Quote: “What’s the good of other people’s opinions? Animals don’t consult each other about other animals. They look and sniff and feel.”

Book Bond is very different to cinematic Bond. At least until you get to Casino Royale (2006). I didn’t read Fleming until my twenties for that very reason. I liked the exaggerated, swinging silliness and gadgets of the films. As a reader, you approach Bond at your own risk. When I finally turned to Book Bond, I was captivated. For whatever reason, I didn’t start at the beginning; I read Thunderball, which is my second favourite Connery film; From Russia With Love being my first. I quickly realised that while cinematic Bond was a hero, Book Bond is Britain’s anti-hero. He may do heroic things and save the day but Bond isn’t a ‘good guy.’ This often isn’t discussed or acknowledged. There’s truthfully nothing honourable about him. He’ll die for the Crown, but he is a sad, repressed alcoholic with nothing to lose, which makes him dangerous. And you can see that on every page. It also makes him a terribly interesting character to read. Not because he’s someone to aspire to be like but to see how far he’ll go for Britain.

 

 

1975 

The Wrong Case – James Crumley 

Book Quote: “This is the great American West. Where men came to get away from laws…You can murder your spouse and the lover in a fit, preferably of passion, and the maximum sentence is five years.

I picked up The Wrong Case in Edinburgh’s Waterstones around 2018. I was on the hunt for something tough and gritty and splashed on the back cover was a quote from Ian Rankin that read: “As sweetly profane a poet as American Noir could have asked for.” And boy, he isn’t wrong. Crumley took the hard-boiled genre somewhere darker, nastier, and more real than anyone before him. He could wax lyrical like Chandler, be tough like Spillane, but never feel cheap or comic-book-like. His detective, Milo, is one of the few fictional private detectives who you believe suffer the trauma of war; in Milo’s case, the Vietnam War. Crumley expertly tackled the disillusionment and seedy, sweaty corruption of the 70s. Read him and you’ll never be the same!

 

 

1980 

Looking for Rachel Wallace – Robert B Parker  

Book Quote: “And I will always remember that you cried.” – Rachel Wallace

Robert B Parker is my favourite author in the hard-boiled genre, and Looking for Rachel Wallace is my number one Parker book. Parker’s genius was his ability to tackle sociopolitical issues head-on without preaching and offer multiple perspectives without necessarily making one side good or bad/right or wrong. Life is complicated, and so are his stories. Despite his novels being short, they are packed with complex, three-dimensional characters. The beauty of Looking For Rachel Wallace is how Parker explores two people on different sides of the political spectrum and how they come together, respect each other, and build a genuine friendship. This is one of the few crime fiction novels that I would dare call important. Seek it out. You won’t regret it.

 

 

 

Huge thanks to Luke for these excellent recommendations. My frequent returns to the Decades Library are a constant reminder of the thousands of books which have brought joy to readers over the years and a regular reminder to me of how few books I’ve actually read during my 50 years on this planet. I’ve only read Thunderball from Luke’s selections so I clearly need to do even more catching up – my TBR is braced for impact.

If you are in the Manchester area this week you can meet Luke along with Emma Talon and, former Decades Curator, Chris Lloyd at Manchester Central Library. The chat kicks off at 6pm on Thursday 22nd August in the Manchester Central Library.

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

Category: Decades | Comments Off on Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Luke Deckard
August 9

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Syd Moore

Welcome to a very special Decades selection. Special because the fabulous Syd Moore has brought some wonderfully wyrd books into the Decades Library but also because this week sees me complete my own fifty year span. It’s a landmark birthday week for me and I love that I will get to share more great book recommendations which I hope will swell your TBR to a dangerous level.

As ever I will do a very quick recap to explain my Ultimate Library and why I refer to it as my Decades Library.  Back in January 2021 I was contemplating the immense challenge a librarian would face if they were given a brand new library and were tasked with filling all the empty shelves with the very best books.  Which titles would the librarian choose? Which titles would I choose? Would they look to add classic titles or seek out newer books?

