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Post by teleadm on Sept 15, 2017 18:55:41 GMT
Just wanted to mentioned it if that date is holy to some!
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 16, 2017 0:27:13 GMT
Memories of a fulfilled quest to read them all.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 16, 2017 16:02:16 GMT
Memories of a fulfilled quest to read them all. I still haven't read them all. Favorites?
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Post by politicidal on Sept 16, 2017 16:02:34 GMT
Here's to the upcoming remake of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 16, 2017 16:45:12 GMT
Nalkarj I tend to lean mostly towards the Marples and the Poirots. Marple more because she was in my first Christies (books and films).I read them even back in the grade school days of yore. They all have rather blended together with time and I could read them all again and not know who did what to who (whom). I did not care for the Tommy and Tuppence stories and tried the BBC version shown recently on PBS but gave up watching those as I didn't like them on screen any more than I did in print !
Pick just one ? argh ! Orient Express probably. Ouch, my poor twisted arm ! Bat looks for that lawyer's phone number.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 16, 2017 18:04:22 GMT
My first Agatha book, or in my case pocket book, was Death On the Nile, it had Peter Ustinov on it's front page. I read it in english and then I read more Christie novels, always in english, I only had to look up a few words in an encyclopedia 10 times in ten years, hell those books where better in teaching me english than my old teachers was.
One of my favorites was The Sittaford Mystery 1931, it was really creepy, they made a TV version incorporating Marple in the story, the real book had none of the famous persons, and what I read about that version it was like painting a moustsche on Mona Lisa.
My least favorite was Passenger to Frankfurt 1970, her only, I guess, try to write a modern spy story.
Thank you all for writing on this thread!!!
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 16, 2017 18:23:19 GMT
Nalkarj I tend to lean mostly towards the Marples and the Poirots. Marple more because she was in my first Christies (books and films).I read them even back in the grade school days of yore. They all have rather blended together with time and I could read them all again and not know who did what to who (whom). I did not care for the Tommy and Tuppence stories and tried the BBC version shown recently on PBS but gave up watching those as I didn't like them on screen any more than I did in print !
Pick just one ? argh ! Orient Express probably. Ouch, my poor twisted arm ! Bat looks for that lawyer's phone number. Funny about that, Bat: T&T are actually my favorite Christie detectives-as-characters. I just think them charming (some may see read that as "twee"), friendly, and likeable. I will confess that I like Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, which features their identical twins (Bobby Jones and Lady Frankie Derwent), better than any of their "actual" books, though. But I'm very fond of the characters. I'm with a bit mixed with Marple: I like her cattier, vinegary incarnation in The Murder at the Vicarage better than any of her later, sugar-and-spice incarnations. I love the Poirot books--in fact, 3 of the books that made it on to my Top 5 Christies list were Poirots--but I just don't find him all that appealing as a character, except maybe in Death on the Nile and Five Little Pigs. He's more just a set of idiosyncrasies than any kind of developed character. Again, we're just talking about the characters here, not the books, as most of my favorite Christie books are (again) Poirots, another favorite is one of Miss M's later showings ( A Murder is Announced), and none of the Tommy and Tuppence books actually make it on to my list of favorites. Boy, do I go on...
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 16, 2017 18:28:42 GMT
My first Agatha book, or in my case pocket book, was Death On the Nile, it had Peter Ustinov on it's front page. I read it in english and then I read more Christie novels, always in english, I only had to look up a few words in an encyclopedia 10 times in ten years, hell those books where better in teaching me english than my old teachers was. One of my favorites was The Sittaford Mystery 1931, it was really creepy, they made a TV version incorporating Marple in the story, the real book had none of the famous persons, and what I read about that version it was like painting a moustsche on Mona Lisa. My least favorite was Passenger to Frankfurt 1970, her only, I guess, try to write a modern spy story. Thank you all for writing on this thread!!! I bolded this line, Tele, because I've been thinking about why Christie has remained so popular when most "Golden Age" detective story writers (my old avatar John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, Gladys Mitchell, Michael Innes--even, to some degree, Dorothy L. Sayers!) have been forgotten. And I think a major reason for that is ease of reading. Christie's books have simple--but not simplistic--prose, and she's very good at making the whole "reading a detective story" experience come off as typical, easy, and fun. She'll never be considered some incredible writer, but I believe her talent was in combining decent writing with great plotting. I think that's especially great for English-language learners. Anyhoo, The Sittaford Mystery is a favorite of mine as well, though I think it drags a bit between the discovery of the body and the unmasking of the murderer. With that said, it does have some of AC's cleverest and trickiest misdirection, IMO.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 16, 2017 18:30:05 GMT
Nalkarjyes, do go on. Please !
Approaching books, for me is are rather like how I view movies. I read 'em and like or not like and move on the next without wondering why, one way or another. It's a fun experience seeing them discussed in a "why" manner. Hmmm I wonder how Dog likes the on paper Christie.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 16, 2017 18:43:21 GMT
Nalkarj said John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, Gladys Mitchell, Michael Innes--even, to some degree, Dorothy L. Sayers. Just wanna say I've read a few John Dickenson Carr and Ellery Queen too and liked them Lord Peter Wimsey on the other hand, to say it nicely, didn't connect with me, though I know the Ian Carmichael TV-versions were very popular here.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 16, 2017 19:19:45 GMT
Nalkarj yes, do go on. Please !
