What Are You Reading the Week of 8 June 2013?

Dorothy Leigh Sayers (13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between the First and Second World Wars that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, that remain popular to this day. However, Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy to be her best work. She is also known for her plays, literary criticism and essays.

Sayers, an only child, was born at the Head Master's House, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, her father, the Rev. Henry Sayers, M.A., being a chaplain of Christ Church and headmaster of the Choir School. When she was six he started teaching her Latin. She grew up in the tiny village of Bluntisham-cum-Earith in Huntingdonshire, after her father was given the living there as rector. The Regency rectory is an elegant building, while the church graveyard features the surnames of several characters from her mystery The Nine Tailors. The proximity of the River Great Ouse and the Fens invites comparison with the book's vivid description of a massive flood around the village.

From 1909 she was educated at the Godolphin School, a boarding school in Salisbury. Her father later moved to the less luxurious living of Christchurch, also in Cambridgeshire.

In 1912, she won a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford, and studied modern languages and medieval literature. She finished with first-class honours in 1915. Although women could not be awarded degrees at that time, Sayers was among the first to receive a degree when the position changed a few years later, and in 1920 she graduated as a MA. Her experience of Oxford academic life eventually inspired her penultimate Peter Wimsey novel, Gaudy Night.

Sayers' longest (non-literary) employment was from 1922 to 1931 as a copywriter at S.H. Benson's advertising agency in London. Sayers was quite successful as an advertiser. Her collaboration with artist John Gilroy resulted in "The Mustard Club" for Colman's Mustard and the Guinness "Zoo" advertisements, variations of which still appear today. One famous example was the Toucan, his bill arching under a glass of Guinness, with Sayers's jingle:

If he can say as you can
Guinness is good for you
How grand to be a Toucan
Just think what Toucan do

Sayers is also credited with coining the slogan "It pays to advertise!" She used the advertising industry as the setting of Murder Must Advertise, where she describes the role of truth in advertising:

. . . the firm of Pym’s Publicity, Ltd., Advertising Agents . . .
“Now, Mr. Pym is a man of rigid morality—except, of course, as regards his profession, whose essence is to tell plausible lies for money—“

“How about truth in advertising?”

“Of course, there is some truth in advertising. There’s yeast in bread, but you can’t make bread with yeast alone. Truth in advertising . . . is like leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal. It provides a suitable quantity of gas, with which to blow out a mass of crude misrepresentation into a form that the public can swallow.”

Sayers began working out the plot of her first novel some time in 1920–21. The seeds of the plot for Whose Body? can be seen in a letter Sayers wrote on 22 January 1921:

My detective story begins brightly, with a fat lady found dead in her bath with nothing on but her pince-nez. Now why did she wear pince-nez in her bath? If you can guess, you will be in a position to lay hands upon the murderer, but he's a very cool and cunning fellow...

Lord Peter Wimsey burst upon the world of detective fiction with an explosive "Oh, damn!" and continued to engage readers in eleven novels and two sets of short stories; the final novel ended with a very different "Oh, damn!". Sayers once commented that Lord Peter was a mixture of Fred Astaire and Bertie Wooster, which is most evident in the first five novels. However, it is evident through Lord Peter's development as a rounded character that he existed in Sayers's mind as a living, breathing, fully human being. Sayers introduced detective novelist Harriet Vane in Strong Poison. Sayers remarked more than once that she had developed the "husky voiced, dark-eyed" Harriet to put an end to Lord Peter via matrimony. But in the course of writing Gaudy Night, Sayers imbued Lord Peter and Harriet with so much life that she was never able, as she put it, to "see Lord Peter exit the stage."

Sayers did not content herself with writing pure detective stories; she explored the difficulties of First World War veterans in The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, discussed the ethics of advertising in Murder Must Advertise, and advocated women's education (then a controversial subject) and role in society in Gaudy Night. In Gaudy Night, Miss Barton writes a book attacking the Nazi doctrine of Kinder, Kirche, Küche, which restricted women's roles to family activities, and in many ways the whole of Gaudy Night can be read as an attack on Nazi social doctrine. The book has been described as "the first feminist mystery novel."

Sayers's Christian and academic interests are also apparent in her detective series. In The Nine Tailors, one of her most well-known detective novels, the plot unfolds largely in and around an old church dating back to the Middle Ages. Change ringing of bells also forms an important part of the novel. In Have His Carcase, the Playfair cipher and the principles of cryptanalysis are explained. Her short story "Absolutely Elsewhere" refers to the fact that (in the language of modern physics) the only perfect alibi for a crime is to be outside its light cone, while "The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will" contains a literary crossword puzzle.