I realised that I could not begin to take on a task of that magnitude as my own reading preferences would be too narrow. So I decided to ask other booklovers which books they would add to the Ultimate Library. Over the last three years I have added several hundred books to the Library shelves, all selected by my guests (authors, publishers, bloggers and journalists) and I do believe we are curating an amazing selection of books.

Why do I call my Ultimate Library the Decades Library? Each time I ask someone to select books to be added to the Library shelves I ask them to follow two rules:

1 – You Can Select ANY five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades (a fifty year publication span).

My Decades Library.

Okay, it is time to take my customary step back and pass control over to my guest curator…

 

Syd Moore here, reporting for action. If you aren’t familiar with my work, Starburst Magazine has described my writing as ‘Dennis Wheatley meets Caitlin Moran.’ Most of my  novels and short stories are indeed flavoured with the occult, witch trials, secret or forgotten histories, and often populated with firmly feminist characters.

The Grand Illusion, my latest offering, focuses on how the British Secret Service exploited the Nazi’s obsession with the occult. It proved quite a challenge to create an independent female protagonist, full of feist, in the world of 1940 before the f-word had even been invented. However, as I researched, I discovered that many young women called into the war effort actually found the work liberating. So when the Security Service approach Daphne Devine and her boss, The Grand Mystique, they are spirited away from treading the boards of London’s theatreland and sent off for training, where they must use their resources and skills in illusion to pull off an operation created to repel the German invasion of the British Isles. As a result, Daphne, like most of us faced with a huge challenge, grows in confidence and self-knowledge into a formidable force of her own.

As with my other novels this is also based on what is thought to be a real event.

With my Dennis Wheatley and Caitlin Moran tendencies I don’t think anyone will be surprised by my eclectic choice of books for Decades.

I hope you enjoy them.

 

DECADES

1930s

The Sea Priestess by Dione Fortune (1938)

Dione Fortune, aka Violet Mary Firth, was an occultist and writer who founded the ‘Fraternity of the Inner Light’. This was an esoteric society born out of the more famous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn whose members included W.B. Yeats, Aleister Crowley, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Algernon Blackwood, amongst other luminaries.

The Sea Priestess is very much a novel that demonstrates Dione Fortune’s beliefs. It features the disillusioned and unfulfilled Wilfred Maxwell, who meets Vivien Le Fay Morgan, a magical practitioner of an esoteric sect. Vivien introduces Wilfred to ancient rituals and esoteric practices connected to the sea and lunar magic, all of which produce a powerful spiritual awakening. The novel had a huge impact on me when I read it in my twenties, blending the esoteric with excellent storytelling. Sadly, I’m not sure it’s the kind of thing that would be published today. The eagle eyed can spot Fortune come to life once more in a brief cameo in The Grand Illusion.

 

 

1940s

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson (1948)

Not a novel but a short story. Set in a small and isolated village where an annual ritual takes place, ‘The Lottery’ is an early piece of folk horror. Succinct but bone chilling, it explores themes of pagan tradition, irrationalism versus thought and logic, and the human propensity for violence. Yep, its dark. The story is well known and in fact inspired one of my own in The Twelve Even Stranger Days of Christmas. Recently there has been a revival of interest in Jackson’s work probably due to the biopic ‘Shirley’, released in 2020, which starred Elisabeth Moss in the title role. It is definitely worth watching if you enjoy the wyrd and spooky.

 

 

 

 

1950s

The Daughter of Time by Joesphine Tey (1951)

Alan Grant, a police officer, is laid up in hospital with a broken leg. When his friend, Marta, visits him with a series of pictures and postcards one of them sparks an intense curiosity in Grant. It is a portrait of the much maligned king, Richard III, who has historically been cast as the villain in the murder of the princes in the tower. Grant decides to investigate their mysterious disappearance like a crime and comes to some startling conclusions.

