How many things have you ever said you would do when you had enough time?
“I’m going to organize and label all the family photos.”
“I’m going to memorize all of the Periodic Table of Elements.”
“I’m going to finally finish reading Beowulf…The Canterbury Tales…The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.”
But now that we have nothing but time, how’s that going? Or, as a friend of mine put it the other day, “How’s your little Shakespeare project coming along?”
“Um,” I replied. “I did get started, but I got stuck.”
“Stuck?”
“Well, there was this line in the middle of the first play I read, The Tempest: ‘Blow, winds and crack your cheeks…’. It reminded me of John Mortimer’s stories about ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’ which, I realized, are really a lot more fun to read. So I switched over to them, instead.”
It turns out that I probably learned more Shakespeare from Rumpole than I ever did from my high school English classes. He quotes a lot of it, in the course of defending London’s accused at The Old Bailey, London’s criminal court. It was also Rumpole who formulated the phrase “She Who Must Be Obeyed” for Hilda, his wife, with whom he lives in more or less perpetual truce.
Rumpole is obese; he is probably an alcoholic; and he is the sort of elderly gent who is likely to have crumbs or cigar ash somewhere on his rumpled waistcoat. But he lives to do ferocious battle on behalf of London’s underdogs…and watching him work, in these stories, is always a treat.
“But why mystery stories, Judy? Why not, at least, some higher literature?”
If you’re looking for literature, you can’t do better than Dorothy Sayers, who wrote about the exploits of Lord Peter Wimsey and the mystery novelist he falls for, Harriet Vane. Sayers’ language, and scenes of Britain between World Wars, could not be topped until she left the field altogether, choosing to write Christian theological texts, instead.
I’m not sure why I gravitate to detective stories. Perhaps it’s because at least they have solutions — unlike everything else we are dealing with these days.
I especially like the kind that are known somewhat disparagingly as “cozies.” There is nothing wrong with feeling cozy!
Indeed, it’s like reunion week when I read an Agatha Christie mystery. Luckily, there are so many to choose from! (And for the record, I have succumbed to the convenience of getting a book on my computer or phone, when I don’t have it already on my bookshelf.) I especially enjoy the tales where Christie’s amateur sleuth, Miss Marple, puts all the professionals to shame. How does she do it? Her grown nephew thinks it’s because “Aunt Jane’s mind is like a sink” — meaning, she expects the worst of people. She is rarely disappointed.
Margery Allingham is another favorite of mine. Her main character, Albert Campion, is also rumored to have some royal connection, and might also be some kind of spy — but mostly he solves murders in 1930’s England.
One of my favorite Allingham novels is “Traitor’s Purse,” which is set in 1939 with the threat of Nazi invasion looming large over the story. It comforted me to read, and reread, this story in the days after 9/11.
Josephine Tey’s “The Daughter of Time,” remains a brilliant re-examination of England’s much-maligned King Richard III. Her other works are just as good; I like them for the depth of character and interesting scenes as much as for the clever plots.
These have just the right ratio of mayhem-to-comfort for me. I keep a stack of them on my bedside table because “bedtime reading” is the highest grade I give out.
I once got a valuable tip from someone I met at a writers’ conference. “The best book for bedtime reading,” she told me, “is one you have read already. That way, suspense about the ending won’t be keeping you up.”
“But that’s not all,” she said. “It also must be sufficiently engaging, with great characters or setting — or else so well written — that you enjoy re-reading it for its own sake.”
In other words, you’re in it more for the journey than the destination.
That way, wherever you are when you fall asleep holding the book, it’s all good. It’s like falling asleep in the company of trusted friends.
Whatever fits that bill for you: Sweet dreams!
