Poirot Investigates. Agatha Christie. 1924/2011. HarperCollins. 256 pages.
I loved Poirot Investigates. Perhaps because I had low expectations? This was my first experience reading Christie's short stories. And since I'm not generally a fan of short stories, I didn't have great expectations for enjoying these fourteen stories. Each story is narrated by Captain Hastings. And he is a character that I tend to love and adore. I've found that Hercule Poirot needs a little help either from Hastings or Ariadne Oliver to help tame his arrogance. I have definitely come to love Hercule Poirot through the mysteries I've read, but, it was a long road for me. It wasn't instantaneous like it was with Miss Marple.
This collection of short stories was originally published in 1925. So it is "early" Poirot. The short stories in this collection are:
The Adventure of the Western Star
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
The Kidnapped Prime Minister
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
The Case of the Missing Will
The Veiled Lady
The Lost Mine
The Chocolate Box
It's not that any one story is amazing or incredible. That's not why I loved this collection. For me it is all about the relationship between Poirot and Hastings. Their conversations. Their friendship. Seeing these two together. There is just something DELIGHTFUL about spending time in their company.
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
We. Yevgeny Zamyatin. Translated by Mirra Ginsburg. 1921/1972*. HarperCollins. 233 pages.
I shall simply copy, word for word, the proclamation that appeared today in the One State Gazette... We is a dystopian novel. I've been wanting to read it for almost as long as I've been blogging.
What did I think of We?
I found the novel interesting but not necessarily comprehensible. I struggled to make sense of this one. (I think I followed about a third of it.) I'm sure I missed much of what was going on simply because I was trying to make sense of this world, this society. Could the problem--for me--be this society's emphasis on math and logic?
The narrator of We is a state mathematician named D-503. (I did figure out that men have a consonant and an odd number; women have a vowel and an even number). Everything is calculated and precise and governed or regulated. Even intimate relationships. D-503 has two registered partners--O-90 and I330. O-90 desperately wants a child, a dream that isn't likely to come true. And I330 is a big, big tease who manipulates men in oh-so-many ways. Perhaps because D-503 cannot understand her at all, cannot predict anything about her, she fascinates him, enslaves him.
So one of D-503's projects is working on the spaceship, Integral. One State has plans to conquer the universe. Perhaps because of what he does, I-330 sees an opportunity to use him to get what she wants...
A human being is like a novel: until the last page you don't know how it will end. Or it wouldn't be worth reading... (162)
Read We
- If you are looking for a literary quality to your science fiction
- If you enjoy a challenge as you read; if you enjoy complexity
- If you are looking to read a science fiction classic
- If you are interested in Russian literature from this time period
*It was first translated into English (according to Wikipedia) in 1924, this translation by Mirra Ginsburg was done in 1972.
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Milne, A.A. 1924. When We Were Very Young. Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard.
I love A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh and House At Pooh Corner. And while these two poetry books, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, can never even come close to the magic of those other books, the all-Pooh-and-friends books, I enjoy them nonetheless. Why? Because Milne can have a way with words. A way of saying the very ordinary in a memorable, sometimes magical way. There's something sentimental about them without being overly sentimental. If that makes any sense at all. Included in this first poetry book, we see "Buckingham Palace," "Lines and Squares," "Independence," "Politeness," "Missing," "Teddy Bear," and "Halfway Down." These are the highlights...for me...the best of the best.
To me, there's no denying the perfection of pieces like "Teddy Bear" and "Halfway Down."
Here's how Teddy Bear starts off:
A bear, however hard he tries,
Grows tubby without exercise.
Our teddy bear is short and fat
Which is not to be wondered at;
He gets what exercise he can
By falling off the ottoman,
But generally seems to lack
The energy to clamber back.
Here's how Halfway Down starts off:
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn't any
Other stair
Quite like
it.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
Have you read When We Were Very Young? Have you read it recently? Do you have a favorite poem or two from it? If you haven't read it yet, you should! Of course, the two Pooh books are most important to read if you haven't read any Milne, but still.
© Becky Laney of
Young Readers
I've been watching some of the Poirot episodes on Netflix (BBC? PBS? not sure), and other than the occasional filler episode, they are a lot of fun to watch.
The tv episodes have helped introduce me to all the recurring characters, so I bet this short story collection would make for some nice summer reading. thanks for reviewing it!