Sayers also wrote a number of short stories about Montague Egg, a wine salesman who solves mysteries.

On January 3, 1924, at the age of 30, Sayers secretly gave birth to an illegitimate son, John Anthony (later surnamed Fleming, though his father was Bill White), who was cared for as a child by her aunt and cousin, Amy and Ivy Amy Shrimpton, and passed off as her nephew to friends. Two years later, after publishing her first two detective novels, Sayers married Captain Oswald Atherton "Mac" Fleming, a Scottish journalist whose professional name was Atherton Fleming." The wedding took place on 8 April 1926 at Holborn Register Office, London. Fleming was divorced with two children. Sayers and Fleming lived in the flat at 24 Great James Street in Bloomsbury that Sayers maintained for the rest of her life. Both worked, Fleming as an author and journalist and Sayers as an advertising copywriter and author. Over time, Fleming's health worsened, largely due to his First World War service, and as a result he became unable to work.

Sayers was a good friend of C. S. Lewis and several of the other Inklings. On some occasions, Sayers joined Lewis at meetings of the Socratic Club. Lewis said he read The Man Born to be King every Easter, but he claimed to be unable to appreciate detective stories. J. R. R. Tolkien read some of the Wimsey novels but scorned the later ones, such as Gaudy Night.

Fleming died on 9 June 1950, at Sunnyside Cottage, Witham, Essex. Sayers died suddenly of a coronary thrombosis on 17 December 1957 at the same place, aged 64. Fleming was buried in Ipswich, while Dorothy's remains were cremated and her ashes buried beneath the tower of St Anne's Church, Soho, London, where she had been a churchwarden for many years. Upon her death it was revealed that her nephew, John Anthony, was her son; he was the sole beneficiary under his mother's will. He died on 26 November 1984 at age 60, in St. Francis's Hospital, Miami Beach, Florida.

text and photo from Wikipedia

Still reading The Big Time...

Finished The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells. It was ok. Liked Greer's Story of a Marriage much better.

Think I might read Fidelity next.

Starting the new Sophie Kinsella book, Wedding Night. Anticipating a fun & quick read.

Settling into the massive Miss MacIntosh, My Darling and listening to Case Histories.

Getting reading to read Agent Zigzag which comes highly recommended.

Closing in on the halfway point of A Storm of Swords. Finally, things are starting to happen.

Also about 2/3 of the way through The Butcher Boy. I saw the movie a number of years ago; both the book and the movie share the feeling of being immersed in some very uncomfortable mental places.

Again, thanks for the terrific start to the week, Richard!

I am just starting The Importance of Being Earnest and Four Other Plays by Oscar Wilde, and so looking forward to it!

When I purchased it the other day, I enjoyed a brief conversation with a former co-worker who knew I'd get a kick out of hearing about a customer who recently asked her for Shades of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wiley, LOL!!!

Thanks for the nice start, Richard.

I started reading Sayers' Lord Peter mysteries after seeing Ian Carmichael play that detective in three BBC television series. I believe I read them all back in the 1970s.

The Nine Tailors is still my favorite, with Murder Must Advertise a close second.

I love the cartwheels in Murder Must Advertise. Unlike JRRT, I liked Gaudy Night a lot.

Hoping to finish River of Stars tonight.

>6 NarratorLady: NarratorLady---I read Agent Zigzag a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it:-)

I am continuing with Trollope (and if you know Trollope at all you know he didn't write anything short)---the the fourth book in the Barsetshire Chronicles, Framley Parsonage.

I finished Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason. A bit thin after Keith Richards's excellent Life, but eminently readable.

Am now more than halfway through White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties. Some of it reads like a history of London in the swinging sixties, but the chapters on politics, religion and the 1966 World Cup tournament - not a subject I'm particularly interested in - have been first rate.

I finished A Fine Balance. It's an excellent book but I've got to find a book without so much misery and tragedy for my next read.

I'm well into And the Mountains Echoed which is wonderful storytelling.

13> I quite agree, Sharon: A Fine Balance is well worth reading, but I finished the book with some relief.

