I'm thinking I need to go back to school before I attempt to read Sayers.

I'm pretty fucking smart, but I took Spanish in school

Same here. And Sayers is far from the only British author of the slightly older school who tosses in large chunks of untranslated French. I'm always finding it in my research materials, generally when I'm on the bus or in the cafeteria at work and can't page megan or my CP who spent a semester in Paris to enlighten me.

I'm so confused. I didn't realize To Say Nothing of the Dog required so much prior reading!

See, I'm now envisioning this broad-based liberal arts curriculum whose capstone experience is getting to read To Say Nothing of the Dog.

I remember nearly throwing the book into the ocean when I spent a week of my summer vacation forcing my way through The Centaur, which was on the summer reading list for AP English, and then he ended it with a paragraph of Greek.

I've always been a bit peeved that (spoilers for Gaudy Night) the culmination of the Peter/Harriet relationship comes in a snippet of untranslated Latin. I forget even what it is, and what it means now. But I found it a bit annoying, and I do have a high tolerance for reading polyglot writers (I am a Dunnett fan, after all).

Because, um, I've never read Three Men. And still quite enjoyed To Say Nothing. And keep thinking I should read Three Men, and then re-read To Say Nothing, and haven't, yet.

Heh - meara is me.

You'll need French if you read Busman's Honeymoon, which comes after Gaudy Night. Sayers assumed her readers were as smart as her.

Well, dang. But I enjoy being ignant.

Latin and Oxford traditions, plus French.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

I'm so confused. I didn't realize To Say Nothing of the Dog required so much prior reading!

I'm thinking I need to go back to school before I attempt to read Sayers.

I'm right there with you both. Man!

See, I'm now envisioning this broad-based liberal arts curriculum whose capstone experience is getting to read To Say Nothing of the Dog.

Right??? I'm glad Bellwether didn't presuppose a whole semester's worth of reading. I mean, hell, I read a LOT; just not the proper background material, apparently.

Well, it's not like you *need* French or Latin to read Sayers, because I managed just fine, despite only having a slight knowledge of both.

And it's easy enough to start with the Harriet books and go back later to read the earlier books, because they're generally...not as good (but still fun). There's a pretty clear development of Sayers as a writer.

But Gaudy Night isn't even the first Harriet book, right? I do prefer to read a series in order, Anita Blake notwithstanding.

No, Strong Poison is the first one.