I read this book at the age of thirteen and it really stuck in my mind. To my surprise the historical research was not boring. I enjoyed the way Grant delved into the past with help from those around him and how readers learnt about the myths and legends that were constructed around Richard after his death. It was a lesson in how History’s winners tend to shape the past and shed light on methods with which one might unpick the narratives they spin. For these, as I have discovered in my own research, tell only half the story.

 

 

1960s

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1966)

Bulgakov’s magnum opus was written sometime between 1928 and 1940. It is one of the most imaginative novels I have ever come across and features the Devil descending (or ascending according to your own belief systems) onto Bulgakov’s contemporary Moscow. He is accompanied by a huge talking cat called Behemoth, a vampire, a strange valet, and an assassin, all of whom misbehave with hilarious and absurd results. The subplots are many: one weaves through the love story of the ‘Master’ of the title, a writer, and his lover, Margarita. Another, full of pathos, features a tormented Pontius Pilot labouring over the verdict passed on a young Jewish preacher. It is mad, funny, joyous and horrifying. The language and imagery are truly exceptional. But, as the book satirised Russian society at the time, it was not published until the 1960s and only serialised. Even then it was censored.

Bulgakov was heavily criticised for his works during his lifetime and sadly died in 1940 without seeing the global success that his novel would become. Today his book is thought to be one of the best novels of the Twentieth Century.

I have taught it to M.A. students who have mixed reactions – some of them love it, but others find it hard work. Personally, I think it’s a masterpiece which explores the enduring themes of good and evil, corruption and the triumph of love in difficult times.

 

1970s

Misty Annual 1979

Misty was a comic that came out in the 70s and 80s. It was a kind of Tales of the Unexpected for young and teenage girls, though boys loved it too. I used to wait avidly behind the front door when I knew it was about to be delivered and would devour the publication each week, meeting one of my similarly obsessed friends to discuss the ins and outs of the various storylines. At the time, these tales filled both of us with a sense of mystery and awe, ranging across subjects that would now be categorised as ‘horror’. Psychokinesis, clairvoyancy, ghosts, witches, curses, werewolves, karma, time slips, precognition and legends of old – all of these unsuitable topics for children filled its deliciously ghastly pages. I’m surprised that my parents allowed me to read it!

A couple of years ago, when I moved house, I came across my Misty 1980 annual and found a piece on the Witchfinder General. I had no memory of reading it but clearly must have done as there was Marmite smeared on the bottom of a page which contained a tiny fingerprint similar to that on my right index finger! In 2012 my book Witch Hunt was published, all about the same despicable man. Though I don’t think I had ever been consciously aware of it, the seeds of my career and the style of my books had clearly been planted back, whilst I sat on the doormat and flicked through its splendidly dark (and Marmite stained) pages.

 

 

After reading Syd’s selections I reaslied what an important part Annuals played in my childhood reading. I would always get an Annual for my Christmas (usually The Beano or Whizzer and Chips) but for the rest of the year I would scour jumble sales or second hand bookshops trying to find old annuals from the 70s and 80s…I would read them over and over again.  I am delighted Syd has brought Misty into the Decades Library and all five selections are brilliant additions to the Decades Library.  Syd, thank you!

 

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

Category: Decades | Comments Off on Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Syd Moore
July 14

Decades: Compiling The Ultimate Library with Philippa East

Welcome back to my Decades Library, my ongoing quest to curate a library of the very best reading options selected by authors, publishers, bloggers, journalists – booklovers all.

Back in 2021 I was contemplating a hypothetical situation: What if I had a brand new library with no books on the shelves…which books should I add to my library to ensure only the best and most-loved books were to be available to library visitors. My own knowledge of books is too limited to a narrow time period and heavily leaning into crime and thrillers. It was clear the only way I could get a good representation of great books was to ask for help to fill the shelves of my Ultimate Library. But why do I call it a Decades Library?

To ensure my new Library has a good spread of reading options I ask each of my guests to follow two rules when they make their selections around which books they would like to see included within my Library:

1 – Choose ANY five books
2 – You may only choose one book per decade from five consecutive decades.

Five books from Five Decades. That is my Decades Library in a nutshell.

