Dear reader,
After last week’s voyage into the haunting, witchy world of Madeline Miller’s Circe, this week brought quite the change of tone.
There’s a real Boy’s Own quality to John Buchan’s thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps – a proper “shocker”, as he called it.
If I’m honest, I don’t think this book competes with Circe in the beauty of its language or the depth of its emotions. But that’s fine. Different books do very different things.
And quite apart from its merits as a thriller, the great thing about Buchan’s book is that it opens up so many different lines of inquiry, from his own remarkable life story to the anxieties and values of the 1910s, with the Great War looming overhead.
On top of that, of course, it’s an enormously significant book because it effectively invented the modern spy genre. Would we have James Bond and Slow Horses without the adventures of Richard Hannay? Maybe, but they might look very different.
Buchan aside, this is a good opportunity for me to thank you for signing up to Book Club Notes and for sending in all your thoughts. Tabitha and I have been delighted to read so many lovely comments about the show, especially since we’re such martyrs to low self-esteem.
We’re 24 episodes in now, but it feels like we’re only just getting started. Tabby and I both keep enormous lists of potential books – although when we got together with our producer Nicole to plan the schedule into 2027, it was funny to see how similar our lists were. Great minds and all that.
To give you a sense of how the show works, we try to record the episodes quite far in advance. (It may surprise you to know that we recorded our first pilot episodes more than a year ago, while the first episodes you heard this spring were recorded last autumn.)
But the reading never stops. I’m off on holiday this week and I’m taking a great pile of forthcoming titles, including Lord of the Flies, American Psycho, Jane Eyre, Goldfinger, The Shining and Things Fall Apart.
Dominic’s holiday reading
And the list never gets any shorter. This week a senior figure at Goalhanger, our production company, persuaded me to do one of his favourite science fiction books. I promised him I’d add it to the list, but I didn’t have the courage to tell him how many titles are ahead of it!
Do write in to tell us what you’re reading this summer or to share what you think others should be packing for their holiday. And if you’re looking for more recommendations, listen or watch our special summer reading list episode.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed John Buchan. Next week we’re in Naples with Elena Ferrante and My Brilliant Friend – a perfect summer read.
Until next time,
If you enjoyed… The Thirty-Nine Steps
Some more recommendations for your list
📚 Witch Wood by John Buchan – Tabby expressed her love for this book set amidst the civil wars of 17th century Scotland.
📚 Ivanhoe by Walter Scott – The author and his romantic Scottish novels were a big inspiration for Buchan growing up and can be traced to his depiction of Scotland.
📚 Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps by Ursula Buchan – Dominic cited this biography by Buchan’s granddaughter in the episode. It draws on unseen family documents to tell his extraordinary life story.
📚 King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard – The author’s books are mentioned in the story, and the presenters noted you could see his influence “stamped on every page” of The Thirty-Nine Steps.
📚 The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers – One of the first great spy novels, but also an example of invasion literature, a genre predecessor to Buchan’s story.
📽 The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935) – Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation lives large in the cinematic imagination, especially that plane moment.
We need your vote
“A fantastic way to spend an evening,” said Tabby when discussing the short length of Buchan’s novel. But tell us, do you relish a short read or are you one for a thick tome? Let us know your favourite short or long books when you vote, too.
Click to vote – and if you leave an extra comment, add your name so we can include your thoughts in Reviewers' Corner
Notes on… The Thirty-Nine Steps
If your book club is filled with busy people with short attention spans, John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps hits a sweet spot in the Venn diagram of brevity, action and the pedigree of a classic story that has survived the generations. A true trailblazer for work still being written today, it’s a must-read for anyone who calls themselves a literature fan.
“It’s the template for James Bond, for the Jason Bourne series, you can see elements of the Slow Horses or Lee Child books, or all these kind of thrillers,” says Dominic of The Thirty-Nine Steps. “You might call [it] the first modern thriller.”
What elements of modern day spy, thriller and action novels can you see in Buchan’s work? Was this a pioneer of the genre?
Dominic admits he was underwhelmed by this book when he first read it. “I wasn’t that excited by it, I think probably because my palate had been ruined by reading James Bond.” In an age of high drama and overstimulation, how do you think The Thirty-Nine Steps stands up as a thriller?
This is “incredibly fast-paced, even by modern standards,” said Tabby. In setting out to write the book, Buchan told his wife: “I should like to write a story of this sort and take real pains with it. Most detective story writers don't take half enough trouble with the characters, and no one cares what becomes of either corpse or murderer.” Do you agree with Buchan’s critique? And did he succeed in his mission?
In her biography of her grandfather, Ursula Buchan quotes a letter he received from an officer on the front. He had said of the book: "It's just the kind of fiction for here. One wants something to engross the attention without tiring the mind. The story is greatly appreciated in the midst of mud and rain and shells.”
Dominic explained how this became a word-of-mouth hit. “A lot of the first readers were men in the trenches in the First World War, and they thought, almost without exception, that this book was just unbelievably exciting,” he said.
Discuss why – from the inciting incident to the patriotic characters littered throughout – you think this would have appealed to those fighting in the war.Encourage your group to listen to Dominic and Tabby’s summation of the historical context of the book. It contains more than echoes of the real-life assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose killing in June 1914 is widely recognised to have sparked the war. Buchan began writing just a month later. Dedicating the novel to his publisher, in the first edition, he noted they lived in “days when the wildest fictions are so much less improbable than the facts”. What other elements from that period of history did you notice? How did you feel it captured the anxieties of the 1910s? Can you think of any other novels you’ve read that have been so quickly reflective of real life?
The book plays with the trope of “invasion literature”, a popular genre (you can read more about it here) that played on the anxieties of the late 19th and early 20th century. Discuss how it subverts the framework of these popular stories. Why when, as Dominic noted, many of these books have been forgotten, do you think The Thirty-Nine Steps remains beloved?
“Richard Hannay is, of course, not a detective,” says Tabby. “He's far from it. He's a very ordinary man. He's not brilliant in any way. He doesn't investigate the murder that kicks it all off. He doesn't even really investigate the conspiracy… He's on the run essentially. His priority is to escape the authorities, to escape the Black Stone, and above all, he's a man of physical action.”
Is Tabby right? What Hannay traits do you see as archetypal of the modern-day action heroes we know and love?
Dominic felt the villains were “quite underdeveloped” while Tabby said that the way they were written could be seen as making them “more frightening, shadowy figures”. Where do you stand?
“This is basically one big Duke of Edinburgh expedition,” said Tabby. “For some people it would be incredibly evocative – it would make you yearn to jump on a train without supplies and survive in the Highlands of Scotland with nothing but your wiles.”
“It's chases across heather and moorlands; fugitives hiding on remote islands; pursuits across hills and mountains,” Tabby added. The nature of place, and especially Scotland, are so important to this story. Discuss how well you thought Buchan depicts these locations. Did you see echoes of Walter Scott?
“The final action is done and dusted in about four paragraphs. It's literally as if someone said to John Buchan: ‘You’ve got to be finished in five minutes,’ said Dominic of the ending. What were your observations of the way this story ended? Like Tabby, did you remain “not entirely clear on what actually happens”?
The quote that says it all
“I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see a good man downed, and that long knife would not be the end of Scudder if I could play the game in his place.”
The quote that sums up Richard Hannay, which no doubt would have resonated with soldiers reading his story from trenches. What quote stayed with you? Email us and let us know.
Who should you give this to?
A lover of the Scottish wilds? Someone with a quiet evening to fill? A Bond fan who needs to brush up on the origin story of their hero?
Tell us, who would you share this with?
Recommended reads
We’re taking recommendations to share with the Book Notes community. Tell us what book fellow members should pick up next by sending two or three sentences about your novel of choice and we’ll feature as many as we can in future weeks… Email [email protected].
Judith writes to insist you read some John Irving. “A Prayer for Owen Meany made me laugh and cry on the same page or A Widow for One Year means I can’t see an empty picture hook without thinking of Tim and Tom.”
Homo Faber by Max Frisch comes recommended from Maria, who says: “This is a beautifully written novel that deals with many universal themes and its multi-layered story makes one ponder over the eternal question: Is everything that happens in life a coincidence, or predestined? Do the decisions that we make influence the outcome?
Saskia urges the community to try Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, adding it’s a “fascinating study of what utopia might look like if imagined and practised by imperfect humans. I teach in political science at the University of Amsterdam, and I have several colleagues who use it in their teaching.”
Reviewers’ corner
We can’t wait to see your responses to The Thirty-Nine Steps. Write in to [email protected] with ‘review’ in the subject line and tell us…
Did you find the ending of Buchan’s story underwhelming?
Who do you think would win in a battle – Bond or Hannay? Or would you like them to team up and be jolly good chaps together?
Last week the presenters loved living in Circe’s world of Greek myths and it seems you did too…
Your polls
After Tabby revealed this was her fourth read of Circe, we asked if you were re-readers, and overwhelmingly it seems you are, 74% of you in fact.
Many of you said you’d picked books up for a second time in anticipation of an episode of the podcast (thank you!) or had titles you reach for every year.
Melissa from Chicago echoed many of you, poetically describing the experience as “an unchanging shelter, where we can spend some time out of the humdrum rain, and sit enthralled in its familiar grasp.”
For those in the minority, Raheela summed up their FOMO: “There are so many books that I have yet to read, and while I know it’s silly, I would like to have an opportunity to read them all!”
You also agreed with Tabby’s 10/10 mark for the story, with 52% of you awarding it the same.
Your favourite re-reads
Thank you for emailing in with your favourite re-reads. Jannie says the only series she’s ever re-read is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander stories.
