2016 Dorothy L. Sayers Challenge

[Jan C]

William wrote: "Judy wrote: "Thanks, Susan. I just had a quick search for one and I certainly see what you mean - they all seem to be out of print and published a long time ago."

Yes, the Reynolds biography came ..."

When ordering from Abebooks I have had good luck ordering from the store in Mishawaka, IN. They're usually in good shape and relatively cheapish. Actually I've had generally getting books in decent condition from any of the stores Abebooks deals with.

[Susan]

I certainly would not avoid an out of print book, William, but I would be loathe to add it as a group read, or in a challenge, in case some members could not locate it. As personal reads though, it's fine obviously (although I do my best to buy on kindle now, or use the library, due to lack of space)

[Judy]

Thanks for the advice, William - I often buy second-hand and out of print books, and had to smile at your comment about people asking for a green book without knowing the title or author!

I was just a bit surprised that there were no more recent biographies of Sayers available and that none seemed to be in print, given how popular she is - but will certainly read at least one of the older ones.

[Everyman]

William wrote: "Apologies for running on a bit. Just thought I'd pop my head up to say that there's no reason to avoid a book just because its out-of-print. "

I've used both ABEbooks (now owned by Amazon) and Alibris for years (also BetterWorldBooks) and have never had any problems with security. Of course that's no guarantee of future safety, but I personally have no hesitation using all three. I've bought dozens, probably into the hundreds, of books from these and never had an issue.

I tend to prefer alibris because I can sort on condition, which isn't possible with ABEbooks. And it's nice to support a second hand book source which isn't owned by Amazon. (Given that Amazon also owns Goodreads, I hope they don't kick me off for that comment!)

[Ashley]

I'm totally in for this challenge. I just discovered the Lord Peter books and have fallen hard. I won't be able to wait to read the books in the appropriate months, but I look forward to discussing them.

[Susan]

That's great, Ashley, just join in however and whenever you wish. I am currently re-reading the first Lord Peter Wimsey for the - umpteenth time - and enjoying it all over again.

[Jan C]

Susan wrote: "That's great, Ashley, just join in however and whenever you wish. I am currently re-reading the first Lord Peter Wimsey for the - umpteenth time - and enjoying it all over again."

I just re-started it the other day

[Everyman]

Jan C wrote: "
I just re-started it the other day "

I plan to start it in a day or two, like Susan for the umpteenth time.

And isn't it nice that the Goodreads spellchecker accepts umpteenth?

[Barbara]

I just joined and I am so excited for this challenge. Wanted to start reading Sayers books. Last one I read was when I was a teenager many moons ago. This is a great push to get me started!! Thank you!!

[Susan]

Welcome, Barbara - nice to have you join us. We've had a few new members over the holiday period - please do check out the forthcoming group books, as well as the challenge, and let us know if you have any questions.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

☆ Ｃａｒｏｌ ☆ wrote: "I can get Whose Body from a different branch of my library. I'm trying to decide whether to do that or get it on my Kindle (roughly the same cost) :)"

I'm hoping I have requested this from another branch of my library. Because of holidays I won't be able to check till next week. Will probably be the end of next week before I have it in my hot little hands! I'm a pretty speedy reader so I should be able to catch up.

[Mark Pghfan]

Like many of us, I have read some of Wimsey but not all. Familiar, though with all of the TV versions and also the BBC radio versions, which have been done on all of the novels, I believe. I have Whose Body? ready to start (again).

[Jan C]

I see that Gaudy Night is available on Kindle for $1.99 today.

[Lesley]

I have just picked up from Amazon.com for $0.71 each, Dorothy L. Sayers Premium Collection Vol. I This volume contains SEVEN great novels by DOROTHY SAYERS, the prolific English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist, who was in her lifetime a major and successful writer.

and

DOROTHY SAYER VOL II. PREMIUM LORD WIMSEY COLLECTION 4 NOVELS + 18 SHORT STORIES + 11 MONTAGUE EGG SHORT STORIES. Murder Must Advertise, The Nine Tailors, ... Honeymoon (Timeless Wisdom Collection)

[Everyman]

I don't recall the link being posted before. If it was, sorry for the duplication; if not, here's "Whose Body" online, with an introduction about Dorothy Sayers.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wome...

[Susan]

Thanks, Everyman. Delighted to see that the challenge opened correctly!

Anyone interested, please feel free to sign up and I will open a separate thread for each book as we go along.

