100 Gentle Readers

[truepenny]

My "Friend of" list has just cracked triple digits.

I am completely gobsmacked. Also delighted. It seems so implausible somehow.

But people who want to hang out and talk about books are people I am extremely pleased to have reading Mole, Delving.

À votre santé, tout le monde.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

Cool--was I the 100th?

(I feel like I ought to win a prize, except this isn't a supermarket.)

[kate_nepveu]

Having realized you probably can't tell which order this was in, nevermind.

(Also, for various reasons I feel like I may know you in another context. If I do, and you want me to know this, e-mail me; if not or if not, I completely understand and shall say no more about it.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Actually, as it happens, I do know that you are #100.

I have no prizes to offer, but Buffy and Faith dance in celebration!

And as far as I know, we've never met.

[kate_nepveu]

Yay, and okay, will just chalk it up to a coincidence.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I don't think you've met each other, but I have met both of you, and I can think of a whole pile of things you have in common, even apart from things that are immediately apparent online. This is deeply weird.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Or was it me? If not, do I get a prize for being 99?

I tracked someone's link over here and spent half my day rereading your Wimsey posts. Very timely, since I just finished rereads of Whose Body?, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night. And tremendously enjoyable. So...hi. Nice to meet you.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you're enjoying the Wimsey posts. I'm having fun with them, and it's just unutterably fantastic to find other people who get as excited about Sayers (and books in general) as I do.

Welcome!

[skalja.livejournal.com]

Actually, while we're on the subject of Wimsey...what are the Wimsey books? I never peeked behind the cut-tags because I didn't want to be spoiled before I started, as it were.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure what level of informativeness you're looking for, so I'll just give you the whole spiel. Stuff you already know, you can skip. *g*

The Wimsey books are British mysteries written in the 1920s and 30s by Dorothy L. Sayers. Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, Unnatural Death, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Strong Poison, The Five Red Herrings, Have His Carcase, Murder Must Advertise, The Nine Tailors, Gaudy Night, Busman's Honeymoon, and a whole slew of short stories (collected in various formats, although if you want only the Wimsey stories, without her other shorts--most of which are rather shabby in comparison--the best way to go is Lord Peter). The books are still in print, readily available in paperback--although the most recent HarperPaperback editions are unattractive (IMO) and very carelessly proofread (that part's a fact). Used bookstores are a better source; the Perennial Library editions are much more satisfying. There are also BBC adaptations, now coming out on DVD, one set starring Ian Carmichael and the other starring Edward Petherbridge. oracne has been doing little reviews of them from time to time.

The 20s and 30s are called the Golden Age of detective fiction, and Dorothy Sayers is one of the most compelling arguments for the label. Her books are well-written, extremely funny in places, extremely serious in others. Also staunchly feminist. And, as you can tell by my great long series of posts, they stand up extremely well to thoughtful analysis.

Pardon the excessive geekiness. *g*

[skalja.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, thanks. I've never been a big mystery person, but I promised myself I'd retry the genre sometime (well, aside from Sherlock Holmes which I'm delving into already, somewhat tentatively) and now I know where to start.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Well, I (obviously) think Sayers will be worth the effort for you.

I do recommend reading them in order of publication (which is the order I listed them in)--not so much because you won't be able to follow the books if you don't, but because that way you can watch the development of the series. Gaudy Night in particular is an amazing novel, but a full appreciation of what it's doing needs the nine novels that come before it.

YMMV. Other people will doubtless disagree with me about this.

[heresluck]

Good heavens. Between you and Sisabet, I find myself hanging out with the popular girls... of two very different little LJ worlds, but still.

I'm possibly a little too entertained by this. Also, delighted on your behalf -- especially since so many people seem to have found you via the Sayers post, which, alas! I cannot yet read, for fear of spoilers.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Dude, you know where the books are. :)

[heresluck]

Uh-huh. And I also know where another four dozen or so of your books are, and where my own unread books are, and where my long-as-my-leg list of Books To Acquire is.

*g*

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Read them! Read them! And tell us what you think!

What else do you have to do with your time? Eat, sleep, bathe? You can read at the same time.

Well, except for the sleeping...unless you're that guy who could put a book under his pillow and know it by morning. Edgar somebody?

[heresluck]

Oh god, not you too. *g* Unfortunately I cannot read while dissertating, or, more accurately, sitting in front of the computer feeling pained and guilty about the not-dissertating. Ruins a perfectly good morning of angst to go off, tra-la-la, to flop on the couch and read something fun. Heh.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Maybe your advisor wouldn't notice if you snuck in a chapter on Sayers...ummm...maybe that's not such a good idea.

finding Sayers

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Most public libraries have them, and if your local library doesn't, ask them to get it through interlibrary loan. If you live in Minneapolis, you can do this online - find out if they have the title you want, have it sent to the nearest branch, put a hold on it if it's out, or request it ILL if we don't own it. But I think we own everything significant by DLS.

Then you can go out and buy them, if you so desire.

Re: finding Sayers

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course. Thank you!

I seem to have this hard-wired acquisitive urge. I want to own books. So I never remember properly that the libraries are there and designed for exactly this purpose.

Which is stupid of me.