My interest in Lee Childs' Jack Reacher series is still waxing. I've just finished One Shot and have read Bad Luck and Trouble, perhaps my favorite, Gone Tomorrow, and at least one other in the last two or three weeks. Does anyone else have my problem of remembering which story goes with which title? At some point in the novels we get the phrase which becomes the title, but generally they are not tied very much to the story. I must have the novel in front of me to remember what it is about.

Lemonhead, I've a love-hate thing going with Under the Banner of Heaven. The book made me so very angry that I wanted to kill some of those men. I respect that it was so skillfully written that all my buttons were pushed, but I hate the violent feelings it inspired in me. It also inspired contempt for the mainstream parts of the religion, mainly because it enables the behaviors of these breakaway sects. I am generally interested in religions of all sorts and tolerant of bizarre-to-me beliefs, so my response was confusing to me. Bottom line, I hated my visceral response to the book.

Woodnymph, am I perverse or are we supposed to be gently laughing at Isobel? I found the novels to be much more enjoyable once I realized Smith was mocking her.

I've read all of Lippman and have been to two book signings. Once I was lucky enough to make one which had been quickly rescheduled due to Hurricane Isabel which had all of 7 people in attendance. I seemed to be the only one who had read more than one of her novels, so it quickly devolved into a one on one chat, with her even recommending other novelists. Apparently the community of mystery writers is very tight. She is a lovely woman, warm and interested in her fans. The next signing I attended was SRO at a very large suburban B&N. You know, don't you, she's married the the man who have us the TV shows "Homicide; Life on the Streets" and "The Wire?"

Chris - I had a very similar reaction to UTBOFH. I was *really* annoyed with the whole twisted splinter group, and this wasn't helped that Warren Jeffs (the head of another splinter group of Mormons here in Texas) was having his time in court. However, one good thing about that yesterday, he was busted for having sex with two underage girls and got life. However, I doubt it will change things for him or for his followers.

Just finished up A Woman's Place: 1910-1975 by Ruth Adam, an English novelist/historian. This was a densely written but rather interesting historical overview of women's lives in England from close to the beginning of the twentieth century to 1975. The author has done an excellent job of weaving the various strands of life together to create a more complete picture, and covers laws that are put into effect that affect women and their lives, ranging from the right to vote in 1919, all the way up to the new divorce laws of the 1970's.

As the book says:

A woman born at the turn of the century could have lived through two periods when it was her moral duty to devote herself, obsessively, to her children: three when it was her duty to society to neglect them; two when it was right to be seductively feminine and three when it was a pressing social obligation to be the reverse; three separate periods in which she was a bad wife, mother and citizen for wanting to go out and earn her own living, and three others when she was an even worse wife, mother and citizen for not being eager to do so.

Taking into consideration the two World Wars that happened, the first creating a "mutilated society" that had ripple effects right up until the Second World War, I really learned a lot about English history as although I did grow up and go to a posh school in England, our teachers were more focused on covering the rest of the world's history as opposed to that of the UK. We may have done the Suffragettes and I know we did Bonnie Prince Charlie and then the Native American history in the US (for some reason), but not much of the actual UK stuff. So a lot of the information in Adam's book was quite new for me, and helped me to understand what my mum, grandma, great grandma et al went through in terms of having rights (or not, as the case may be).

What I found really interesting was the fluctuation of women's rights depending on how the country was doing or if it was dealing with a war, either at that time or the aftermath. When the country needed munitions workers because all the males had entered the military, who did they call? And then when the men came home and needed employment, the women were encouraged to give up their jobs and go back to the homes (that was the patriotic thing to do). All rather annoying from a twenty-first century perspective, but I can not argue that I would have done any different than each of those women.

Another thing that I really liked about the book was thewell attributed sources and...

Lemon, I read your posting about "A Woman's Place" and found it extremly interesting. I have just filled out an ILL slip for it at my library (where, as you know, I just purchased forty books at the FoL sale so naturally, have nothing to read in the house.).

Interestingly enough, I am reading a book that is a bunch of psycho-babble repetition entitled Money, a Memoir. To save you the hours of reading this stupid book, the underlying premise is that women are still figuring out their dual roles of mother and wage-earner. That the two, full time employment and full time motherhood, are not easy to do (duh!) so that we, as women, view earnings emotionally rather than as the simply wage for work transaction that it is in reality. I guess I am now psycho-babbling, too. I just thought that this dual role of wage earner and mother, while not new, is the next battle the majority of women face. It goes on to say that very often, boys are still reared to be the "big strong" man, but that girls are still pushed headfirst into the Disney dream of the beautful vulnerable girl waiting, and securing the handsome prince who is independently wealthy and shall take care of her forever even though she has no marketable skills to take care of herself. Men, this author says, have had their roles defined since the beginnings of time, but women find their roles constantly evolving.

