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1940s

Carson McCullers: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

April 30, 2026April 15, 2026 by Trevor Berrett

I finally read Carson McCuller’s classic debut novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Categories Book Reviews, Carson McCullers Tags 1940, 1940s 2 Comments

Nancy Mitford: The Pursuit of Love

May 1, 2026August 20, 2025 by Trevor Berrett

I finally read Nancy Mitford’s The Pusuit of Love, a radiant, bittersweet novel that’s as funny as it is quietly devastating.

Categories Book Reviews Tags 1940s, 1945 1 Comment

M.F.K. Fisher: How to Cook a Wolf

May 2, 2026February 21, 2025 by Trevor Berrett

Have you ever read M.F.K. Fisher’s culinary classic How to Cook a Wolf? I had not, but I’m so glad I did! Here are some of my thoughts.

Categories Book Reviews, M.F.K. Fisher Tags 1940s, 1942 Leave a comment

Jean Stafford: The Mountain Lion

June 4, 2024 by Trevor Berrett

The most recent #NYRBWomen24 book that we finished was Jean Stafford’s The Mountain Lion, and it is not at all what I was expecting . . . in a good way!

Categories Book Reviews Tags 1940s, 1947 4 Comments

William Maxwell: The Folded Leaf

January 20, 2021 by Trevor Berrett

In my quest to read all of William Maxwell’s novels, I hit a bit of a stumbling block with his 1945 novel The Folded Leaf.

Categories Book Reviews, William Maxwell Tags 1940s, 1945 Leave a comment

Henri Bosco: Malicroix

May 1, 2020April 30, 2020 by Trevor Berrett

Henri Bosco’s Malicroix, translated from the French by Joyce Zonana, is a beautiful, terrifying exploration of isolation and nature. It’s shot up to being one of my favorites!

Categories Book Reviews, Henri Bosco Tags 1940s, 1948, French, NYRB Classics Leave a comment

Elizabeth Taylor: Palladian

April 23, 2020 by Trevor Berrett

Elizabeth Taylor’s second book, Palladian, from 1946, shows she had a strong point of view and a genius ability to articulate it. Here are my thoughts on the novel.

Categories Book Reviews, Elizabeth Taylor Tags 1940s, 1946 2 Comments

John Williams: Nothing But the Night

February 12, 2019 by Trevor Berrett

John Williams’ debut novel, Nothing But the Night, has finally come home! NYRB Classics published their edition today, completing their collection of all four of Williams’ novels. It’s a fine work from a young man filled with promise.

Categories Book Reviews, John Williams Tags 1940s, 1948 3 Comments

Jean Giono: Melville: A Novel

October 6, 2017 by Trevor Berrett

In the late 1930s, Jean Giono worked to translated Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick into French for the first time. To accompany the new edition, Giono provided a strange, fictional introduction to Melville the man, instead giving us a lovely look at Melville our imagined author.

Categories Book Reviews, Jean Giono Tags 1940s, 1941, French, NYRB Classics 1 Comment

Monica Dickens: Thursday Afternoons

August 3, 2017July 20, 2017 by Lisa Guidarini

Lisa Guidarini, from Bluestalking Journal, commences a trip through Penguin’s vintage, numbered spines by looking at Monica Dickens’s Thursday Afternoons.

Categories Book Reviews, Monica Dickens Tags 1940s, 1945 Leave a comment
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