Many bookstores, Strong Poison

[osprey_archer]

A most successful hunt through the bookstores yesterday! Although amusingly I got the most books at a bookstore I had not realized existed: I stopped in the library for a drink of water, and there was the Friends of the Library bookstore, and I found TWO books there, hooray!

I also found a copy of E. Nesbit's The Railway Children, which I have long intended to read, in a Little Free Library, which is the first time I have found something I really wanted in a Little Free Library and marks an epoch in my life.







And eventually it grew too hot for traipsing from bookstore to bookstore, so I stopped at a cafe for a lemon bar and finished Strong Poison (v. much approve, have already started Have His Carcase, Peter has proposed to Harriet approximately five times including by telegram:

FOLLOWING RAZOR CLUE TO STAMFORD REFUSE RESEMBLE THRILLER HERO WHO HANGS ROUND HEROINE TO NEGLECT OF DUTY BUT WILL YOU MARRY ME - PETER

I feel that this persistence ought to be annoying but instead I find it weirdly charming.)

The cafe also had this delightful little door in the wall.







I have always loved stories about tiny people who live in the walls. In fact when I was in kindergarten I invented a long one to amuse myself at school. The Paintwater Witches lived in the drains in the back of the classroom and used all the dirty paint water we poured down in their potions. Clearly the tiny people living in a cafe can expect far more gourmet fare!

Comments

[evelyn_b]

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the gratuitous detective romance (so far). I thought you might! but I also thought Peter might be too annoying, or too much of a strangler fig, for your tastes. (There's still time).

I feel that this persistence ought to be annoying but instead I find it weirdly charming.

:D I think Sayers does something really interesting with the annoying-charming balance, but WE'LL SEE what you think a little later.

And I'm so happy you're enjoying Ann Arbor, the first city I ever lived in! (And the Friends of the Library bookstore, which is always excellent). <3

[osprey_archer]

It was a very impressive Friends of the Library bookstore! Often they just seem to get dilapidated odds & ends, but this one had a truly fine selection. Although I must confess I could not figure out their organizing system in the children's section.

I have not had the opportunity to read any more today, but I will let you know as the annoying-charming balance develops! And I must say I liked the way that Harriet contacts the press herself, in full awareness of the excellent publicity bump for her books: it's just so sensible and business-like and I feel like heroines are rarely allowed to be so coolly calculating.

[evelyn_b]

I don't think I've ever been to a Friends of the Library sale where the children's section was well-organized. I think they get picked over the most of any category.

I also like Harriet's cool calculation. If you're going to be a corpse magnet, you might as well get some sales out of it. It's a much more temporary and manageable publicity stunt than "marrying the amateur detective from your murder trial."

[thisbluespirit]

A place full of book shops is a good place! It all sounds lovely, and that door is wonderful.

[osprey_archer]

TINY DOOR.

You can never go wrong with a tiny door. Unless one of the Good Folk actually starts using it, I suppose.

(from network)

[kore]

I know just what you mean about charming/annoying. I read all the PW books in preparation for reading Gaudy Night a while back, and then didn't read Gaudy Night out of fear I wouldn't really get it. (Anxiety. Whee.) Harriet and Peter are just wonderful.

Re: (from network)

[osprey_archer]

People have recommended the Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey books in general and Gaudy Night in particular to me with Great Enthusiasm for years, which is one of the reasons I took so long to read them: I too was concerned I wouldn't get it.

Re: (from network)

[kore]

Aww yeah you understand! I should really read GN now, I feel like even if I didn't Get It, I would at least enjoy it. -- I did read Nine Tailors, which was a big slog until about 3/4 of the way through when it suddenly became beautiful. I think the one I didn't read, besides Busman's Honeymoon, was Five Red Herrins, which I just couldn't bear.

Re: (from network)

[evelyn_b]

Five Red Herrings is astonishingly bad. It was bad without even being entertaining, which surprised me because I'd thoroughly enjoyed the rest of Sayers' books even when I thought they were a mess. What happened?? Anyway, I'm just here to assure you that not reading Five Red Herrings is always the best plan for everyone.

Re: (from network)

[kore]

It was SO bad! It was also just so weird! It felt like someone else had written it.

[silverusagi]

I have never even seen a Little Free Library in the wild, so you are doing better than me!

[osprey_archer]

I have become pretty good at spotting them! Recently I saw what I am pretty sure is a Little Free Library in a farming town so tiny it doesn't even have any shops, which I think is probably the winner for "oddest place for a Little Free Library."

I ought to go back and put some books in it sometime. And make sure it really is a Little Free Library and not just a peculiarly placed wooden box.