PAM

PAM -

Interesting that you are reading a book that talks about girls being pushed headfirst into the Disney dream of "being rescued by a handsome prince"...

Have you ever looked at the book called Cinderella Ate my Daughter by Peggy Orenstein. This is an interesting look at how the Princess Culture has taken over some girls as they're growing up and how it may affect them later on. Good sense of humor from the author as well. Anyway, it might be an interesting read after your financial psycho-babble book. :-)

I seem to be continuing my "potboilers of the past" trend this year, as I am currently reading Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn. Though by no means a great book, it is an enjoyable read. I am always surprised at the violent, often lurid elements of du Maurier's novels. She was a favorite writer of several of my otherwise very ladylike great-aunts. The writer is at her best when writing about the bleak, often dangerous, landscape of Cornwall.

I get the impression that du Maurier is thought to be a bit "old hat" by readers today.

Yesterday I finished Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson. In it, her new friend and male interest finally solves the four-year-old murder of her husband. I haven't read very many of this series, but I like it a lot. She is a midwife in Victorian New York City.

Re raising daughters, I had always worked and was a single mother at the time my daughter quit college in her second year to get married to a boy she hadn't known very long at all. It almost broke my heart, and I blame Barbara Cartland!

At any rate, they have now been married 38 years and she is a very successful career woman--still going to college and about to earn a PhD in nursing education.

I am reading Kabul, by M. E. Hirsh. This is the story of a fictional family whose patriarch was a minister in the government of Afghanistan's King Zahir Shah. When King Zahir was overthrown by his cousin in 1973, the family was thrown into turmoil, and the children went in various directions - to Pakistan, to religious fundamentalism, to America, and to Russia. It concludes in 1979, just before the Soviet invasion. Hirsh published her book in 1986 and it was re-issued after 9-11.

Hirsh has tremendous knowledge of the country and its culture and history - she must have lived there at some point. Her characters are richly drawn and her descriptive ability is, for me. exhilarating. One immediately understands that Afghanistan has not always been in constant turmoil, and that her population is composed of far more than barbaric peasants, which is usually how the place is portrayed in the media. This would be an excellent book to read before going on to A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Just completed Linwood Barclay's Fear The Worst. Barclay is a new mystery.thriller writer for me and I like him a lot!

I am totally captured by "The Twins" by Tessa De Loo.

I just started Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen. I'm only about 40 pages in but it's good so far. Different from what I expected though: I thought it would be written in chronological order, starting when she arrives in Africa but so far it's not. Maybe that will change the further I read?

I'm also reading The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian. I'm about half-ways through that one. I start back to work in less than two weeks (I had the summer off), so I'm hoping to read as much as possible between now and then!

It's ages since I posted here.
I finished a good crime novel called Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski. It's the first of a trilogy and reminded me of the Die Hard movies - nothing could kill the hero. But it was good fun.
I also read the new Daniel Silva, A Portrait of a Spy, which is as good as I have come to expect. I love Gabriel Allon, and the mix of art and spycraft.
In the mix too was the new Bruno, Chief of Police novel from Martin Walker, called A Crowded Grave. Also enjoyable, but not up to the other two.

kren, I have also been reading Out of Africa and, as you said, had been expecting the 'story line' to have some sort of order rather than a series of vignettes of Blixen's encounters with the Natives.
I have just had a friend visiting who has spent many many years in Africa, especially in Kenya and asked her about the 'accuracy' of the book. She said that it was heavily romanticised and, although beautifully written, to learn about early colonial E Africa Elspeth Huxley's The Flame Trees of Thika would be a more authentic read.

bookmom -- It's been a while since i read the "Psychopath" book, but i recall being interested in the same things as you. It does seem that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," as we all think we're psychologists just because we've read a few books on the topic. It's also fun, however, to try to diagnose the various politicians and CEOs after reading this book.

I finished Anne of Green Gables and plan to read the others in this series, but I'm taking a break and reading Breakfast with Buddha about a middle-aged father and husband who reluctantly takes a road trip with his sister's guru. I'm not far enough into the book to have formed an opinion yet.

