If you've been ambling down this trail with me for very long, you know I've had decades-long problems with Golden Age mysteries. One of the problems is just the way it is when one tries to compare apples with oranges. Golden Age mysteries tend to emphasize plot over character, and I'm a reader who prefers character over plot. But I keep plugging away, trying to find mysteries during that time period that I like. I seldom have success-- especially with the Queen, Dame Agatha Christie herself.
But I keep trying because (1) I don't like to fail, (2) she is the Queen of my favorite genre after all, and (3) the television adaptations of her work are some of my favorite viewing. There's gotta be a way!
I am happy to announce that I've finally had a breakthrough. I've learned that if I stay away from novels and read her short stories that I can actually enjoy and appreciate the shorter fiction. It's as though the woman didn't have time to be smug in her short stories (although it did creep into one of the Miss Marple stories I read). I'm so pleased with myself that I'm going to mosey out to the corral and give all those links an extra carrot before I... head 'em up and moooooove 'em out!
►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- The crazy story behind the first book published in the (future) United States.
- How Bullwinkle taught kids sophisticated political satire.
- Anyone besides me remember Marty Robbins?
- On the ubiquitous, economy-shaping, library-defining Billy bookcase.
- The real Winnie-the-Pooh has been revealed to have been a "Growler."
- From Gone Girl to Doctor Foster, the lure of the vengeful woman.
- Why literature's greatest detectives are all obsessed with food.
- How to start a silent book club.
- A brief history of book burning, from the printing press to internet archives.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- Europe's famed bog bodies are starting to reveal their secrets.
- An ancient Egyptian pharaoh may be the first known giant.
- A student found an ancient Canadian village that's 10,000 years older than the Pyramids.
- A skeleton stolen from an underwater cave in Mexico was one of America's oldest.
- Major Roman ruins have been discovered underwater off the coast of Tunisia.
►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
- African wild dogs sneeze to vote on group decisions. Gesundheit!
- Thirty-one adventurous dogs exploring the world.
- Prize-winning images capture birds in all their feathered glory.
- Stress is killing these tiny lemurs, and the story is in their hair.
- A southern Arizona winery is mourning the death of Trevor the Peacock.
- A mysterious Amazon animal has been spotted for the first time in eighty years.
►Fascinating Science◄
- The world's parasites are going extinct, and here's why that's a bad thing.
- How forest forensics could prevent the theft of ancient trees.
- How Zika virus could be used to fight brain cancer.
- The unlikely medical history of chocolate syrup.
- Flexible batteries may soon be printed right on your clothes.
- How getting fish hooked on drugs could help fight opioid addiction.
►The Happy Wanderer◄
- Eleven literary destinations every book lover should visit in the fall.
- The world is running out of...sand?
- I would love to visit this exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum: Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.
- The Hide and Seek World Championship will take over an Italian ghost town.
- Lost languages have been discovered in one of the world's oldest continuously run libraries.
- King's Cross Station was filled with Harry Potter fans for the celebration of a special Back to Hogwarts Day.
- See the most northerly active sand dunes in the world.
►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄
- The seven must-read Sherlock Holmes stories.
- The ten best female detectives in fiction written by women.
- Ten college courses to read along with this semester from your couch.
- Which Stephen King novel are you? (I'm The Shining.)
- Top ten books on postwar France.
- Nine books by women that won the Pulitzer Prize.
- Seventeen movies that are cleverly disguised Shakespeare plays.
- Eleven of the worst marriages in literature.
That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.
Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!
I'm so glad you're finding that you can enjoy Christie's short stories, Cathy. Some of them really are excellent, I think. And she was prolific, so you've got lots to enjoy. Now, while you do that, I'm going to go have a look at that ancient Canadian village...
ReplyDeleteYes. I've read what Miss Marples are available for Kindle, and now I've started on Poirot.
DeleteI can't deal with Christie's writing, racism, anti-Semitism, that I was attuned to at age 19 and that ended my attention to her writings.
ReplyDeleteOn those lists, peculiar inclusions and exclusions. One list claims to be top 10 women detectives in fiction written by women. It includes Alexander McCall Smith's series with Precious Ramotswe. Although this is a wonderful set of books with a fabulous main character, the writer is a man.
Also, it leaves out some of my favorite women detectives: V.I. Warshawski, Irene Huss, and more. If it's going to go global, then it has to be inclusive. And there are so many more if one thinks globally.
Also, the list of women who won Pulitzer prizes omits a lot of women writers. Toni Morrison won for her manificent, heartbreaking book about slavery, "Beloved." Jhumpa Lahira, an Indian-American writer won for "Interpreter of Maladies."
And more are listed at the Pulitzer Prize website.
If people are doing to write lists, they should be inclusive and not leave out top writers. I mean Toni Morrison also won the Nobel Prize for literature for her body of work.
"Beloved," although painful, is one of my lifetime top book selections.
There can be real pain in making lists of that nature. Someone is always going to be left out. Always. I seldom ever entirely agree with the lists other people make when it comes to subjects that are close to my heart, but I respect their choices and make my own list. :-)
DeleteI don't necessarily respect those choices. A lot of one's "favorite women detectives" is one thing. We can agree or not on that as it's subjective.
ReplyDeleteBut on a list of women who won the Pulitzer to leave out Toni Morrison, a leading African-American woman writer, recognized as one of the best writers in the U.S. and world, who later was awarded the Nobel Prize, is wrong.
And to omit Jhumpa Lahiri, a daughter of Indian immigrants, is also wrong.
These awards often are limited and forget about diversity, but in 2017 when people make these lists, major women of color and immigrant voices shouldn't be left out.
Also grating is that the Man Booker Prize finalists were just announced. With the exception of one Pakistani-British author, the rest of the list is limited to white Americans and British authors.
Omitted were Colson Whitehead, highly commended U.S. Black writer; Arundhati Roy, brilliant Indian writer and activist and Zadie Smith, Caribbeean-British writer, also creative and noteworthy.
I wonder when these awards givers and list makers will recognize the need to be inclusive and recognize multi-cultural writers. It's disappointing, like this is going backwards.