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Post by hi224 on Oct 25, 2017 22:58:57 GMT
Like? Dislike?.
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Post by marianne48 on Oct 25, 2017 23:11:06 GMT
Big fan, particularly of the Poirot books. I read my first Christie in 1976, and I've gone through most of her books since. I never really cared for Miss Marple, however, and the Beresfords were pretty forgettable. She knew how to write a mystery novel-- stick to the plot, add a stable of characters who are interesting without getting too quirky, and don't go on and on for hundreds of pages. And if your husband cheats on you, publicly humiliate him and then marry a guy more than a decade younger than yourself. Revenge is sweet, mon ami.
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Post by novastar6 on Oct 25, 2017 23:56:42 GMT
Hard to actually get into the books in the beginning, but once you do, it's a pleasant ride.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2017 0:08:26 GMT
She is ok
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mmexis
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Post by mmexis on Oct 26, 2017 2:37:54 GMT
Never read any
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 26, 2017 3:25:19 GMT
hi224 I've been a Christie fan for a long time now—probably ever since I first saw the ‘78 film adaptation of Death on the Nile, which has long been a favorite. I think I posted a top 10 list on here a while back, but I’ll write a quick one (in no particular order) up again, as I know my thoughts have changed a bit: Murder on the Orient ExpressWhy Didn’t They Ask Evans?The Sittaford MysteryThe Pale HorseMurder is EasyFive Little PigsEndless NightThe Murder of Roger AckroydAnd Then There Were NoneDeath on the NileYeah, I’ve got a number of fairly little-known Christies on the list, mixed with some very well-known ones. The only one I have second thoughts about including is Evans; I wanted one of her lighter, more frivolous books on here (they’re great fun; Barzun facetiously referred to these kinds of book as the “how jolly all this murdering is!” school), and The Secret of Chimneys or The Seven Dials Mystery could have fit here equally well. ( Dials has an especially clever deception.) But I had tons of fun reading Evans and thought it deserved a spot. My biggest criticism about AC, hi224 , is how sometimes the fun and the puzzle-plotting can run inversely, in a way that one sees rarely with the other two members of detective fiction's “trinity,” John Dickson Carr and Ellery Queen. Evil Under the Sun and Curtain both have wickedly clever puzzle plots, but they’re rather dull books, in my opinion, whereas less cleverly plotted books like The Secret Adversary or The Murder on the Links (or Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?) are amusing and well-written in a very '20s, Wodehousian way. Because of the books’ reliance on their puzzles, I find this a more troubling flaw than the oft-cited characterization issue; indeed, I don’t find Christie's characterization bad at all, for the most part, and some of it (in Five Little Pigs and Endless Night in particular) very good indeed. marianne48 Amusing that you say that you find the Beresfords forgettable; they’re my favorite Christie sleuths! (I know that’s an idiosyncratic opinion.) I used to love Poirot (I was introduced to AC’s books through Poirot Investigates, which I read in school along with The Westing Game—a great introduction to mysteries), but as I grow older I tend to find him more and more a collection of eccentricities rather than a fully-developed character. To be sure, though, there is a more rounded Poirot characterization in some of the later books ( Five Little Pigs and Death on the Nile come to mind). I like Tommy and Tuppence’s lack of pretension and joie de vivre, and I think Christie liked them too. With that said, most of the books they’re in (the amusing and droll Partners in Crime notwithstanding) are not much to speak of. As for Miss Marple, I love the first depiction of her in The Murder at the Vicarage, as “the worst cat in the village,” but she becomes too saccharine as time goes by. Whew, yup, you’ve got me going now!
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Post by bonerxmas on Oct 26, 2017 3:28:22 GMT
she just uses the same formula over and over
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 26, 2017 3:35:27 GMT
she just uses the same formula over and over I would have to disagree with that statement. Which Christies have you read?
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Post by Bargle on Oct 26, 2017 10:29:33 GMT
I have read and own a bunch of hers. I like Poirot best. Very rarely do I figure out whodunnit before the end.
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Oct 26, 2017 17:49:42 GMT
Big fan of the Poirot novels 30+ years ago. Haven't read any of her books in the past few decades, except for "Ten Little Indians" (a re-read actually) in preparation for the recent mini-series.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2017 19:38:24 GMT
She was excellent at sleight of hand and misdirection, and thinking out complex plots. Her prose is average, the characters aren't particularly fleshed out but don't need to be for these kinds of books. She should not get a free pass for the racism, not even "just chronicling the attitudes of her time."