Regarding Out of Africa, I guess some readers might be put off by how the author does not write her memoirs in chronological order. I think Blixen's style is much more authentic, in that it captures how memory works by association, not chronology. The book is really selected vignettes or impressions of a country she loved, but was forced to leave. I thought it was a very beautiful book, but it isn't for everyone.

Carolyn, you shouldn't have been too worried by the influence of Barbara Cartland on your daughter as all her heroines went to the altar as virgins . . . more than can be said of most of the females in modern books (who seldom even reach the church door) which reminds me of one of my late Father's dreadful jokes. A book entitled Married in the Nick of Time: Christened in the Vestry

Tim, re Daphne du Maurier. I have never been so keen on her historical romances but prefer her 'darker' works, some of her short stories, The House on the Strand which I enjoyed many years ago and, perhaps my favourite My Cousin Rachel which leaves you wondering long after it is finished. I am ordering The Scapegoat from the library. Have any RP'ers read it?

Tim, I completely agree with you that Blixen's style is authentic. Anyway, there are so many different perspectives about Africa, as seen through other writers' eyes: e.g. Paton's "Too Late the Phalarope", Alexandra Fuller's "Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight", James Fox's "White Mischief", and so many others. It's a continent that inspires a wealth of impressions and reactions for various reasons....

I remain a fan of du Maurier, whether she is "dated" or not. "My Cousin Rachel" is my favorite of her novels.

I know next to nothing about the vast continent which is Africa, so I appreciate Woodnymph2's and Veer's suggestions. I am old enough to remember Huxley's book being made into a very popular television series in (I think) the early 1980s. One of things I most admired about Out of Africa is that I felt it was very much "her" story. She is an outsider who resists the temptation to sentimentalize Africa or its people. Also, her dealings with European neighbors are as complicated as her relations with the native Africans.

Veer and Woodnymph, I thought My Cousin Rachel was a wonderful book. I am sorry I did not read it sooner. I will never feel the same about laburnums!

Vee, I read "The Scapegoat" when it was first published so I do not remember much about it and won't spoil it for you by my comments on what I do recall!

I've just finished a real page-turner, a debut novel by Holly LeCraw: "The Swimming Pool." I got into caring about the vibrant characters right away and the story had some unique twists and turns that I liked. Has anyone else here read it?

Now, I am trying my darndest to get into "The Elegance of the Hedgehog." It is really a struggle for me. Is there a connection between all these bits of philosophical musings? Did any other readers here have a failure of focus with it?

woodnymph -- I really struggled with "Elegance." We read it for my book club a year ago and, although I did finish it, I probably wouldn't have if not for my commitment to the group. Personally, I prefer more story with my philosophy. There is a story in the book, you just have to wade through lots of non-story to get there. And actually what I prefer, is to discover the philosophy through the characters rather than having it quoted to me. The book was very unsatisfying to me, but a couple of people in the group really liked it. Just different taste I guess.

I am currently rereading The Magicians by Lev Grossman in preparation for reading the sequel The Magician King.

I'm also still reading Breakfast with Buddha about a New Yorker who gets tricked into a cross-country drive with his sister's enigmatic guru. It's fun.

It took me a while to get into ...Hedgehog. A worthy book, but I don't remember it fondly. Not that fondness is any criteria for judging the quality of work.

Just finished David Baldacci's Deliver Us from Evil and learned more about torture and atrocities than I really wanted to.

Thanks for your inputs. "Hedgehog" is going back to the library unfinished. Now, I'm re-reading an old favorite: "The Narrowing Stream" by John Mortimer -- very satisfying.

All this talk of Africa sent me to my TBR pile and I pulled out an African-related book to read that I am going to save for the Travel Book thread. (It was good though.)

So, in the meantime, reading The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and how it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World by Steven Johnson. (This might be the record for longest subtitles?)

A historical narrative non-fiction, Johnson takes the story of the 1854 cholera epidemic in London (which killed a lot of people extremely quickly) and we learn how and why people chose to fight the epidemic in the way that they did. A man called Dr. John Snow (along with a curate called Charles Whitehead) actually end up changing how public health would function forever through the method they used to stop this.

Very fascinating and full of lurid details (London was really disgusting back then - all open sewers and people put their umm... human waste...in the cellars until it was about three feet deep... Gahhh...)

