Today's Featured Book:
The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
Genre: Science Fiction/Horror
Published: December 1951
Page Count: 241 pages
Summary:
Bill Masen undergoes eye surgery and awakes the next morning in his hospital bed to find civilization collapsing. Wandering the city, he quickly realizes that surviving in this strange new world requires evading strangers and the seven-foot-tall plants known as triffids—plants that can walk and can kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers.
When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.
I felt that from the moment I woke. And yet, when I started functioning a little more smartly, I became doubtful. After all, the odds were that it was I who was wrong, and not everyone else—though I did not see how that could be. I went on waiting, tinged with doubt. But presently I had my first bit of objective evidence—a distant clock struck what sounded to me just like eight. I listened hard and suspiciously. Soon another clock began, on a hard, decisive note. In a leisurely fashion it gave an indisputable eight. Then I knew things were awry.
Wyndham, John. The Day of the Triffids, p. 1. Kindle Edition.
THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky.
I said: “I wonder just how many of us have escaped and can still see? I’ve come across one other man, a child, and a baby; you’ve met none. It looks to me as if we are going to find out that sight is very rare indeed. Some of the others have evidently grasped already that their only chance of survival is to get hold of someone who can see. When they all understand that, the outlook’s going to be none too good.”
Wyndham, John. The Day of the Triffids, p. 56. Kindle Edition.
.png)
The Day of the Triffids is my Classics Club spin. I'm delighted that the spinner stopped on this book. Jinjer of The Intrepid Angeleno rave-reviewed it last November here and I could not resist buying a copy and then adding it to my latest Classics Club list.
The Day of the Triffids is not what I expected. I'm a scifi book and film person from childhood, and I thought this would be a standard scary-monsters-invading-earth sort of story. It's not; instead, it's scifi integrated skillfully into literary fiction.
I followed up my reading of the book with watching the film, and the movie, it turns out, is loosely based on the story---with a man who retains his sight while most everyone else goes blind; a world unable to cope with the sudden loss of vision; and plants that walk and kill humans.
The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.
Do you follow book trends and bestsellers, or do you prefer hunting down lesser-known titles? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)
I am a person who loves to find little-known, beautifully written books. If you have titles of books you've loved that no one else has read, I'd love for you to share them with me.
I read Day of the Triffids when I was doing my “O” level exams when I was 15, one of the better books I had to read
ReplyDeleteNice! I don't follow the lists myself but if an author I already read makes it onto the list then that's when I read "from the list." Lol. I basically just go for whatever book grabs at my attention!
ReplyDeleteHere's my BBH
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower :)
You will enjoy “The Day of the Triffids” but it might also scare the living daylights out of you!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI love discovering those lesser-known gems too. Sometimes the books that aren’t getting all the attention end up being the ones that surprise us the most. Happy Reading!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds pretty creepy!
ReplyDeleteSounds good — I enjoyed your review. It reminds me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or maybe another plot with an invasion from another planet.
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
John Wyndham's books definitely surprised me with how literary they felt! Similar feeling to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
ReplyDeleteI read a bit of a mix of well-known and less well known books... mostly I don't pay much attention to how popular something is, because I'm not plugged into stuff like TikTok or Instagram to know about the trends.
Here's my BBH post: https://breathesbooks.com/2026/08/21/book-blogger-hop-trends/
Definitely adding Day of the Triffids to my next Classics Club list but I need to finish the first one first.
ReplyDeleteI do love discovering the little-known books. And I also sometimes read the popular books. It just depends. I do know that I have come to the point where if a book isn't working for me (for whatever reason), I am comfortable with stopping and moving on to the next book. Enjoy your classics spin book!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of this book but haven't read it.
ReplyDeleteI love Day of the triffids! always wonder when i see a shooting star ... Ooh yes his other books are great too - the Kraken!!
ReplyDeletesherry
I'm so happy the spin finally landed on Day of the Triffids!!! I hope you enjoy the second half, too! Also, I love that cover so much!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe news is dystopian enough, in its own way, so I’ve not wanted to read too many such novels. It does sound like an excellent read, though.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of The Day of the Triffids, but it looks interesting. Since it was published in 1951, I take it there was a rerelease or a new edition published.
ReplyDeleteI’m eager to read Day of the Triffids. Some of my most enjoyed books are by little known authors.
ReplyDeleteWhat a hook. Also what was going on in the 1950s to produce this type of horror (if horror is in fact an extension of the fears of the times in which we live)? Deciding if I'm too chicken to take this one on (lol).
ReplyDelete