It's cozy mysteries season, m***********s

 (Not actually cursing at you; title is a reference to this iconic McSweeney's post)

I stayed the weekend at my parents' a few weeks ago (or maybe last month?) and I went to the thrift store in my hometown. You guys, the books were all 50 cents each and the DVDs were all $1 each!!! This puts my local Savers to shame. $2-5 a book or DVD? Ok, filthy capitalist.

Anyway, I bought a stack of old Agatha Christie paperbacks, which I wouldn't have done at Savers due to their prices. 50 cents a book!!! I read them all over the first half of this month. I highly recommend Agatha Christie novels if you are in a reading slump because they are exciting (murder! mystery!) yet comforting (like a lot of people, I grew up reading a lot of books by and about white people in the 1900s, plus you know the detective will solve the mystery), plus they're pretty short! These are the books I bought and read: 

• N or M
  
• Thirteen at Dinner
  
• Murder in Mesopotamia
  
• Sad Cypress
  
• The Clocks

They are all Hercule Poirot mysteries, with the exception of N or M, which is a Tommy & Tuppence mystery (never heard of this series). Tommy and Tuppence are a married middle-aged (read: 40s) couple that were spies in WWI (previous books?) and are bummed no one wants them to help during WWII because they're too old, until Tommy gets a spy assignment and Tuppence, refusing to be left out, joins (she's such a BAMF). They have to find a Nazi spy who may have infiltrated a sleepy English seaside town, and their only clue is N or M. They pretend to be strangers at the same weird inn to find the spy, and the novel is suspenseful throughout. I enjoyed this one, and I'm open to reading other T&T novels. 

The Hercule Poirot mysteries are mostly narrated by someone else who is helping him; usually his Watsonian friend whose name I don't remember (Thirteen at Dinner), or a nurse roped into helping him solve a murder (Murder in Mesopotamia), or another detective/spy friend who splits the POV/narration with his police sergeant friend (The Clocks). Sad Cypress was unique in that it just had omniscient third person narration. I was most intrigued by MiM due to its setting, as I've been to places of archeological interest in the Middle East before. 13aD was perhaps the most classic Hercule Poirot novel, while The Clocks was kind of the most different. It is set in the 1960s, for one thing, which I couldn't tell because Agatha's writing style stayed the same, so it felt the same as the 1930s. What tipped me off were a few era mentions, plus Hercule is old in this one. He doesn't even come into the novel until a third of the way through the book at the absolute earliest. Sad Cypress was kind of the saddest, and we miss out on the classic HP end monologue. 

Overall, I really enjoyed reading these books, and while I guessed parts of some of the mysteries, I never guessed the whole thing or the right person. These really made my reference desk shifts go by much more quickly, and I recommend them. I will be giving these away, though.

• N or M - 4 stars
• Thirteen at Dinner - 4 stars
• Murder in Mesopotamia - 4 stars
• Sad Cypress - 3.5 stars
• The Clocks - 3.5 stars

Trigger warnings: murder, gore, blood, dead bodies, guns, Nazis, poison, sexism, probably more stuff

September books

 I actually read more than 2 or 3 books in September! Love that journey for me.

Immediately after Remember Me?, I read She's Come Undone, which was a mistake. It's just so horribly sad and depressing in a way that is in no way hinted at in the rather quirky summary. Wally Lamb is a good writer, and I cared about Dolores and wanted her to be happy, but yikes. Dolores is aptly named; the author points this out quite obviously in a patting-himself-on-the-back-for-being-so-clever way, and puts her through all sorts of sad situations. There is sort of a happy ending, at least, and Dolores finds the love she so craves. I did find the 1950s-70s upbringing interesting. Massive, massive trigger warnings for rape of a child, grooming by a predator, domestic violence, mental illness and institutionalization, fatphobia, nonconsensual sexual situations, semi-manipulated abortion, death, sex, homophobia, predatory lesbian trope, AIDS, stalking, religious abuse, alcohol and drug mentions/usage, binge eating and eating disorders, stillbirth, racism from an elderly character, infidelity. There's probably more but that's all I can think of. I left it behind in Mexico with a note telling my family not to read it (there's no way my Christian parents can handle that kind of story). Cover notes: I actually picked this up due to the interesting cover and title. It's actually the title of a 1970s song. 3 stars (4 stars for writing + 2 stars for story). 

Immediately after flying back from Mexico, I flew to New York to visit my sister and her family (I have a nephew now and he's the cutest baby in the world). We mostly hung out and went to restaurants and

bookstores. I bought Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman from Westsiders Rare & Used Books (such a fun bookstore). This feminist utopia is a reread for me, and I love it. Read my previous review here, and my mini essay comparing it to The Left Hand of Darkness here. It's so interesting how she points out that a lot of what we consider gender or how women naturally are is a result of the patriarchy and its gender roles (this was written in 1915!). However, I noticed this time how eugenics-y the book is: the Herland women are all white, despite being in a hidden part of South America or something, and they've deliberately bred themselves to be strong and tall and good at stuff and resist disease and smart, etc. I didn't really realize it until I read a quote from CPG that said that white men and women need to come together to improve the lower races, or something. All the great 19th and 20th century white feminists were all racist as hell, unfortunately. Anyway, I do like this book, but be aware of the racism and eugenics-y ways of thinking. It's critical of capitalism, the patriarchy, and Christianity (but rightfully so, imo). Loved the misandry though. 4 stars, keeping. 

Another reread this month was James Finn Garner's Politically Correct Bedtime Stories. These are fun PC satires of classic fairy tales, and it's funny to read how the tales were transformed. For instance, Red Robin Hood and the wolf chop up the woodcutter for being so sexist and speciest as to think RRH needed his help with the wolf. Per usual, one isn't sure whether Garner is poking fun at capitalism etc. or PC culture itself. I reread this one because I'm giving the series away. Trigger warnings for fairytale-typical violence, I guess? 3.5 stars, giving away. 

My last read for September was The Chickens Are Restless, a The Far Side comics compilation. I love Gary Larson's The Far Side so much. I got this from the thrift store, and I'm pretty sure I'd already seen all of these (although there were some comics I didn't remember seeing before). These are classics for a reason. I wonder, if I were to walk past all the faculty office doors at my school, how many would have a TFS comic taped to it. Probably a lot, in the sciences. 4 stars, keeping.