PK the Bookeemonster

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Well, The Alphabet of Historical Crime Fiction is done -- no authors from me for X, Y, and Z. Thanks for checking them out these past few weeks. I love crime fiction and while I like police procedurals, private eyes, and psychologicals, my ultimate favorite subgenre is historical crime fiction and if I may have sparked some interest in any of these, I hope you enjoy them as much as me. I love learning about history (and yes this is fiction but authors are for the most part very careful about being accurate and what is possible given the known information of the era) and I like how crime solvers in what ever form they take have to rely on nonscientific means to resolve the problems. For a complete list of historical crime fiction authors and their works, please check out www.crimethrutime.com.

“When the wind is blowing and the sleet or rain is driving against the dark windows, I love to sit by the fire, thinking of what I have read in books of voyage and travel.” – Charles Dickens

“Let your bookcases and your shelves be your gardens and your pleasure-grounds. Pluck the fruit that grows therein, gather the roses, the spices, and the myrrh.” ~Judah Ibn Tibbon

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.” William Styron

“A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way” Caroline Gordon

For those interested in the Dorothy Dunnett book I'm also reading, THE GAME OF KINGS, here is a description:

The setting is 1547, in Edinborough, Scotland. Francis Crawford of Lymond returns to the country despite the charge of treason hanging over his head. Set on redeeming his reputation, He leads a company of outlaws against England as he fights for the country he loves so dearly. Dangerous, quick-witted, and utterly irresistible, Lymond is pure pleasure to watch as he traverses 16th-century Scotland in search of freedom.

It was first published in 1961 and my edition has 512 pages. It has taken me a while to get into it, having first starting it many times previously, and most recently in January. I am in awe of Dunnett's brain or education -- I don't know what the heck she is saying sometimes -- words I'm not familiar with, throwing in Latin or French we're apparently supposed to understand because there is no explanation or each section's use of chess moves like we should be familiar with them, I'm at a loss which I have to tell you doesn't happen often. But then I read for a few pages and tune out everything else and I can begin to get lost in the story so I understand the power of these books -- and there is a cult of devotion surrounding them. The main protagonist, Lymond, is a man who is smarter than I am and just riffs off of his thoughts which is amazing in a fictional character. I am afraid with all the information we have at our literal fingertips, these later generations did got the education earlier generations did. Does memorizing poetry make you smarter? Maybe. Does the requirement of knowing Latin intimately make you a better adult? I don't know but I feel underprepared somehow in comparison. This book, this series, I don't think would be published today because it is not "dumbed down" enough for the perceived general public.

It is not dark and rainy like I was promised. Pout. It is very windy and rather chilly. Oh boy, walking Tug will be fun, not.

I've spent some time today ordering a handful of little prints for my cubicle at work -- some wonderful books ones (of course) for very little cost (had to be). The rest of the morning will be spent dabbling in book blogs and updating my little black book of reads. This week is the doozy for me: five books I'm interested in being released: