|
06-22-2000, 08:18 PM | #1 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Agatha Christie
I personally never got hooked by Arthur Conan Doyle. For mystery, when the film-noirish stuff of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler get old, I turn to Agatha Christie. Considering that she's the bestselling author in history, Shakespeare notwithstanding, and that she's not "all money and no literary merit" (*cough* Stephen King *cough*)... and I personally think her plot twists were masterfully devised... let's discuss her.
And Then There Were None is my favorite, even though Poirot wasn't in it. I absolutely loved Murder on the Orient Express too... |
06-22-2000, 09:34 PM | #2 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Agatha Christie
Um, I read a few books of hers, a few years back. I read And Then There Were None and some others I can't remember. The problem with mysteries is that the authors make them so it's impossible to solve. For example, in ATTWN *spoiler warning* it turns out that the judge did it, even though he's dead! (he was "just pretending" or something )
|
06-23-2000, 12:22 AM | #3 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Agatha Christie
Yeah...
But with a lot of Christie's works, it isn't a matter of the reader trying to solve it so much as it is the reader being kept in suspense in anticipation of what the solution really is... BTW this is post #100 in General Lit. |
06-27-2000, 02:07 PM | #4 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Agatha Christie
Hi Iron Parrot,
I am not a big mystery fan (I usually can guess the ending or I don't find it clever enough) but I did read Agatha Christie's "And then There were None" a long time ago and adored it. I was surprised by the ending and I loved how everything lead up to it. Luv Always, Gat |
07-01-2000, 03:32 PM | #5 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Christie
I always thought that she was a lot of fun to read. I like Poirot and his little grey cells. He amuses me.
|
09-24-2000, 08:54 PM | #6 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Christie
I read MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS!
I really enjoyed Peter Ustinov's portrayal of Hercule Poirot in DEATH ON THE NILE! Sadly, I've never seen the other movie he did and have forgotten the name of it! |
09-24-2000, 11:59 PM | #7 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Christie
I've never been much of a mystery fan. I have one Christie novel, And Then there were None, but I've never read it.
|
10-04-2000, 09:53 PM | #8 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Christie
I also like Hercules Poirot.
Oh, and I love Stephen King. |
10-17-2000, 10:41 PM | #9 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Agatha Christie
Is anyone here familiar with the play veresion of And Then There Were None? Agatha Christie wrote it herself and she completely changed the ending!!! She does that with a lot of her plays, actually.
I once read (don't remember where, sorry) that Agatha Christie deliberately wrote her novels in such a way that any one of three or so characters could be the murderer. That's why it's impossible to guess. This doesn't really seem fair to the reader, but since when does the reader actually want to figure out the solution before the detective? I know, I know, I try to figure it out, too, but my real hope is to be completely surprised. |
12-19-2004, 04:11 AM | #10 | |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: I dwell in possibility.
Posts: 247
|
Quote:
__________________
"...then how shall I Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy, Which linger yet about lone gothic arches, In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?" Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum. |
|
12-26-2004, 09:26 PM | #11 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The Internet
Posts: 803
|
yes, I completely agree.
|
01-26-2005, 06:44 PM | #12 | |
Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
|
Quote:
Christie is not in the same league as, say, Austen, but for me, her books are good brainless fun. Even tho I know "who done it", I still enjoy reading them, esp. for her little dashes of humor and her way of making you picture her characters.
__________________
. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç Ã¥ â„¢ æ ♪ ?* "How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
|
01-28-2005, 12:17 AM | #13 | |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: I dwell in possibility.
Posts: 247
|
Quote:
I didn't like Nine Tailors at all... the ending just bugged me in a big way.
__________________
"...then how shall I Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy, Which linger yet about lone gothic arches, In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?" Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum. |
|
01-28-2005, 02:36 AM | #14 |
Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
|
Nine Tailors - I don't remember that one... There's a few I actually threw away after I read them, but I must have about 20 or 25 still, and I'll pick one up every once in awhile and enjoy it.
__________________
. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç Ã¥ â„¢ æ ♪ ?* "How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
10-18-2000, 11:55 AM | #15 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Agatha Christie
I have always felt that the mystery reader who reads soley to figure out who did it is little more than a myth. Ideally, one wants to figure it out every once and a while, but not very often. Otherwise, the author only comes across as too obvious. Put another way, one can only feel clever when one has been tricked by the author in question before.
I love Agatha Christie. I only figured out a relatively small number of her plots. And, they are not so obvious that I necessarily remember right away when rereading a long time afterwards. |
06-14-2001, 02:09 PM | #16 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: Agatha Christie
I always like how complex the mysteries are. So far I haven't guessed the murderer and/or thief-yet ( I'm on the Regetta Mystery). I also love how instead of have just one super detective (can anyone say Sherlock Holmes, though I like him as well, and if you read him don't get an abridged edition, those are all horrible, cutting out every detail and leaving the bare basics). Instead she has three main detectives: Hercule Poirot, Miss Maple, and finally Christopher Pine who isa sometimes a detective and sometimes isn't.
|
05-05-2002, 05:52 AM | #17 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 146
|
I'm not familiar with the play version "And Then There Were None" but I've seen the film.
Christie is a great writer in her own "write" (de deh cxha), no I've not missssspelllttt it (see brackets). But in her books, particularly her earlier ones she seems to copy A.C.Doyle's work.
__________________
"A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent." |
05-05-2002, 11:19 AM | #18 |
An enigma in a conundrum
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 6,476
|
Oh, everything she wrote was marvelously crafted. How about "Murder Most Foul" or "Murder in the Mews" two favorites.
__________________
Vizzini: "HE DIDN'T FALL?! INCONCEIVABLE!!" Inigo: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." |
05-17-2002, 09:55 PM | #19 |
Padawan
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: The Barony of Carolingia
Posts: 2,176
|
i've read "And Then There Were None", and i loved it! i recently started reading "The Mirror Crack'd", although i didn't get very far because i was sidetracked by the excerpt from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shalott" in the beginning, from which the title of the book is derived. I then began memorizing The Lady of Shalott, and i haven't opened "The Mirror Crack'd" in 3 months because of it! Dame Christie is an excellent author, and i like to try to figure out who did it although i never can.
__________________
There are only four questions of value in life: What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same: ONLY LOVE. Dance as though nobody's watching. Sing as though nobody's listening. Dream as though you'll live forever. Live as though you'll die tomorrow. EIDRIORCQWSDAKLMEDDCWWTIWOATTOPWFIO and proud! FRODO LIVES!!!!! |
05-19-2002, 11:36 AM | #20 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Tring, Herts, England
Posts: 582
|
Agatha Christie is a very good author. My favourite book is definitely Sparking Cyanide. I prefer Hastings to Poirot - he's more human.
__________________
Entmoot Resident Bard #2 Wielder of the shiny fire extinguisher Worshipper of the divine cheesecake Hamsters and Rangers everywhere, rejoice!!! Minsc, Baldur's Gate 2 Children, don't take drugs. Become a pop star, then people give them to you for free!!! - Billy Mack, Love Actually. While I'm sure the nice people from the local archery club meant well, a moment's consideration would have made them realise that giving my friend and I lethal weapons was probably not a good idea! Dammit, eyeliner and dreadlocks should not be that sexy! |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Tolkien Lover Anonymous 3, The Sil(ly)marillion | Willow Oran | RPG Forum | 583 | 11-27-2005 10:06 PM |
Paper topics for English Lit | Mercutio | General Literature | 30 | 06-09-2005 10:55 PM |