Review: Strong Poison

I first started reading Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey novels after reading Connie Willis's novel To Say Nothing of the Dog, which makes a lot of references to Lord Peter. I was drawn in by the promise of the relationship between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane. Of course, there are four whole novels before Harriet Vane ever appears, but I've thoroughly enjoyed reading them, and at this point I'm much more interested in Lord Peter than in his romances.

When we do meet Harriet Vane in Strong Poison, she is on trial for the murder of her former love, Philip Boyes. She's a mystery novelist, and has recently done a lot of research into arsenic for a new novel. Unfortunately for her, Philip Boyes just happens to have died of arsenic poisoning. Lord Peter, clever fellow that he is, is convinced she is innocent, and sets out to prove it (simultaneously setting out to convince her to marry him).

I found the plot a bit uneven--preoccupations from the first half of the book seemed to disappear in the latter half. I confess the book may have suffered from my manner of reading it, since I read a lot of it and then put it aside for a while. Still, there weren't really enough suspects, and I think both the investigation and the book suffered from a lack of leads. On the other hand, I found myself particularly interested in Lord Peter's character in this book. His feelings about Harriet Vane were intriguing, and they made him rather more real, though also more complicated.

So on the whole, it was satisfying, as Lord Peter novels always are.

Review: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

Last year Dorothy Sayers was what got me back to reading after a dry spell, and this year she's simply been the continuation of the good reading habits I picked up over the summer. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club is the fourth Lord Peter Wimsey novel, and in my opinion it is by far the best yet. I think this is the first time Lord Peter really becomes Lord Peter. He has gained a certain something--he's more buoyant, but he's also more serious. The book itself is funnier than I remember the previous books being. I have a (bad?) habit of reading all books with Sam Starbuck and his writing in the back of my head, picking out characters I know he'd like. I already know he actually does read and like Lord Peter, and this is the first book where it is vividly clear to me exactly why he likes Lord Peter, and further, where characters with certain Lord Peter inspirations have cropped up in his writing.

Dorothy Sayers has once again distinguished herself in writing a mystery that does not immediately look like a mystery. No formula here. General Fentiman is extremely elderly and not very well, so when he is found dead in his usual chair in the Bellona Club on Armistice Day, no one is surprised. But why wasn't there a red poppy in his lapel, and when did he die? When it becomes clear that the time of his death determines a half-million-pound inheritance, Lord Peter sets out to answer these questions.

This was very good fun, and Lord Peter was very charming, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Latest reading

Now the library is open again my books are beginning to arrive. I've been meaning to get back to Lord Peter Wimsey, and I apparently don't own The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, so here's a library copy. The Neil Gaiman isn't from the library, but I took a fancy to reading some more of his writing and my lovely friend Beverly brought me a copy of American Gods. I've already started that one, and find it a bit odd but intriguing.

I can't remember whose review I read of Frances Burney's Evelina, but it was obviously such a good review that I rushed to order the book immediately. I've started reading already, and I'm quite enjoying it. I've been meaning to read more classics and more from the 18th century, so this satisfies both. The epistolary form is also rather pleasant. Evelina was written in the 1770s, and I keep having to remind myself that they're all dressed for the 1770s and not the 1810s, so I can definitely see why people consider Frances Burney when talking about Jane Austen's influences. I know I ran across mentions of Frances Burney a lot while reading about Jane Austen. It certainly is good to remember there were other women writing during this era. This Oxford World's Classics edition is really lovely, and it has lots of notes, most of which actually are necessary, unlike some notes I've seen.

So that's what I'm up to, aside from cleaning and packing for school. You'll hear what I think of Miss Hargreaves next week.

Study break books

School is starting soon, which on the one hand I'm really excited for, but on the other hand I know it will mean much less time to read and make things. Last year I was terrible about keeping up with my reading, though I know usually I did have time I could have devoted to it. Television and the internet were just too distracting, especially since they have the added attraction of requiring zero effort. But this year I want to be better about reading. I have a large stack of books I'm really looking forward to, and I want to actually read them.

A lot of it is a matter of choosing the right books. Last year I was mostly working on books I own, but I've always benefited from the deadline library books require. Library books also tend to be new and shiny. When I'm otherwise busy, I need to be excited about a book to get all the way through it in a timely fashion. Books that provide a nice change from what I'm reading in class are also more likely to get read. Surprisingly, nonfiction worked well for me last year. I loved Bluestockings and read it in only a few days, and I read quite a lot of Victorian Visitors, too. Last fall Dorothy Sayers did a good job getting me back to reading. I think mysteries are particularly good busy-time books. They're suspenseful but not too taxing.

