Y'all. This was the last book I finished in October.
PSA: it's December. I've bought a grand total of like, one Christmas present, and I have six blog posts just waiting to be written. My tree is up and there are lights on it (thanks to my husband), but there's a gigantic Rubbermaid bin of ornaments and other decorations sitting open in the middle of my living room. Will my tree be decorated by Christmas Eve? Maybe. Will we still be talking about books I read in 2018 after 2019 has already started? Probably. Let's just keep our expectations nice and low and enjoy the holidays, deal?
Okay, so last year I read my first Agatha Christie and thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided to follow it up this year with her most popular work and the one that has personally been the most recommended to me, And Then There Were None. This, the most difficult of her books to write according to Christie, was published in the UK in 1939 and the US in 1940. More than 100 million copies have been sold, and, not only is it the world's best-selling mystery, it's also just one of the best-selling books of all time. Pretty impressive.
In this book, ten strangers are randomly and somewhat mysteriously summoned to Soldier Island, an isolated rock off the Devon coast. Completely cut off from civilization with no host present to greet them, they are each charged with committing terrible crimes.
And then they start dying, one by one.
Who could the murderer be? Will any of them make it off Soldier Island alive? Will the police ever figure this out? Y'all. I thought Murder on the Orient Express had a masterful ending, but that was child's play compared to And Then There Were None. Christie managed to create the impossible murder mystery and then brought it home in the most incredible (and satisfying) way imaginable.
I have very mixed emotions about this book. Not the actual book itself, but my reading of it. On the one hand, I'm so glad I read it. It is excellent. 10 out of 10 would recommend to a friend. On the other hand, I have absolutely peaked with Christie. It makes total sense to me that this is her most popular book, and I will call you a liar to your face if you tell me there is a better Christie mystery out there.
So how do you follow that up? I still haven't landed at the level of fandom which would compel me to read every book she's ever written, but I do still own three more of her novels. I'm thinking maybe I'll take a break from Christie in 2019 and then put a Miss Marple on my 2020 book list. What are we thinking, friends? Are you fans of Agatha Christie? Should I just keep reading Christie mysteries every year for the rest of my life on earth? So many books, so little time! Give me all the advice.
your level of gush is 100% appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd appreciate it.
DeleteI need to read this. ����
ReplyDeleteIt's so good!
DeleteOK, now I'm kicking myself! I've been wanting to add an Agatha Christie to my TBR, and figured Murder on the Orient Express was the obvious choice. The other day, I saw a copy of And Then There Were None and just passed right by it, didn't pick it up. Darn!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I won't make that mistake again ;)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely grab it the next time you see it!
DeleteI'm so glad you loved it. It's one of those books that's totally worth reading again later, knowing the ending, to see if it works. While it is her best, she still has several others that are famous in their own right and worth reading. I guess it never occurred to me that this was the pinnacle of her work, since I read it for the first time in 9th grade (one of the best summer reading assignments ever). Death on the Nile is one I haven't read yet. The Mysterious Affair at Styles was pretty good (first Hercule Poirot). I need to read some of the Miss Marple ones, but I read The Mirror Crack'd, and it referenced some of her earlier ones, so I didn't get those references. Witness for the Prosecution was a movie based on her work, but I can't remember whether it was from a book or if she wrote the screenplay.
ReplyDeleteI have two Miss Marple books and one other Hercule Poirot. I'm wondering if I should find one other book that doesn't feature Poirot or Miss Marple and then I will have read two of each. Witness for the Prosecution was originally a short story she wrote which she later adapted into a play.
DeleteI've never read an Agatha Christie book. *Waits for shock to clear* Obviously, I need to.
ReplyDeleteListen, my first Agatha Christie was just last year...well actually, the year before last technically. Haha! You should definitely read this one!! Let me know if you want to borrow it. It's a quick read.
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