I'm currently reading Passion for Books: A Book LoverÂs Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Lore, and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books. I don't know if it's famous or not, but I laughed out loud when I read Umberto Eco's "How To Justify a Private Library". [For]people who possess a fairly sizable library (large enough in my case that someone entering our house canÂt help but notice it; actually, it takes up the whole place), a visitor enters and says "What a lot of books! Have you read them all?" At first I thought that the question characterized only people who had scant familiarity with books... But there is more to it than that. I believe that, confronted by a vast array of books, anyone will be seized by the anguish of learning and will inevitably lapse into asking the question that expresses his torment and his remorse... In the past I adopted a tone of contemptuous sarcasm. 'I haven't read any of them; otherwise, why would I keep them here?' but this is a dangerous answer because it invites the obvious follow-up: 'And where do you put them after you've read them?' The best answer is the one always used by Roberto Leydi: 'And more, dear sir, many more,' which freezes the adversary and plunges him into a state of awed admiration. But I find it merciless and angst generating. Now I have fallen back on the riposte: 'No, these are the ones I have to read by the end of the month. I keep the others in my office,' a reply that on the one hand suggests a sublime ergonomic strategy and on the other leads the visitor to hasten the moment of his departure.

Friedag, thank you for fascinating anecdote about Allingham and du Maurier. I had no idea about their rivalry. I think the two remind me of each other in that Allingham (in my opinion) is trying to write mysteries which can be taken seriously as novels in their own right. In this aspect I think she struggled as a writer, but she did succeed in adding a deeper level to the standard murder mystery. I'm still not sure whether I admire Margery Allingham as a writer, though I loved The Case of the Late Pig. Professionally, she was so eclipsed by Christie and Sayers, that I feel a bit sorry for her. In Dancers in Mourning, for example, her detective Albert Campion finds himself falling in love with the unhappy wife of a man who is a suspect in several murders. Campion agonizes about how to proceed with his investigation, and the reader is meant to sympathize with his personal unhappiness, and his professional scruples. I was reminded of My Cousin Rachel, in that the narrator's shifting perceptions of Rachel shape whether the reader perceives Rachel as a murdering fortune-hunter, or merely as a victim of jealous paranoia. With the exception of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (published at the beginning of her phenomenal career) Christie would not have added such a complex layer of characterization to an already successful formula. What amazes me about Christie is how she was able to churn out 3-4 novels a year for decades without going bonkers at the sameness of what she was writing. (To be fair, Christie was very pressured by her publishers not to stray from her set formula.) I hope to start Sayers in the fall. I have never read Georgette Heyer, but she is on my list of writers to try. Heyer's reputation has improved considerably in the last few years. She is an interesting example of the ebb and flow of a writer's respect among critics and readers. I know someone who helps choose the titles for a local book club made up mostly of career women in their 40s and early 50s. I suggested My Cousin Rachel as a possible title. She crinkled her nose in polite disdain, and made some dismissive comment about Daphne du Maurier's books. It was this incident that made me think she had become "old hat" to contemporary readers. Heyer suffered this same fate for years.

11/10 - Page 3 and it was good and worth picking up. Multiple page quotes are just more I can read & react to so early in the morning, generally I get to quotes when "first light" appears in the sky and dawn cracks, but I was up in "the middle of the night" with coffee, so-called news and so-called weather and doing my duties as demanded by my owners, the 4 feline club.

I’m currently reading The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I had been on the wait list at my library for both the audiobook and the hardcover, planning to read/listen to whichever came in first. Well, the audio arrived right before Christmas, at a time when I would be doing very little driving (I usually listen while driving to my kids’ far away high schools). I started it, but only could listen in little blocks of time while running errands, etc before Christmas. I got lucky tho because the hardcover came in this weekend, so I just spent the morning reading. The downside is that Tom Hanks is the narrator for the audio version-my first book with him as narrator and he is very entertaining, esp this book as the main character is a teenage boy but the book spans 50 years of his life. While I’m still enjoying the hard copy, I can hear his voice in my head as narrator! No plans today so Im hoping to finish it later this afternoon.