The Very Odd Bookclub – May

The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton

Particularly observant television watchers may recognise G K Chesterton from the credits of the Father Brown television series based on his novels. While justly famous for his sleuth / clergyman detective fiction, he was also a prolific writer of social, political and literary criticism. He also had a deep interest in metaphysics and spirituality. The Man Who Was Thursday could reasonably be called his attempt to do all of this at the same time. Set roughly at the time it was written (1908) it features and undercover cop, poet anarchists, an elephant chase through London, a medieval party and just possibly the ultimate truth, or at the least an ultimate truth. Chesterton was famous for his sharp and humorous turn of phrase so this one is a bit lighter than what we’ve been reading lately, but it’s still very odd and I think it will be fun.