Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Abi Silver

I am trying to assemble the Ultimate Library. In January 2021 I began my mission to put together the very best collection of books. I only wanted to include books which were recommended and loved by booklovers. Each week I invite an author, blogger, journalist or blogger to join me here at Grab This Book and I invite them to add some new books to the shelves of my Decades Library.

Why is it a Decades Library? Well that is down to the second of the two rules I impose upon my guest’s choices. When selecting the books to be added to the shelves of the Decades Library my guests are asked to:

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

It sounded a simple task when I started inviting guests to make their choices. Apparently when you sit down to pick five books it becomes a real trial to narrow down just five books and even more of a challenge to get one per decade from five consecutive decades.

Fortunately my guest this week is no stranger to real trials (see what I did there?) and has picked five terrific books which I shall be adding to the Library shelves. I am thrilled to be able to pass the Decades Library curator’s hat to Abi Silver, author of the fabulous Burton and Lamb books. If you use that handy wee search function (over on the right) you can find my reviews of some of Abi’s books. If you have high powered binoculars and a view into my house you may be able to see my TBR bookcase where Abi also features – once again I find I am losing the battle of “time to read” over “books I want to read”.

Time to let Abi take over…

Abi Silver grew up in Yorkshire, travelled widely and now lives in a village in Hertfordshire with her family. She is a practising lawyer and the author of the Burton & Lamb legal thriller series, featuring two defence lawyers, Judith Burton and Constance Lamb. Her legal duo are very much equals but opposites in their approach to life and the pursuit of justice… and whodunnit.

Abi’s first novel, The Pinocchio Brief, with its ‘lie-detecting software’, invited the question, who is a better judge of truth, man or machine? The thread running through her five subsequent stories (covering themes as wide-ranging as driverless cars and online gaming) is mankind’s constant quest for new and better ways of doing things. Her latest book, The Ambrosia Project (published in October and available here ), focuses on the world of food and what we should all be eating.

You can find out more about Abi’s work on her website www.abisilver.co.uk or follow her as Abi Silver (@abisilver16) / Twitter or Abi Silver, Author | Facebook

DECADES

1950 to 1960

My family and other animals by Gerald Durrell

July had been blown out like a candle by a biting wind that ushered in a leaden August sky.

Decades before the TV series brought this autobiographical story of chaotic family life in Corfu in the 1930s to the attention of millions, an impressionable 10-year old (aka me) lapped it up and clamoured for more. Was it the escapist element? I mean, who wouldn’t want to leave behind grey Yorkshire days filled with mizzle for Mediterranean sunshine? Or be free to run barefoot through the countryside and fill every conceivable space with a menagerie? Although I’m not sure I would have wanted to change places with Gerry when it came to his siblings, however hilariously he described them. This book (and the rest of the series) were housed on my sister’s bookshelf and she was very possessive. I read it secretly, adding to the thrill of turning each page.

1960 to 1970

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.

This story dealing with race and the loss of innocence, set in 1930s Alabama and narrated by six-year old ‘Scout’ Finch, is a magnificent read. Her father, Atticus, a lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape, is portrayed as a man of tremendous courage and integrity. (I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting that he is one of the reasons I became a lawyer – another was Granada TV’s Crown Court.) But the book goes so much further, covering class and gender and tolerance and its messages are often heightened by being written (delightfully) from a child’s perspective and with a wonderful fluid style.

1970 to 1980

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl

Boggis, Bunce and Bean

One fat, one short, one lean…

This is the first book I read independently and I embraced it over and over again. Yes it had striking illustrations to help me along the way, but it was the story of heroic Mr Fox, the underdog, pitting his wits against the combined power of farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean, which stole the show. The gluttony of the men (Boggis eats three boiled chickens and dumplings for breakfast) is contrasted masterfully with the moderation exhibited by the family of foxes, who eat only to survive. It’s not difficult to predict who will come out on top.

1980 to 1990

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

To understand just one life you have to swallow the world … do you wonder, then, that I was a heavy child?

Midnight’s Children accompanied me on my travels around India in the early 1990s. I still have the very same (precious and resilient) dog-eared copy, which survived collisions, attempted theft and numerous soakings and yet remained intact.

It tells the story of Salim Sinai born at midnight, on the day in 1947 when India gained its independence. He is one of many children who arrive into the world in that witching hour, before 1am, imbued with magical powers. Their stories and those of his family mirror real life events.

