1947

Post-war, no big books here.

1. The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney has 13 owners, 1 review. (Catholic, bells are rung to bring a dead actress's only movie into release). Made into a movie.

2. The Moneyman by Thomas B Costain has 30 owners (0 reviews)

3. Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson has 35 owners (0 reviews) (anit-Semitism). Was made into a movie.

4. Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts has 76 owners and no reviews. (Romance, Boston lawyer goes to Haiti)

5. The Vixens by Frank Yerby has 19 owners and 0 reviews. (Romance novel set in old New Orleans)

6. The Wayward Bus by JohnSteinbeck has 288 owners and 5 reviews. (a fictional Travels with Charley.

7. House Divided by Ben Ames Williams has 16 owners and no reviews. (Civil War)

8. Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis has 85 owners and 2 reviews. ( man from N. Minn finds out he is black)

9. East Side, West Side by Marcia Davenport has 3 owners (0 reviews). (social strata in New York). Better known for Mozart - 62 owners.

10. Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger has 46 owners, 1 review (Italian Renaissance). Also known for Captain from Castile

House Divided created a bit of a stir. It was hailed as "better than Gone with the Wind" which it wasn't. Ben Ames Williams was considered "Adult only" Some may remember the movie starring Gene Tierney made from his book Leave her to Heaven In House Divided there was controversy about a scandalous affair which had involved Abraham Lincoln's grandmother. According to Mr. Williams story, she was never married. Some people thought the book should be banned because it dis-respected the presidency. In our library, no one under 18 could touch it. I worked as a page at the time & read all 800 some pages, looking for the sexy stuff, but found very little.

#8 Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis was a quite controversial (at the time) novel about racism. It isn't just that the man finds out he has a black ancestor, his attitudes about race are completely turned around. He goes from being complacent about the status quo to become an activist for civil rights. It was Lewis' argument for civil rights and from what I remember reading, it was completely misunderstood.

The film of Ben Ames Williams' Leave Her To Heaven is one of my favorite guilty pleasures!

For Kingsblood Royal, I was trying to be succinct, but putting in a little more than a tag word. After doing a couple of threads (years), I could barely remember half the novels I had looked up.

Oh, I completely understand and wasn't trying to be critical! I can barely remember what I had for breakfast! :))

Thanks for doing these threads!

--marise--
I think it is good when someone responds to these postings and gives more information on a book. I really appreciate them. It makes the effort seem worthwhile.

Wow, I've drawn a blank on all of these.

Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts was a good book, but it has been many years since I read it so I can't comment very well. I didn't read it in 1947, though, because that was the year I was born. ;-)

The Wayward Bus, was good Steinbeck, but not great.

Haven't read any of the others.

The Wayward bus, though, is the best survivor on the list. Maybe I should read it. I work in the bus industry, actually suburban bus transportation. The number of owners is now up to 321, 8 weeks after I did this list.

Kingsblood Royal now has 89 owners.
Lydia Bailey now has 80 owners.
I thought maybe these two might possibly break a 100.

According to wikipedia, Frank Yerby was the first African-American to have a bestseller (in 1946) and also to sell that bestseller to Hollywood. I think it was The Foxes of Harrow.

The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney and Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson were both made into movies. movies where appearances are not what most peaple see or think they know,don't know how I missed Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis as I have read quite a bit of his stuff.
And I'm going to have to look into House Divided by Ben Ames Williams

US Non-Fiction

1. Peace of Mind, Joshua L. Liebman 20 copies on LT

2. Information Please Almanac, 1947, John Kieran, editor 0 copies for '47

3. Inside U.S.A., John Gunther 50 copies

4. A Study of History, Arnold J. Toynbee 247 copies various editions

5. Speaking Frankly, James F. Byrnes 19 copies

6. Human Destiny, Pierre Lecomte du Noüy 44 copies

7. The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald 226 copies

8. The American Past, Roger Butterfield 4 copies

9. The Fireside Book of Folk Songs, Margaret B. Boni, editor 30 copies

10. Together: annals of An Army wife, Katharine Tupper Marshall 8 copies

The Egg and I really hung in there year after year.

The Egg and I is still a very funny book. I grew up with The Fireside Book of Folk Song and several others like it.

The Information Please Almanac for 1947 was the orignal year for this almanac, the World Almanac and Book of Facts is much older. I have some older issues, but not this old.

Zero for me. I know about Toynbee but haven't read him.

Lesser known works by Lewis and Steinbeck.

Zilch for me

I bought a copy of The Egg and I several years ago on a visit to the Olympic Peninsula. She was one terrific writer - she also wrote very amusing books for children, the Mrs. Piggle-wiggle series. The Egg and I is extremely funny, even now.

I found The Egg and I during a long, boring visit to my aunt's when I was a pre-teen (early 1970s). I spent the whole visit reading it. It's the only thing I remember.

The Egg and I has 373 copies in LT and 9 reviews, so it is one of the better survivors from 1947. But I see that John Steinbeck's The Wayward Bus now has 605, so it's grown quite a bit in a year and a half.

I own and have read The Moneyman, which was an engaging but not great historical novel about intrigue in high places in 15th century France.

I own but have not yet read Speaking Frankly. James F. Byrnes served in the FDR White House during the war and accompanied Roosevelt to Yalta. He then served as Foreign Minister under Truman from 1945-1947. This book is his memoir of his experiences, primarily centering around the Yalta conference, I believe.

House Divided has the wrong Touchstone link in Messages 1 & 2. Most of the books listed in the list have about twice as many owners now at LT.

The wayward bus
Finished reading: 1 March 2012



In The wayward bus Steinbeck describes how a group of people, a seemingly random sample from society, get along for a day while they are stuck in the middle of nowhere. Through the fabric of their palaver emerges the sense of deep loneliness, sexual repression and a craving for belonging. There are hidden dreams and façades suggesting success, which is longed for but not (yet) attained.

The setting, the so-called middle of nowhere, is quite clearly described, and even to modern readers recognizable as a place quite out of the way, a place one would have little hope for betterment. While some live there, others get stuck temporarily, as their bus makes an unscheduled stop. Causes for the bus to stop may be fate, as with the torrential rain that threatens to wash away the bridge, accident, as with the mechanical failure of the bus, or purposeful mishap, as the driver intentionally steers the bus into the mud, where it gets stuck in a rut.

However, in all cases, the state of being sidetracked seems temporal. The title The wayward bus suggests that the bus is turned away from the main road, or its destination; wayward being the short form for awayward meaning "turned aside" or "turned away," a word Steinbeck may have encountered in his reading of Malory's Le morte d'Arthur, which reads:

And therewithal she turned her from the window, and Sir Beaumains rode awayward from the castle, making great dole, and so he rode here and there and wist not where he rode, till it was dark night.

Likewise, their location, incidentally the starting point of the bus, is named Rebel Corners, a place historically associated with self-imposed laziness and ignorance.

The wayward bus is in its core an optimistic, hopeful story. As the characters are essentially stuck in the rut temporarily, the novel clearly shows the way out. Nicknamed sweetheart, the bus will eventually go on, and find its way back, away from Rebel Corners and on to its destination, and from there to any other place. Everyone may at some stage find themselves stuck at crossroads, and Steinbeck's message is that love and belonging are the path out of the mire.



Other books I have read by John Steinbeck:
Burning bright
The acts of King Arthur and his noble knights