Agatha Christie Short Stories 2024: APRIL #AgathaChristieSS24

How have your #AgathaChristieSS24 so far? I am enjoying mine. Reading short stories as standalones is well worth it! But now we are in the second third of our journey. Here are two stories we are going to read:

HAVE YOU GOT EVERYTHING YOU WANT?

Boarding the Orient Express at the Gare de Lyon, a young woman discovers the presence of the detective Parker Pyne on the train, who is there to solve a jewel robbery that hasn’t happened yet. She thinks she might know the intended victim…

Published in 1934, this story first appeared in the US in Cosmopolitan magazine, and later in the collection of short stories, Parker Pyne Investigates. One interesting fact about this story is that Parker Pyne seems to become Poirot's shadow. Like Poirot, Pyne travels down the Nile and encountered murder. He's travelling on the Orient Express, meeting people in crisis, and even collaborating with Ariadne Oliver to solve the mystery. Not mentioning the appearance of another figure who usually appears in Poirot's stories...

THE TRAGEDY AT MARSDON MANOR

Elderly Mr Maltravers is found dead in a field, with his grieving wife claiming it has been natural causes. But as he recently took out life insurance, the company bring in Poirot to establish if it was suicide. The story was first published in 1924 as a book in the collection Poirot Investigates by Bodley Head.

Which one are you more excited to read? I think I will read the Poirot first, as it sounds rather boring. Then end it with the seemingly more fun Parker Pyne. What about you? ;)

Zoladdiction 2024 Master Post #Zoladdiction2024

Today, April the 2nd, we are celebrating the birthday of one of the greatest French authors in 19th century: Émile Zola, by kicking of Zoladdiction 2024! Bon anniversaire, Monsieur Zola!

We will read and post about Zola and Zola's works the whole month. This time I don't have time to prepare a linky, so please leave a comment with your links below this post. Don't forget to use hashtag #Zoladdiction2024 to share it in social media. I will post a wrap up at the end of the month or early next month, and will include your posts, so please make sure you share them to me.

Now let's grab our book, read, enjoy, and share!

#MurderEveryMonday: Mysteries with "April", "Fool", or Pranks

Murder Every Monday was created by Kate @ Crossexamining Crime and @ArmchairSleuth. Put simply, the plan is for readers to take a photo of a crime fiction book (novel or short story collection) which meets a given week’s theme criteria and to then share it online, using the hashtag #MurderEveryMonday.

This week's theme is:

Crime fiction which includes the words ‘April’ or ‘Fool’ in the title or cover which shows a joke or a prank

The first book has both "April" and Fool" in the title, while the second has only the "Fool". But the third has neither of words nor the cover showing a prank. However, a prank is in the plot - a prank gone wrong, which becomes the method of the murder.


Have your read any of them? Which cover(s) do you like most?

If you want to participate, here's the list of the weekly theme:

Six Books Saturday #8: Favorite Émile Zola's Books

#SixBooksSaturday is my personal monthly bookish meme, inspired by Six Words Saturday, which I've stumbled upon @ Travel with Intent. It's basically to list six books of random category, which I'd decided on the spot. Anything is possible according to my whim. I post Six Books Saturday on last Saturday of each month. If you're interested, you are, of course, welcomed to join me. There's no rule, really. You can post six anything about books.

As Zoladdiction 2024 will begin in two days, it's more than appropriate, methink, to soft-kicking it off by sharing some of my favorites from the Rougon-Macquart cycle. I have read all but one from the series (I couldn't get through with Doctor Pascal - yet) - and even read some of them more than once. So, without further ado, here's my...

SIX FAVORITES FROM ÉMILE ZOLA

1. Germinal

I might have said this over and over again, that Germinal is my all time favorite - not only of Zola, but of all. It has all the elements of what a good book is supposed to be. Here's my first and second review. I'm currently listening to the audiobook for Zoladdiction, let's see what I'll think of Germinal after the third read!

2. L'Assommoir

This one is the most mind-blowing for me. Maybe because it was my first introduction to the Rougon-Macquart. But L'Assommoir is also the most picturesque in the series.

3. La Bete Humaine

Another picturesque book from Zola's bibliography, so vivid and beautiful! And it is dear to me especially since is talks about kind and evil in human being, a topic which I have interest in. Here are some posts which I have dedicated for this book.

4. The Conquest of Plassans

Another masterpiece from Zola, with a surprising twist in the end and a great momentum building. My review.

5. The Ladies Paradise

Who would have thought that Zola would write something with a love story, and a happy ending? Yes, a happy ending - a rare occurrence if you read Zola's. It is the lightest of the Rougon-Macquart and actually quite a fun read! Review of my second reading (listening from the audiobook).

6. The Fortunes of the Rougons

It's the first of the series/cycle, and you know how it usually is - laying the background, foundation, and all. It is also a remarkably entertaining story with various plots following several characters. Some of them would also appear in later books. I have read it first in 2015, then reread it in 2020.


Have you read any of them? Which one is your favorite? If you haven't, which one would you like to read first? You can join us in Zoladdiction 2024 and read it to celebrate Zola's birthday!


Next Six Books Saturday: 27th April 2024.

Brooklyn (2009) by Colm Tóibín #ReadingIrelandMonth24

🔶️ Set in the 1950s of Ireland, the main character is Eilis Lacey, an intelligent young girl of 19, living with her mother and sister Rose. She's learning bookkeeping and wishes to work as bookkeeper, but no works available in their small town of Enniscorthy. Unlike her confident and independent sister Rose, Eilis is more obscure, passive, and obedient. She always do what others tell or expect her to do.

