wednesday books

[landofnowhere]

Unnatural Death and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Dorothy Sayers. This weekend I decided I could use some Peter Wimsey to cheer me up, and it worked! Though now there are only two of the Peter Wimsey mysteries I haven't read yet, which is sad. This scratched my itch for mystery and my itch for historical social commentary, while being much more wish-fulfilly than some of the stuff I read for the latter itch. I appreciate these books having the clear message that there's nothing wrong with being a women -- and even if one gets the impression that it's preferable to be a heterosexual woman, it's also OK not to -- I was not expecting that many lesbians in Unnatural Death.

Comments

[choco_frosh]

Though now there are only two of the Peter Wimsey mysteries I haven't read yet, which is sad.

I'm afraid that in addition, Thrones, Dominations is kinda missable, and The Five Red Herrings is said to be decent as a puzzle mystery, but not great as a novel about the characters: so if those are the ones you haven't read...

I was not expecting that many lesbians in Unnatural Death.
It's a weird book. Personally, I felt that it seemed very anti-gay, and I've sometimes wondered if she wrote that bit about a very functional lesbian relationship in Strong Poison partly in deliberate attempt to make up for that.

(Which reminds me, I really need to read Mo's book, in part b/c they may address this...)

[landofnowhere]

I wasn't counting Thrones, Dominations -- the two I haven't read are The Five Red Herrings and Busman's Honeymoon. I'm curious what my reaction to Five Red Herrings will be, having been amply warned, but don't object in principle to puzzle mysteries.)

Five Red Herrings

[lauradi7dw]

I liked FRH, and I'm not very good at puzzles. I think I like the train schedule aspect, plus one exasperated character. There is a stereotype of a certain category of bellringers who are rail fans and I've always been a little jokey about them, but maybe I am one, in a mild way. I don't trainspot, a couple of experiences of steam trains has been enough for me, and I don't go on outings with other enthusiasts, but yeah, trains.

[landofnowhere]

I'm not in the best position to judge, but my take on it was that the older lesbian couple were portrayed generally positively, taking into account the sexism/homophobia of many of the characters, and the younger lesbian couple were no better or worse than if they'd been a straight couple.