[Judy]

Great work, Susan - I was excited to see the challenge open and have just signed up to take part!

[Susan]

I just lost my internet connection (!) but will set up the thread now and will use the link Everyman so kindly provided on there.

[Judy]

Glad you got your connection back, Susan, and thanks, Everyman, for the link.

[Michelle]

I have a query being new to Lord P. Looking on Amazon/Wikipedia, the order of the books seems to be unpleasantness at the belladonna club (number 4) then Lord P views the body (no 5 but short stories).

We seem to be reading them the other way round. Is there a reason for doing it that way, does it matter to the plots? I haven't read before so I want to go in the right order.

Sorry if this has been dealt with elsewhere!

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

I have picked up Clouds of Witness along with another 5 books to get me through my library's temporary closure!) so I'm good to go for Feb!

[Judy]

Michelle, I'll leave this question to Susan as she is the expert here... but I don't think it really matters when you read the short stories, because they all happen at different times and a lot don't say when they happen in particular.

That's as far as I remember, anyway. Lord Peter Views the Body and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club were both published the same year.

[Lesley]

Michelle wrote: "I have a query being new to Lord P. Looking on Amazon/Wikipedia, the order of the books seems to be unpleasantness at the belladonna club (number 4) then Lord P views the body (no 5 but short stori..."

I think the ambiguity in the order is because there were two books published in the same year. One full length novel, and one book of short stories. However, the Introduction (page viii) in "Lord Peter: the complete Lord Peter Wimsey stories", published in 1972, gives the order and summary of books published in the series.

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Peter-Comp...

ETA: I also note there isn't an actual series title or numbering of any of the books. So they are ordered chronologically and really shouldn't be given a number as they are here in GR/Amazon.

[Susan]

I used Fantastic Fiction and a couple of other websites to work out the order and I think a few others chipped in at the time (Damaskcat, who is a big Sayers fan for example). As far as I am aware, we are reading them in the right order, but I am happy to admit that I am wrong if that is the case.

[Michelle]

Ella's Gran wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I have a query being new to Lord P. Looking on Amazon/Wikipedia, the order of the books seems to be unpleasantness at the belladonna club (number 4) then Lord P views the body (no ..."

Well I think I have to read The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers! Sounds intriguing! Thanks for the link.

[Michelle]

Susan wrote: "I used Fantastic Fiction and a couple of other websites to work out the order and I think a few others chipped in at the time (Damaskcat, who is a big Sayers fan for example). As far as I am aware,..."

Hi Susan, thanks, I have no idea of the order. I wouldn't always trust Wikipedia anyway......

It sounds like it doesn't really matter then which way round those two go, if one is short stories, and I wouldn't want to mess around with the order of the group.

I've ordered the next few in paper copies from Amazon, my library seems rubbish, it only has Strong Poison and Gaudy Nights which seems a bit remiss given her fame. But for a penny plus postage on Amazon it's not too bad.

[Everyman]

Susan wrote: "I used Fantastic Fiction and a couple of other websites to work out the order and I think a few others chipped in at the time (Damaskcat, who is a big Sayers fan for example). As far as I am aware,..."

The exact order really isn't that important except for the ones involving Harriet Vane, which need to be read in order. Oh, and I guess the ones before Parker gets married should probably be read before the ones after, I say nothing more to avoid spoilers. Other than that, I'm not sure the order really matters a lot, though it will be fun to read them in order to see whether they read any differently that way.

[Jan C]

Stopyourekillingme.com gives the order.

[Susan]

Yes, I tried a few different sites to get the order of the books and several websites give them, but sometimes differently! I think the order I finally decided on was correct, but I am glad the query I had was between short stories and a novel, rather than two novels, if you know what I mean? The stories were probably published in various magazines over various dates anyway, before being collected into a book version.

[Everyman]

Susan wrote: "Yes, I tried a few different sites to get the order of the books and several websites give them, but sometimes differently! I think the order I finally decided on was correct, but I am glad the que..."

I think you did an excellent job. Appreciate all the effort you put into it.

[Susan]

Thank you Everyman - that's very kind of you. I anticipate us all having a great deal of fun coming up with next years challenge!

[Sandy]

Adding my thanks to Everyman's - this is group has interesting conversations and fun books. I am enjoying the Whimsey challenge and have found many new authors. Thanks to both moderators.

