Best of
Modern

1954

Don Camillo's Dilemma


Giovannino Guareschi - 1954
    And still the Good Lord strives to keep the peace in a war that keeps the whole world laughing.

The Open Book


Veniamin Kaverin - 1954
    We see the world of idealistic young people who are trying to change the world for the better -- world of happy people who are never sick. The plot is concentrated about the life of microbiologists and doctors...Amazon Customer's Review

Maggie Rowan


Catherine Cookson - 1954
    Beneath Maggie's forbidding exterior is a desire to be loved.

The Magicians


J.B. Priestley - 1954
    In both capacities it shows its author's breadth of knowledge and interests, his humanity and insight. It is J. B. Priestley, mocking but wise, at his best.

The World In The Evening


Christopher Isherwood - 1954
    After his second marriage suddenly ends, Stephen finds himself living with a relative in a small Pennsylvania Quaker town, haunted by memories of his prewar affair with a younger man during a visit to the Canary Islands. The world traveler comes to a gradual understanding of himself and of his newly adopted homeland. When first published in 1953, The World in the Evening was notable for its clear-eyed depiction of European and American mores, sexuality, and religion. Today, readers herald Christopher Isherwood’s frank portrayal of bisexuality and his early appreciation of low and high camp

The Trip to Bountiful


Horton Foote - 1954
    Her burning desire is to return to the now desolate town of her childhood, against the inexorability of change and the refuge of memory. Foote earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1985 for his work on Bountiful.