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The Shortest Way to Hades
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 1/9/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 1/9/2017 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this fair-condition paperback at a local thrift shop, and nabbed it for another release copy.
I got my first Sarah Caudwell book, Thus Was Adonis Murdered, largely because of the wonderful Edward Gorey illustration on the cover - but after reading the book and falling in love with the quirky (and surprisingly lascivious) characters and the hilariously snarky tone, I knew I had to find more. [I was pleased to learn that Caudwell had written four books featuring the ambiguously-gendered Oxford professor Hilary Tamar and her cadre of youthful barristers - but was saddened to find that those are the only books there will ever be, as Caudwell died in 2000.]
The book opens with a word from the main character, including the cautionary note that this is "a plain, unembellished account of actual events," and notes that "some of my readers, perhaps many, having expected to find in these pages diversion rather than instruction, will now hasten back to their booksellers to demand indignantly, it may be with threats of legal action, reimbursement of the sum so ill-advisedly expended." Tamar adds that "I for my part... would rather forgo the modest sum which would accrue to me from a sale - very modest, meager might be a better word, one might almost say paltry - would infinitely rather forgo that sum than think it obtained by deception."
This one actually involves a bit more in the way of legal work than some of the others, giving the little group of barristers more work to try and avoid, while still managing to get into trouble, flirt madly, and draw incorrect conclusions {grin}. Lots of amusing chat, of course, and some delightful plotting. Side remarks such as "To be naked with elegance, even for the most slender and graceful young man, is a severe test of deportment" (Julia), or Hilary's exposition about the typographical error known as haplography, add to the fun.
The series, in order:
Thus Was Adonis Murdered
The Shortest Way to Hades
The Sirens Sang of Murder
The Sibyl in Her Grave
[There's a TV Tropes page on the series.]
I got my first Sarah Caudwell book, Thus Was Adonis Murdered, largely because of the wonderful Edward Gorey illustration on the cover - but after reading the book and falling in love with the quirky (and surprisingly lascivious) characters and the hilariously snarky tone, I knew I had to find more. [I was pleased to learn that Caudwell had written four books featuring the ambiguously-gendered Oxford professor Hilary Tamar and her cadre of youthful barristers - but was saddened to find that those are the only books there will ever be, as Caudwell died in 2000.]
The book opens with a word from the main character, including the cautionary note that this is "a plain, unembellished account of actual events," and notes that "some of my readers, perhaps many, having expected to find in these pages diversion rather than instruction, will now hasten back to their booksellers to demand indignantly, it may be with threats of legal action, reimbursement of the sum so ill-advisedly expended." Tamar adds that "I for my part... would rather forgo the modest sum which would accrue to me from a sale - very modest, meager might be a better word, one might almost say paltry - would infinitely rather forgo that sum than think it obtained by deception."
This one actually involves a bit more in the way of legal work than some of the others, giving the little group of barristers more work to try and avoid, while still managing to get into trouble, flirt madly, and draw incorrect conclusions {grin}. Lots of amusing chat, of course, and some delightful plotting. Side remarks such as "To be naked with elegance, even for the most slender and graceful young man, is a severe test of deportment" (Julia), or Hilary's exposition about the typographical error known as haplography, add to the fun.
The series, in order:
Thus Was Adonis Murdered
The Shortest Way to Hades
The Sirens Sang of Murder
The Sibyl in Her Grave
[There's a TV Tropes page on the series.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Peddler's Daughter, 48 Main St. in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, January 12, 2017
GoryDetails at Peddler's Daughter, 48 Main St. in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, January 12, 2017
Released 7 yrs ago (1/12/2017 UTC) at Peddler's Daughter, 48 Main St. in Nashua, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book on a free-newspaper rack in the entrance of Peddler's Daughter at around 1; hope the finder enjoys it![See other recent releases in New Hampshire here.]
