Fair enough! Thanks for the reassurance. :)

I've not yet read the Stabenow book, but I've read some and none of them were standalone except the first one. After that, nope. This one is also not standalone. But, the real question, is is it self-contained?

This post by DiapDealer explains standalone and self-contained very well. Standalone is used incorrectly for this book.

As for the Aaronovitch book, it was nominated because the previous month the book club read the first book in the series and that would have been a perfect time to read the second book. I am reading the second book and it does help to have read the first book. Aaronovitch does not recap.

DiapDealer I hope will forgive me if I say he proposed an explanation that works for him. I think it's a very woman-or-man-for-herself/himself kind of thing. I'm fine with Stabenow as a standalone, and who's to say who's right?

As for Aaronovitch, I personally would be opposed to reading any series in sequence in the book club; I'd recommend starting a thread like the Jim Butcher thread for such discussions. It would be a long two months without a change for someone who didn't like a series and there are a lot of different books out there. But ultimately the voters/discussers get to decide.

As I've said before, this particular Stabenow really doesn't depend on previous books, and, moreover, it's funny. Not subtle, restrained, witty funny, but laugh out loud, near slapstick, situational funny. Oh, there's certainly references to things that happened in the past, but the story (and the humour) is not dependent on anything beyond the book you're reading. And it's a good read, with lots of references to Alaskan and Indigenous culture that very much adds to the enjoyment for me. The sort of book I find myself reading paragraphs to my DW from, even though both of us have read it before.

*sigh*

I should've know better than to use that word. He definitely doesn't provide a summary of the previous book. He does slip enough information naturally into the opening scenes so that an adept reader can figure out what's going on.

But yes it's better to have read the first book first.

It's also unlikely to win the vote.

I'm not fine with the Stabenow book being called standalone because it's not. Call it self-contained if it is. But standalone is 100% wrong. None of the series books I've read are standalone except for the first book.

I would not mind reading the first two books in a series.

Let it go, Jon. You've stated your opinion and this discussion is over.

If The Man of Property wins, I shall dig out my DVDs of the first Forsyte Saga television series, the one with Eric Porter and Kenneth More. I loved that, back in the day; I have no idea how it will hold up. I couldn't get into the 2002 series which didn't seem to me to be true to the story, but I should probably try it again if only for the production values. And then there's the movie version, That Forsyte Woman, with Greer Garson and Errol Flynn; I have only a dim memory of that but I didn't think it was very true to the text, either.

Yes, I have fond memories of that 1960s version of The Forsyte Saga. The more recent version was well done I thought, but I don't think it was up to the 1960s version, which had the luxury of 26 episodes I seem to remember, so the scriptwriters were able to follow the books closely.

I agree on the film - lovely though Greer Garson was, the film was pretty clunky I seem to remember.

Nothing to forgive. ;)

And the winner is Whose Body?, the first in Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey Golden Age mystery series. While the mystery is fun in itself, there's also interest in the social and economic context of the times (1923).

See you on January 20 when the discussion will start. In the meantime, this thread can be used for background and other information and comments. And don't forget the discussion of Sylvie and Bruno starting December 20.

For those who prefer audio books, there are three narrations available on Audible.com, two of them by two of my absolute favourite narrators -- David Case and Nadia May.

At Audible.co.uk, there is the Nadia May version, as well as a 'dramatized' version with Ian Carmichael (whose television versions of Lord Peter were definitive) and Patricia Rutledge.

Of course, all of the Dorothy Sayers books are available in the public domain in Life+50 countries, such as Canada, where FadedPage has a special Dorothy Sayers page with proofread versions of most of her books available for the download.

Agree with you about David Case and Nadia May, two of my top three narrators. My OD libraries have the Nadia May, an option for the cheapskates (of which I am one). Also, the US Kindle edition was only 99¢ the last time I checked.

It's not in my library's OD catalog, but it is in the Hoopla catalog, with 3 narrators to choose from and ebook versions as well.

I think, but I'm not certain, that all libraries that use Hoopla have access to the full catalog.

Wow, there are 4 different audio versions and 2 different ebook versions at one of my libraries. All have wait lists. :(

I rarely listen to audiobooks unless I have a trip but I may try the David Case audio, I like Wanda McCaddon/Nadia May too but it sounds like a good opportunity to possibly add a new favorite.