Welcome to Litsy!

Catch-up post the last: 🎧 This was my first Christie without Poirot or Marple. Honestly, it dragged quite a bit from middle to end. I think perhaps, it was because I was listening to it. I‘m listening to another now with the same problem. Could just be me.

The plot was completely improbable but the characters, especially Virginia & Anthony, were likable and fun. Bundle, who shows up more fully in The Seven Dials Mystery, is introduced. Again, the casual xenophobia and antisemitism is shocking. My library hold for The Light We Carry came in, so I switched to it for my walking book since I have the Agatha Christie bio on ScribD. #audiowalk

I decided I might like to read my way through Agatha‘s books. Decided I‘d need another lifetime. 😊. So I‘m reading her short series featuring Superintendent Battle. 4 or 5 books I think. All except 1 in local library. I enjoyed this one . Very convoluted ending . Could never have worked out. Enjoyable read.

I‘m in Canada to visit family and this is one of the books I brought. Not my favorite standalone novel, and one of the “twists” at the end felt too convenient rather than being well-written.

Not my favorite…currently my least favorite.

Still very rainy here so tea and Lady Agatha are perfect.

I wanted something easy to listen/read at the end of the year. Agatha Christie isn‘t usually my go to but I know she‘s an author I can expect to somewhat enjoy. And I did somewhat enjoy this.

While not one of her best, I enjoy this; it‘s as close to screwball as she gets.

I might be getting the hang of Agatha Christie's novels. This one has characters I quite like and a solution that I found not entirely unpredictable, which is how I tend to like mysteries. I don't want the reveal to come out of left field, but I also don't want it to be obvious from the start. This novel struck that balance for me. Enjoyed despite the hoity-toity "England's the best and everyone else is a barbarian" overtones.

I would prefer if he sat closer to me, but I can't blame him for wanting to sit in the sunshine. #catsoflitsy

Up to now, I've only listened to audiobooks of Agatha Christie's works. This time, however, I'm using a combination of audio and the print version, which revealed that the audio version omits several instances in the print book of an offensive term for someone of Italian or Spanish descent. I approve of this edit but it makes me wonder how many other offensive terms Christie used that I hadn't noticed because they'd been culled from the audiobook.

Ok, I adore a good British manor house mystery. And Christie is the queen of them.
But. The casual racism and antisemitism is jarring. You are having a great time all snug in the story and then BLAM! And you read and reread the passage like, 'Did she really just say that?' Yes. Yes, she did.
Yes, I know it was a different time, etc. But plenty of people had functioning consciences then, too. Just not her.

First #goodthing of 2021. Today, January 1 is Public Domain Day. A really good day for librarian, reader, writers...
Here are some of the books of 2021. You can read more at https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2021/

I've already read a few of these. I'm putting the Agatha Christie on my 2021 list.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description or reason for wanting to read the book. Some are old and some will be new. Don't judge me - I have a lot of books.
Day 187

#tbrmountain #bookbuyingdiet

Can‘t say I‘m an Agatha Christie fan, but I love mysteries, so I‘m willing to give anything a go. I struggled to get onto this novel. I found the storyline to be very jumpy, and the characters under developed. I loved certain characters and wish there was more time spent on them. I had a hard time following the storyline. There were some areas of promise that didn‘t end up living up to my expectations.

A fun romp where mystery abounds and the characters go bumbling around hilariously. I'll admit I miss Christie's more classic mysteries, but I enjoyed how this all came together!

Another Christie for #classicschallenge2020! Took me a while to get to this one, but I'll try to catch up with #agathachristieclubr2 soon. Roger Ackroyd here I come!

I up to about 9 hours now for #24b4Monday. Hoping for a big reading day tomorrow!!

Finished my first book for #stayhome24in48 #24in48 ...review to come later!

While enjoying breakfast, I continued to read Monogram Murders on my iPad, to keep the clock going.

Starting a reread for me - The Secret of Chimneys

This felt a little like a “who‘s on first?” situation but was great fun to read. I‘m really enjoying this more thriller/caper side of Christie that I haven‘t seen before.

5. Christie made up several elements of European geography, history, and culture for this book, yet used the Koh-i-Noor, a real British crown jewel, for as part of the plot. Why do you think she made these decisions?

#agathachristieclubR2

4. The Secret of Chimneys bears some strong similarities to The Man in the Brown Suit. What similarities did you notice? Which book did you like better? Is it fair for Christie to reuse previous plot points?

#agathachristieclubR2

3. Bundle joins a long list of plucky Christie heroines (don't worry, we'll meet more). Did you like her, especially compared to other plucky it girls from previous books?

#agathachristieclubR2

2. This is the first appearance of Inspector Battle. Did you enjoy his detecting? Do you like him better than Poirot?

#agathachristieclubR2

It's been a rough few days here in Nashville, so I'm late getting questions posted. But I just got word that my power is back on, so hooray!

As a reminder, please tag everyone who has already commented when you post a response to keep the conversation flowing.

