If You Love Agatha Christie, Meet Dorothy Sayers

I stayed away from Dorothy Sayers for years. I tried one of the Peter Wimsey books several years back, but found it too intellectual for my tastes. (Now that's a fancy way of saying her books made me feel stupid.) And the dialect! I have a pet peeve about reading dialect. So I never picked it up again.

Then I read Mind of the Maker. I loved how she connected creativity to faith in God. That warmed my feelings toward her a bit. I knew she was friends with C.S. Lewis, too, so I swore I’d try her again at some point.

Then my son was reading Gaudy Night for English last year, and I usually read the books my sons are reading if I can. I read it last summer while my younger son was taking swimming lessons. I’ll never forget a stranger approaching me and saying, “That is my favorite book. You’re going to love it.”

And I did.

Since then I’ve been hooked on this detective who is like Wooster (of the Jeeves and Wooster series) with a brain. I love how he knows a little bit about everything and isn’t afraid to allude to the classics or theology. Your brain can’t go to sleep while you’re reading Sayers, but it’s well worth the exercise.

Here are my favorites:

Have His Carcase

All the books with Wimsey and his love interest, mystery writer friend Harriet Vane are good, but this one is my favorite, maybe because it's a puzzle mystery with Russian undertones. Harriet finds a body on the beach, and she and Wimsey solve the case together, interviewing a cast of well-developed secondary characters. The best thing about this couple is their conversations. They have deep, meaningful discussions and aren’t afraid to argue about real things.

Murder Must Advertise

This novel is probably the most humorous of Wimsey’s novels. He goes undercover at an ad agency, while at the same time, pretending to be a harlequin to infiltrate a dope ring. The mystery itself is interesting, but what Sayers has to say about advertising, its psychology, and its effect on culture is fascinating as well.

The Nine Tailors

One thing I love about Sayers work is that you always learn something—whether it’s about advertising, gentlemen's clubs, the moors, or Scottish art colonies. In this novel, which centers on a rural parish, you learn about bell ringing. Nine tailors refers to the nine bells that are rung when a man dies. I loved how the back story enriched the main story and all the different Biblical allusions like the Flood, cherubim, which tie into the mystery. Very rich.

TV Adaptions:

Most of her novels have been made into BBC/Masterpiece productions. The Harriet Vane/Wimsey books (Strong Poison/Have His Carcase/Gaudy Night) from 1987 feature Harriet Walters (Mrs. Dashwood from the 1995 Sense and Sensibility) and Edward Petherbridge. *This is my favorite adaption.

The productions of the Wimsey only by the BBC (1972-1975) featuring Ian Carmichael are wonderful as well.

What have you been reading or watching lately? What are your favorite mysteries?

If You Loved Little House…Try the Birchbark House

Now this is a book I picked up for one reason: my son was studying the Native Americans this year in our homeschool. I had never read this book, but I thought it would be a good way to get a deeper feel for the life of Obijwe. As I was reading, it reminded me of the Little House books: a character who’s always getting in trouble, a warm family life, and stories told by parents or relatives interspersed throughout the narrative. I read it aloud to both my kids, and this will be one we won’t long forget.

You have to smile as a parent when you hear your son saying “Gaygo” (stop it in the Ojibwa language) after reading this book.

The synopsis (from Amazon):

Nineteenth-century American pioneer life was introduced to thousands of young readers by Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved Little House books. With The Birchbark House, award-winning author Louise Erdrich's first novel for young readers, this same slice of history is seen through the eyes of the spirited, 7-year-old Ojibwa girl Omakayas, or Little Frog, so named because her first step was a hop. The sole survivor of a smallpox epidemic on Spirit Island, Omakayas, then only a baby girl, was rescued by a fearless woman named Tallow and welcomed into an Ojibwa family on Lake Superior's Madeline Island, the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. We follow Omakayas and her adopted family through a cycle of four seasons in 1847, including the winter, when a historically documented outbreak of smallpox overtook the island.
 What to love about The Birchbark House:

1.   An imperfect character. I think this what we all love about Laura: she gets in trouble; she gets jealous; she gets in a bad mood. So does Omakayas. And that is why she is so easy to relate to. All of us have felt that way, either now or as a child. I think that’s why my boys also liked her.

2.  A strong family and community. Although Omakayas gets jealous of her older sister and annoyed by her younger brother, you see the deep love the family has for each other and the strong ties of the community.

3.  Detailed depiction of everyday life. Another reason we read the Little House books is to learn about the past: churning butter, butchering pigs, building a log cabin from scratch. Birchbark House has these same details about Obijwe life: tanning hide, scaring crows away from corn, healing the sick.

