Monday, September 17, 2012

"Unnatural Death" by Dorothy L. Sayers

I've been watching a lot of "Castle" lately. And by a lot, I mean that I watched the first three seasons in a two month period, which is by no means a record time, but still--that's a lot of episodes. I'm just eating the show up--it's a great spin on the classic detective show (which I loved to begin with) that includes a lot of humor and meaning and sexiness!

*ahem* Anyway. My point is, that with all this detective show obsessiveness I have, I felt myself craving a murder mystery. And my favorite mystery writer is Dorothy L. Sayers. I read or listen to "Gaudy Night" every October--it's one of my favorite Halloween books!

So, recently, I picked up "Unnatural Death" by Dorothy L. Sayers at a Half Price Books.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers back cover description: "The wealthy old woman was dead--a trifle sooner than expected. The intricate trail of horror and senseless murder led from a beautiful Hampshire village to a fashionable London flat and a deliberate test of amour--staged by Lord Peter Whimsey, naturally."


Considering this book was published in 1927, the story is believable in today's society--that is to say--this could happen now; it isn't dated at all! I love Peter Whimsey novels because he's this rich, arrogant, basically bored man with one somewhat morbid hobby--solving mysteries. He's ridiculously full of himself and is yet, usually right--though usually doesn't mean always. The story of Unnatural Death isn't about discovering who the murderer is, but trying to ascertain whether or not a murder had taken place and then finding means to catch the murderer making a mistake. So, unlike many crime shows going on today, the object is not to find the killer, but to gather enough evidence on the killer so as to nab him/her! And considering you know/have a pretty good idea of who the murderer is right off the bat, the story still has a lot of surprising twists and turns throughout, making it completely riveting!

I found this to be a really quick and interesting read; I enjoyed that the case was more about sitting back and waiting for the murderer to implicate him/herself versus running around to suspect after suspect. It was very much a case of working the motives and the evidence out mentally, which I enjoyed. I could see that if you are more a fan of action-packed, running-around-after-suspect stories, that you might find this lacking in that department. There isn't a lot of that, but there are some seriously riveting scenes throughout the book between Whimsey and the suspect and accomplices. I was on the edge of my seat for this book and read the majority of it in one sitting.

Overall rating: 5/5. It was a really interesting case, and though not "action-packed" as we might define it based on current crime shows, it made you sit down and think about the motives and the means and it's refreshing to see that kind of plot in a murder mystery. Also, I think the pacing is quite well-done; Sayers doesn't leave you sitting bored in this book--she keeps the discussions lively and relevant, even if nothing is particularly going on! I know if you're a fan of mystery that you'll enjoy Unnatural Death written by the masterful hand of Dorothy L. Sayers.

And really, can I say, how refreshing it is to see "big words" in books. This is a personal preference, but I enjoy it when literature displays a vocabulary. I miss literature having vocabulary. I want to be challenged and learn something, even if it means I have to look something up! It's a pet peeve of mine when someone is talking to me about a book and complains they had to look words up! You learned something? Good God, how terrible! Big words are fun. End of story.

This book, and others by Sayers, would definitely be good additions to an October reading list, if you're a seasonal reader like my best friend Shy! *hint hint!* 

Happy Reading!
AJ

Saturday, September 15, 2012

"A Feast for Crows" by GRRM

Hello readers!

Let me just take a moment to express how happy I am not to be in college anymore. With a roommate starting her final year and reading Facebook posts about friends moving back on campus, I find myself so relaxed that I'm done and graduated! Sigh, thank God for graduation!

So, on today's agenda:

Cover art courtesy of: SFReviews.net
Other GRRM reviews:
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
The HBO Series

If you're reading a review of this book, you probably don't need a summary of the basic story line, so I'll just jump right in! The fourth book focuses on the cast of characters in King's Landing (i.e. Cersei and Jaime), Brienne of Tarth, Sam Tarly, the characters in Dorne, and the occasional chapter on Alayne.

I was not looking forward to reading this book. My best friend (and most devoted reader of this blog!) told me about the POVs featured in "Feast for Crows" and I found myself really disappointed. None of these people are characters I'm particularly interested in. . .which is why I've put it off reading it for so long.

Upsides: It was nice to get some more back story and development for Brienne and I loved seeing Jaime mature in this novel and make sense as a human being, as I've always found Jaime to be rather...insane, especially after the first book. I also enjoyed Alayne's chapters set at the Eeyrie with Robin Aryn and seeing more of Littlefinger's hand--no pun intended. There was finally some justice for certain members of the Lannister family and tragedy for other characters, but that's all I'm giving out!

Downsides: The beginning was so slow. GRRM starts us out with a chapter featuring characters we don't know--what goes on doesn't make a whole lot of sense and we don't meet any of those characters again until the very end of the book. The second chapter features characters from Dorne, who have Princess Marcella as a ward, and again it's hard to piece out what's going on. And then he tortures us with plot about the Iron Islands. YAWN. I found that particularly frustrating because there was a lot of set up and it seemed like he was going to develop some new and interesting characters (i.e. Asha and her uncle Victarian) and then Asha all but disappears and Victarian just--well, no spoilers. Overall, I found this book frustrating. It takes Sam Tarly the entire book to take a boat ride, Cersei makes some foolish decisions and has a lot of penis envy, Jaime spends time wondering what Cersei did when he was away, and Brienne wanders the country looking for Sansa.

Rating: 3/5 Stars. There was some good character development, but the pacing was slow. And while there was a lot of important information in the book that we'll need to know for the fifth, I just didn't really enjoy this.

Some updates! Soon, I'll have an update on the Wishbone Project for you--I recently read 'the Purloined Letter' by Edgar Allen Poe that "Wishbone" covered. So if you're reading with me, then catch up--it's a short story, less than twenty pages and I'm sure you can find it online! I'll post the episode links in a post later this week! I was going to read "the Hound of the Baskervilles," but I recently had some free time and took a Dorothy L. Sayers mystery with me, so I'm working on that right now. After that, I'll read "Hound of the Baskervilles" and "Dances with Dragons" (thanks to Shy for lending her lovely hardback to me!).

Happy reading!
AJ