Hayley’s choice, Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, inspired her daughter’s name and is now on her reading list for students: “It was such an engaging way into philosophy and political ideas, I loved it and instantly read it again,” she says.
Yvonne tells us: “The books I return to again and again are like catch ups with the best of friends; you can pretty well anticipate how it will go, but it’s always utterly engrossing. I save these books up and allow enough time to pass before letting myself dive back in.” She lists Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles as one of her choices on an eclectic list featuring Pride and Prejudice, Jilly Cooper and Terry Hayes’ I Am Pilgrim.
Carol is reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami for the sixth time! “Books are friends to re-visit and devour in contemplation, savouring the shades of meaning,” she writes. “As we age our interpretations shift…however a good read is always a good read.”
We also had to include this relatable note from Katie who doesn’t like to re-read but adds: “As I get older I sometimes accidentally re-read a book but not on purpose.”
Miller’s brilliance
“I've read The Odyssey multiple times, worshipping Odysseus as the wily strategist,” says Paulette. “Then I read Ovid and Sophocles and came away with a contrasting viewpoint. If ancient writers can do different takes on the same character, why can't modern authors do the same? Myths are not a sacred, dead canon that can't be fussed with, and Miller's brilliance proves that to be so.”
Matias, from Uruguay, picked Circe up after it had dwindled on his “to read” list for years. “I grew up on the Greek myths and have always really enjoyed them, and reading through Circe felt like discovering a beautiful new character I had never given too much thought to. I agree strongly with Dom’s comment in the episode that Miller strikes the perfect balance between modern and archaic prose, which feels easily digestible but still imbued with more gravitas than most authors could produce.”
A feminist retelling?
Mike, from Chicago, emailed to answer our question last week about whether Circe should be classified as a “feminist retelling”. “I find this a reductionist phrase that steals from the power of the book,” he says. “I think Circe is simply a fully realised character study of someone who is gifted. These gifts set her apart and make her feel “othered”, and she eventually finds more contentment alone on her island than she does amongst her cruel and stunted immortal relatives.
“The Buddha in the Dhammapada states that it’s sometimes better for a spiritual person to go it alone than suffer the company of fools, and I thought a lot about this principle when reading the novel. Is the book partially a commentary on how artists and seekers are often misfits who must take their own path to find contentment?”
‘Flat and pompous’
The best thing about a book club is the debate - in that spirit, we include Wulf’s take on Circe (which was in the minority in our inbox).
He wrote: “For me, it is not a coming-of-age story, it stays flat… There was no interesting character development: Circe remained passive (and cruel) and, frankly, boring, like an entitled teenager. Speaking of character, Odysseus, the most complex and controversial man in The Odyssey, perhaps even in all of literature, became a nice, almost ideally domesticated mortal whom you’d want as a neighbour and father of your children. As for Miller’s writing: It is not truly artful and stylish, but artificial and even a bit pompous in its effort to be interesting… If this book deserves 9 or 10 points, you’d have to give Dickens, Waugh, Woolf, Joyce, Nabokov, Lampedusa and other true masters between 30 and 50 points. Putting Miller’s book next to them is like comparing Taylor Swift to Bob Dylan.”
Time Traveller’s strife
Ulrike wrote in with a list of re-reads she’s spent time with while sharing them with her children. After listening to the summer books special podcast, which discusses discovering unexpected love scenes, she wrote in with this tale.
“In 2015 I started reading Harry Potter to 10-year-old twin girls. We got to the end of HP VII after four years and continued with more grown-up books. Our last book, before they left for a gap year to Brazil in 2025, was The Time Traveller's Wife. I had quite forgotten that the first meeting of Henry and Claire culminates in a very juicy sex scene. As I began to realise what was 'coming' I flattened my voice more and more to keep an inner distance to the events I was reading aloud.”
Never too late for The Wind in the Willows
Carolyn wrote in to suggest a copy of The Wind in the Willows illustrated by Robert Ingpen. She read the book for the first time aged 73. “When you’re young all your adventures are new and shiny,” she writes. “At some age you realise that the adventure you’re starting may be the last time you’ll do it. And you have a whole collection of ‘remember when’ adventures with friends you loved. So 73 has been a marvellous time to experience a book about adventures with friends.”
Scoreboard
Book | Dominic’s Verdict | Tabby’s Verdict |
|---|---|---|
The Thirty-Nine Steps | 7/10 | 7/10 |
Circe | 9/10 | 10/10 |
The Wind in the Willows | 10/10 | 8/10 |
A Game of Thrones | 8/10 | 8/10 |
Little Women | 7/10 | 5/10 |
Next on The Book Club
Here’s what’s coming up on the podcast:
August 4: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
August 11: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
August 18: For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
August 25: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
September 1: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
September 8: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Keeping score
This week, Dominic and Tabby ending up meeting in the middle to both give The Thirty-Nine Steps 7/10. But what did you think?
See you next week for My Brilliant Friend.
The Book Club Team