🔶️ Through Rose, a priest who's coming from New York City promised Eilis a job in a department store in Brooklyn. Obedient as always, out to Brooklyn she move, leaving her beloved home town. Not because she really wants it - in fact, she's a bit reluctant to leave - but more because Rose and her mother subtly push her out. Her mother likes Rose better, and is quite the selfish type of a parent.

🔶️ Thanks to Father Flood, Eilis is settled in a respectable boarding house and started her work nicely. She even takes a night classes in bookkeeping, planning to work as accountant later on. But she quickly feels uprooted, lonesome, and doesn't belong anywhere. So, when a young Italian plumber called Tony courts her, Eilis just naturally accepts him in her life. I doubted if she's really in love with him. Tony is head over heels fallen for her, but Eilis is just goes with the flow, so to speak.

🔶️ When she begins to feel happy with her new life, a surprising news came from Ireland, that forces her to come home. Tony persuades her to marry him in secret before leaving, as he knows her so well that her hometown might lure her to never come back to Brooklyn. Once again she complies with his suggestion. Tony wasn't wrong. Her mother once again steers her to marry a local beau, in order to make her settle in Ireland. Eilis never told her mother of her secret marriage, and she keeps procrastinating in making decision whether to stay on her own land, or to return to her husband. For an indecisive person like Eilis, it is rather amusing to see what the ending would be. But it's worth the waiting, as we got to enjoy Tóibín's beautiful writing - warm and engaging.

🔶️ I loved to read Eilis' loneliness and grieve; somehow I could relate with her loved one:

"...that was like how she felt when ... died and she watched them closing the coffin, the feeling that ... would never see the world again and she would never be able to talk to ..." or "...an actual pain that...was dead and there were things like this, ordinary things, that ...would never know, that would not matter to...now." - those are what I've been feeling since my father passed away eight months ago. I'm able to let him go; I believe my father "lives" in peace in heaven now, but I still can't move on from feeling a pang of not being able to talk to him or share anything anymore.

🔶️ Another thing that I could well relate with:
"...Was it difficult being an only child?"
"It matters more now, I think, when my parents are getting older and there's just me..." - How true it is! And so, you can imagine how this book got me to think and reflex a lot. Not only these relatable things, but also personalities of the characters and what induced them to act as they did. Eilis and her mother are interesting individuals; Eilis' habit of procrastinating reminded me much of Lily Bart from The House of Mirth. I'm also amused by Eilis' mother's attempt to keep Eilis at home with her. It seems selfish, but I could understand why. Sometimes you just can't help it.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read this book for:

Reading Ireland Month 2024

Hosted by: Cathy @ 746 Books

The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl by Agatha Christie #AgathaChristieSS24

🧣 Anthony Eastwoods is a crime writer who is in, what we call "a writer's block". He has come up with a catchy title for his next book: "The Mystery of the Second Cucumber" - one that will interest many readers - but couldn't get on with matching plot. Then, one phone call solved his problem.

🧣 Anthony receives a call from a foreign woman asking for help as she's in great danger, mistaken him for somebody else. She gives him an address, and a password: "cucumber". This single word and the weird coincidence pique Antony's curiosity, so he goes there to meet the girl. I won't tell you what he will face, as it will ruin the whole mystery.

🧣 Suffice to say, that this is the most interesting story I've read so far for #AgathaChristieSS24! The adventure is highly engrossing, and the element of surprises are delightful. Anything that you'll imagine is going on, well... I bet the truth will be far away from that. Guess what title and plot Anthony did eventually decide to write! 😉

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Howl's Moving Castle (1986) by Diana Wynne Jones #MarchMagics2024

💙 Fantasy genre is never my cup of tea. Excepting the Harry Potter series, I rarely enjoy fantasy novels as much as, say, crime or literary fiction. But people have been praising Diana Wynne Jones' classic Howl's Moving Castle, and when Chris @ Calmgrove announced the upcoming of March Magics 2024, I thought this is a good time to try it. It is also my choice for the 1986 entry for A Century of Books. Did it exceed my expectation? Not really...

💙 The story is told from the perspective of Sophie Hatter, a 18-year-old eldest girl of three sisters in a magical kingdom of Ingary. Accustomed to the "rule" that an eldest will never succeed, Sophie accepts her dull existence as a hatter in the family shop, with no bright future ahead. Until the Witch of Waste finds her and turns her into an old woman, apparently with no reasonable motive - but that will be part of the mystery.

💙 Ashamed of her condition, Sophie runs away from home, and finds herself in Howl's Castle. Howl is a wizard with notorious reputation as young girls' heartbreaker. He lives in a "castle" which constantly moves, and has several doors which are portals opening to various places. They are bewitched by Howl's fire demon Calcifer. The latter was bound to a contract with Howl, and longs to break it.

💙 Enter poor Sophie, who needs someone to lift the Witch of the Waste's curse, and thinks that Calcifer might do that if she helps him break his contract. She pretends to be a cleaning lady to get to stay in the castle. And thus, the unsophisticated Sophie, who doesn't realize her own magical power, becomes member of the household, which, besides Howl and the fire demon, also consists of an apprentice boy called Michael. A lot of hilarious adventures spring up from these unlikely gang, as the mystery around themselves is slowly unfolding, and the need to conquer their enemies grows.

💙 I wonder whether I'd enjoy this more had I read it as a child - maybe. But I felt like wanting to know a lot more about the character's struggle than the writer permitted. I might have compared this to Harry Potter. The latter swept me to its universe so easily, but I felt none about this one. It is a nice fantasy story, but not as impressive as I would've expected.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Read this book for:

March Magics 2024

hosted by Chris @ Calmgrove