I have never read a book like this before or since. It is almost impossible to describe succinctly because it encompasses so many things. But I think what struck me most, on the first read, was the pace. I careered through the story carried by the richness of the language (much as its hero does) and I loved it.

1990 to 2000

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

The past is a cupboard full of light and all you have to do is find the key that opens the door.

Set in York (a promising start) the novel tells the story of Ruby Lennox, in her own words. She lives above a pet shop together with her (dysfunctional) parents and sisters. In between Ruby’s narration, there are flashbacks through her family history, going right back to her great grandmother, Alice’s, encounter with a passing photographer. Despite covering incredibly sad and difficult topics, including the tragedies associated with war, this is a hilariously funny, warm read, packed with brilliant observations on life.

A briliant mix of titles which caters for all ages. Abi quoted the song from Fantastic Mr Fox “Boggis and Bunce and Bean.” I had the audiobook for Fantastic Mr Fox when I was a child – I listened to it on loop for hours and can still sing this song in full…happy days. Huge thanks to Abi for taking the time to collate her Library selections. All five books have been added to the Decades Library shelves.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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November 26

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Bert (AKA Alex Call)

Welcome to the last Decades selection in November 2021. This post goes live on the biggest shopping Friday of the year (y0u know the one) and I very much want to ask everyone to #ShopIndie today and also over the next few weeks as we rush towards the Holiday Season.

Through December you may well find yourself looking to purchase a book whether it is for Christmas, a birthday (don’t forget people with a December birthday) or maybe even for Jolabokaflod. It just so happens my guest this week owns a bookshop and would like nothing more than to help match you and your loved ones with new books.

Every week I invite a booklover to nominate five new books to be added to my Decades Library. When this challenge began back in January there were no books in my Library but week on week authors, publishers, journalists and bloggers have added new books to the Decades Library and their marvellous choices have had people discovering and buying the titles my guests recommend.

My guests don’t just get to pick five books as that would be too easy! They may only pick one book per decade from five consecutive decades – a fifty year publication span to select from.

This week I am delighted to welcome Bert from Bert’s Books to the blog. Bert (who, as you will see, isn’t) is making his five selections and also has details of a fantastic discount on his subscription service which you must not miss!

DECADES

Bert is my alter ego – to some I am known as Alex Call, previously the Head of Books Marketing at WHSmith and subsequently founder of Bert’s Books. Bert’s Books began in 2019 when – finding myself at a loose end – I wanted to find a way of getting all the brilliant books I was reading out into the hands of readers.

The dream is to one day own and run my own bookshop – and maybe to find the time to write my own book!

All of the books listed below and hundreds more are available to order on bertsbooks.co.uk. All the titles on the website are there because I loved them – or one of my customers did, so you’re guaranteed to find an amazing read.

I also offer monthly subscriptions full of new releases that I’ve loved – so if you like the books that I’ve picked then we probably have similar tastes! Visit bertsbooks.co.uk/build – and get 20% off your first month using code WELCOME20

Delivery in the UK is completely FREE

Matilda by Roald Dahl (1988)

As a child, every Saturday morning, my mum, sister and I would take the short walk from our house to my grandparents, stopping by the library on the way. I would leave with a huge pile of books – and invariably over the years, there were some books that accompanied me on more than one occasion.

Special shout outs to Mercedes Ice and Scribble Boy both by Philip Ridley, but it was Matilda who became the defining book of my childhood. This young girl who found magic in books resonated with me – I by no means had a neglectful family, in fact it was probably I who neglected them in favour of books!

Night of the Living Dummy by RL Stine (1993)

For a certain generation, to ask for a major book from the 90s is to be told about Harry Potter. However, I didn’t want to be predictable, so I thought about other books that had a major influence on me – and the Goosebumps series (along with the Point Horror series, and in a bizarre contrast the Sweet Valley High series) were those books.

Night of the Living Dummy is one of the few still available which is why I’ve named it, but it is the series as a whole that I want to acknowledge. These were the first books I can remember buying, proudly displaying my collection on a bookshelf and scouring my latest WHSmith for new releases.

If Matilda sparked my love of reading, then the Goosebumps series sparked my love of bookshops. Recently, I was able to share my entire (complete!) collection with my godson, who I’m proud to say loved them every bit as much as I did!

