A few years ago my sister asked me to help her buy a book on the internet. The book was Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. I was intrigued by the title but I was busy with finals and I soon forgot my intention to check out Elizabeth Peters. In August, at book group, a friend recommended The Amelia Peabody Emerson series and the minute I saw the title of the first book I remembered my intention to check the series out. When school started I checked out Crocodile on the Sandbank as a book on CD and thus began a wonderful relationship with the Emerson family that lasted until last Saturday. As I finish listening to the last chapter of the last book I’m surprised at how sad I am to abandon the Emerson’s—to face a commute without their company. Emerson, Amelia, Ramses, and Nefret; Sethos, Margaret, Kevin, Gargery, and Senia; Abdullah, Selim, Kadisha, and Daod; Walter, Evelyn, Leah, and David (if I’ve misspelled anyone’s name remember that I listened to the books, I didn’t read them) have become good friends and it feels like I'm moving away from them. I have a tendency to develop relationships with the characters in whichever book I’m reading, but the Emerson’s and I have been together for a very long time—for almost an entire school year and I’m really going to miss them. I’m at a bit of a loss and I don’t know quite where to go. Someone suggested that I check out an action writer named Lee Childs so I guess I will, but I’m not sure that anyone can ever take Amelia’s place.
Those of you planning to make the Emerson’s acquaintance let me warn you that the Emerson's aren’t perfect—Amelia is a lousy mother (at least I think she is), Emerson has a temper and tends to use bad language—but we all have our little faults. Below I’ve listed the entire series. The first book is great, the 2nd and 3rd are fair, but Elizabeth Peters picks up with the 4th and just gets better with each tale (except #11 which I suggest you skip—I wish that I had). I’ve also included at the bottom some classic Amelia quotes—enjoy.
If you love the Emerson’s as much as I do I would love to chat. Just be warned that after spending a vast amount of time with the Emerson’s that you too will miss them when you are done! And if you have any suggestions of a new group of friends that I could make—I welcome them.
- Crocodile on the Sandbank
- The Curse of the Pharaohs
- The Mummy Case
- Lion in the Valley
- Deeds of the Disturber
- The Last Camel Died at Noon
- The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog
- The Hippopotamus Pool
- Seeing a Large Cat
- The Ape Who Guards the Balance
- Guardian of the Horizon (I do not recommend this Book! I was written out of order, I’m pretty sure while Peters had a headache, and the characters do not behave true to character (especially my favorites Ramses and Nefret). If I were you, I would skip it!)
- The Falcon at the Portal
- He Shall Thunder in the Sky
- Lord of the Silent
- The Golden One
- Children of the Storm
- The Serpent on the Crown
- Tomb of the Golden Bird
"Peabodyisms"
Selections from the works of Amelia Peabody Emerson
Edited by Elizabeth Peters
Edited by Elizabeth Peters
On Marriage
"Marriage should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries."
"There is nothing like continued proximity to strip away the veils of romance."
"Five years of marriage have taught me that even if one is unamused by the (presumed) wit of one's spouse, one does not say so."
On Men
"Men always have some high-sounding excuse for indulging themselves."
"Men are never of any use in an emergency."
"Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point."
"It is impossible for any rational mind to follow the peculiar mental convolutions that pass for logic among the male sex . . ."
"Men are by instinct untidy animals."
"Emerson likes to think he is the master of his fate and the lord of all he surveys. It is a delusion common to the male sex and accounts for the sputtering fury with which they respond to the slightest interference with their plans, no matter how impractical those plans may be."
"I have never been able to understand how men can feel affection for individuals who are intent on massacring them in a variety of unpleasant ways, but it is an undeniable fact that they can and do. One can only accept this as another example of the peculiar emotional aberrations of the male sex."
"Like all men, Emerson grows very impatient over the necessary deliberations of shopping. If it were left to him, he would simply point to the first object of its kind he saw and order a dozen."
"The difficulty was that he was a man."
On Women
"A woman's instinct, I always feel, supersedes logic."
"No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it."
"It is difficult to be angry with a gentleman who pays you compliments . . . especially impertinent compliments."
On Crime and Murder
"The trouble with unknown enemies is that they are so difficult to identify."
"Most people obey the orders of an individual who is pointing a gun at them."
On Human Nature
"When one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one's footing."
"If someone lies down and invites you to trample on him, you are a remarkable individual if you decline the invitation."
"Most small boys are barbarians. It is a wonder any of them live to grow up."
