current reading.

A Letter of Mary

by Laurie R. King

this is the...latest? well, fairly recent installment in her series that began with The Beekeeper's Apprentice. i didn't particularily enjoy that book, and i'm not really enjoying this one, but i am chez mes parents, and i need something to read, as all my books are packed away.

the books follow an ageing sherlock holmes and his much younger non-conan-doyle-canon wife. the author is self-conciously attempting to write about britain in the 1920s and 30s. the books are peppered with little "look at me, aren't i clever" comments about "the war" and "the earthquake in san francisco" and so on, until i want to scream. it just distracts from the story. and her character, Mary Russel Holmes, is anachronistically feminist, spending most of her time making snide comments about the ignorance and gullibility of men. which is fairly sad, because on its own, it's a fairly good mystery.

if you want to get a real feel of early 20th century england, or an authentic version of educated feminism, go get Dorothy L. Sayers. she actually was writing in the 20s and 30s, and was in one of the first groups of women to be admitted to Oxford University. instead of having to self-conciously and insecurely maintain her feminism, she managed it by pure dint of scholarship. reading Gaudy Night is like a breath of fresh air compared to ms. king's books (her mysteries are better too. IM(NS:)HO)

(side note: i believe the second book actually brings ms russel holmes in contact with dorothy sayers' detective, lord peter wimsey. it's cute, but to my ear, she gets both holmes (sherlock) and wimsey wrong).

(further side note: how do i justify dorothy sayers as a feminist when she has a male detective? well, there's also harriet vane, who is the focus of perhaps 1/3 of the wimsey books. although she doesn't come in until the 5th one, Strong Poison. i still recommend them most heartily).