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2003)

By the early noughties, I was that most horrible of things – a teenage boy. I’d more or less left reading behind as I struggled to bridge the gap between children’s books and adult books. Aged 16, I got a job in my local WHSmith (the very same one of Goosebumps fame) and soon found my home in the book department.

I was helping a customer find a third book in the 3 for 2 offer, and during the discussion, they recommended the Time Traveller’s Wife to me. I decided to take advantage of the same offer and that night went home with the Niffenegger, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

These three books marked by entry into the world of reading ‘adult’ books – but it was the simple complexity of the Niffenegger’s time travel plot that spoke me to the most. To take what was a complicated time-jumping narrative and make it so accessible was inspiring to me.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2015)

This was my starting point for picking books for this piece. I’ve been reading all my life and I was quite some way into my bookselling career before I encountered A Little Life – but it is the first book I’ve had such a visceral reaction to.

It alerted me to the true power of storytelling that I’d heard others talk of. There have been many books before and after this one that I loved (a couple from this decade, that I’m heartbroken not to be able to include!)

The characters of Jude, Willem, JB and Malcolm broke my heart, moved in and rebuilt the pieces around themselves.

Still Life by Sarah Winman (2021)

I’m cheating a bit here. Still Life by Sarah Winman is a remarkable book that dragged me into its world and made me want to inhabit it completely. Winman herself admits it’s a novel where nothing happens – but the way in which nothing happens is where the magic lies.

It is however, Winman herself that I’d like to choose, specifically her 2017 novel Tin Man. After a particularly tough week I received a proof copy of Tin Man, and in the space of one evening I was able to switch off from the world around me and lose myself in the world Ellis, Annie and Michael.

Ever since then, Winman and her novels have been a huge inspiration and escape for me – to the point that publication of Still Life became THE event of 2021 for me. If I could be just a fraction of the writer Winman is, I will die a very happy man indeed.

Terrific selections from Alex – thank you! His inclusion of Still Life displaces We Begin At The End as the “newest” book (most recently published) in the Library.

All the books above can, of course, be ordered from Bert’s Books here: https://bertsbooks.co.uk/

DECADES WILL RETURN

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October 1

Decades – Compiling the Ultimate Library with Simon Bewick

A new week and a new Decades guest with five new books to add to the Decades Library. If you are new to my weekly challenge then let me explain what’s about to happen. I have asked Simon Bewick to nominate five books which he would want to see included within my Ultimate Library.

The Ultimate Library is a concept I started back in January and I had zero books on the virtual shelves. I wanted to assemble the very best collection of books and knew I could not fill a Library on my own so I decided to invite a new guest to join me each week and have them add five books to the collection.

But choosing five books is a little too easy so I add a second rule which my guests need to follow:

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

This week we start in the 1960s and progress to the 00’s.

I have been a bit lax of late in updating and promoting the actual Library but now I am all caught up. I try to add each recommendation to the Grab This Book Decades Library at Bookshop.Org – you can view all the previous selections, see who nominated the book for inclusion and even buy the books you fancy. Sadly there are a couple of gaps where books are no longer in print.

Here is a handy link: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/GrabThisBookDecades

Now that I have covered why we are here, the rules of selection and how to find out more about previous Decades recommendations I can hand over to my guest curator, Simon Bewick.

Simon Bewick has had short stories published in the UK and US and is represented by A for Author agency, who have his first novel out on submission… He’s also half of Virtual Noir at the Bar and Bay Tales with Vic Watson. Through their shows and website (www.baytales.com) they have hosted more than 300 crime and mystery authors to date and will be hosting their first physical one-day crime festival in Whitley Bay on February 12^th 2022. Visit the Bay Tales site for more details. You can follow him on Twitter @simonbewick

DECADES

60s – Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury

Growing up I loved Ray Bradbury’s work – his short stories in collections bought second hand from Blyth market on a Saturday. The stories were different from the Pan Book of Horror shorts I’d read. They weren’t ‘graphic’. They weren’t ‘scary’ and, they didn’t always necessarily seem to have ‘an end’. A teacher in my English class used the term ‘purple prose’ but I knew even as a fourteen year old he was wrong. Bradbury didn’t write in an overly ornate or elaborate way, he just wrote beautifully. I preferred his short stories to his novels for the most part – and Something Wicked This Way Comes was one of the few non ‘fix-up’ novels Bradbury wrote. Do I prefer Dandelion Wine? Maybe…but Something Wicked is a fine pairing with it and probably the one that I’ve gone back to most often. The film version of the book was disappointing, but the poster for it and which hangs in my writing room, sums up the story perfectly in its’ Halloween feel. As the book starts:

First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys.

