Comments | ineffablewombat: TELL ME WHAT TO READ PLEASE!!!

ineffablewombat

TELL ME WHAT TO READ PLEASE!!!

Jul 29, 2007 10:36

I feel kind of funny saying this, because I have a whole lot of books that I'm intending to read One Of These Days (though most of them are in sealed cardboard boxes), but... er... I need something to read ( Read more... )

Comments 9

heavenscalyx July 29 2007, 15:29:06 UTC

When I was commuting on the train, I chewed through pretty much all the Lord Peter mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers. They're delightfully written with engaging characters, and most of them have reread value despite the mystery. I would start with Strong Poison, continue on to Have His Carcase, and thence to Gaudy Night, followed by Busman's Honeymoon. If, for some reason, you become fatigued by the Wimsey-Vane romance, take a break with Murder Must Advertise, which is eminently quotable.

ineffablewombat July 29 2007, 15:46:15 UTC

Ooooh, and I think I have all (well, a lot) of those... um... in one of these sealed cardboard boxes around here (I took mom's copies with me out to college because they looked entertaining and then promptly forgot about them).

heavenscalyx July 29 2007, 17:31:30 UTC

I enjoy the early ones too, if you find you have those, but I think Peter is a much more interesting and complicated character during the Vane books, so I don't reread the early ones nearly as frequently. Of course, Bunter appears more frequently in the earlier books, and I love me some Bunter. The only one of the early books I haven't read and continue to be reluctant to read is Unnatural Death, because it has Evil Lesbians.

Also, if you can find them and are into scifi, I highly recommend Melissa Scott's novels, Dreamships, Dreaming Metal, and The Jazz. I need to read more of her stuff, but I really enjoyed those. If you're more into fantasy, Melissa wrote 2 novels with her late partner, Lisa A. Barnett that are an awful lot of fun, and have gay romances in them: Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams. Maureen McHugh's SF novel China Mountain Zhang, whose main character is gay, was also really fun ( ... )

marmota July 29 2007, 22:12:20 UTC

I've been on a bit of a retro kick lately. I recommend all of P. G. Wodehouse's famous "Jeeves and Wooster" series, and a number of books by Thorne Smith; "Topper" about a straitlaced banker getting the "lighten up, Scrooge" treatment by the ghosts of two roaring twenties hedonists who died young, "Night Life of the Gods" about bringing the statues at the Met to life, and Turnabout, a husband-and-wife-swap-bodies tale with fascinating cultural perspective since it was written in 1931.

ineffablewombat July 30 2007, 13:26:38 UTC

Now, why didn't I think of Wodehouse before? (Oh yes, because my uncle absconded with our ENTIRE COLLECTION five years ago. Oh well, guess it's time to rebuild it?)

I shall look into this Thorne Smith fellow. Thankyou :)

adogablog July 31 2007, 01:42:06 UTC

Tami Hoag's Night Sins is a great, filthy novel.

nmsunbear October 4 2007, 15:57:53 UTC

A couple of enjoyable reads, both unusual mysteries, are Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (the detectives are sheep trying to figure out who murdered their shepherd; it sounds precious and cutesy, but is surprisingly not) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (the detective is an autistic boy).

By the way, I came to your journal from Heavenscalyx; I was delighted by your username. :) Do you mind if I friend you?

ineffablewombat October 4 2007, 16:05:14 UTC

Go ahead, but I rarely update this journal; I mostly use it for commenting/accessing friendslocked posts :)

nmsunbear October 4 2007, 17:04:07 UTC

Oh! I didn't realize I was commenting on a post from July. :)