I'm trying to motivate myself to start reading The Fat Years for my local book group. I've too many books on the go at the moment.

ditto cappybear on A Fine Balance. Haunts me a bit several years after reading it.

I'm finishing up Reeling in Russia, an American travel journalist's story of a fishing trip he took across post Soviet Russia during the chaos of the mid 1990's. A mix of journalism, history and travelogue, the book is a great way to while away some time.

Since I bought a set of the Song of Ice and Fire books, I figure I may as well read them, so I've started A Clash of Kings this week as well. They're intricately plotted, but the misogyny and soft core porn is grating.

Am currently reading Die Stolze Rebellin, a novel about african traditions and a teen girl fleeing from it. So far it is really well written and altough a difficult and disturbing thopic, it is an easy enou read and I'm enjoying it.
We also started The Wonderful Wizard of Oz reading aloud. It is very cute and easy to read. I am really really enjoing thise classic children's story!

I finished and reviewed Joseph Kanon's excellent mystery/thriller, The Good German, set in a blasted out Berlin in the days immediately following the end of WW2. This book gets very high marks from me, both for the enjoyable political thriller/mystery and for the nuanced handling of everything you can imagine Berlin was about during those days, not least of all the repercussions of the Holocaust. My review to be found on the book's work page and on my own 50-Book Challenge thread.

Today I'm starting The Hunter, the first of the Parker series by Richard Stark, a.k.a. Donald Westlake. I had frankly never heard of this series, but decided to read a book from my pulp novel shelf called The Green Eagle Score, only to find here on LT that it was the 10th book in this series. So I decided to buy and read the first book in the series, and if I like it read all the others at least up to Green Eagle. According to LT there are 24 entries in this series! According to the notes on the back of my edition, the 1967 Lee Marvin movie, Point Blank, is based on The Hunter. Also, this series has inspired series of graphic novel adaptation. Live and learn, sez I!

I started The Fall of the House of Dixie by Bruce Levine last night, and it's one of the more fascinating books on the Civil War I've ever read. Rather than focusing on battles and tactics, it's a social and political history, largely on how a war the Union didn't initially intend to be a war of emancipation rapidly became one.

I am about to start on Poor Man's Wealth by Rod Usher, it is just a pluck off the local library shelf, as I liked the cover and title.

BTW I agree with all of the comments re A Fine Balance .

I too agree w/ A Fine Balance comments..excellent story but so depressing.

I could not get into Tapestry of Fortune so I returned to the library. Now reading The Yonahlossee Riding Camp For Girls. So far enjoying it.

Thanks Richard for your usual great start.

>1 richardderus:: Richard--Thanks for adding the new drawing as the "official" image of this group. I think it's perfect and certainly better than a mugshot of any of the rest of us!

Finished the enjoyable Case Histories and will start listening to Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver.

I'm currently reading The Power And The Glory by Graham Greene. I just started and Greene's prose is more readable than beautiful or wordy like a Mark Helprin or John Updike.

I've been looking forward to reading this novel for quite awhile.

Marion

Just finished my first Larry McMurtry book, Zeke and Ned.It was a great read and I thought similar to The Sister Brothers. Next up will either be Bunker Hill: a city, a siege, a revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick , The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin or something by George Pelecanos.

#26..corgiiman..I loved Zeke and Ned, also The Sisters Brothers Have you read Doc byMary Doria Russell ?, this is set in the same time frame as the other two.

I enjoyed the three so much that I ordered them on audio for my husband, for me it was great to listen with him.

hazeljune...That is on TBR list. Thanks

I picked up Vita Sackville-West's All Passion Spent during the library bag sale. I'm 100 pages into it and I'm loving it so far.

>23 browner56: It just seemed a bit much for someone to put their own face as the image of a public group. It requires making a choice when uploading a photo to make that the group photo, and doing that of one's own self is, for my tastes at least, way over the ego-top.

>30 richardderus:: Agreed. The image you've provided is great--did you draw it yourself?

No, no, I'm talentless in the art realms. I think it was someone famous who did that one, but have forgotten.

My latest starter is Winds of Change by Anna Jacobs.