Ah – I think I copied Bradbury’s openings more than any other author as a teenager. (and that dumb old English teacher never event knew…)

70s – Danny, Champion of the World – Roald Dahl

I’m not sure how soon after publication I read DCotW, but I’m guessing if it was published in 1975 maybe two years? That would make me around 8 and seems about right. I know I read it a lot of times in the following years. I’m guessing it seemed a somewhat bygone tale on publication: but I loved the descriptive writing (has anyone written such a description of a pie? I haven’t read it if they have). I loved all of Dahl’s books back then (other than The Great Glass Elevator, which started a long history of disappointment in sequels…), but Danny despite, or perhaps because of, being the least fantastical of his children’s fiction if the one that stayed with me and was re-read again and again.

80s – Christine – Stephen King

Christine may not be the first choice of many people as Stephen King’s best piece of work but for me it sums up everything I love about his writing. It’s about a haunted car: a ’58 Plymouth Fury to be precise– but that, in some ways, is the least interesting part of the book for me (good though it is). What it’s really about, and what it felt as if it was really about when I read it as a fifteen year old back in the day, is about friendship, growing up and growing apart. Dennis Guilder and Arnie Cunningham’s relationship felt so real to me. Dennis’ voice, which much of the book is told from, struck me as so authentic. The trials of school and being ‘different’. Even though I wasn’t a high school jock or a complete social outcast, that I didn’t live in a US suburb, that my first car was a Mark II Escort rather than an American classic…it seemed real. I remember going (underage) to the cinema to see the movie version: my first certificate 18 movie. I loved John Carpenter who directed it and the effects were spot on, but it summed up why so many of the adaptations of King’s work don’t work for me. The movie was about the car. The book was about the characters.

90s – Body and Soul – Frank Conroy.

Conroy didn’t write too many books in his lifetime. A memoir Stop-Time in 1967); a collection of short stories – Midair in 1985 and only one novel as far as I know of: 1993’s Body and Soul. It’s a book that is criminally hard to get, which is a true shame. I was given my copy by the manager of a café I used to sit and read in who said she thought I might like it. Since then, I’ve loaned it to a few close friends I’m sure I’ll get it back from and I think it’s one of the greatest books written about music and, particularly, about being a musician. If Christine isn’t just about a car, this isn’t just about being a musical prodigy. What it is, is a beautifully written story of chance, coincidence, talent and a life and the characters encountered along the way.

00s – The Bottoms – Joe R Lansdale.

I was a big fan of Joe R Lansdale by the time The Bottoms came out in 2000. His Hap and Leonard novels had become firm favourites of mine since Savage Season had come out. I loved the dialogue – outrageous and hilarious. I devoured his short stories ranging from horror to mystery to sci fi to who-knows-how-to-describe? (Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland springs to mind). But The Bottoms is a very different sort of novel. It’s a book about family, racism, small town mind set and good and bad people and those in between. Set during the Great Depression in East Texas the story concerns Harry Crane, a young boy who finds the body of a black woman and the unfolding mystery amid mounting violence and This story takes place during the Great Depression in East Texas. Young Harry Crane discovers the mutilated body of a black woman – a murder he and his younger sister, Thomasina, believe is the work of local urban legend The Goat Man. As they investigate further and the killings continue, racial tensions rise around them, and their childhoods will be forever changed. The book has drawn comparisons to To Kill a Mockingbird, and while it’s easy to see why on a surface level, Lansdale is very much his own writer and has his own unique style. No matter what genre he writes in (and he writes in a lot), his voice is unmistakable. I’ve recommended The Bottoms to more people than any other book I’ve read. I haven’t had any people tell me they were disappointed. That’s got to be a good sign, right?

My thanks to Simon for these brilliant choices. Another Stephen King book warms my heart, particularly as it is one of the first I read and remains a firm favourite. I am also delighted to see Danny Champion of the World, a childhood favourite in my house too.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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