Thursday, January 19, 2012

Reading Through the Centuries Project: Crocodile on the Sandbank

Since I finished The Call of the Wild, I needed another book for my Reading Through the Centuries Project. I didn't plan to go with a more modern book, but on my shelves, on the evening I was looking, the book that appealed to me the most was Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters.


Side Note: You  might have noticed that I often say I pick books from my bookshelves. The reason I can kind of 'go shopping on my shelves' so to speak, is because nearby where we live is The Baltimore Book Thing- where you can drop off books you don't want and pick up more books that you do. All for free. You can go as much as you want and take as many books as you want, the only caveat is that you can't resell them, and there is a stamp in each one telling you that. If you are in the area, check out the website and make a visit- you won't be disappointed! So anyway, because we go there and just kind of, grab books, a lot of books on our shelves I haven't read, and many times, like in the case of That Old Ace in the Hole, I didn't even know we had it because my husband brought it home. Our bookshelves are full of mystery and wonder. :)

Anyway, Crocodile on the Sandbank appealed to me for two reasons. It's a mystery, which I always enjoy and although written in the '70's, it's set in the Victorian era. It's known to be very well researched- so reading it is a little lesson in Egyptology in the Victorian Era and I am a little obsessed with the Victorian Era, thanks to my participation in The Queens Scullery last year.

What I didn't know, is that the main character, Amelia Peabody, is total awesomeness. I will write more about her when I get more into the book, but her witty observations about herself and her society make this a truly entertaining read. Lucky for me, Elizabeth Peters wrote a whole series of books with this character, so my experience with dear Amelia doesn't have to end with the completion of this book.

Crocodile on the Sandbank was published in 1975, so this is my book for the decade of the 1970's. 

No comments:

Post a Comment