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moonlight91
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Post by moonlight91 on Oct 29, 2017 4:38:14 GMT
I like her, I have most of her books and excited to see Murder On The Orient Express. More of a fan of Piorot than Miss Marple to be honest but I love how she makes little puzzles in her cases that it makes solving portion entertaining.
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Post by marianne48 on Nov 2, 2017 0:24:46 GMT
If the new version of MOTOE is a success, why not an updated version of And Then There Were None? Ten guests are brought to a private estate on a remote island for a weekend party: One is a film producer who has sexually harassed/assaulted dozens of women over several decades; another is a former athlete who was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife and her visiting friend; another is a woman who was found not guilty of the death of her toddler daughter; the fourth is a paranoid has-been actor whose ex-wife was mysteriously shot to death in the space of a few minutes when he left her alone in a car....it would be pure fiction, of course.
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Post by Nalkarj on Nov 2, 2017 0:38:17 GMT
marianne48I nominate Keanu Reeves for the first "little Indian" to go. I haven't forgiven the man for his execrable performance in Bram Stoker's Dracula, a piece of acting (if one can deign to title it thus) so bad that Ed Wood would have asked him for another take. But, sure, I'm game. May I direct it?
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Post by politicidal on Nov 2, 2017 16:15:00 GMT
If the new version of MOTOE is a success, why not an updated version of And Then There Were None? Ten guests are brought to a private estate on a remote island for a weekend party: One is a film producer who has sexually harassed/assaulted dozens of women over several decades; another is a former athlete who was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife and her visiting friend; another is a woman who was found not guilty of the death of her toddler daughter; the fourth is a paranoid has-been actor whose ex-wife was mysteriously shot to death in the space of a few minutes when he left her alone in a car....it would be pure fiction, of course. That's actually brilliant. It'd be topical and make for juicy black comedy.
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Post by hi224 on Nov 2, 2017 20:28:35 GMT
If the new version of MOTOE is a success, why not an updated version of And Then There Were None? Ten guests are brought to a private estate on a remote island for a weekend party: One is a film producer who has sexually harassed/assaulted dozens of women over several decades; another is a former athlete who was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife and her visiting friend; another is a woman who was found not guilty of the death of her toddler daughter; the fourth is a paranoid has-been actor whose ex-wife was mysteriously shot to death in the space of a few minutes when he left her alone in a car....it would be pure fiction, of course. That's actually brilliant. It'd be topical and make for juicy black comedy. everyone within hollywood would be too paranoid to touch at all.
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Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Oct 26, 2019 0:42:14 GMT
Big fan, particularly of the Poirot books. I read my first Christie in 1976, and I've gone through most of her books since. I never really cared for Miss Marple, however, and the Beresfords were pretty forgettable. She knew how to write a mystery novel-- stick to the plot, add a stable of characters who are interesting without getting too quirky, and don't go on and on for hundreds of pages. And if your husband cheats on you, publicly humiliate him and then marry a guy more than a decade younger than yourself. Revenge is sweet, mon ami. a carib mystery is the 1st one i'm reading......
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Post by cooly44 on Oct 28, 2019 16:40:43 GMT
I’m reading her autobiography right now. She came from such a fascinating world.
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Post by dirtypillows on Oct 31, 2019 22:47:39 GMT
I love her. Agatha Christie is the first "grown up" novel I ever read. I remember my first four books - "Evil Under the Sun","The Moving Finger", "And Then There Were None" & "A Caribbean Mystery".
She may have been formula, but sometimes not. "Death on the Nile" (one of her very best, and I prefer to "Murder on the Orient Express") is really so much more than a murder mystery. I think it is also a romance, on a grand scale. When she is at her best, she gets at the reasons why people behave as they do, and I find this part of her gift very compelling. DOTN is really quite tragic.
Has anybody read "Five Little Pigs"? I have heard numerous times that it is her best book. I think "Funeral Are Fatal" and "A Murder is Announced" are maybe my two favorites. Though "And Then There Were Nine" is probably the classic Christie whodunnit, and I have a soft spot for "Evil Under the Sun". in spite of formula, she really was creative within that talent of hers. And I prefer Miss Marple to Poirot, whom I find stodgy and a bit of a bore. I love Jane Marple.
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Post by petrolino on Nov 1, 2019 1:25:29 GMT
Absolutely brilliant, I don't know how she did it.
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