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An · Ode · to · Lord · Peter · Wimsey
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"If One Lives in Galloway, One Either Fishes or Paints": An Essay on Five Red Herrings Part 2 Author's Note The essay contains some mild spoilers; but in any case a knowledge of the book is probably essential. * * * * We now enter a more speculative realm as regards the remaining artists. (I've added Gilda Farren to the original list, because she plays a big part in the story of her husband Hugh; and qualifies as an artistic craftsperson in her own right). Link to my LJ:
http://grondfic.livejournal.com/81114.html |
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"If One Lives in Galloway, One Either Fishes or Paints": An Essay on Five Red Herrings Part 1 As I've been doing a lot of work on FRH, I concluded it all with an essay. I'm posting the link to my LJ, rather than putting it direct on here, because it's "out of order" if you're taking the works chronologically; and also not everyone will have read it, recently or at all. For those who are interested, Part 1 is here:
http://grondfic.livejournal.com/80509.html Part 2 will follow shortly. |
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I just read a book called The Lord Peter Wimsey Cookbook by Elizabeth Bond Ryan and William J. Eakins. It really tickled me. It's out of print and I got it as a Christmas present for a friend, but decided to check it out before I gave it away. It is coy and subtle and tongue-in-cheek, thoroughly researched, and geared towards an Anglophilic and Sayers-loving American audience. AND it includes a sweet omelet recipe, which I have wanted to try for FOREVER ("Prepare the [dish] according to our directions and we do not think anyone will die as a result").
Actually, it's this sort of tone that makes the book so charming: "To re-create the above Rescue Breakfast, place bowls of burned porridge on the table. Then as your guests savor the gloomy prospect before them, whisk the porridge away and with a flourish bring on the hot kidneys and bacon, toast, marmalade, and coffee." What a novel idea for entertaining guests!
I also like the advice, "Allow one bloater per person. Not everyone at the breakfast table will want one." My English husband, however, disagrees with the theory that the creation of coffee "in bottles" "directly caused tea consumption to increase greatly"--he explains that everyone knows it as "camp coffee" and wouldn't use it on a real breakfast table!
I entertained last weekend using the cress and the cucumber sandwich recipes. Both were slightly unusual and rather elegant.
The wine suggestions are hilarious and wonderful. "The current vintage equivalent of Montrachet '08 drunk in 1923 would be Montrachet 1966. This may be difficult to obtain. We have included some California substitutes in the Appendix." It is an EXCELLENT list.
"Wassail! Wassail! Peter Wimsey! Wes hál! Be whole!" |
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Just wanted to say - Happy 73rd Anniversary Peter and Harriet!!
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So who’s read The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club? Unbelievably, this was my first time. I found it a bit disjointed in places—she’s not always sure whether she’s trying to be comic, or making social commentary, or enjoying the characters, or creating a mystery that the reader can solve. And some of it is less than believable, like </div> |
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HULLO HULLO HULLO!!! After a surfeit of Sayers's short stories (I accidentally read Hangman's Holiday all out of order, as well) I am having a go at jump-starting this community again. What has it been, two years since anybody posted anything? ( Spoiler alert (well, only very little spoilers) )I may have more to say if people start waking up again. |
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In celebration of a completely new layout at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) ogeecons and as a thank you to everyone who has been waiting very very patiently, I give you - Gaudy Night Part I! This is the third of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane books and was butchered horribly when they translated it to the screen. So, I have tried to augment the images with quotes from the book as well as the movie. This the the first of probably three posts for this particular movie, so if there's something you're looking for and not seeing please request it. The 1987 BBC production starred Edward Peterbridge as Lord Peter and Harriet Walter as Harriet Vane. [45] Gaudy Night Icons
[15] Gaudy Night Quote Icons Teaser:
   Follow cut over to ogeecons for the rest! ( I shall with your permission continue to propose to you at decently regulated intervals... ) |
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I am very excited to announce a new icontest. mystery_stills was founded by those and for those who love mysteries and those who solve them. We will be having challenges focusing on topics ranging from vintage crime novels (Such as the Big Sleep), famous historical cases (Jack the Ripper), fictional detectives (Sherlock Holmes), films (Chinatown, the Illusionist, etc) and crime shows (such as CSI and Criminal Minds) and BBC mystery series like Poirot, Lord Peter, Foyle's War and Cadfael. We will have the community up and running very shortly, with the first two icon challenges being posted this Friday, the 15th of February. We look forward to seeing you over there! |
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Hello all! I know this is a bit off topic, but this is a conversation that started over on talboys earlier this evening, but I was thinking maybe some people over here might have some worthy input as well!! ----------- hello all! as this is a community of like-minded peter/harriet worshipers i was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping me with a little project i had in mind. for a long time now i've been wanting to come up with a peter/harriet playlist. problem is of course that i'm absolute crap at that sort of thing. i was thinking maybe two playlists - one of modern-ish music and one of period music. anyone out there interested in, er, playing along? ------------
* I just realized that I REALLY ought to have put this under an lj cut. I hope that I haven't spoiled anything for you... ( SPOILER ALERT ) It's so nice to know there are a bunch of you who love Wimsey as much as I do btw. Look forward to hearing your views! |
