The Thirty-Nine Steps
by John Buchan · first published 1915
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Richard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in London. But then a murder is committed in his flat, just days after a chance encounter with an American who had told him about an assassination plot which could have dire international consequences. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland where he will need all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.
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Ah, Adrian Praetzellis! Such a fantastic reader. I also suggest his readings of... The Wind in the Willows: https://librivox.org/the-wind-in-the-willows-by-kenneth-grah... The Thirty-Nine Steps: https://librivox.org/the-thirty-nine-steps-by-john-buchan/
on “Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free” ↗Happen to have just finished a biography of John Buchan (author of "The Thirty-nine Steps" among many others, as well as being Governor General of Canada 1935-40). In the first world war he was high up in the Propaganda Bureau - which was considered quite successful, including by the Germans.…
on “Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques” ↗In more context: > on the primitive level of wanting to know what happens next, The Fellowship of the Ring is at least as good as The Thirty-Nine Steps. That is, it's an engaging narrative up there with a book that's been adapted into four films, a stage play, and enough radio dramas it would be tiresome to count them all. So, yes, high praise for Tolkien's…
on “W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring” ↗…be various and exciting; in this respect Mr. Tolkien’s invention is unflagging, and, on the primitive level of wanting to know what happens next, The Fellowship of the Ring is at least as good as The Thirty-Nine Steps He's clearly suggesting that in one very particular respect, he values the 39 Steps so very highly that it can be used as a kind of measuring stick. It may not seem like such a big deal, but partial…
on “W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring” ↗