Hot Weather Friends
Summer 2005 is bringing us some of the hottest temperatures ever endured for such an extended time. When the airconditioners and fans are whirring 24/7, and it's too much trouble to think of going to the library or to the bookstore, a visit with old friends on the bookshelf is in order. There are some books worth rereading or with whom it would be good to get acquainted. These are some of the books and friends pulled off the shelf and brought to your attention.
Caledonia Wingate and Angela Benbow, both in their eighties, together with their friend, Detective Lieutenant Martinez, solve a series of crimes associated with their retirement home near San Diego. Author Corinne Holt Sawyer includes humorous episodes and a bit of romance as well as mystery.
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane represent some of the best in English murder mysteries, plus an unusual romantic attachment. Dorothy L. Sayers brings to life English aristocracy coping with murders in the English countryside as well as in academia.
John Dortmunder, our devious American hero, keeps us laughing: a comical crook solving the unsolvable believably. Any Dortmunder novel by Donald E. Westlake will make you laugh loud enough to drown out the airconditioners.
The English writer, Joyce Porter, has Scotland Yard saddled with the most obnoxious detective found in fiction: Detective Chief Inspector Dover. His Sergeant MacGregor is Dover's long-suffering assistant. How anything gets solved by the dandruff-ridden, obese Dover is a mystery in itself and is due only to the clever imagination of the author.
P. G. Wodehouse, an Englishman living and writing in America about English aristocrats, provides us with Bertie Wooster, his valet Jeeves, and the Blandings Castle novels featuring Lord Emsworth and his prize-winning sow Empress of Blandings. It is Americanized English humor at its most entertaining.
Back to New York City and the novels by Rex Stout, featuring the obese Nero Wolfe who supplies the brainpower to solve the mysteries while his assistant, Archie Goodwin, does the legwork. Orchids and gourmet meals are thrown into the mix.
Peter Shandy is a professor at Balaclava Agricultural College who indadvertently finds himself solving mysteries and meeting the love of his life as a consequence of a murder on campus. Charlotte Maccleod takes us into the academic setting with humor. If ever there was a Utopian college, Balaclava is it.
For peaceful reading, no serious crimes committed, visit Jan Karon's books about the town of Mitford. She gives us many endearing characters, both human and animal. Perfection perfectly plotted.
Three young friends who grow older by one year in each novel are appealing because they interact exactly as we know youngsters do in real life. J. K. Rowling has given us Harry Potter, Ron Weasely, and Hermione Granger and has written them into a magical setting of suspense, adventure, and reward.
These are just a few of the many characters and books some of whom may become your friends. In any case, all of them are well-plotted and provide a cool escape.
Can you add to these examples? Do you reread the funny parts even if you don't reread the whole book? Will you reread a book even if you know how it turns out? Why?
Caledonia Wingate and Angela Benbow, both in their eighties, together with their friend, Detective Lieutenant Martinez, solve a series of crimes associated with their retirement home near San Diego. Author Corinne Holt Sawyer includes humorous episodes and a bit of romance as well as mystery.
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane represent some of the best in English murder mysteries, plus an unusual romantic attachment. Dorothy L. Sayers brings to life English aristocracy coping with murders in the English countryside as well as in academia.
John Dortmunder, our devious American hero, keeps us laughing: a comical crook solving the unsolvable believably. Any Dortmunder novel by Donald E. Westlake will make you laugh loud enough to drown out the airconditioners.
The English writer, Joyce Porter, has Scotland Yard saddled with the most obnoxious detective found in fiction: Detective Chief Inspector Dover. His Sergeant MacGregor is Dover's long-suffering assistant. How anything gets solved by the dandruff-ridden, obese Dover is a mystery in itself and is due only to the clever imagination of the author.
P. G. Wodehouse, an Englishman living and writing in America about English aristocrats, provides us with Bertie Wooster, his valet Jeeves, and the Blandings Castle novels featuring Lord Emsworth and his prize-winning sow Empress of Blandings. It is Americanized English humor at its most entertaining.
