The Big Four has some good Chapters and should have been left as Agatha Christie first Intended it, a Book of short stories, They Came To Baghdad is O.K. in a so-so sort of way, I have read it once and that is enough for me, If you do read it DON'T go to Wiki to see what it is about first as I did to get me into the Book, BIG MISTAKE!
My less favourite are (as you can suggest correctly) Passenger to Frankfurt and Postern of Fate. Other works that I don't like - Cat Among the Pigeons, The Mystery in the Blue Train (I don't know why I don't like books with gems in it ), Pocket Full of Rye. I also remember that I didn't like At Bertram's Hotel, but it's still in my "re-read list", so there is a little chance to like it the second time.
There are some books you don't like as much as others and yet you just cannot put a finger on why, I am the same with Sad Cypruss, Five Little Pigs and Caribbean Mystery but those 3 are still on my 'Re-Read' list, with some it is because for me they just drag (Th Mystery Of The Blue Train, Murder On The Orient Express, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Pocketful of Rye, Appointment With Death and Three Act Tragedy Destination Unknown and They Came To Baghdad are perfect examples and I won't read them again but some are just Dull (Passenger To Frankfurt, Endless Night and Death Comes To The End), I am sorry To hear you don't like Cat Among The Pigeons, I love The Book and is the only book where I disagree with you. I have difficulty with Books set abroad with Exceptions like Death On The Nile.
When I first read "Caribbean Mystery", years ago, I hated it, it was one of my less fav. books. But recently I decided to re-read it (actually last months I'm re-reading all of Agatha's books) with the idea that the reading will be tough, but what a surprise, I totally enjoyed it! So much, that I can't even believe it
I re-read Caribbean Mystery last month too, and I did like it but still found it harder than most Miss Marple Books to get excited about, but it will always be on my re-read list and it isn't as hard to get enthusiastic about as They Do It With Mirrors
I rather like the title "Cat Among the Pigeons". When someone purposefully and with malicious intent says things to certain people that they know will rile them up and get them fighting and disagreeing you say "Oh my, now you've really put the cat among the pigeons!" I like the analogy that an unknown murderer is like the cat - jumping in amongst the calm situation of the "pigeons" in order to wreak surprising disaster! i.e. panic and terror in the midst of the unexpecting!
Yes that is how I see the saying too so although After The Funeral is a good name for that book Cat Among The Pigeons could be used for After The Funeral aswell as Ordeal By Inocense but and I have said this before I will NEVER see why it is a suitable titke for Cat Among The Pigeons.
You may well be right on that, Tommy - I couldn't say as Cat Among the Pigeons is one of the Christie books I haven't read yet ( It's in my Kindle but I haven't gotten around to it yet). Right now I'm rereading "Five Little Pigs".
No, IMHO and it is just mine because no-one seems to agree with me, the Title doesn't fit the Book, Don't you like Libraries? Why else would you be reading books on a Kindle other than you want all Libraries destroyed?
No, IMHO and it is just mine because no-one seems to agree with me, the Title doesn't fit the Book, Don't you like Libraries? Why else would you be reading books on a Kindle other than you want all Libraries destroyed?
Tommy I agree with you about the title for Cat Among the Pigeons - I think Agatha sometimes stretched idioms and nursery rhyme titles to fit her plots and possibly could have come up with better titles, but I can forgive her that! I think CATP could have been titled with some idiomatic reference to a school perhaps. But she also had to be careful that whatever she titled the book, it didn't give away the plot, so perhaps this is why some titles appear quite cryptic to us. I am not going to question the way her brilliant mind worked
However I disagree with the correlation that reading books on Kindle means you want all libraries destroyed. I hate kindles personally, but I have lots of friends who use them for convenience and still borrow library books for that good old fashioned tactile and sensory experience! Sorry drifting off topic here - but wanted to defend Christery
Thank you Lucy, I think Murder At Meadowbanks would have been a better title or The Meadowbanks Mystery, neither would have revealed anything which we wouldn't have realised early on, maybe even Death of a Games Mistress.
I am sorry Chrystery, I was wrong to say what I did, I am just sick of the way society is going these days, Use Kindles endanger Libraries, Bank On Line endanger Banks, use supermarkets and small shops are threatened, but I do shop online but only because the Residential Home I lived in Closed and had to move back Home and shopping physically is hard but sorry for what I said.
Thank you Lucy, I think Murder At Meadowbanks would have been a better title or The Meadowbanks Mystery, neither would have revealed anything which we wouldn't have realised early on, maybe even Death of a Games Mistress.
I am sorry Chrystery, I was wrong to say what I did, I am just sick of the way society is going these days, Use Kindles endanger Libraries, Bank On Line endanger Banks, use supermarkets and small shops are threatened, but I do shop online but only because the Residential Home I lived in Closed and had to move back Home and shopping physically is hard but sorry for what I said.
I think Murder at Meadowbanks or The Meadowbanks Mystery are wonderful titles - nice use of alliteration Tommy!
Nice apology too Tommy - understandable frustration - maybe you could start a separate discussion on whether people prefer to read Christies on Kindle or the old fashioned way
Thank you Lucy, when I think of allitteration and Detective Fiction I think of the Light kind, If I am right a lot of the Perry Mason Stories and they are on the light side and if I am not reading it wrongly Cat Among The Pigeons is one of the Lighter Agatha Christie Books.
With regards to whether people read the Books on a Kindle or in proper books and starting a thread on the subject, Why don't you start one, It is not a subject I can speak about unbisedly as I personally think those who read them on a Kindle probably approve of The Monogram Mysteries And like The ITV Adaptations where Miss Marple was catapulted into the story and they probably also like ITVs Nemesis, Sleeping Murder and changing one of the Murderers in Body In The Library.