Approaching books, for me is are rather like how I view movies. I read 'em and like or not like and move on the next without wondering why, one way or another. It's a fun experience seeing them discussed in a "why" manner. Hmmm I wonder how Dog likes the on paper Christie. Nice of you to ask, but...hmmm...I wonder if I should expose myself like this. Well, if you promise not to tell anyone: I've never read a word of Christie. I described myself to Salzmank recently as "literarily deficient" or something along those lines. Printed fiction has just never much floated my boat. Sure, I've read many novels in my {{cough, cough, 's'cuse me}} decades on Earth (and even the complete works of Shakespeare), but I've always been more attracted to non-fiction: biographies/autobiographies, histories, some specialized things like architecture, painting, wordworking, music & theater...I'm just naturally more interested in reading about real-life stuff. Of all the who-knows-how-many-hundreds of books we have in the house, those categories make up about 90% of 'em. There it is: my dirty little secret (shhhhh). I hope I don't hate myself in the morning. And I'll be really embarrassed if "Dog" meant somebody else! I was intrigued by your approach to both films and books, because mine's just the opposite: if I liked one or not, I always want to figure out why (and understanding the "why nots" is often more interesting than the "whys").
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 16, 2017 19:47:34 GMT
Doghouse6Your little secret is safe but "nary a Christie word" ? <---- fer shure ! I still have the tattered notebook of the books I read as a kid and Christie is among them. I had to have my mom sign something or other so that her "early reader" was allowed to take out books from the non-kids section of the library. I still remember my card #. It was EO7-3777. I remember because I got it on my 7th Birthday. (Too much info, sorry ) Lunch today ? Have no idea what it was. I find myself now reading some of the "kids classics" that I skipped over.
It's great that you and Nalkarj and company are so good at writing about the "whys" to fill in the blanks for us "just readers / watchers ". I know that I had seen Groundhog Day and Chinatown several times, liked them BUT only really "got" them after "talking them over" with you all.
And I'll be really embarrassed if "Dog" meant somebody else! <--- have to laugh because you found us even tho' untagged. That new silent dog whistle was worth the $1.69 that it cost after all !
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 16, 2017 20:33:54 GMT
BATouttaheckOh hey, I remember every phone number I've had going back to 1955 (STate4-8596), all my school locker combinations, street and business addresses and license plates of every car I've ever owned (except for the one I've been driving for the last ten years). My theory? The weight of the mental detritus of succeeding decades fossilizes all that old knowledge, like the bones of ancient marine creatures leaving their indelible impressions in sandstone. "What's that? Where'd I put the keys? Uh, uh...say, wouldn't you rather know my phone number from 60 years ago?" About that dog whistle: be discerning about when you blow it; I don't know how much more confessional humiliation I can handle!
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 16, 2017 20:44:44 GMT
Doghouse6RE: Whistle-ing Now if only Christie had written the script we wouldn't be worrying about wandering off-topic (again) teleadmGlad that you read all those Christies. Maybe they should be required reading for American kids so that they could write English as well as you do !
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 16, 2017 20:57:38 GMT
Doghouse6 RE: Whistle-ing Now if only Christie had written the script we wouldn't be worrying about wandering off-topic (again)
I guessed the wrong film! I was sure they were playing Marple and Stringer in To Murder and Murder Not (or, The Case Of the Dead Bee).
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Post by teleadm on Sept 16, 2017 20:59:08 GMT
Doghouse6 RE: Whistle-ing Now if only Christie had written the script we wouldn't be worrying about wandering off-topic (again) teleadm Glad that you read all those Christies. Maybe they should be required reading for American kids so that they could write English as well as you do ! Exchange the Bible for Christie!!!! And make pupils become independent thinkers and come up with solutions before the writer??? Shame on you!!!!
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 16, 2017 21:06:34 GMT
I guessed the wrong film! I was sure they were playing Marple and Stringer in To Murder and Murder Not (or, The Case Of the Dead Bee). Oh, no... You two know that I now have to write To Murder and Murder Not (or, The Case of the Dead Bee), right? Wait for it, wait for it, I'll be making Bogie the main sleuth...
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 16, 2017 21:10:21 GMT
I got such a kick out of seeing Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple .. ya ya I know .. she is NOTHING physically like Jane Marple BUT...the thing I really enjoyed learning was that Mr. Stringer was her real life husband. <whistle>
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 16, 2017 21:17:15 GMT
BATouttaheck I love the Margaret Rutherford Marples too-- Murder Most Foul might have been the first Christie movie I ever saw (either it or the Ustinov Death on the Nile). I think Rutherford makes the character her own, and I appreciate that. I still don't quite understand Murder Ahoy!, though.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 16, 2017 21:34:41 GMT
The reason I post it here is because a reviewer said "Jane Darwell in this movie reminds me of Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple as she solves a crime", never heard of this movie before, made in 1937, Jane Darwell and Sig Ruman, those names alone must have packed the cinemas.
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