Phyllis Dorothy
Currently reading:
Devices and Desires by PD James
Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
Books finished this week: 0
Library updates:
First, at the very top of this week’s missive, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was very quiet——just my parents and I, and a meal prepared solely by my mom, because she’s an excellent cook. My dad and I are lucky to have her in our lives——thankful for it, you might say.
Anyhow, whoever you celebrated with, whatever you ate, and even if you just enjoyed it as a day off, I hope you had a nice day, and, since 2025 is somehow winding down, that you’re able to take some time to reflect on positive things that came into your life this year.
I’m going to save most of my reflection for the pages of my journal, but for the last few weeks, I haven’t been able to avoid thinking about a sad topic. It was around this time last year that Moneypenny started getting sick, and I find myself thinking a lot about all the vets we saw, all the tests she had to have, the major surgery she endured. I miss her a lot, and all the pet-themed holiday commercials really aren’t helping. But I am also trying to think of all the wonderful things she brought to my life, and about how thankful I am to have had her with me for the six years we got.
The end of the year is the time to get nostalgic, for better or worse. On a slightly lighter note, I’ve also been thinking a lot lately about PD James, seeing as I’m still working on Devices and Desires. I always feel the urge to read her books during the holiday season; I don’t totally know why. I guess there’s just something very comforting and homey about returning to Commander Dalgliesh’s world (despite the gruesome murders and the typically truly awful human beings embroiled in the investigation).
I was on the very long escalator at Grand Central this week and thinking about when I first encountered James’ work. I don’t remember the exact year, but it was probably early high school sometime, and I’m 99 percent sure Jesse Spencer is to blame. (I know, embarrassing.)
I was obsessed with the show House at the time——writing fanfic, watching anything any member of the cast was in, seriously contemplating going to medical school one day to emulate the doctors on the show——and was particularly enamored with Spencer. Naturally, I began working my way through his filmography, and eventually landed on a made-for-TV adaptation of a mystery novel called Death in Holy Orders. All I really remember is that the story takes place at a . . . religious place. And Jesse Spencer spent a lot of time in some kind of robes. I liked it!
And, apparently, I liked not just Jesse Spencer but the story as a whole, and I liked it enough to pick up the PD James novel the show was based on. That sparked what I can only assume will be a lifelong love affair with James’ work. When I studied abroad in college, back in the fall of 2011, I had a fantasy of wandering London on one of our weekend trips and just happening to stumble upon Baroness James of Hyde Park. She would, of course, immediately sense my writerly talents and take me under her wing, guiding me to literary stardom with encouraging pep talks and plenty of strong English tea.
Obviously, that didn’t happen. But I did get a small print of Phyllis Dorothy James White’s portrait from the National Gallery and a copy of the UK edition of Death Comes to Pemberly, her Pride and Prejudice sequel mystery. When she died in 2014, I mourned like I had lost a member of my own family. It stung, to lose her. I only know about her personal life what she shared in her memoir, Time to Be in Earnest, which I definitely need to revisit, and what I can find on the internet, but she seemed like a remarkable woman who worked on her craft and was then lucky enough to be able to find success with it. I would have really, really liked to have gotten to meet her.
But since that first TV movie, I haven’t looked back. I’ve read The Children of Men (yes, she wrote that) and James’ memoir and a few short stories. I restarted the Dalgliesh novels from the beginning two or three years back, because I realized I’d never read the very first one and I wanted to read them in order, even if I take long breaks in between. I think I once started one of the Cordelia Grey novels, but I do intend to read those after I close out Dalgliesh’s saga. I watched some episodes of the Dalgliesh series, which . . . I did not love. (Martin Shaw, who played the character in the two TV movies I watched, will always be my Dalgliesh.)
Anyway, I love PD James, as a person and an author, and I highly recommend her work. I’m grateful to have so much of her writing to still enjoy. (Also, I think the next Dalgliesh after the one I’m reading is set in the publishing world——fun!!)
Closing thoughts:
Embrace the cozy season with quiet moments, warm evenings, and taking some time to reflect on the year behind you and the year to come.
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 184
(Total books added to the Moratorium Library: 382)
I went to a reading event at Astoria Bookshop (somehow, my first time at the store!) and they gave us plenty of time to browse between reading sessions...
(Sabrina——hi, Sabrina!——raved about Angel Down, and I’ve had my eye on The Favorites for a while.)
Also, I had to buy Herland for a reading group in January, so I went to ThriftBooks (and also got two other books from my TBR).