If For some reason I did have a Kindle I would use it to read books like Autobiographies, Biographies and Books I wouldn't buy but am curious about like Madame Bovary, The Moonstone, Finnnergan's Wake and Ulysees, I am sure there are others in this catagory which I can't think of.
Hi, Tommy , apology accepted regarding the Kindle but honestly I'm on your side, too! I held out against it for years as I feel like you regarding my love of Libraries and Bookstores. I have been known to spend hours browsing amongst the stacks - searching out fresh authors and titles and sitting in those big chairs losing track of time lost in a book. Two years ago, my mom surprised me out of the blue with a Kindle for Christmas so I thought "What the heck?" and purchased a few books for it. As far as the Christies, a lot of them I already have as paperbacks but I repurchased them for the Kindle for the convienience. I love to throw it in my suitcase on vacation and know I have lots of books inside it without taking up much suitcase space. My wife also likes it because I already have many bookcases overflowing with books read and unread, so this saves much needed space also. I still purchase hardcover and paperback books - the Kindle I just use to pick up inexpensive books like $5 or $6 ( most Christies are like $7). Like you I feared a future with no libraries or bookstores and I agree there is a special thrill to holding and opening a book and smelling the scent of it's pages (weird, I know, but yes I do that!). But I am a realist also and I know it's a part of the future. I feel the same about music - my kids think I'm weird because I still like to buy my favorite artist's CDs. They of course use computers and iPads only for their music and consider CDs old-fashion. But when I want to hear a particular group or song, I like knowing that I can go to the shelf and physically hold and know I own that group's hit songs to play right then. So I guess it's all a brave new, changing world that we are all struggling to adapt to. But one thing I do know - like cockroaches and Cher, Agatha Christie's books will outlive us all and still be around 400 years from now being read and enjoyed!
My Mum is always saying I should by a Kindle, but I like the feel of Books and The Look, I used to love my Paperback Covers which I gave away when I was collecting the set in Hardback. I am still Buying CDs and only when from Audio Cassette to CD versions when I have to, I was late collecting DVDs, The PUs I have are on Video as are my Joan Hickson Collection and other Films but I have some Poirot's on DVD, Death On The Nile and The Mysterious Affair At Stes came toda to add to After The Funeral, Cat Among The Pigeons and Mrs McGinty's Dead, after seeing a Documemntary where Sue Perkins said the Brrowing of Christie Books from Libraries is on the Decline, I fear you miht not be right about Agatha Christie but also fear you are right about Cockroaches and Cher!
My less favourite are (as you can suggest correctly) Passenger to Frankfurt and Postern of Fate. Other works that I don't like - Cat Among the Pigeons, The Mystery in the Blue Train (I don't know why I don't like books with gems in it ), Pocket Full of Rye. I also remember that I didn't like At Bertram's Hotel, but it's still in my "re-read list", so there is a little chance to like it the second time.
Well, I've reread Bertram's, and can say now, that there isn't a chance at all to like it. Even, it's my third place less favorite after the two PFs
So you prefer They Do It With Mirrors to At Bertram's Hotel then, can you explain why you don't like At Bertram's Hotel? I am just interested, I will be reading Posatern of Fate after reading the book I am currently reading, I am looking forward to seeing if enjoy it more than last time
@Tommy_A_Jones, Yes, I prefer They Do It With Mirrors. First of all, I don't like Miss Marple. It's very irritating for ME (just for me) when she wants to explain something to someone (in most cases some Inspector) and says every time: It's very hard for me to explain what I want to say, I'm just an old lady... but of course it's only my imagination, do not listen to the old lady (or whatever she says, I don't know the exactly words, because I don't read the books in English), and then all the book long the policemen leads the investigation and at the end Miss Marple says what has happened. And in this case I really didn't like the plot, the characters and everything...
Fair enough, Personally I like Miss Marple, I like Crime Novels with Amataur sleuths - If they can yu v=can and if you can do that the worlds your Oyster - I like the Plot, although I think she is better in English Villages, The Plot of They Do It With Mirrors reminds me of an Episode of Murder She Wrote which I admit came decades later but no other Miss Marple book quite makes me think of anything which has come after also apart from Miss Marple and the Inspector I can't stand any other Characters.
Comments
The Big Four has some good Chapters and should have been left as Agatha Christie first Intended it, a Book of short stories, They Came To Baghdad is O.K. in a so-so sort of way, I have read it once and that is enough for me, If you do read it DON'T go to Wiki to see what it is about first as I did to get me into the Book, BIG MISTAKE!
I am sorry Chrystery, I was wrong to say what I did, I am just sick of the way society is going these days, Use Kindles endanger Libraries, Bank On Line endanger Banks, use supermarkets and small shops are threatened, but I do shop online but only because the Residential Home I lived in Closed and had to move back Home and shopping physically is hard but sorry for what I said.
With regards to whether people read the Books on a Kindle or in proper books and starting a thread on the subject, Why don't you start one, It is not a subject I can speak about unbisedly as I personally think those who read them on a Kindle probably approve of The Monogram Mysteries And like The ITV Adaptations where Miss Marple was catapulted into the story and they probably also like ITVs Nemesis, Sleeping Murder and changing one of the Murderers in Body In The Library.
@Tommy_A_Jones, Yes, I prefer They Do It With Mirrors. First of all, I don't like Miss Marple. It's very irritating for ME (just for me) when she wants to explain something to someone (in most cases some Inspector) and says every time: It's very hard for me to explain what I want to say, I'm just an old lady... but of course it's only my imagination, do not listen to the old lady (or whatever she says, I don't know the exactly words, because I don't read the books in English), and then all the book long the policemen leads the investigation and at the end Miss Marple says what has happened. And in this case I really didn't like the plot, the characters and everything...