1. Did you like the novel? How does it stack up against the other Christie novels we've read so far?

#agathachristieclubR2 @TheAromaofBooks @Librarybelle @AnneCecilie

I‘m so glad I switched to the print version of this book. I started on audio and knew there was going to be a lot going on and it made more sense to read. This book was so good! Such a great Agatha Christie mystery. (The book did have a lot of typos I noticed)

I of course didn‘t guess the mystery, the bad guy or the twist. I always enjoy reading Agatha Christie 💚

#AgathaChristieClubR2

A book that has it all - stolen letters, a murdered diplomat, English, French and American detectives. We meet our hero Anthony Cade and detective Battle. As usual Christie writes a great crime/ thriller.

And the twist at the end caught me by surprise.

#agathachristieclubR2

#BookReport - Only finished 2 books this week and finished them both yesterday. I hate being sick 🤧🤒

This week though, I‘m on the mend and plan to get a ton of reading in to close out the month! I‘m in the mood for a good fantasy, so I‘m hoping Mazes of Power scratches that itch.

#WeeklyForecast

#WeeklyForcast

📚The Christie is next up in #agathachristieclubR2
📚 Start Sweet Sorrow

🎧 Speed up my listening of the third Department Q book. The discussions are March 1 and I have 12,5 hrs left.

A reminder that the #agathachristieclubR2 is reading The Secret of Chimneys in February. We hope you'll join our discussion! Questions will be posted at the end of the month.

Finished The Man in the Brown Suit.....so moving on to The Secret of Chimneys in my quest to read all of Christie‘s writings in publication order. Almost done with The Early Cases of Hercule Poirot. :) My book stand is Chester.

Picked up some books at the library today

The top one, tagged, is February‘s book for #agathachristieR2
The other 3 is from my #NewYearWhoDis! list given to me by @Pricel101

Christmas holidays, day 8, book 10.
About halfway through this one, it‘s a Superintendent Battle, and well into my five hour goal for the day. How is your #24B42020 going?

Exactly as promised having”the ingredients of a light-hearted thriller”- emphasis on “light”. Nothing too deep.

Agatha Christie and Scooby Doo - wonderful Sunday.

My times may be divided but I did it! I loved/really enjoyed 5, one was meh, I dnfed A kiss in time and am still in the middle of two. In total, I read 2208 pages. I love this readathon! #24in48 #24b4monday

Thank you @mabell for this book, a good way to start fall with a cozy mystery.Another story about how Scotland Yard, a French investigator and a man will try to resolve the mystery of 2 murders related with a manuscript and letters.What were the motives? Who were involved?I didn't see the end in one aspect.Written in that typical AC style full of sarcasm and irony😍There are some biased comments but maybe related with the time it was written3.5⭐️

Finally got this finished as I kept getting distracted with other books. Really enjoyed but it didn't suck me in like her other books did.

I am on a Christie tear right now. This is my fifth in two weeks, and I think this one is my favorite. I loved this and loved Hugh Fraser as the narrator.

I got a bit behind with the February book for my Christie chronology.
This book was one of the fun country house 'bright young things' Christie mysteries with Royalty and Romance.

I‘m a bit behind on the #agathachristieclub because it took ages to get my hands on this book without having to buy a copy!

Another fun Christie, but I am ready to start moving into her more enjoyable Miss Marple and Poirot books.

Fulfills #cozymystery for #Booked2018...and with that, I am done with the first season prompts! 🎉🎉

What is a #booknerd to do when a 5 hour commitment finishes early? Why, spend 3 hours of impromptu free time reading of course!!

Wearing my Nevertheless, She Persisted socks in honor of #InternationalWomensDay.

1. My water bottle and mug for the day. ☕️ 💦
2. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 📺
3. Just started the tagged book by Agatha Christie. 📖 Too early to say. And apparently the pause I had on a few holds ended, and now I have a library stack to compete with my #MountTBR stack!
4. Sunny and mild. A little windy. ☀️ 💨
5. Had a navel piercing, but I let it close. Ears. 👂Thinking about a sisters tattoo.

#HumpDayPost (glad it‘s back after a brief hiatus!)

It took me a while to get into this one but once I did I could not put it down. Another great mystery by Dame Agatha. ❤

I've been waiting for this Saturday. It's the first one in a long time where I have nothing to do except lounge and read. ❤

My March #TBR pile. Looks like a good month to me. 😊 A lot of intentional reading. 💟

#booked2018
#BOTM
#BOTMbuddyread
#Litsyclassics
#LitsyAtoZ
#LMPBC

I know a lot of Littens don‘t care for the international intrigue novels, but I found this to be delightful. The characters were great, the story was engaging, and as ever, I did not see the twists coming. Anthony, Virginia, Bundle, and Lord Caterham were absolutely splendid characters. So much fun. All the stars🌟! #agathachristieclub. Oh, and Hugh Fraser is a phenomenal audiobook narrator.

Finished listening to this on on my never ending commute this morning and it was really good! Dame Christie lives up to her reputation with this one. I was guessing until almost the very end and was impressed with the wrap up. I highly recommend this one and the audiobook was awesome! 4/5⭐️#agathachristieclub

More efiling at work today, so listening to another Agatha to try to catch up for with #agathachristieclub. Hugh Fraser is the 4th or 5th narrator I‘ve listened to for Christie‘s novels and he just might be my favorite.