Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

I was a trifle piqued to discover upon finishing Sara Jeanette Duncan’s A Voyage of Consolation that I had been quite wrong in the matter of who was to marry whom; but it ended with quite enough weddings to satisfy anybody, so I suppose in the end it’s just as well.

And I commenced my Newbery Honor books project with Cornelia Meigs’ The Windy Hill, from 1922, which just barely squeaks in under the copyright wire to be available free online. It’s all right - it’s better than I expected, actually, because I have consistently found all the Newbery decisions in the 1920s completely baffling - but it didn’t light a fire under me.

After this I think I will take evelyn_b’s suggestion and start with the more recent Newbery Honor books & work back, though.

What I’m Reading Now

Rosemary Sutcliff’s Simon! There is a character named Zeal-for-the-Lord who has deserted Parliament’s army on a quest for VENGEANCE. This is only a subplot so we are not about to go all Count of Monte Cristo (UNFORTUNATELY) but nonetheless I’m rooting for him.

I’ve also been working on Gil North’s The Methods of Sergeant Cluff, which is a mystery novel from the 1960s about a detective who solves crimes through his deep knowledge of the local people. “Deep knowledge of the local people” means “taking one look at people and deciding in a split second exactly what shape their cramped little emotional lives take.” It does not involve actually interviewing much of anyone or gathering much in the way of evidence.

Early on, Sergeant Cluff decides that one guy definitely didn’t murder Jane Trundle - even though that guy had been basically stalking her for months, even though Jane had definitely let him down the very night of the murder - because… well, because. Because he’s a nice local boy, I guess. Cluff would prefer it to be someone else.

Cluff has already ruled out both of the men who seem most likely to kill Jane because of sexual jealousy, so I suspect the murderer is going to end up being a girl who was jealous of Jane’s beauty & sex appeal. It’s that kind of book.

I’m also reading Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, which might also be called The War on Drugs: Well, That Was a Terrible Idea Right from the Start, which is exactly as sad as you might expect from that description but also fascinating. I’ve only just started it so I might write more about it later.

What I Plan to Read Next

I went on a sort of shopping spree for free old ebooks to read at work, and now I have so many that it is like looking through a box full of bonbons and trying to decide which one to read next. I’m leaning toward Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Land of the Blue Flower.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I like your alternate title and subtitle for Chasing the Scream very much.

And where, I wonder, is the land of the blue flower. I mean... there are many blue flowers out there.

[osprey_archer]

I think this particular Land of the Blue Flower is a magical kingdom/fairyland, but I won't know for sure till I read the book. evelyn_b asked too, so clearly I'd better report back next week.

[evelyn_b]

Aw, Zeal! :( I hope it doesn't go too badly. I know nothing about this book but nothing grabs my sympathies like a good multi-word Puritan name.

“Deep knowledge of the local people” means “taking one look at people and deciding in a split second exactly what shape their cramped little emotional lives take.” It does not involve actually interviewing much of anyone or gathering much in the way of evidence.

Is it a Miss Marple style of detection - like, "I knew a grocery assistant who acted a lot like you, and he stole the onions, so you probably embezzled those funds"? Miss Marple gets away with that sort of thing because she's not a real detective; when you're on payroll I think you should try to be a little more evidence-based. Lines in the forehead don't count as evidence.

I'll be excited to hear about The Land of the Blue Flower! That is a Burnett I've never heard of. Is it Texas?

[osprey_archer]

I too take a strange pleasure in multi-word Puritan names! You do you, Puritans. You do you and your weird naming customs.

I haven't read Miss Marple so I'm not sure to what extent Cluff follows in her footsteps. He seems to spend a lot of time standing on street corners and thinking about nothing, so if that's a Miss Marple thing too perhaps they are a lot alike.

Burnett wrote a completely terrifying number of books - well, lots of nineteenth century authors did, I suppose. I think the Land of the Blue Flower may be fairyland or something like that, but I'll let you know when I know for sure.

[rachelmanija]

Totally agree on the subtitle of Chasing the Scream. Could also be "So You Wanna Commit Racist Genocide."

[osprey_archer]

ACCURATE.

It's too bad he didn't go with that subtitle really, although I suppose the actual less confrontational subtitle makes the book more likely to reach people who don't already agree with him.

[sovay]

“taking one look at people and deciding in a split second exactly what shape their cramped little emotional lives take.” It does not involve actually interviewing much of anyone or gathering much in the way of evidence.

That doesn't sound like much of a method.

[osprey_archer]

That's what I thought too. Doubtless Cluff would think this is just because we don't share his deep knowledge of the local people.