Takoyaki Journals

Well I finished another Sayer's mystery last night, 'The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.' I didn't like it quite as much as I've liked some of her others, which I think had mostly to do with the characters. I think Sayer's characters are one of the best things about her writing, and even here they're really, really well rounded. But instead of being sympathetic, they're like those friends that everyone has that you have to make apologies for. You know, like, 'I know Sue is being a bitch but she's just been through a bad divorce and her mother has cancer. She's really very nice, really." But I really did like the character of Ann Dorland, especially her take on wine. It's always a relief to have characters that share your name that you can approve of.

I considered launching into the next Sayers book I have out from the library, but instead decided to read a Mrs. Pollifax book by Dorothy Gilman I got when I was visiting parents, 'A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax.' I wish I'd written these books, they're so hilarious and awesome. If you see one in a used bookstore or library, be sure to pick one up. (I say used because they're short little books and it hurts to pay $6.50 for only 200 pages)

Mrs. Pollifax, for the uninitiated, is a little old lady who was feeling a bit low...her husband was gone, her children were grown and the world felt gray and meaningless. Her doctor told her to try and fulfill a dream she'd always had, and Mrs. Pollifax went right out and joined the CIA. Which means you get great exchanges like:

"All right," she agreed, "but what equally concerns me if I'm leaving so soon is what I tell people when I announce I shall be away, People like my son in Chicago, my daughter in Arizona. The Garden Club. My neighbor Miss Hartshorne, the art association..."

"Go on," said Carstairs looking fascinated.

"...the Hospital Auxiliary, the Save-Our-Environment Committee, and" she paused to frown at the expression on his face, " my karate instructor."

"I waited for the last with baited breath," Carstairs said, "It still carries impact."

"My karate strikes do, too," she told him modestly.

I'm continuing to read Dorothy L. Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and am on to 'Strong Poison' where she intended to end the series by marrying him off. I can kind of see why Harriet Vane, the love interest gets a reputation as a Mary Sue, even though she's barely been IN the book at this point. It's a bit much when you're a woman writing a mystery about a woman mystery writer accused of poisoning her ex-lover with arsenic who has just written a book about a woman mystery writer who is accused of poisoned her current lover with arsenic. Though for the sake of irony it's almost a shame that Dorothy Sayers wasn't ever accused of poisoning anyone.

But what I really love is how utterly dorktastic Lord Peter is when he's smitten. And I can't resist sharing a bit. (Normally I'd just read out the bit to anyone in the room, but there's no one currently in the room, so you'll have to suffer instead)
( But I will put it under a cut at least )

When I lived in Japan the lack of books in English was really a blessing in disguise for me, I think. When your pool is limited you're a lot more willing to try new things. So while I went over a hardcore fantasy reader, I came back reading mysteries and romances, ya and whatever else I could get my hands on.

Like I said in my last post, I'm totally head over heels for Wodehouse's 'Jeeves' books at the moment. I read one in Japan, and now I'm trying to catch up. But bookstores are thin on the ground in St. Marys (the entire greater area phonebook lists five, and two of those are Hallmarks, so that gives you an idea). The nearest decent one's about an hour and a half away. So today I hied me off to the St. Marys Library and got myself a card. The library is very nice, and seems to be pretty well stocked. We'll see if it can help me curb the need to make all books I see MINE. (Magic 8 Ball says : Fat Chance)

There wasn't much Wodehouse to pick from, but I did find 'Aunts Aren't Gentlemen.' I also picked up another Dorothy L. Sayers mystery, another writer I tried out in Japan. To tell the truth, I enjoyed the book I read, but I wasn't totally grabbed by it. I think the large swaths of French that I had no way to muddle through were a part of it. And I couldn't tell you the name of the book off the top of my head, just that it's the one where Lord Peter Wimsey marries Harriet Vane.

I decided to have another go at it and found a collection of the first three books, so that should give me a better starting point. I'm kind of glad I did because how can you not love a line where a man finds the dead body of a stranger in his bathroom and tells the intrepid detective:
All I said was: 'It might have been burglars,' I said, 'remember that, next time you leave a window open all night; this time it was a dead man,' I said, 'and that's unpleasant enough, but next time it might be burglars,' I said, 'and all of us murdered in our beds.'