Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels discussion

In March we will be reading The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers for our Crime category - who's in?

I have already read this but I might be tempted to reread it...

I'm in.

I’m in too, plan to get to this some time this month.

I'll be in. Having just discover the Boxall 1001 list, am I right in thinking that books on both lists have an advantage in the polls? :)

Riddle of the Sands has an interesting story beyond the story. For example it is believed to have been key to making a major re-deployment in the British Fleet. Not bad for a popular novel.

I was travelling in Europe years ago, before ereaders etc and had finished the books I had brought with me. I found a copy of this book where I was staying and as it was the only book there in English had no choice but to read it. It was a good choice and I loved it. Will look forward to revisiting this month sometime. Yes apparently it is considered the forerunner of the spy/mystery genre we know today.

Phil wrote: "I'll be in. Having just discover the Boxall 1001 list, am I right in thinking that books on both lists have an advantage in the polls? :)"

I don't know but it seems likely. How different do you find Boxall's list from the Guardian's?

There’s an overlap of about 470, which isn’t as many as you’d imagine.

Hi, I am so delighted to see that this group is still active. Health problems made it difficult to contribute, and I am so grateful to Darren and Kaycie that people can still enjoy reading these books together through their work. Thank you so much!

I've just ordered Riddle of the Sands, remember reading it some years ago and being impressed. It's going to be a delight to read it along with the group.

Welcome back Sarah! Though as I have also been absent for quite a while, I am probably not the best one to be saying that...

Leslie wrote: "Welcome back Sarah! Though as I have also been absent for quite a while, I am probably not the best one to be saying that..."

Feels good to be back though doesn't it? And thank you Leslie.

I’m not much of a sailor, and I found some of the details of tides and equipment a bit tiring at times, but I enjoyed the cat and mouse chase around the islands, and the relationship between Davies and Carruthers was great.

This is also one of the contenders for the first modern, if that is the right word - spy story.

Pamela wrote: "I’m not much of a sailor, and I found some of the details of tides and equipment a bit tiring at times, but I enjoyed the cat and mouse chase around the islands, and the relationship between Davies..."

That's what I remember about it - that if I had been a sailor, I would probably have loved it but it was still a fun read.

Review. 4 stars.

******
Four stars for what was an unexpectedly gripping read. I think that I missed out on quite a lot of nuance, because firstly I am not up with the nautical life and terminology in any way so much of that passed me by, and secondly I hate having to keep flipping back to the front of a book to refer to maps and charts, so I didn't.

However it kept me hooked on what started off as akin to Three Men in a Boat, with Carruthers bumbling about hacked off because there was no crew, champagne, comfy mattresses or sunshine, and turns into a very low key espionage novel.

The landscape is very nicely drawn, with its dreamlike hinterlands of sailing channels and routes that only exist for parts of the day, disappearing when the tide is low or the fog descends, with invisible danger just below the surface waiting to maroon you for hours on end, or worse.

I would say that the danger seems more of a Famous Five level than I'd have thought to be suitable for a foreign spy detecting top top secret government war plans. But I still really enjoyed it, despite it being such a slow burn.

I read this book with an open mind because books about spying and warfare are not favorites of mine. I was also intrigued about this book because of the results it elicited in the U.K.'s paradigm shift to consider an invasion from Germany to be more of a reality than not. I had to read this book with a Google map open - I had to enlarge it to appreciate with siels and tributaries then zoom out to keep the perspective of Germany's northwest coast in view. Having that map helped tremendously in aiding me in understanding the nuances of the story.
I tried to keep up with all the sailing and seafaring language used, but I eventually became more dependent on the maps. This transitioned occurred about halfway through the story. Even with that, I had to reread many paragraphs to fully understand the implications of some of the tiniest details. Fortunately, the narrator puts questions to those details which helped immensely.
I read 3/4 of the book over the weekend. In returning to work on this Monday, I was anxious to get home and finish reading the book. This is a rarity of me and is a reflection of well-told this story truly is.

I am a severe map geek anyway, and I too found that Google Earth was almost indispensable in helping to understand/enjoy this read!