![]() ![]() The book, as is stated in a brief note at the beginning of my edition, was deliberately written as what the author calls a ‘shocker’ - an exciting adventure story where the hero keeps on escaping by the skin of his teeth, rather like the comic strip stories that appeared in weekly magazines. This is more in the styel of PG Wodehouse or Conan Doyle: terse, but fast-paced, and oddly light-hearted. It was published 100 years ago, so inevitably it’s dated, but that didn’t pose a problem I’ve read and enjoyed Jane Austen and those of her era which are a lot more old fashioned. I’ve finally sat down to read ‘The Thirty-Nine Steps’, and what a treat it was! It’s more an adventure story than a thriller, although the ending is quite tense. But after losing my mother a couple of years ago, I picked up this little volume from her shelves, knowing it was one of her favourites and that she dipped into it regularly. I suppose the ‘thriller’ genre put me off even though I knew his books were considered classics, and not particularly gory, I prefer to read character-based family saga fiction. ![]() Although my mother was quite a fan of the early 20th century Scottish writer John Buchan, I had never got around to reading any of his books. ![]()
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