January talking meme

[scripsi]

bearshorty asked; the book that influenced/changed your life.

Easy! Dorothy L. Sayer’s Gaudy Night. i read this book when I was around fourteen and it was the first Sayers I ever wrote. Now all Sayers fans will scream and say that this is the very book you really shouldn’t read first because backstory! Spoilers! Well, that is what I did. And I can tell you I didn’t got about half of it. All those ints of Harriet’s previous history. What dead lover? For all that matters, Lord Peter’s previous history. And I was quite young and a lot of the various discussions about women’s right place frankly went over my head.

There were also some odd things were the plot didn’t go together, but I realised when I read it in English that for reasons unknown, the Swedish translations omits chunks of the book, without ever stating that things are missing. Most are funny, but not exactly plot driving bits, but there is also a whole conversation cut which do have importance as Harriet muses on it later.

But I loved it and even if I didn’t understood everything I also knew I would read this book again. and I fell in love with Harriet. If there is one single character that has had an actual impact on my life, it is her. I wanted to be her; independent and honest and always trying to see both sides of an argument. and I decided to try. Of course, i also made me read all Sayer’s books, which is a very good thing too.

Still slots open, if anyone has a question:

Jan 06: verdande_mi Favourite Swedish children's book?
Jan 07:
Jan 08:
Jan 09:
Jan 10: icecoldrain Who is the most inspirational person in your life?
Jan 11:
Jan 12:
Jan 13: alec_towser Star Trek or Star Wars

Jan 14:
Jan 15: verdande_mi Favourite two characters from a book?
Jan 16:
Jan 17: alec_towser What's your favourite type of music?
Jan 18:
Jan 19:
Jan 20:
Jan 21:
Jan 22:
Jan 23: bearshorty How did you and your husband meet?
Jan 24:
Jan 25:
Jan 26:
Jan 27:
Jan 28:
Jan 29:
Jan 30:
Jan 31: icecoldrain Name one movie you absolutely hate and why you dislike it so much.

Comments

[dunderklumpen.livejournal.com]

Let's add ato the movie you hate a movie you love:

Jan 30: Name one movie you absolutely love and why you like it so much.

Jan 16: Which generation was yours and what did you love the most? = child of the 70s with a undying love for diso, child of the 80's with a strong link to revolutionary punk or child of the 90's with Europop on your discman through and through;)

Jan 20: Name one accomplishment you're really proud of. What was it and why?

**

I only listened to Lord Peter as audiobook. So it's interesting that you love the author/character so much. I was more a predictable Miss Marple girl:)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the question!

I love Christie and Miss Marple too, but Sayers more. :D

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Love your answers here!! May have to check this book out for sure...

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

It's great! It's part of a series of books about Lord Peter Wimsey, sleuth and gentleman in the 20's and 30's. They are all worth reading! You don't have to have read all of them and though they have a chronological order, it's perfectly possible to read here and there. But Before Gaudy Night I do Think it's an advantage to read Strong Poison frist as that is the book which introduces Harriet Vane. And it's agreat crime novel too! *hugs*

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

Harriet! She was an instant favorite for me, too, though I was thirty-something rather than fourteen. I am really curious now about which parts were left out of the Swedish version. Extraneous boating?

A question for the month: What do all your favorite books (or TV shows) have in common?

Or if that's too vague (or the answer is "nothing in particular") Do you have a favorite place? Is it your favorite because of associations or because it's just that great?

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of little bits here and there, like just a sentence, or so. But Three larger scenes are cut; At the river when Lord Peter and Harriet encounter one of his old school mates. When Lord Peter has bought the chess pieces to Harriet and a drunk Reggie Promfret shows up and tries to start a fight. And a scene at the gaudy when Harriet has a conversation with a woman who was brilliant in school but who has married a Welsh farmer and had a rather hard Life. That scene is cut, but not the aftermath when Harriet ponders a few things from the discussion, which makes for a very odd read when you haven't read it...

And there is absolutely no indication in the translation that there are cuts!

A question for the month: What do all your favorite books (or TV shows) have in common?

Not vague, but I actually answered this in yesterday's Snowflake Challenge post so you can find the answer there. :)

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

They cut REGGIE? Oh no :(

I can probably understand why those particular scenes were put on the chopping block, but. . . REGGIE :( And yes, it's only polite to indicate that you've cut something, if you're going to make cuts.

(Reggie is my favorite).

I actually answered this

Ah! Well, that's what I get for not keeping up with my friends list. Sorry about that!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

To be fair, they only cut that one scene with him. But I find him adorable and in a way it was like being given a gift when I read the book in English. Here is this book I love and has read several times already and look, here is MOAR!

The Swedish translations are a bit strange in that regard, though. Busman's Honeymoon has some short scenes gut and the allusion to Harriet in Murder Must Advertise is gone too.

Ah! Well, that's what I get for not keeping up with my friends list. Sorry about that!

Well, I'm not always that up to date either. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Funnily enough, I read Gaudy Night first, too. I loved it, and was very disappointed that the rest of the series was about some bloke and not more female scholars and Harriet! (I was probably about 21 and picked it up in a charity shop after an interview and read it on the train on the way back.)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I read it when I had devoured all our Christie books and my father directed me to Sayers. But he didn't tell me they have a chronologial order and I thought they were on-offs more like Christie. So I choose Gaudy Night because the title appealed to me. Then I read the Harriet books and by then I was rather besotted with Lord Peter, so I devoured the rest too. :)

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

January 14th (my birthday) - Name the worst book you've ever read.


Gabrielle

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

I love that book! My mom was reading Sayers just when I was starting to get bored with the children's books that were available to me, so I started reading them as well. Gaudy Night was not one of the first I read, but it was the one that made the deepest impression, the one that I reread more than any other.

And hmmm, I grew up to be both a feminist and a college professor . . .

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Same here. i re-read Sayers all the time, but Gaudy Night is the one I return to me the most. :)

I ended up a librarian, but I'm certainly a feminist. :)