Today I am utterly thrilled to be able to welcome Philippa East to Grab This Book. Before I hand over the rest of this post to Philippa I’d just like to apologise for the delay in sharing these selections – last Friday there was a bit of a national distraction when the UK Government changed so I didn’t want booklove to get lost in the collective upheaval we experienced!

Let me stop waffling on now and let Philippa take over from here.

 

Philippa East grew up in Scotland and originally studied Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Oxford. After graduating, she moved to London to train as a Clinical Psychologist and worked in NHS mental health services for over ten years. Her debut novel Little White Lies was longlisted for the Guardian’s “Not-The-Booker” prize and shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for best debut of 2020. She has since published three further psychological thrillers: Safe and Sound, I’ll Never Tell and A Guilty Secret. Philippa lives in the Lincolnshire countryside with her spouse and cat, and alongside her writing she continues to work as a psychologist and therapist. You can find her on X/Twitter: @philippa_east and on Facebook/Instagram @philippa_east_author.

Amazon Author Page:https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Philippa-East/author/B07S3JQDGK

 

 

 

DECADES

 

The Avignon Quintet by Lawrence Durrell: 1974 (Book 1)

 

I’ve been a huge fan of Lawrence Durrell since reading the Alexandria Quartet (which I would have chosen here but that was published the decade before!). He writes beautifully and I find his storytelling utterly immersive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: 1985

 

 

It’s amazing to think this book was written almost 40 years ago. I follow US politics closely, and it’s shocking to see how close America currently seems to be to devolving into a Gilead state.

 

 

 

 

 

Del-Del by Victor Kelleher: 1991

 

 

This YA book was a huge inspiration for my debut Little White Lies, with it’s moving portrayal of a grieving family, wrapped around a powerful thriller plot.

 

 

 

 

 

Transition by Iain Banks: 2009

 

 

I’ve loved so many of Iain Banks’ books and this novel is such a tour-de-force. The book I’m currently writing is a speculative thriller, and I’ve always enjoyed books that play at the edges of reality as this one does.

 

 

 

 

 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: 2012

 

 

I consider this the masterwork of the modern psychological thriller and it’s the book that inspired me to write myself in this genre. I have read it at least three times and always discover some other gem in this incredible work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Huge thanks to Philippa for these fabulous selections. This is the fourth year of Decades and the buzz of anticipation I get when I first get to see a new selection of recommended books is only bettered by the feeling of excitement when I discover there’s a book I’ve never heard of until now – it plays hell with my TBR but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

 

 

 

 

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

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June 28

Decades: Compiling the Ulitmate Library with A.J. West

Decades – what is it OR where the hell has it been?  Returning visitors will hopefully recognise and remember my Decades Library. You may well have wondered why it disappeared and why there has been two months since I last posted a single book review. So I’ve got a Decades recap incoming and a bit of an explanation as to why Grab This Book has been a quiet wee place for a while.  Thanks for indulging a bit of personal introspection and my apology…

First up why has this blog gone quiet for the last 12 months?  Well Grab This Book had nine years of championing brilliant reads – you can go back to March 2014 and find a wealth of fabulous books, author interviews, guest posts and Decades recommendations.  Last year I hit a wall – mentally – I retreated back into myself and basically I found reading and blogging to be overwhelming.  I no longer enjoyed the “escape” reading gave me and I actively avoided opening my blog to update it.  I’ve missed lots of emails, invitations and the opportunity to celebrate great stories by authors I love. I can only apologise. But I want to keep my blog going as there is no better feeling than having someone tell me they loved a book I once recommended.

The best way I can kick off my demons is to return to Decades. I’ve some guest posts to share and I extend my profound thanks to those who have patiently waited for me to get my shizzle together.

To get back into the Decades groove I’ve a guest post from the fabulous A.J. West – his new novel The Betrayal of Thomas True is published by Orenda Books on 4 July 2024 and a blog tour kicks off on July 1st (tour details below – do check it out).

 

So for new readers what is Decades?  Back in January 2021 I pondered the question: If you had a brand new library (with no books) which books should you add to the shelves to give your library visitors the very best reads to choose from?