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BBC7 is playing the audio for Unnatural Death at the moment. At the moment you can listen to episodes 3-7 out of 7, but tomorrow the third episode will no longer be available, as they only post episodes for a week. Happy Holidays! |
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Hello all! Newbie here! I've been reading through the Lord Peter Wimsey series for the first time these past few months. I've just finished The Nine Tailors, so I'm almost through already, but I thought it would be fun to post some thoughts anyway. :) I'd heard it was supposed to be one of the best, but for some reason I couldn't get into it until the end. Usually I gobble Wimsey novels up in a few days, but this one sat for weeks on my nightstand. The country setting might have had something to do with it, a mystery set in a small English village is too familiar if you've been watching a lot of Miss Marple! So maybe it's just me, but still, stock characters like the village idiot who conveniently sees something get old after a while. But the main thing that bothered me was that it was set up so that the reader would figure out the mystery before the characters did. ( Spoilers under cut! ) Altogether it was one of my least favorites, but I tend to dislike the ones I can figure out myself. I like to be surprised at the end of a mystery, I never really try to solve them. The mystery itself isn't even the point of reading mysteries to me, it's much more about the characters and the atmosphere. But in that the Wimsey books always deliver, so even the least of them is always worth the read. :)
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I'm just coming off hiatus on my icon journal. OK, so I was watching mysteries a lot in between writing papers. All of these and tons more can be found over at ogeecons! [18] Foyle's War
[31] Strong Poison (1987), [3] Love bars, [4] Wallpapers
[20] The Big Sleep (1946)
[3] Key Largo (1948)
[4] Bogart & Bacall Love Bars
[32] icons, [4] love bars and [2] wallpapers from Vincent Minnelli's The Clock (1945) Teasers:
 
 
All here @ <ogeecons |
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Since the first installment was so wildly popular, I have for you all Part II of my Fabulous Quotes series!! Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss, Einstein, Mark Twain, G.K. Chesterton, Oscar Wilde, John le Carre, Dorothy L Sayers, fortune cookies + more! [Key to who said what is located at the bottom of this post.] Follow the fake cut to ogeecons Teaser:    ( A facility for apt quotation covers the absence of original thought II... ) |
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I'm not sure if this is allowed (mods can feel free to delete it if it's not) But I absolutely adore Peter and Harriet and last night when I should have been writing my take-home exam I made these. So here are 2 wallpapers (800x600 because photobucket stinks) of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Screencaps from Have His Carcase (1987) by me, poem from Gaudy Night, the book. Click on the teaser thumb to be taken to my icon journal and the larger sizes. Enjoy!! Please comment on my icon journal if taking!!  This has been crossposted a lot, so I appologize in advance if you can't seem to escape it. |
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Hi Everyone! Have you had your Wimsey fix lately? I just wanted to let you know, in case you were waiting for me, that I am in the Infinite Abyss of More Work to Do. It's going to be awhile (like maybe Thanksgiving) before I can read a book for fun again, any book. In the mean time, feel free to post your own reviews. I know that we had an order to begin with, but I think we should throw that out the window. When you feel like posting a book review, do so. For those of you that read my regular lj, this post won't come as a surprise, because Random is my game. Eventually, when I do have time to read for fun, I fully intend to post whenever and whatever I want to. Please do the same or in other words...Follow your Wimsey! And while I toil in the depths of the Infinite Abyss of More Work to Do, I shall enjoy your posts as falling sunbeams between the walls of the dark crevice above reaching down towards me! |
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What excellent timing! Just as we're starting to discuss Unnatural Death, it shows up on BBC7. They finished up the broadcast of Clouds of Witness yesterday, and today is the first installment of UD. You can listen to BBC7 online here, and programs are available for 6 days after they air. |
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Unnatural Death Is anybody still out there? This used to be my favorite of the Harriet-less novels. I think it is a classically constructed mystery, lacking the 2nd novel flaws of Clouds of Witness, and I also have maintained for many years that it could be used as a tool for ethnographers in How to Conduct Fieldwork. I just love Miss Climpson's inventive and convincing infiltration of every community she sets out to explore. And yet, I had the hardest time keeping this book in my head as I was reading it. I think this was a "re-reading" fault. I remembered the murder weapon very clearly, as being inventive and precise and seriously scary, and I kept so looking forward to their discovery of what it was that I just lost all track of the plot. When I got to the end of the book I realized that I had missed a lot of very important stuff ( spoiler alert! ) Also, it took me a long time to read… I kept putting it down and forgetting where I was when I picked it up again. Just… distracted. When I got to the end I had to do a brief re-read to pull it all together, and I saw how brilliantly and carefully constructed it is… Why was this all so lost on me the first (second) time around? ( more spoilers… ) My favorite paragraph (from p. 74 in my Perennial Library edition of 1987): "Lord Peter got up and paced the room. The light from the solitary reading-lamp threw his lean shadow, diffused and monstrously elongated, up to the ceiling. He walked over to a book-shelf, and the shadow shrank, blackened, settled down. He stretched his hand, and the hand's shadow flew with it, hovering over the gilded titles of the books and blotting them out one by one." I love the implied power of him here, almost supernatural. Is he aware of it or not? I think not--he is aware he has a great deal of power, but not HOW MUCH. Just as he didn't realize the initial newspaper advertisement would have such instant and disastrous consequences.
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Hell of a dramatic ending, too! |
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