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The final Lord Peter book, the complete collection in short stories, and a spontaneous reread because I just couldn’t help it, in that order.
Sigh! Lucky for me, I’m not actually quite through all the Peter – I just picked up the handful of books I couldn’t find before at a used bookstore, and I’ll go back and fill in the gaps in the series. But it will be strange to return to the younger Peter, Peter before Harriet. I’ve heard some vague mutterings about Busman’s Honeymoon, and I flatly don’t understand that. I all but wriggled with glee through Peter and Harriet’s wedding, their hasty flight to seclusion, the discoveries of married life. One of which turns out to be a corpse in the basement, naturally. Unashamedly and gorgeously romantic, sly, a little sad around the edges.
Then the short stories, polished off with a nebulously obnoxious critical essay. I have to admit I like Peter much better in novels than short stories. Novels get the smug out, some, and the self-righteousness.
And then back to Gaudy Night. Different from the first time, as you might think. Last time I was breathless and giddy by the end. This time, knowing the way, I could watch the turns a bit more. I think this is the sort of book I will continue to read, every few years, and each time I do it will illuminate some strand of my life. Last time it was Harriet’s lesson to Peter, that demanding someone love you is the best way to get them to recoil (I’d very recently failed to get that one across to someone). This time it’s Harriet and Peter’s shared devotion to the sort of integrity that admits no personal pain. Integrity in work, I mean, in doing the thing you set out to do (take a wild guess what that's about). I wonder what it’ll be in another few years?
Okay, now the real question: what poor book has to follow Peter?
Sigh! Lucky for me, I’m not actually quite through all the Peter – I just picked up the handful of books I couldn’t find before at a used bookstore, and I’ll go back and fill in the gaps in the series. But it will be strange to return to the younger Peter, Peter before Harriet. I’ve heard some vague mutterings about Busman’s Honeymoon, and I flatly don’t understand that. I all but wriggled with glee through Peter and Harriet’s wedding, their hasty flight to seclusion, the discoveries of married life. One of which turns out to be a corpse in the basement, naturally. Unashamedly and gorgeously romantic, sly, a little sad around the edges.
Then the short stories, polished off with a nebulously obnoxious critical essay. I have to admit I like Peter much better in novels than short stories. Novels get the smug out, some, and the self-righteousness.
And then back to Gaudy Night. Different from the first time, as you might think. Last time I was breathless and giddy by the end. This time, knowing the way, I could watch the turns a bit more. I think this is the sort of book I will continue to read, every few years, and each time I do it will illuminate some strand of my life. Last time it was Harriet’s lesson to Peter, that demanding someone love you is the best way to get them to recoil (I’d very recently failed to get that one across to someone). This time it’s Harriet and Peter’s shared devotion to the sort of integrity that admits no personal pain. Integrity in work, I mean, in doing the thing you set out to do (take a wild guess what that's about). I wonder what it’ll be in another few years?
Okay, now the real question: what poor book has to follow Peter?