[Susan]

Thanks Sandy. I am so glad you are enjoying the group!

[HJ]

My thanks, too!

[Michelle]

Yes definitely thanks Susan and Judy (and Damaskcat who invited me). Dorothy L Sayers is a new one for me and it's great to be introduced to her and her characters in this way!

[Judy]

Thanks Everyman, Sandy, HJ and Michelle - and many thanks again to Susan, who did all the work on setting up this challenge! Looking forward to the second book. :)

[Susan]

I have started the second book and think it is better than the first. I am pleased everyone is enjoying the challenge and the group. Nice to see some people discovering Sayers for the first time too.

[Judy]

I've started the second book too and am enjoying it - a very compelling start.

Today I was looking at the Wikipedia page about Lord Peter Wimsey, and was intrigued by this passage from a piece by Sayers called 'How I Came to Invent the Character of Lord Peter Wimsey', which is quoted in Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul by Barbara Reynolds.

Sayers wrote:

Lord Peter's large income... I deliberately gave him... After all it cost me nothing and at the time I was particularly hard up and it gave me pleasure to spend his fortune for him. When I was dissatisfied with my single unfurnished room I took a luxurious flat for him in Piccadilly. When my cheap rug got a hole in it, I ordered him an Aubusson carpet. When I had no money to pay my bus fare I presented him with a Daimler double-six, upholstered in a style of sober magnificence, and when I felt dull I let him drive it. I can heartily recommend this inexpensive way of furnishing to all who are discontented with their incomes. It relieves the mind and does no harm to anybody.

I'd love to read this whole piece - if anyone has come across it anywhere, please share!

[Everyman]

Judy wrote: "I've started the second book too and am enjoying it - a very compelling start.

Today I was looking at the Wikipedia page about Lord Peter Wimsey, and was intrigued by this passage from a piece by ..."

That's wonderful! And shows clearly her great sense of humor. Love that "it cost me nothing..and it gave me pleasure to spend his fortune for him." If I ever write a novel, I'll have to do the same thing. Ah, all the wonderful things I can buy for nothing!

[Roisin]

Ha! I've just started the first one. : )

[Susan]

I have read that somewhere, Judy, but cannot recall where. If I can dig it out I will. It may have been in the book about the detective club?

[HJ]

Susan wrote: "I have read that somewhere, Judy, but cannot recall where. If I can dig it out I will. It may have been in the book about the detective club?"

I'm in the middle of reading The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards, and it records that this was why DLS made Lord Peter rich and gave him such nice things, but doesn't actually quote her.

[Susan]

Thanks, HJ, I must have remembered it from there.

[Leslie]

Judy wrote: "I've started the second book too and am enjoying it - a very compelling start.

Today I was looking at the Wikipedia page about Lord Peter Wimsey, and was intrigued by this passage from a piece by ..."

Great quote Judy! I'll have to try that method of relieving my frustration sometime :)

[Judy]

I have just been wondering about old illustrations showing Wimsey. But, instead of finding any, I came across a photo of a man who apparently was just how Sayers imagined Peter looking - this is Maurice Roy Ridley, who was a Balliol student and later chaplain.

It's unclear from this page, on the Wimsey-themed Tumblr Talking Piffle, whether he actually provided inspiration or just struck her as looking like her imagined character.

http://tinyurl.com/hdqpven

[Everyman]

But his hair is dark, while we are told, if memory serves, that Wimsey has light (Primrose??) hair.

[Susan]

True, Everyman - I think he was blonde if I also recall rightly? The man in the picture does have the 'long' face that Wimsey is described as having though.

[Judy]

I think you're both right about the fair hair, Everyman and Susan. It also struck me that he looks handsome, whereas it's said in 'Whose Body' that Wimsey isn't - but I do have a vague feeling he gets better-looking later.

[Susan]

Wimsey is always disparaging about himself, though Judy. I think he was handsome in his own way and I find myself feeling quite protective about him!

[Leslie]

Judy wrote: "I have just been wondering about old illustrations showing Wimsey. But, instead of finding any, I came across a photo of a man who apparently was just how Sayers imagined Peter looking - this is Ma..."

I always thought that Anthony Andrews would make a good Lord Peter:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...

I discovered this series by the PBS/BBC adaptation of Clouds of Witness starring Ian Carmichael so I had his image in my mind when I first read the books (I started with this one because I couldn't wait a whole week to see the next installment! And then devoured them all...)