I think most of my problem last year was my attitude towards reading. Somewhere along the line I forgot how nice it is to just sit down and read for hours. I treated reading as something you do when you're waiting for something else to happen--before your class starts, on the bus, in waiting rooms. But this summer I've rediscovered how to spend a whole afternoon reading. With any luck, I won't soon forget that.

If anyone has suggestions for books that might make a good study break, I'd love to hear them.

Look, a real live book review!

It's so thoroughly satisfying to finish a book you've spent ages reading for no particular reason. I've had Dorothy Sayers' Unnatural Death on the go for weeks, though it's hardly difficult and all things considered I have had time. Just haven't quite gotten around to reading. Not for lack of wanting to, even.

This is the third Lord Peter Wimsey novel I've read, and I can see they get increasingly clever and complicated. In the first book, Whose Body?, I knew who the murderer was about 20 pages before Lord Peter did. Unnatural Death is interesting because we know who the murderer is, but not how the murder was committed, (for a while) what the motive was, or whether there were any accomplices. It's a book interestingly connected to its time, as the law which provides the motive took effect in 1926, and the book was written in 1927. One must wonder if Dorothy Sayers hadn't just happened to read about the change in the law, and thought it would make a good motive for murder.

The book is interestingly full of what appear to amount to lesbian relationships. The victim of the original murder lived with another woman for most of her life, and seems to have completely rejected men as stupid and tiresome. Later, another woman is pretty clearly shown to be in love with a woman. What's less obvious is the view taken on such things. One man says, "The Lord makes a few on 'em that way to suit 'Is own purposes, I suppose." (pg. 122) Later, a woman says, "I cannot help feeling that it is more natural--more proper, in a sense--for a man and a woman to be all in all to one another than for two persons of the same sex." But the reply to this idea is that, "Surely, we have got beyond that point of view in these days." (pg. 158-9) So I can't really make any conclusions about the book's or author's ultimate opinion on these two relationships, but it's interesting that the discussion is there and definitely provides material for my own general musing.

I thought the book ended rather abruptly, like the author had reached her word limit and had to cut it off a bit short. But that's my only real issue with it, apart from some occasional excessive intricacy about family trees and whatnot. My fondness for Lord Peter only increases.

Clouds of Witness

I have hereby finished my first non-class required book since school started. Not that I haven't read others somewhat, just that I haven't finished any of them.

It was Dorothy L. Sayers's Clouds of Witness, the second Lord Peter Wimsey book. Where the last book featured a mysterious naked dead fellow in a bathtub and a disappeared businessman, this one hits closer to home for Lord Peter. His sister's fiancé, Denis Cathcart, is found dead of a bullet in the chest, and his brother Gerald, Duke of Denver, is accused of the murder. This book seems to me to be leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor, Whose Body?. I'd solved the mystery in that one twenty pages before Lord Peter did, but this time I was quite stumped until the end. Clouds of Witness is an enormous collection of clues and red herrings and loose ends.

It's a very good mystery, but as with many mystery novels it's the detective who makes it great. He has the most wonderful expressions, amusing divergences from the point that make him rather fascinating.

"I say, I don't think the human frame is very thoughtfully constructed for this sleuth-hound business. If one could go on all-fours, or had eyes in one's knees, it would be a lot more practical."

"There are many difficulties inherent in a teleological view of creation," said Parker placidly.

Just picture having eyes in your knees. Parker, Lord Peter's police detective cohort, is quite an excellent companion for him, believable as someone Peter would be fond of, but also sensible and average enough to balance him out.

I think a mystery was exactly what I needed to get me through a book, and I'm very glad to have read it.

Cosy reading

The last two nights we've had thunder and lightning, ridiculous amounts of hail, torrents of rain. We have also had brilliant sunshine, mind you, but the stormy weather has put me in quite the reading mood. Fortunately I've already done most of my homework for the weekend, so I will even have time! What do I have on the table?

Clouds of Witness, by Dorothy L. Sayers. This is my second Lord Peter Wimsey novel, and it is definitely upholding the interest sparked by the first one. I would go so far to say that it is better than the first one. Unsurprising, as that one was just introducing the characters; with the second novel it's really got into the swing of things, Lord Peter can be further explored, we meet more of his family, and so on. I'll have more to say on the book when I finish it; at the moment I'm a little less than halfway through. But maybe I can finish it this weekend! Crossing fingers.

I have not started, but am eagerly looking forward to The Children's Book, by A.S. Byatt. It is sitting, a noticeable presence, on a chair in the living room, waiting for me. I gather it is about all sorts of things, children's books, a family, pottery, changing times, and lots else besides. I read A.S. Byatt's Possession a few years ago and loved it entirely (and thus hated most of the movie), and her writing in general is wonderful. I started The Biographer's Tale a while ago and didn't finish it, but it's still on one of my shelves so maybe I'll get back to it eventually. I do hope so.