At that time, Londoners and medical people believed that the cholera outbreak was caused by the awful smells that emanated from the streets, and Snow and Whitehead had to overcome this communal belief that it was some other mode of transmission.

Really good reading if you are a public health nerd (which I admit, not everyone is). However, if you like historical non-fiction about medical stuff, this is a good read.

Another one I read was also non-fiction and called Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border by Luis Alberto Urrea. This was more a series of vignettes of life in the border city of Tijuana where some of the citizens live on the rubbish dump and eat scraps. Urrea makes no apology for having a definite point of view towards those who want to the cross the border, and if you are expecting a screed against illegal immigration, then this is not the book for you. This book is really just a "slice of life" book of life in Tijuana for those who are on the edge of society - the desperately poor who have very few choices to change lives, and who live only 20 miles or so from San Diego.

The people mentioned in the vignettes are real people who Urrea met when he was doing charity work there in the early '90's, and he is careful not to sensationalize them and make them martyrs to the cause, instead letting the reader see them warts and all.

Not an easy read, but an interesting one. I found it to be an effective reminder of what some people have to live through just a few miles from the Land of Milk and Honey.

Liz, I never thought of myself as "a public health nerd" but I sure do "like historical non-fiction about medical stuff." I read both Johnson's The Ghost Map and Sandra Hempel's The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump: John Snow and the Mystery of Cholera. I preferred Hempel's book, I think because it was more straight history and didn't try to make a grand connection with this particular case and all the rest of scientific-medical investigations. For some reason, though, Johnson's book has had more readers than Hempel's.

Liz, have you read The Great Stink by Clare Clark? Talk about disgusting! Yet it's fascinating at the same time. I got on a kick of such 'history-of-health' books a while back. I enjoyed The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster, telling the story of the effects of plumbism. Some researchers and scientists attribute some of the great decline in general health of nineteenth-century Britons to the lead pipes that delivered their water -- that and if their water sources were 'hard' or 'soft'. Hard water built up scale inside the pipes and protected the users somewhat from the effect of lead.

The Urrea book sounds interesting to me. I read something similar about the shantytowns outside, and on the mountainsides above, Rio de Janeiro. Can't think of title right now.

I am another who ditched Elegance of the Hedgehog. I might've accepted it as philosophical 'irony' except I got the feeling that no irony was intended.

And then just finished a Gutenburg Project read of Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Oh, it was wordy but that's early 19th century for you... Good story, and much better than I have seen in the movies. Plus, I found out that half of Hollywood has been misinformed: Frankenstein is not the name of the monster (who actually has no name in the book). It's the name of his inventor, Victor Frankenstein.

Anyone see Young Frankenstein the comedy?

Oh, and is GardenWeb *remarkably* slow for you lately?

I read The Great Stink a couple of years ago and yes, it was disgusting and made more so by the unlikely (to me) addition to the smelly subject of the modern(?) habit self-harming that the 'hero' carried out while deep down in the sewers. He would surely have been dead of blood poisoning within a couple of chapters.
Another 'true' book along those gory lines Frieda and Liz might enjoy is The Italian Boy by Sarah Wise which deals with the nasty business of 'body snatching' (think Burke and Hare) that went on in large cities to supply medical students with cadavers on which to practice their dissection skills.

Liz, I don't find this site too slow, but today I had to 'sign-in' again which is never a straightforward process.

I soldiered through Elegance of the Hedgehog but disliked it for a number of reasons that I won't get into. I know many people loved it.

I did however love Young Frankenstein, one of the few movies I own. I practically have it memorized, along with Blazing Saddles. Really dating myself here.

Did anyone see the recent National Theater (London) production of Frankenstein with two actors alternating in the lead roles? I saw it in my 1/2 horse town via HD satellite broadcast to a local theater. Have seen quite a few operas from the Metropolitan Opera (New York) the same way. Truly wonderful program that makes it easier to live in an out-of-the-way place.

One thing that always sticks in my mind is that plot device where the men arm themselves and go off to kill the savage beast, leaving the women alone and defenseless. Of course the beast merely waits for them to leave and then does his worst. Hmmmmm.

Continuing on with the Classics list, I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Actually, I had to read it twice to fully get what was going as all the characters and the plot line had me quite confused as to who was who. However, the second time was really good and I ended up appreciating the story much more. (Thankfully, it was also a novella, so that helped.)

Started My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin, but it doesn't seem to be that great so far. Will give it a good go this weekend and see what's up.

