The Big Four - Agatha Christie

This is more a series of mini-adventures than one single novel, in which Hercule Poirot and his devoted friend Hastings try to thwart the plans of an international gang known as the Big Four in the quest for world domination. Despite the global influence of these criminal masterminds, Poirot engages them in a war of minds and strategy that has likely deadly consequences.

The Big Four is one of the most unashamedly entertaining Christie novels I've read, with a Shakespearean penchant for unfathomable disguises, plenty of melodramatic grandstanding, and a few satirical digs at the conventions of mystery-writing.

Seen from the sidekick Hastings' point of view, the reader is kept in the dark for much of the novel, while being given plenty of clues to make guesses at the resolution. A fun, light-hearted read of a detective novel.

Next up: The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (the last in this three-novel volume, and I'll move on to something different!)

Book-to-film polls

I've made a couple of lists of book-to-film adaptations, as I'm interested to see how popular the books and films are in comparison with each other. I'll share the results when I have a fair sample of users.

Take part here: http://www.listchallenges.com/books-with-screen-adaptations
and here: http://www.listchallenges.com/screen-adaptations

The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie

As detective novels go, this one stands out a long way - sinister, well crafted and very surprising, this has to be one of the most interesting Christie novels I've read so far.

A priest is called to the bedside of a dying woman in London, and comes away with a list of names scrawled on a scrap of paper. He is later found clubbed to death, and the mysterious list is the only clue the police have to solve the puzzle. Mark Easterbrook, an academic struggling for inspiration, gets involved tracking down the killer when his recently deceased godmother proves to be one of the names scribbled down. Every name on the list turns out to have recently died of apparently natural causes.

With his accomplice, a spirited young woman named Ginger, Easterbrook is led to a converted inn called the Pale Horse in a small country village, now the home of three women claiming to have occult powers.

Appearing as a supporting character is Mrs Oliver, a wonderfully satirical self-portrait by Christie of an abstracted, rambling mystery novelist, who lends the story a much-needed light-hearted aspect.

Rather than simply attempting to solve a murder, The Pale Horse plays with ideas of the supernatural and discusses fascinating psychological or psychosomatic concepts. Not only that, but the novel is very cleverly constructed, with oblique hints throughout and layers within layers hiding the answer. Very much recommended!


Next up: The Big Four by Agatha Christie

Ross Poldark - Winston Graham

I've had the first 3 novels in this series for a little while now, but the BBC adaptation airing reminded me that I ought to actually read them (or at least the first one) before I watch it.

The titular character, Ross Poldark, returns from fighting in the American civil war to find that his childhood sweetheart is on the brink of marrying his cousin. Plunged into a wave of depression and disillusionment, he cuts himself off from the rest of the family and tries to carve out a life for himself from the ruins of his father's land.

Stylistically, I found this novel a little odd - Graham does an excellent job using the linguistic style of the time period, and his local dialects add a lot of flavour to the text. However, the sense of realism portrayed in the structure of the plot and the sections of unreliable narration during times of great emotion for the characters feel much more modern. Ross Poldark is a convincing historical pastiche language-wise, but tells the story in a modern manner.

It's the start of a typical family saga in that we see the points of view of most of the characters involved, and follow their innermost feelings in great detail for short spaces of time. In that way it reminded me of The Forsyte Saga, in that not very much technically happens, but in a very personal and involving way. The depth and attention to detail in which each character's thoughts are described means that by the end you feel as though you've known all of them personally for a long time.

Now that's finished, I can check out what the BBC adaptation's like!


PS. How fantastic is his matador cape on the cover?


Next up: The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

Terry Pratchett

Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness - Men at Arms

More than 10 years ago, I was lucky enough to meet this wonderful man and heard him speak about writing. It was before his Alzheimer's had begun, and he was sharp, witty and full of self-deprecating humour.

I've read his entire Discworld series at least 3 times, and I'm sorely tempted to do so again now, although I have far too many fresh books to read first.

Alzheimer's is a frighteningly common condition these days, and while I'm lucky enough not to know anyone closely with it (yet), I see so many patients on the ward with dementia on top of their physical problems, and it must be heartbreaking to see someone you love losing part of themselves in front of your eyes, and terrifying to be the one with the condition.

I wish he'd been with us for longer.

Bookcases

This week's Booking Through Thursday is:

In an ideal world, what kind of book cases would you have? Built-ins? Barrister ones with glass doors? The cheapest you could find so you could have lots of them?
And … what kind of bookcases do you REALLY have?

In an ideal world I'd have a cosy wood-fitted library with wall-to-ceiling books (for instance this gorgeous one here:)

In real life, however,  I currently have a fairly random 5 bookcases that I've picked up along the way, including a repurposed bedside table, a children's bookcase I've had since I was about 8, and a wire bathroom shelf that I found on the street with cardboard acting as shelving base, as well as a couple of more traditional bookshelves. Also books balanced on top of said bookcases because 5 just isn't enough to hold all of them...

Film adaptation - Murder on the Orient Express

I read the novel quite a while ago, so watching this adaptation was long overdue. I went for the classic David Suchet 1974 version, and I have to say I love the old-style use of dramatic music to highlight key moments. I also liked the slow pace, which reflects the steady information-gathering of the book, and makes a nice change from modern films and TV where the angle or scene cuts once every few seconds.

For me David Suchet is THE Poirot, and Murder on the Orient Express had plenty of the compassion and understated humour that comes across in the novels. The slower, lingering shots added a wonderful sense of atmosphere.

Appearances by many other talented actors and Christie's signature plot twists made this an entertaining and engaging film to watch, even knowing the ending already. Good gentle fun, a long way from more recent (in my opinion rather stressful) gritty realism.