Welcome back to the Decades Library- my ongoing quest to assemble nothing but the very best books in a single collection. All thriller (and literary fiction, science fiction, horror etc) and no filler. Okay that one got away from me…

Why is it callled the Decades Library? Each week I invite a booklover to join me and I ask them to nominate five books which they believe belong on the shelves of the very best library, unmissable stories, memorable ones or simply books they consider to be the very best. When making their selections I ask my guests to follow just two rules:

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

If that sounds easy then please take some time to put together your own list. I love hearing about wonderful new books. The best thing for a blogger is to be able to feel you have been influential in introducing a reader to a new book they loved. Every week a new Decades post is released I get some wonderful feedback about the selections I have just shared. TBRs grow as a result of the recommendations my guests make.

This week I am thrilled to be joined by Alison Belsham – and it’s Alison’s publication week too. The Girls on Chalk Hill released this week (it’s the first in a new series) and you can get your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girls-Chalk-Hill-completely-Detective-ebook/dp/B0BZ8Y2C5Zhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Girls-Chalk-Hill-completely-Detective-ebook/dp/B0BZ8Y2C5Z

DECADES

When Gordon invited me to submit my selection of books for Decades, I was hard at work on the first draft of the third book in my new police procedural series – and over the next few weeks as I continued writing, random book titles kept popping up in mind that absolutely had to be included.

But there was one big problem – either my chose titles seemed too many decades apart, or I had to make an impossible choice between favourites that had been published in the same decade. Ouch!

But finally, I whittled the list down to these five:

 

Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris (1989)

Surprisingly for someone who writes serial killer thrillers, I only got around to reading this a year ago. The film had so terrified me that I’d never dared to pick up the book, and when I started writing crime I tended to avoid reading in the same genre. However, I’m so glad I did read it – an absolutely outstanding book that sets the bar for all who followed in its footsteps. But is it a thriller or a love story?

 

The Vintner’s Luck – Elizabeth Knox (1998)

The Vintner’s Luck is very definitely a love story. On a summer night in Burgundy in 1808, vintner Sobran Jodeau is visited by a beautiful male angel called Xas – and they continue to meet here on the same night every year for the rest of Sobran’s life. The love story between Sobran and Xas is beautifully complemented by the love story of Sobran and the Countess. The writing is incandescent, and the characters live long in the memory after book is finished. Ravishing!

 

Modern Ranch Living – Mark Jude Poirier (2004)

Hands up if you’ve read Modern Ranch Living? I thought not. This little-known book really deserves a much wider readership. If you like to embrace your inner weird, this could be the book for you. Set over a blistering summer in Arizona, teenage body builder Kendra is alarmed when her pothead boyfriend mysteriously disappears. Her 30-year-old neighbour Merv manages a water park and lives with his insomniac mother. As the temperature rises, they join forces to hunt for the missing boy… More observational than plot-driven, it’s an absolute delight.

 

The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach (2011)

When I suggested to my book club that they should read this, they all declined, saying they didn’t want to read a baseball book. Well, it was their loss, because although the main character is a college baseball star, it’s about so much more than that. In fact, it’s one of the best coming-of-age books I’ve ever read, full of wonderful characters that make compelling reading. Yes, there’s been some controversy about this book – a suit against Harbach claiming ‘large-scale misappropriation’ was dismissed – but don’t let that stop you from enjoying this riveting read.

 

The Last House on Needless Street – Catriona Ward (2021)

I’m an unforgiving reader – if I come across something I don’t like in a book, I have no compunction about stopping reading. One of my bugbears is giving sentient voices to things that don’t speak. For example, the speaking foetus in Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum made me bin the book almost immediately. So, when it became apparent that one of the characters in The Last House on Needless Street is a cat, my reading faltered. But…something kept me going and thank God it did. Billed as horror, this is actually anextraordinary exploration of a troubled mind. Terrifying, gripping and highly intelligent, for me this has been the standout novel of recent years.

 

Amazing choices – Alison I cannot thank you enough for these gems.

I don’t often get any suggestions from the current decade but I know The Last House on Needless Street will be an extremely popular addition to the collection.

DECADES WILL RETURN