I love the opening, Richard - must look for Murder Must Advertise
This week I'm supposed to be reading, for my RL book club, a Wilbur Smith, Birds of Prey. The LT reviews mostly say it's not his best, but that's not my problem. It's that the print is so tiny. Wonder how I'll possibly get through it.
On Nook I'm reading Skirt Steak: Women Chefs on Standing the Heat and Staying in the Kitchen by Charlotte Druckman and am once again wondering why anyone would go through the crap they put new people through in order to cook in a nice kitchen. And just like any other profession dominated by men, chefs are irrationally hostile to women. They say they put up with it because they love it, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do it.
On audio I'm listening to Claudius the God: And His Wife Messalina by Robert Graves. I Claudius was good even though it consisted mainly of telling who was killed by whom in order that someone else could become emperor. Claudius the God is fascinating study of the day to day life, accomplishments and wars in the Roman empire, some real insights in early Greeks, Romans, Britons and Jews (this is the first I've read anything nice about Herod, though I think we're coming to the end of that. I also hadn't thought that he thought of himself as the messiah. He was the ultimate opportunist.) Evidently those pesky Germans have been have been pretty outrageous for quite some time. At this point though, Claudius is thinking he may be able to civilize the Britons, here's hoping.

Just started Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny, and the American Dream by Deepak and Sanjay Chopra.

>34 Citizenjoyce: Skirt Steak sounds fascinating! I've put it on hold at my library.

Gaudy Night is an old favorite. Maybe its time for another visit. Just finished Being Dead for my 1000 Novels...I don't even know how to describe the novel but I will say it was a great read. Onto Microserfs. Best reading to you all this week.

"Digital mind jail" by Gojim Oavin - futuristic ebook about 30th century where all people must wear ind'glasses and see world trough digital view. Life in this book is like fairy-tale till main book character formal wife Jean met girl with panic attack, who saw real reality behind digital veil.

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone's having a good week. I finished reading 11 Great Horror Stories Including "The Oblong Box" and "The Dunwich Horror" by Betty M. Owen on Friday, June 7th which was very good, just not as scary as I thought it would be. Still quite good, but the scares were tamer than I expected.

I immediately started reading Blood Brother: 33 Reasons my Brother Scott Peterson is Guilty by Anne Bird. This book was well-written and easy reading for me. I sympathized with Anne and the situation that she found herself in. I finished reading this book on Saturday, June 8th.

Right now, I'm reading Last Kiss by Luanne Rice. I started reading this book on Sunday, June 9th and although it was slow getting into it at first, it's getting better (I think!) :)

Flying to Buffalo and reading Being Esther on the plane.

The Fat Years has got off to a good start; I think I could get through this one quickly, for once.

Still working my way through Britten by Michael Kennedy in harness to the composer's music.

Finished Lunch with Buddha, an enjoyable follow-up to Breakfast with Buddha, and now I'm reading Let the Great World Spin.

I finished and REVIEWED Anthony Trollope's Framley Parsonage. I am a huge Trollope fan now that I'm four books in.

Now I'm reading Barbara Pym's No Fond Return of Love.

I have lots to read this week and am trying to finish up some of my many started novels. I do have to say that Talulla Rising is better than Last Werewolf but they both a soft porn for males. Don't waste your money buying these two novels. Let a library waste theirs and you can have access to them whenever you feel the need.

I am really getting into the Matthew Shardlake books. Sovereign is very good and tag teams well with all the Philippa Gregory stuff about the Cousin's War. It took me awhile to warm up to Matthew, but I am beginning to like the guy.

Right now my most intriguing read is American Green; The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn. Did you know that approximately 74,000 people per year are injured by lawn mowers? That is close to the same number of people as injured by fire arms. Have I mentioned yet that I hate my big green monster that is out in front of my house? I don't care about the green monster in back because nobody sees that one.

I'm about halfway through On the Edge by Jenny Pitman. It's my last week of school so I'm looking forward to wrapping up this book quickly and moving on to lots of fabulous summer reading!

I just started a romance, Defiant by Pamela Clare. It's one of the finalists for this year's Rita (Romance Writers of America's annual award) in historical romance, and I set myself a challenge to read one finalist from each category after discovering I hadn't read any> of the finalists this year. (Given that I write romance, I try to be reasonably well-read and current in it as well.)

I finished Broken Harbor by Tana French which was quite good and am now reading The Doll by Taylor Stevens.

I just started Michael Chabon's latest, Telegraph Avenue. It is an anniversary gift from my lovely wife.

I finished Colum McCann's beautiful TransAtlantic - amazing book -- and now I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior.

Finished The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. I really enjoyed the book. A different take on time travel, body snatching, deity intervention, magic, and not quite alternate history.