I had no idea where to start so I invited guests to join me and tell me which books they thought should be added to my Ultimate Library.  But I set a couple of rules in place to govern their choices.

1 – You can pick ANY five books

2 – You can only choose one book per decade from five consecutive decades. Which is why it is a Decades Library.

 

Now the eagle-eyed amongst you will perhaps spot this Decades post is slightly different from the previous but Mr West was killing time on a train journey and kindly set about my challenge to pass the time 🙂   I was battling my inner demons so didn’t get too picky over the rules (with apologies to my previous guests)

So without further ado I am utterly delighted to bring you the first Decades selections for many, many months.

 

A.J. West’s bestselling debut novel The Spirit Engineer won the HWA Debut Crown Award. His second novel, The Betrayal of Thomas True will be published in July 2024. West grew up in Buckinghamshire, before studying English Literature in Preston. He previously worked as an award-winning network television and radio news presenter and reporter. To find out more, please visit: www.ajwestauthor.com

You can also access all things A.J. West through one very simple click: linktr.ee/ajwest

DECADES

 

Ned Ward, The London Spy (1698)

An extraordinary real life guide to London at the turn of the 17th century, written by an enigmatic tavern-keeper who assumes the fictional role of an uninitiated visitor to the city. He takes the reader to the drinking houses, coffee houses, brothels and tourist attractions of the time. It’s just the most extraordinary window into the past, complete with old London Bridge, the Tower of London menagerie, Bedlam and various prisons and places of questionable repute. In addition to the various destinations, the reader also gets a fully immersive introduction to the people, mores and dialects of the time. A lesser-known essential read for anyone who enjoys a bit of time travel.

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (1895)

A true classic and deservedly so, this novel changed my view on fiction and was the first book to have a deep emotional impact on me as a reader at university. With lyrical prose and such vivid descriptions of pastoral England, its greatest power to my mind is as an achingly real a study of relationships, the hope, the lust, the joy, the cruelty and the tragedy. Speaking of tragedy, I will never recover from the shock when poor Jude discovers… well, you must read it to understand.

 

 

 

 

Iris Murdoch, The Sea The Sea (1999)

I fully concede I don’t appreciate this book, and that’s perhaps partly why I loved reading it so much. The writing is sublime and, though its a literary novel, less interested in plot than philosophy and human behaviour, it manages to be completely enthralling. It taught me that gripping fiction requires expert characterisation first, narrative second. Readers with a grounding in philosophy will be able to appreciate the genius of Murdoch’s writing in a way I’ll never fully achieve, and I’m happy to be humbled.

 

 

 

 

 

Isabel Allende, Daughter of Fortune (2000)

How to describe this novel? It feels impossible. Spanning generations, sweeping from Chile to China and the United States, dealing with gender, sexuality, dynastic legacies, colonialism, politics and the adventures of multiple unforgettable characters, this novel is an unmatched masterpiece where the reader is whipped along at an incredible pace without ever feeling adrift.

 

 

 

 

 

William Golding, The Inheritors (1955)

I’m reading this as I write. The perfect cleanse as I recover from a bit of historical fiction fatigue. There is nothing like this book, and no surprise it won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It is a fever dream, an enigmatic journey into a magical world long before civilisation when a small tribe of doomed neanderthals make sense of homosapien humans while the reader tries to make sense of them. Elusive and written with a level of intelligence well beyond my reckoning, this book inspires me, as an author, to be brave and to carry on challenging myself as a writer.

 

 

 

 

 

My thanks to A.J. for five amazing and diverse recommendations and for getting this blogger back into the right headspace. More apprecaited than you can know.

Do not miss The Betrayal of Thomas True:

THE BETRAYAL OF THOMAS TRUE
It is the year 1715, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost in the squalor of London’s hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.
Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices.
Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love?
Set amidst the buried streets of Georgian London, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY HERE: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-betrayal-of-thomas-true/9781916788152

DECADES WILL RETURN

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