4. Folklore and family stories woven in throughout. Like in the Little House books where one of Pa’s stories becomes a story in itself, Omakayas’s grandmother and others often tell stories, most of them semi-magical, about things that happened. My kids liked debating whether they were true or not. They added a lot of richness.

5.  A realistic portrayal of Obijiwe life. What I enjoyed about this book is that it didn’t make the Obijwe into perfect people. It showed the hardships of things like small pox (brought by the white man) and the prejudices on both sides. In this way, even though it’s from the Native American point of view, I thought it depicted a more well-rounded view of Native-white relationships than you see in the Little House books.

The MG Meter (my sons' take): Good, but a little sad.

What do you think makes a character memorable?



To check out more Marvelous Middle Grade suggestions, check out Shannon Messenger's blog. 

MMGM: If You Loved Anne of Green Gables… Meet Pat Of Silver Bush

 

Are you an Anne fan? From the moment I discovered her in my teens, that little red headed character has seemed more like a best friend than a character in a book. Like Anne, I write and often misuse big words. And my oldest friend (we’ve been friends since we were six) call each other bosom friends.

Although I’ve always loved Anne, I haven’t ventured to read L.M. Montgomery’s other work until recently. A few years ago, I read The Blue Castle, and while it isn’t as sparklingly perfect as Anne, it was a delightful read with all of the stock Montgomery characters: well-meaning, but strict (without imagination) relatives and a sweet love story.

More recently, I heard of Pat of Silver Bush on Faith E. Hough’s blog. It was the first I’d heard of this book, and I had to check it out. What a pleasant surprise. Pat is so different from Anne—or from Emily, Montgomery’s other well-known protagonist, but interesting in her own way.

Synopsis (from Amazon):

There's no place like home

Do fairies really come for the dish of milk we leave them? Is Mrs. McClenahan really a witch? How is it possible to find a new baby in a bed of parsley? These are all questions Pat Gardiner wants to know. And it seems her Irish housekeeper, the incomparable Judy Plum, always has an answer...
For Pat, there is no place more magical on earth than her home of Silver Bush, with its majestic birch trees and enchanting gardens. If it were up to her, nothing there would ever change. But of course if nothing changed, she'd never get a new baby sister, see her Aunt Hazel's wedding, or meet the only boy who truly understands her. Yes, there is change coming for Pat―some of it joyous and some of it heartbreaking. But no matter what, her favorite house in the world will always be waiting for her...

What to love about Pat:

1. A homebody child character: This is one of the things I most enjoyed about the series. Pat, unlike practically any other character in children’s literature, just wants to stay home. She never wants anything to change, sometimes to a rather extreme degree. Though I was adventurous as a teen and young adult, I was much more like Pat as a child. I think a lot of kids would relate to her as well.

2. An irascible, storytelling adult character: Most of the story centers on Pat’s relationship with Judy, the housekeeper. In fact, every other adult, including her parents, are mists in the background. I loved how Judy took center stage. Her exaggerated stories and her fervent love for her pet, Pat, really shines.

3. Childhood friendships: Like Anne, Pat has a bosom girlfriend, and a boy, Jingle, for a friend. I loved how memorable events brought these people into Pat’s life and the lovely job Montgomery always does with friendships. Both Bets and Jingle have more heartache than Gilbert or Diana, but I loved them all the more for being real.

4. An interesting time period: It took me a long time (till the end of the book) to place the time period, because it wasn’t clearly stated till then.  I loved reading about the 20s in a place where most of the people still had their feet firmly in the Victorian era and were debating whether bobs and pajamas were immoral.  :)


5. Montgomery is a master at In media res. One of the things I liked about this book is how right from page one, you are thrown into this wonderful family with little explanation. It gave the book an eavesdropping feel and helped me bond with the characters right away. Although this book was published in 1933, this made it feel modern.

Caveat: I had a couple bones to pick about this series:

1. There is heavy use of dialect by Judy. While it did make it clear that she was Irish, it also made for hard reading at time. This doesn’t appeal to the modern ear.

2. I didn’t enjoy book 2 as much as book 1. In the second book, Pat’s desire to keep her home at all costs, even as a young adult, got to be annoying (and unbelievable) at times. Although I’m glad I preserved through book 2 to the wonderful ending of the series.

I think this book would appeal to fans of Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon. Readers who love character-driven books centered on family, like The Penderwicks, would enjoy this as well.

Have you came across any undiscovered gems by favorite authors? Would you relate to a character who was adverse to change?

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To check out more Marvelous Middle Grade suggestions, check out Shannon Messenger's blog.