Nevil Shute moment

Journalist and blogger, Megan McArdle, has a post over at her blog, Asymmetrical Information, relating her reading of a Nevil Shute novel, Most Secret.

Somewhere along the time when I was perhaps 15-20 years old, I read a series of Nevil Shute novels and, though not generally a reader or appreciator of fiction, enjoyed them for the subtelty of his story lines and language.

What is striking is not so much her original post, though it does contain some interesting observations. More striking is the high level of engagement and dialogue in the comments section with many recommendations of other Nevil Shute books as well as those of other writers. The first several commenters grapple with the politics of McArdle's original post with some of the snippiness and bile that is often charactersitic in so many blog comments. Then, mercifully, the conversation takes a turn and begins to build on both the observation McArdle originally made and in doing so, also begins to yield recommendations on other Shute novels as well as books by others. There is an interesting link to a pertinent but relatively obscure article. This is the blog world at its best: useful and respectful sharing of information.

Among the recommendations from the commenters:

Novels By Nevil Shute

Most Secret
On the Beach
A Town Like Alice
The Rainbow and the Rose
The Trustee from the Toolroom - I have never heard of this one but apparently a favorite among several of the commenters.
Slide Rule
Pied Piper
Pastoral
The Chequer Board
Beyond the Black Stump
Requiem for a Wren

By Other Authors

Night Soldiers by Alan Furst
The Polish Officer by Alan Furst
Headquarters Nights by Vernon L. Kellogg
A Desert Called Peace by Tom Kratman
C.S. Forester's Hornblower books such as Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
Brown on Resolution by C.S. Forester
The African Queen by C.S. Forester
A Rifleman Went to War by Herbert McBride
Patrick O'Brien's sea stories such as Master and Commander