Back to New York City and the novels by Rex Stout, featuring the obese Nero Wolfe who supplies the brainpower to solve the mysteries while his assistant, Archie Goodwin, does the legwork. Orchids and gourmet meals are thrown into the mix.
Peter Shandy is a professor at Balaclava Agricultural College who indadvertently finds himself solving mysteries and meeting the love of his life as a consequence of a murder on campus. Charlotte Maccleod takes us into the academic setting with humor. If ever there was a Utopian college, Balaclava is it.
For peaceful reading, no serious crimes committed, visit Jan Karon's books about the town of Mitford. She gives us many endearing characters, both human and animal. Perfection perfectly plotted.
Three young friends who grow older by one year in each novel are appealing because they interact exactly as we know youngsters do in real life. J. K. Rowling has given us Harry Potter, Ron Weasely, and Hermione Granger and has written them into a magical setting of suspense, adventure, and reward.
These are just a few of the many characters and books some of whom may become your friends. In any case, all of them are well-plotted and provide a cool escape.
Can you add to these examples? Do you reread the funny parts even if you don't reread the whole book? Will you reread a book even if you know how it turns out? Why?
posted by marguerite louise at
7:29 PM
8 Comments:
My apologies to the author of the Peter Shandy novels. Her name was spelled incorrectly in the essay, and is Charlotte Macleod.
By
marguerite louise, at 8/04/2005 8:56 PM
I have a tendency to drift back to Steinbeck's novels repeatedly for their psychosocial content and to E.L.Doctorow's for the vivid narration of the particular era.
For "feel-good" non-fiction, I like Robert Fulghum's books (over and over) and (need I say it again?) Annie Dillard to give me a healthy dose of writer's awe/envy.
By
Anonymous, at 8/04/2005 11:55 PM
I try to reread a Jane Austin novel once a year.
So many books, so little time...
By
Anonymous, at 8/06/2005 11:05 AM
The abovementioned books were plucked from a stack of paperbacks, but this blog is not a book list so only a few were mentioned. The mysteries have passed the "good grammatical writing" test, as well as the "good mystery" test. The Jan Karon novels about the town of Mitford are not mysteries, but interesting things happen, peacefully - good books for bedtime reading in summer.
By the way, there is a grammatical error in the essay. Can you spot it? No easy way to correct it, so it was left in place.
By
marguerite louise, at 8/06/2005 11:52 AM
ML is it the second last paragraph?
I often reread books. I enjoy historical fiction and mysteries most but will read almost anything.
I'll be adding several from your list to my "must read" list.
By
Anonymous, at 8/06/2005 9:39 PM
Colette, thanks for your comment. The error isn't in the next to last paragraph, at least I don't recognize anything there as incorrect, and if you do, I would like to know what it is! Truly! I am glad the error is not obvious to anyone but me...but, we'll see.
By
marguerite louise, at 8/06/2005 9:58 PM
Paragraph 4, sentence 2:
The adverbs "enough" and "not enough" usually take a postmodifier position. Therefore, Westlake's novels should cause one to laugh "loudly enough" to drown ("out" is redundant) the noise of the air conditioners (not one, but two words).
Paragraph 8, last sentence:
If the information in this clause had described a condition that is or was likely, the verb "was" would have been correct (the indicative mood). By using the "Utopian" descriptor, however, you have indicated that it is not. Therefore, "were" (the subjunctive mood) is correct.
The subjunctive mood is used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin with if and express a condition that does not exist (is contrary to fact); 3) begin with as if and as though when such clauses describe a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with that and express a demand, requirement, request, or suggestion.
In paragraph 9, the last line lacks a verb to be a complete sentence. You may attempt to make a case that "is" is understood, but you will be ejected from Grammar Court.
See me after class regarding several errors in punctuation. :)
By
Anonymous, at 8/07/2005 1:26 AM
I know who you are! Thanks for your comment. The only grammatical error that bothered Odysseuse was the error in the subjunctive - "were" not "was". So, it should have been: If ever there were a Utopian college...oh, well! I take comfort in the thought that the others were simply due to the author's unique style!
By
marguerite louise, at 8/07/2005 8:01 AM
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