Frieda and Veer - thanks for the suggested titles. I will be adding them to the (never-ending) TBR list...

Siobhan, I remember reading an early history of Howard County Maryland (between Baltimore and DC)-mostly a genealogy text. The author touted the incredibly brave men who moved their families to this frontier in Indian territory. And I sat there thinking that pregnant pioneer wives with children clustered at their feet were the incredibly brave ones.

I think I'm all caught up on Lee Childs' Reacher Novels. I enjoy them even when I twig to the twist early.
Easing my way back in to Patrica Cornwell, who'd become unreadable for me. The Front was a very thin novel which mostly displays Cornwell's disdain for DAs. Still, even though the reviews were mostly bad, I liked it well enough.

Chris, I strongly believe that we don't appreciate the sacrifices made by pioneer women, many of whom left behind parents, siblings, friends who they would never see again.

As a genealogy buff, I have discovered some incredibly strong female ancestors. Some examples include:

At the ripe old age of 87, my third great-grandmother Margaret left Ireland and sailed across the Atlantic to settle in Canada. The conditions on her journey were probably absolutely ghastly, as her family was very poor, and it was the early 1870's. (My mother, on the other hand, is 74, and refuses to take out her own recycling!)

Many generations back, one of my female ancestors rode across the Niagara River on horseback, despite the fact that she could not swim!

My remarkable second great-grandmother, who nursed her dying daughter while heavily pregnant with her third child. This baby was born less than a week after her elder sister was buried.

My great-grandmother's half-sister Cecelia who consigned herself to a loveless marriage (with her widowed brother-in-law) in order to raise her dead sister's children.

I was lucky to have two amazing grandmothers. My maternal grandmother, as a child, saved both of her brothers from drowning, in two separate incidents. Not content to rest on her laurels, as a young woman she rescued another girl who suffered an epileptic seizure while in a canoe.

My paternal grandmother was the first woman in her town to get a driver's license. During WWII, she worked at a factory unloading boxes of dynamite! She must have had nerves of steel.

Susanna Moodie is an icon in Canadian history and literature, having penned perhaps the least romantic book about pioneer life, Roughing it in the Bush. Her book offers a very tart assessment of life in the "New World".

Tim, your female ancestors were obviously made of sterling stuff; I wonder if today's generation have such spines of steel? ;-)
We've mentioned before Sisters in the Wilderness by Charlotte Grey who describes the lives of Susanna and her sister Catherine. Both married to feeble, incompetent ex army officers, trying to live on half-pay, who hope to make a 'go' of life in Ontario. Their sister back in England sends 'useful' gifts of white kid elbow-length gloves as worn at Court, just in case a young Queen Victoria should pop into the log cabin for tea.
One of the sisters, in old age, painted the local flora and became a respected botanist.

I just finished Hull Creek by Jim Nichols which has renewed my stagnated fiction reading. This novel addresses the problems faced by lobster fishermen on the Maine coast, many of them fifth and sixth generation, as they try to hang in the face of changing times. Maybe this doesn't sound too interesting, but it is, especially as I am a transplant to this area. Although I am not a "swank" as he calls the rich people who buy up property, knock down the old farmhouse and put up not-so-mini-mansions, and romanticize the "quaint" locals while marginalizing them at the same time.

Now I have moved on to Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett, one of his Discworld novels. This has been on my TBR pile for ages, waiting for me to be in the right frame of mind. Perfect for late summer reading. He infuses humor into virtually every sentence.

On a completely off-topic note, I have discovered pizza-crust yeast, a super-active yeast variety that doesn't need any rise time and makes the dough very easy to roll out. It is tempting to make pizza or flatbread every day. Really fun, you should try it!

Siobhan, what you wrote of the Maine lobstermen reminds me of the Gloucester County, VA "watermen" who have for centuries made their livelihood off the York and James Rivers. Now, it is a dying way of life. That beautiful waterfront area is quite desireable to "come heres" who do put up McMansions, but some do restore the lovely old wood farmhouses. The watermen have a unique accent, not unlike a bit of Irish mixed with Cockney.

Tim, my maternal grandmother gave birth to 11 children, while maintaining a farm in NC. She did all her own sewing, baking, canning vegetables, washing, gardening, while still finding time to teach the kids and play the organ. The old house is still standing, sans air conditioning, with only fireplaces for heat.