So that's what's on the table. I may also finish Daphnis and Chloe. I've read three quarters of it, and half to read the last for next Wednesday for class, so maybe I'll get ahead and finish it. I'm definitely going to talk about that one when I do, since I find it fascinating and lovely.

So that's what's on the table for my weekend, besides drinking lots of tea, seeing the same play twice (Lebensraum by Israel Horowitz, and maybe I'll review it), and buying non-holey jeans.

The essentials

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Beowulf
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
Schott's Original Miscellany by Ben Schott
The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

These are the books I am taking to college. They are the books I consider indispensable, whether because I am likely to have a sudden urge to read them or because it simply feels wrong to be without them. Bear in mind that this stack would be a lot taller if I were going farther away from home. Also consider that all of Jane Austen would be on there if I had not decided not to bring anything I know I can find online. The Complete Works of Shakespeare might actually get added to this pile, I haven't decided yet. Schott's Original Miscellany isn't really indispensable, I suppose, but it's the sort of random useful little thing that I think it might be nice to have. The Amber Spyglass would be in this pile also, except that I can't find it, I only have a hardcover (which I was trying to avoid bringing), and if I actually read the first two that'll give me time to find the third one.

The Clouds of Witness and Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
Ha'penny by Jo Walton
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
The Cinnamon Peeler by Michael Ondaatje

These are my selections off my to-read pile that I think I might actually have a chance of getting around to. The Dorothy Sayers because they're short reads and will be a nice change from all the books I'll be reading for classes, Ha'penny because I'm in the middle of it, the Obama book because it's the university common book and I haven't read it yet (but I think it might be my next house book), and The Cinnamon Peeler because I might feel the need for some poetry.

I find it interesting to have it put to the test which books I think I can't live without. There is, for example, pretty much zero chance of my reading Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. Tolkien's an old love for me, a little faded and diverged more into reading his letters and essays. But despite the fact that the books are just going to sit in by tiny dorm room taking up space, I can't live without them. The others are all comfort books, which given a college reading load is likely to be the only thing I get around to reading (though we'll hold out hope for the unread pile).

Those photos, by the way, were taken in my back yard, and look how sunny it is. Oh, Seattle, rain in August and 85 degrees on the autumn equinox.

Next you hear from me, I'll be typing from my dorm room!

Summer reading pile

When I was cleaning my room a couple weeks ago, I finally got around to pulling out all the books that are scattered here and there that I know are on my to-read list, and stacking them up. Most of these are books on my list for the summer; I know there are others I mean to read but they're a little further off. Seven of them I've already started (some long enough ago that I'll probably just start over); Tam Lin of course I've read several times, but I'm due for a reread. Two are library books, most I own, a surprising five are nonfiction, four are children's books. Also in the picture, my stack of Dorothy L. Sayers that I mentioned the other day. Those, really, are rather longer term than just this summer, but I'd like to get in a couple more of them. The Barack Obama book is the UW's common book for all freshmen; in theory we'll all have read it and can thus meet people by starting conversation about it. Many of these books I've talked about before, so I won't go over them in detail again, but you can expect to hear more about them in the near future.

Funny, apparently the French tilt their heads to the right instead of the left when browsing the bookshelves, because I had to turn that copy of the French translation of Harry Potter face down so you could read the spine.

Mysterious happenings

I don't know what happened, but suddenly I'm extremely busy! Odd, for summer.

Somewhere in the midst of the business, though, I've found time to introduce myself to Dorothy L. Sayers and her lovely detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. I've meant to since I read To Say Nothing of the Dog last year, and I can hardly remember what relation that book had to Lord Peter any more but I know it did. Not to mention a couple of bloggers with a fondness for the fellow, who've helped along my interest.

My other current reading is Bloodhound, which is 500-some pages, so I rather needed a book to read on buses that wouldn't be quite so heavy. Whose Body? stepped in quite admirably, being paperback and less than half the size of Bloodhound.

I must confess I'd solved the mystery before Lord Peter did--I had it around page 113, he didn't get it until 136. The draw of the book isn't really the mystery, though, so it doesn't really matter. The characters are really the best part, especially Lord Peter who is fascinatingly varied in his interests, and human, and clever, and not a cliche at all unless because he's so classic. I'm also rather fond of his butler, Bunter. Despite my easy solution of the mystery, though, it is really nice to read a mystery. I used to be quite taken with the genre when I was about eight or nine, and essentially haven't read any since. Oh, I guess I did read an Agatha Christie a while ago, but that's it.

So now I've pulled out all my mother's old copies of Lord Peter novels and stacked them up next to my current to-read pile, making it about the same height of books again. Oh dear. Lots to read.