Cover Her Face by P.D. James

Sometimes when a person has read many, many books, he or she becomes a book snob. This is particularly true if the person has attended graduate school and has learned all the literary criticism lingo and so forth. This kind of reader has perhaps ceased using reading as a recreation and responds to books on an intellectual level only, paying little attention to whether or not the book is actually enjoyable to read. This would explain why literary critics consider James Joyce's later books as masterpieces. They are (probably) important on an intellectual level, but I sincerely doubt if anyone has found them fun to read.

Let it be known that I am not a book snob. I judge books almost solely on whether I enjoy them or not. True, I may be more critical than many others who read purely for recreation, but I have been reading so consistently for so long that I have many more books in my head than most people and, thus, more examples for comparison. When the writing is trite or awkward, when the plot is unoriginal or contrived or not even logical, when the author fails in his/her purpose--I am disturbed in my enjoyment. When I come to inhabit the author's made-up world and forget that I am reading, then I consider that I have read a good book. Sometimes I don't like the world or world view that I have inhabited. Then I don't like the book, even though I know intellectually that I have read a well-written book because it has transported me; I just do not like the book because I do not like the destination.

All this is an urging to recreational readers to read all kinds of books. No reading time is wasted, even when you read a really bad book. That just gives you a measure for comparison. Whenever possible consult your reading friends for recommendations--you will soon find those who like the same kind of books as you do. Read book reviews on book-selling web-sites. Enter the name of a book you really like and see what others who bought this book also purchased. Look up the lists for prize-winning books--Nobel, Pulitzer, Booker, Pen-Faulkner, Book Critics Circle, Hugo, Nebula, Mystery Writers of America, and so forth. Expand your reading horizons to include many genres--"literature," popular fiction, mystery, suspense, science fiction, and so forth.

Now to the review of this book--It was very good. I have not read many mysteries lately, although when my mother lived with me I read a great many, because she loved them and I read books with her. So I do have a knowledge of pretty current mystery writing for comparison and I believe that P.D. James is much better than most. Her writing is clever, literate, and smooth; her characters are believable and complicated; the solution to the mystery is a surprise, but logical.

Writing a good mystery is more tough than one would think, I suspect. The writer has to strew about "red herrings" and yet keep the solution believable and surprising. P.D. James does it here very well. This was the first mystery she wrote, so I shall make it a point to read more of hers. She tops Mary Higgins Clark and Sue Grafton, I can guarantee.