I guess I should mention the novel I just finished: "Arcadia Falls" by Carol Goodman, a gothic sort of tale set in the part of NY where the Dutch originally settled.

I started Iron House, new by John Hart, about 9:30 last night--big mistake! It was hard to put it down to go to bed early enough to get up for church this morning. I don't dare pick it up again until after Masterpiece Theater tonight. (I don't have to get up early tomorrow.)

I work with a woman who loves John Sandford, so I tried his Hidden Prey. It was OK but I won't be rushing off to find another one.
Now I have moved on to Netherwood, a forthcoming book which is "a must-read novel for fans of Gosford Park, Cranford and
Downton Abbey".
It's set in Yorkshire in the early 1900s, and features a young widow of a miner who died in 'is Lordship's colliery, and how she makes her way baking pies. It all seems a bit unlikely to me, but isn't too bad. At least it is written in proper English (the 'whom' was in the right place *g*) and the story is interesting, if a bit improbable. For instance, the young heir is a likeable no-hoper (of course) but the first-born, a young lady, has all the determination he should have. Her name is Henrietta, but her father, while deploring her forthright ways, calls her 'Henry'! Doesn't ring true to me.

Working on finishing up the much-improved read of My Brilliant Career by Aussie writer Miles Franklin. It got much better when I had put some solid reading time into it, and is impressive for a debut novel written when she was 16. However, as a reader, you can see the teenaged decisions in some of the plot, but still - not too shabby for such a young writer. As I researched it further, I learned that it was an early feminist coming of age classic, and that Franklin went on to work in the US for a women's right group and then in England for another non-profit before returning to Australia in her 50's.

There is now the Miles Franklin Prize in Australia, I think. Kath - do you know more about this? Is it rather like the Booker or Orange Prizes?

And then I have been reading Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Horschild about the first grass-roots campaign to free slaves in the eighteenth century. This started with a small group of men in a London printing shop who pioneered most of the tools that social justice groups use today: mass mailings, boycotts etc... Again, it's a book that needs a commitment of time to get into, but it is good so far.

And which classic shall I delve into next?...

I finished Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment this morning. What an entertaining and masterful storyteller he is - I am so glad that I haven't read too many of his books and so have many to look forward to.

I don't know what I will read next - maybe Paul Gallico's The Abandoned, about a young boy who is changed into a cat, and presumably back again, although of course I won't know that until the end. But I know Gallico likes a good ending.

Liz, there was a marvelous film some time ago made from the book "My Brilliant Career." You might wish to try to find it.

I've just finished "The Secret Supper" by Javier Sierra, a Spanish scholar. Basically, it is about Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting in the refectory in Milan and the artist's connections to the Cathar beliefs and Gnosticism. It was interesting and very well reseached, housed in a fast moving mystery plot.

Liz, the Miles Franklin award is the pre-eminent award in Australian literature, awarded annually a book of the highest literary merit which presents any part of Australian life.

I finished this morning the latest Bill Slider book from Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Bodyline, and enjoyed it very much. I think the murder mystery part of these books has improved with time and the characters are wonderful.

In spite of swearing off British mysteries for awhile, I broke down and read Margery Allingham's Dancers in Mourning. The book was published the same year as The Case of the Late Pig, which I found to be a very light, funny read. The former book, unfortunately, though very intriguing, was much darker in tone. The premise of the mystery is a beloved musical-comedy star is driven to the verge of a nervous breakdown by a series of childish, if increasingly malicious, practical jokes. A house party is then ruined by an inexplicable, violent suicide which leaves a pall of suspicion over everyone in attendance.

The characters were mostly unhappy, even neurotic, which admittedly suited the oppressive darkness of the story. Allingham's books are beloved for her dry humor, often expressed as a tart skewering of her character's foibles. In Dancers in Mourning, I think this aspect of Allingham got out of hand, as found them all to be an unsympathetic lot.

Thanks for the info on the Miles Franklin Prize and the movie of the book. I will see if I can track down a copy of the film at some point...

Read (and really enjoyed) an e-copy of E. M. Delafield's The War Workers - a fun sort of "Jolly Hockey Sticks" book of a group of women who are working in a Supply Depot at WWI sort of time. Some of the characters were really funny.

Still finishing up Bury the Chains book about the abolition of the slave trade (not actually slavery itself). This has been interesting as I was woefully under-educated about both the eighteenth century and the history of slavery in the UK.

And reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (originally publised under the pen name of Acton Bell). It is surprisingly easy to read and is epistolary in nature (which is right up my alley)...

All my ILLs came in at the same time. Gaah. What to do, what to do... I wonder if DH would mind if I resigned my job and just read all day?...... ha.

I picked up a Margery Allingham book "The Mind Readers" recently but could not get into it at all. I liked her earlier mysteries and was looking forward to reading this reprint. Although modern for the time it was written in 1965, I found it more dated than some of the Golden Age mysteries!

Annpann, Margery Allingham is a new writer for me. I have only read three of her novels. All three have been enjoyable, often for completely different reasons. My sense is that she is always struggling to "find her voice", by which I mean two of three have been uneven. I feel that she is experimenting with the classic mystery formula, albeit with mixed results. Strangely, I find she reminds more of Daphne du Maurier, then her chief competition, Agatha Christie.

At some point I have to start reading Dorothy L. Sayers, just to complete the classic British crime triumvirate.

Timallan, I like "Busman's Holiday" by D.L.Sayers best. Also Jill Paton Walsh has done a good job continuing the Lord Peter Wimsey character, using Sayer's notes etc.
Have you tried Heyer's detective novels or Cyril Hare? All favourites that I can read again for the characters even though I know who-did-it!

Strangely, I find she reminds more of Daphne du Maurier, then her chief competition, Agatha Christie.Timallan, do you know that there was something of a rivalry between Allingham and D du Maurier? I read about it either in Margaret Forster's bio, Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller, or Nina Auerbach's Haunted Heiress, or maybe in both. It seems that each of the women thought the other wrote lousy books, probably because they were jealous of each other's successes. It sounds petty of them and unattractive, but I suppose such things are part of human nature.

I've enjoyed Allingham's books, but I've never considered them in the same league as DduM's. I really don't remember them as very similar, but I could've just forgotten. I have heard for years that Allingham's Tiger in the Smoke is one of the all-time Top 100 mysteries, but I was a bit letdown when I read it. When you read it, I'll be curious to hear what you think.

Finished "My Cousin Rachel" - Friday night whilst pre-hurricane storming was going on. ... Great atmosphere for the story! At first, I found the writing to be plain; but, after about page 10, I was "hooked" -- so enjoyed it to the end.

Do I think she (Rachel) was guilty? You bet I do!! For one solid reason -- If she was good, she would never have accepted that revised will giving her absolutely everything -- leaving nothing to its original heir, Philip. And he had given her a very generous pension for life, and all the fabulous family jewels. What a "taker" she was. Uh-uh, I wouldn't trust that dame as far as I could throw her over that Florentine villa!

Apparently, du Maurier was asked if Rachel was guilty and she replied that she did not know!

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.

Tim and others, interesting that you should mention Daphne du Maurier as I have just read with great enjoyment her Scapegoat.
Set in mid''50's France it is the story of a week in the life of John who meets his 'double' Jean in a bar. What happens in the next seven days changes the lives of himself and everyone he meets.

I don't think Georgette Heyer has come back into 'fashion' in the UK, though I realise many RP'ers seem to enjoy her work.
I remember finding a copy of one of her books at a church sale and mentioning to a woman next to me that it used to be the easy teenage-read in preference to Jane Austen. She looked at me as though I was holding some soft-porn title.
Dorothy L Sayers might be more up your street than Heyer who I find bit 'girly'.

Veer, I believe that at least one well-known British writer (A. S. Byatt, if memory serves) wrote an essay defending Heyer. I guess that is why I thought the pendulum of critical favor was swinging back in her direction.

I was fortunate to attend a high school which actually had a library. Though well-stocked, many of the books were clearly a bit out-of-date for young people of the early 1980s. This library possessed a good-sized collection of Heyer's novels, though they were rarely checked out. The covers always seemed to feature damsels and dandies in Regency dress casting smouldering looks at each other. I suppose these books would be a bit girly for me.

Heyer has never gone out of fashion for me! I started reading her books, which were in my school library, in the late 1940s. I then preferred the ones with young characters who were in their twenties but as I grew older, could appreciate the novels about the more mature lovers, such as in "The Talisman Ring" and "Venetia". Later on, when I got interested in reading mysteries, I started on those and finally read "Penhallow" which I had avoided as I thought it was one of her mediaeval books which I did not like much. At one time I had all the published and some OOP books but they, along with a lot of my books, were lost when I went to the UK. I have so little room now, I never replaced them.