Therese Z at the Exultet blog stumbled across an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show that she hadn't seen before. Now she wishes she could find a Lord Peter Wimsey novel she hasn't read.
All of which is prelude to her question: What treasure do you wish you could stumble across?
When you get through answering that for her, pop back here and leave a recommendation in the comments about good books for people who have already read all the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy Sayers.
Albert Campion books by Margery Allingham come to mind. What else?
Gem Books from 100 Years Past: 1924
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It was indeed a different era. What was going on in 1924 when these books
were being published and read? The 1924 Paris Olympics, Leopold and Loeb
murders,...
1 day ago
7 comments:
(Thanks for the H/T!)
Angela Thirkell, absolutely. Same comedy of manners, about the same time period, same assuming that you know literary and classical references (although not hear as intense).
She's not completely easy to find, although her books went back into print after some dogged efforts by an Angela Thirkell Society. But if your local library has any age to it, they should have a few on the shelf. I haven't read them all yet, and I am pawing the ground, getting to ready to buy all 47 of them if I have to, just to have them before they disappear from my lousy local library completely.
G.K.Chesterton's Father Brown series, although very dense in its writing, and not the most intricate of mysteries, is a lot of fun to read, intellectually speaking.
Therese Z - I happen to be an Angela Thirkell fan myself, some time periods more than others. What's somewhat spooky is that yesterday I came across one of her books for the first time in a looonnng time - and it's one I haven't read yet, so I snuck it out of inventory for the time being. (Luckily I'm the boss. I can do this. But here I am feeling guilty about Angela Thirkell and you bring her up. Hmmm...)
(I sell used books for a living. I run across just all sorts of things in back stock and trade-ins. Some books definitely take longer than others to find their way to the store shelves...).
If you like Thirkell, you might check out the Lucia series by E.F. Benson. They tend to start out slow, but Benson's just setting things up properly :) They're less realistic than Thirkell - or perhaps I should say more exaggerated and/or goofy - but for fans of comedies of manners they can be a treat.
I love the thought (just as I love DVD). I'm up there with an undiscovered Dorothy Sayers, to which I'd add Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, Barbara Tuchman, and a new Clark Gable movie.
I worked in my home town public library while in college, and a lot of books got checked back in from people I admired, and then went home with me for a little while before they got back on the shelf, so I appreciate the rich opportunity you have as a used book seller.
I guess I should admit that a Louisa May Alcott I haven't read before would be seized on with great glee, even if I didn't want to admit it to my higher-literary friends...
Thinking more, I'd add a new Josephine Tey book to my wish pile.
Sherry - I'd forgotten (blush) about the Jill Paton Walsh books. I've sold some, but never read any yet. Thanks for the reminder. And, yes, more James Herriot would be very nice!
I can't let a Rex Stout book of any variety hit the shelves before I read it - but I most like the ones with Archie Goodwin. I know that Nero Wolfe is supposed to be the main character in the Wolfe/Archie adventures, but, well, what can I say?
(I'm also nearly an addict of Maigret books by Georges Simenon, although I don't know why. As often than not I'm muttering under my breath in frustration by the time I get to the end of the book. But I like them anyway. Go figure.)
Ellis Peters! James Herriott! You know, I thought I was the only person that took most of the books we've mentioned here out of the library or hunted them down at bookshops.
I simply don't bother recommending them to others, because they've never heard of them, or Rumer Godden, or Edna Ferber (yay for Mrs. MacChesney!), or Anthony Gilbert, or whichever Fraser it is who wrote "Cockpit of Roses" and "Death in a Pheasant's Eye" (James, I just googled him).
This is quite remarkable.
Therese Z - Anthony Gilbert? James Fraser? I'm not familiar with their books, right off the top of my head. Yay! Unfamiliar authors to track down!
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