Oh ye lovers and likers of Dorothy Sayers

[nineveh_uk]

azdak is reccing Wimsey fic on crack_van this month. Hie thee hence for a range of treats to come throughout December.

Today’s rec is for Gentleman’s Relish by executrix, which features the new pairing on the block, Bunter/Saint-George.

Obscenity, famously, is oft considered to be that which has a tendency deprave and corrupt. I tell you, I’m never going to read the bit in Busman's Honeymoon about Bunter having his hands full of S-G as he dresses him in the same way again...

Comments

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

After several years of reading your posts about Wimsey, I've finally succumbed and bought Strong Poison and (I hope) the next in the series.

Argh - just been to Wiki to check up the name of the second book (obviously easier than getting up and looking in the carrier with the actual books) and realised that while Strong Poison is the first of the ones with Harriet in, it's not the first Wimsey novel at all! I should have done my research with more care. Bugger. Should I start it anyway, or should I get Whose Body??

[azdak.livejournal.com]

You can read Whose Body (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sayers/body/whose-body.html) online (if you can bear to read an entire novel online).

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's very helpful. Especially since the other one that I bought isn't even the follow-up to Strong Poison!

Well done for giving in!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I read Gaudy Night first, so I don't think there's any hazard in starting with Strong Poison, and it gives you a good intro to Wimsey and to Harriet. That said, Strong Poison is not my favourite (there isn't nearly enough Harriet); if it doesn't hook you, then definitely try another. Whose Body is the first one - I love it. Sayers undergoes a shift in the middle of the series and starts writing much longer, more complex novels, so it's always tricky to know where to suggest someone start.

Erm, is the second one you've got "Five Red Herrings"? Because unless you are keen on train-timetable mysteries, it might not be quite what you're looking for (though I found it grew on me on re-reading).

Re: Well done for giving in!

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

No, it's Have his Carcase. I've realised what I did - found a list of books which feature Harriet and just assumed she was in all of the Wimsey novels. Ho hum, I really shouldn't go to a bookshop with such vague knowledge! One advantage of using Amazon, I suppose.

I'll give Strong Poison a go, and if it doesn't excite, try the official first one through azdak's link.

I have to finish the Flashman series before I can start these, anyway. And I'm still not done with Georgette Heyer! It's probably I was under the impression at the five or so Harriet Vane novels were all there were of Wimsey - I'd been holding back because I expected there to be a vast series and I didn't want to commit, but when my poor research erroneously suggested there were so few, I thought "That's not so many."

Re: Well done for giving in!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Have His Carcase is effectively the Strong Poison sequel, as it's the next Harriet book. I absolutely love it, but I think you definitely need to read SP before it. I'd be inclined to read SP and Whose Body first (the e-text, BTW is an early US edition and has some bits in it that were corrected in later editions) for the background of Wimsey and HArriet, and then tackle HHC.

I juggle my series - I've loads of Flashman and Heyer yet to go, and am rationing O'Brien.

Ed. I really hope you enjoy Sayers!

Re: Well done for giving in!

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I tend to get bored toward the end of a series, and think "I'll just start this [new and exciting book by another author], then go back and finish the series." But then never go back. I got to book 17 of the Aubrey-Maturins on my first read-through, then book 19 on my second - I might manage the whole series one day. Sharpe fell by the wayside with about 3 left to go, as did Dalziel and Pascoe. I've got about 10 Heyers left, but it's not looking good for them at the moment, as I've been on Flashman for about a month. I'm on book 10 of those, and there's only 12, so I'm really hopeful that I'll battle through. It's not that I stop enjoying a series, just that I feel the urge for a change, and there are SO! MANY! BOOKS! out there ready and waiting to grab me that it takes real discipline to stick at it. It's better when I find a series I like that's just starting out because I can read them as they get written. Or when I was poor, and couldn't afford to go out and buy stacks of other books. I must have about 40 or 50 books waiting to be read or halfway complete sitting around on my floor because I have no room to shelve them.

Maybe I should read several series at a time. My mum has an upstairs book and a downstairs book gooing at any one time, but I'm much more likely to stop reading something halfway through, read something else, then pick the other back up. That is, I was like that until I started buying more books than anyone could possibly read in a lifetime.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

I started with Gaudy Night too, adored Harriet and then went back and read the Harriet ones first so I don't think it matters, except that I would probably like Peter more if I'd started with the early ones.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I did SP next, but on drugs and terror on a plane so I didn't remember much!