Book titles mentioned within a novel:
I have a couple of books which I classify as comfort reads. Despite the fact that I rarely reread books...there are a few. Lissa Evans' novels Crooked Heart and V for Victory are among those and I finished those this week.
As I have reviewed them before I won't get into that now, however you can click on the titles to see my Goodreads review if interested. 👆
What I thought I'd write about today were the many book titles mentioned in both novels.
Have you ever been reading a book and one of the characters is reading something, causing you to check out that book on Goodreads? Well there are many titles within these two novels.
If you are a fan of British classics or detective novels then you will find quite a few embedded in the storyline. Some are books Noel read when he was younger as well as the literature and nonfiction he reads for his educational tutoring in the second book.
The time periods are perfect for those who like WW II historical fiction, older mysteries as well fans of George Eliot books :-) Here are a few I have noted as I read:
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
The Complete Saki by Saki, an Edwardian author
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Noel's love of detective stories in Crooked Heart included Dorothy Sayer's series about Lord Peter Wimsey as well as other detective series such as Edward Wallace, Dashiell Hammett, Albert Campion and Eric Ambler.
Evans also includes a few nonfiction titles which were written by air-raid wardens and published during the war which inspired her for one character's storyline:
Raiders overhead: A Diary of the London Blitz by Barbara Nixon
The Orwell book is on my classics list but Ministry of Fear ought to be added as well.
On a sad note, I no longer have my copy of Crooked Heart as I loaned it out to a former workmate and she has moved away. Ugh. I checked the copy out of the library for my reread. Wah-wa 😞
Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon. and Joy's Book Blog for Britsh Isles Friday.
I’m sorry for the loss of your Crooked Heart copy :(
ReplyDeleteShelleyrae, I don't normally loan a book unless someone is very dependable for getting it back to me. Oh well! I can get anither copy via Thriftbooks eventually.
DeleteI often look up books whose titles are mentioned in other books or other blog posts. How I know what to read sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHarvee, me too. It introduces me to new authors many times.
DeleteI have heard of some of these titles, and now I want to look them up!
ReplyDeleteOlivia, these are great books if you like historical fiction and the dialogue and developing relationship between Vera and Noel is great. Lots of titles pop up within :-)
DeleteA book with a classic mystery lover for a character makes me curious. 👀 I'll have to check out Crooked Heart now!
ReplyDeleteNicky, hope you enjoy it!
DeleteI didn't realize you were rereading these books. When I first saw your post about Crooked Heart, I thought it sounded wonderful. Knowing now that you've read both books twice, I'm moving the titles to the top of my library list!
ReplyDeleteLes, I hope you enjoy them. Vera and Noel don't make the best first impression but together as a team I loved them. I like the WW II era for historical fiction.
DeleteI do enjoy checking out the books mentioned in other books. Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteJodie, it's always fun to see what the characters are reading. Hope your weekend is great and happy new year!
Delete