Started Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon.

Still working on Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson.

I finished reading Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore on Sunday which I was pleasantly surprised by. It was much more original conceptually (if not plotwise) than I expected and I moved right on to reading the sequel, The Hero Strikes Back.

#50
I have wanted to read Anubis Gates for years. I read someplace that it has now been reissued, so maybe I can get my hands on my own copy.

Starting Life After Life now. Hope I love it as much as everyone else does!

Mollygrace I just started Transatlantic. So far very much enjoying it.

Just finished a swashbuckling book Conan of Venarium by Harry Turtledove. Up next is a little mystery Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear.

Finally getting to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl was a great book! Reading The House Girl: A Novel by Tara Conklin. Almost done!

#56 and 57..While still with Gillian Flynn why not try Sharp Objects, however be prepared for a very unusual read!!!!

This novel will be discussed on Australia's ABC TV First Tuesday Book Club next month, it should be very interesting for me as I have not long finished reading.

hazeljune, I actually read Sharp Objects about 2 years ago and liked Gillian Flynn as someone to look out for - but not yet mainstream - then Gone Girl took off! So now I have to catch up...

As far as Sharp Objects is concerned, I enjoyed it for what it was...and yes, a very unusual read!

Have you read Dark Places? I own it but have yet to get to it.

mookie86, The only Dark Places that I have read is by Australian author Kate Grenville and that was indeed a fascinatingly dark tale.

I have looked up Dark Places by Gillian Flynn , I note that it is 600 pages long!! I am sure that I am missing out a good novel,however the length is not for me!!

I've put up my reviews of A CAT WAS INVOLVED, DOG ON IT, and THEREBY HANGS A TAIL on the books' pages as well as at Shelf Inflicted, a group review blog I contribute to.

I have finished and REVIEWED Barbara Pym's No Fond Return of Love. I really love Pym.

Now I'm reading The Kindly Ones Book 6/12 of A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell.

Finished River of Stars and am now reading Olive Kitteridge.

#63..I adored Olive it will be interesting to hear from you, most of the comments re Olive are from female readers.

I have started a reread of one of my favorite novels Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

About 150 pages into Life After Life and thoroughly engrossed now. It started getting interesting after page 90 or so.

The only Gillian Flynn I have read is Dark Places, yet to read Gone Girl or Sharp Objects. Dark Places was good, different, I got annoyed with the protagonist at times - not sure why though.

I have finally finished The People's Queen by Vanora Bennett, the story of Edward's mistress in 14th Century England, and her relationship with Geoffrey Chaucer. It picked up in the second half so I'm pleased I didn't give up on it.

Not sure what's up next, I don't have time to get to the library so something I have hanging around waiting probably.........

#61
Ok, you convinced me. Barnes & Noble has Dog On It on the remainder table for $6.00 so I think I will go buy it tonight. Maybe I will get book 2. I just don't have enough on my shelves right now so I do need to add something. This might just be the right title. Or series of titles. And the price is right.

I am reading this harrowing story about abused women and children. Visit everysecondmatters.ca to check it out.

>68 benitastrnad: Heh...I have done my evil best.

Seen on Twitter:
The US has more public libraries than McDonald's or Starbucks, believe it or not. http://bit.ly/1bAgfqm

Bloomsbury Press tweeted that little gem, and it buoyed my spirits *enormously*.

#70 that is wonderful news, and quite surprising to me. Probably because when I travel, I see signs for all the fast food at the highway exits. I wonder if we could get them to add libraries to the other things they list on the signs.

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone is having a great week so far. Anyway, I finished reading Last Kiss by Luanne Rice on Tuesday, June 11th! I do enjoy reading Luanne Rice, but I think I'll stick to her standalone novels from now on rather than her series.

I started reading In the Night Season: A Novel by Richard Bausch on Wednesday, June 12th, and finished it yesterday - Thursday, June 13th! Richard Bausch is a new author for me, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for more books to read by this author.

I just started reading Beachcombers: A Novel by Nancy Thayer today. I think this is turning out to be a good book. :)

(44) benitastrnad, I would love to get rid of my green monster in front, and am in the process of doing so. A large sheet of landscaping plastic and some mulch has worked wonders...with ten creeping junipers slowly covering what used to be a grass/weed covered slope in front. :)

And I have enjoyed the Chet and Bernie mysteries by Spencer Quinn, hope you do, too!