Agatha Christie: Nemesis

It is the continuation of A Caribbean Mystery, an earlier Miss Marple-story but, despite the quite frequent references back to some events in that story, it is not necessary to know the whole plot of the earlier book to enjoy this one. I liked this, it didn't feel like you were missing something just because you weren't familiar with the events that happened in the Caribbean. It was enough to know that an elderly millionaire had taken part in that journey, just like Miss Marple, and they had solved a murder case together.

Nemesis starts with the same millionaire passing away and leaving a mysterious letter to Miss Marple. He's asking her to solve a case but doesn't give any clues as to which case or even what kind of case the old lady is supposed to solve. So she finds herself in a rather odd situation, she would start investigating but has no idea where to start from. But, as we know, she is a really clever lady and soon enough she finds traces she can follow and eventually unveils the murderer.

I must confess that I could finish this book only for the second try. The first time I started reading it I found it incredibly boring, but then I realised that it was only the first chapter that was boring and after that it became more and more exciting. I think this is the case with all the Miss Marple-stories, the first chapters with her being at home and reading her newspaper or looking at her garden are absolutely boring, but after struggling through those pages you reach the part where something actually happens and you just can't put the book down.

Agatha Christie: Death Comes As the End

I think this book is unique among Angatha Christie's detective novels. It isn't a Poirot-story but it's not a Miss Marple-story either. There isn't an actual detective in it but there are two characters that serve as casi-detectives. They are very observant and eventually are able to figure out who the murderer is.

The story takes place 4000 years ago in the Ancient Egypt. This isn't usual either. It is basically about a wealthier family, their everyday lives, their relationship to one another, their fights and, of course, the tragic deaths that occur among them. It is more or less told from the point of view of the daughter who, after becoming a widow, moves back to her father's house and is determined to behave as if those eight years she had spent away never would have happened, and as if nothing would have changed since then. She has to realise, though that in reality many things did change.

I really liked this book. This is one of those better Agatha Christie novels where at the beginning you are kind of sure who the murderer is but as you progress in the story you are less and less sure and eventually end up suspecting every single character. Even the obviously innocent ones. I also liked that it was set in the distant past. It is obvious that she did a thorough research before writing the book. At least for me everything seemed credible. 

William Dietrich: Napoleon's Pyramids

The book sets in the last years of the 18th century and centres around a mysterious medallion that our hero, Ethan Gage wins in cards in Paris. He has to realise rather quickly, though that what he believed was luck can easily be called misfortune as well. The moment he takes the medal in his hands the number of his enemies suddenly rises and doesn't seem to stop growing throughout the whole work. As a consequence of him winning the medal he has to flee France and soon he finds himself  in Egypt as one of the scientists Napolen has taken along to make examinations and, hopefully, discoveries in different areas. Ethan gets the task of solving the mytery of his medal and finding the "door" it presumably opens. This book was quite a heavy read. It is not only packed with adventures after adventures, turns and twists but also contains interesting pieces of information considering politics, military history, disciplines of freemasonry, the Bible and, of course,  ancient Egypt. You have to concentrate to understand everything, which makes it difficult to proceed quickly. I really liked it, my only compaint is that because of all the things going on it is quite difficult to remember everything that has happened in it. I think this is the type of work that you can read more than once and still find things you didn't notice or fully understand for the first time. As it turned out the book is the first one in a series of three. I think I'm going to read those now so, presuming that they are similarly heavy, don't expect frequent book-entries for a while now.

Agatha Christie: At Bertram's Hotel

Another Agatha Christie-novel and I think there are going to be a few more as my sister has a smaller collection and there are some that I haven't read so far. This is a Miss Marple-story which, I originally thought, meant that I wouldn't like it so much. I was wrong. Comparing to this The Clocks was quite boring. There I was literally struggling through the first half (at least the first third) but here I could hardly put the book down after the first two chapters. I can't really write any more about it. It's an Agatha Christie-book after all, there's a murder, occasionally more, or some mystery and here comes Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot to solve it. I think I might skip "reviewing" other Agatha Christie-works I read as there is really not much to say about them.

Agatha Christie. The Clocks

I think I should start this entry with stating that I'm not an avid Agatha Christie fan. I mean I like her novels, have read a few and have seen some film adaptations but I'm not a huge fan. This means that I'm not familiar with most of her books so it may not be completely true but to me it seemed that this work is somewhat unique. This is a Poirot story but he doesn't really appear in the whole novel, only in a few chapters. Of course it is he who solves the mystery but the ones who actually investigate are a police officer and a young man, an acquaintance of Poirot's.  I don't know it may be characteristic of the later novels where Poirot is older and so to say retired. Anyway, for me it was new. Also, in this story  there are two cases going on, one is the actual murder(s) that is in the centre of the work and the other one is that of the young man who is actually investigating a completely different one. So to sum up: the book is a bit boring at the beginning, it took me a lot of time to get over the first half, but later it becomes more and more exciting, you can hardly put it down. I liked it and I'm considering watching the film adaptation. I'm not sure there is  one but I suppose so.

John D. Macdonald: Free Fall in Crimson

A few months ago I ordered a book on-line, and, as I ordered the same day I registered, I also got three other books as a present. One of them was Free Fall in Crimson by John D. Macdonald. I saw it was a detective story and generally I like those so I chose to read this one first. So about the book: the story itself is interesting and I actually liked it. However, it was written in 1981 and it was so obvious, if I hadn't known it was written in the '80s I would have figured it out after a few pages. I can't actually put my finger on the exact reason why but I actually could see an 80s movie while I was reading it. And it really wouldn't be a problem, but the 80s is my least favourite (OK second least favourite, after the 70s) decade of the 20th century. Anyway, it isn't as big of a problem as it seems from these long lines. The book was also obviously written for men (by a man) and I found some parts way too brutal and some other parts detailing every single move in a fight boring. All in all, it wasn't bad. Interesting story with unexpected turns and unpredictable ending.

The Arabian Nights

An unfinished book from my shelf: the first volume (out of seven) of One Thousand and One Nights. I own this book for quite a long time but never actually read it. I remember reading a few stories back then but I found it overly complicated and hard to follow. To be honest, a few days ago when I took it off my shelf and looked through a few pages I didn't think that I would start reading it, let alone want to finish it. It's true that it is rather difficult to follow. There are tales embedded into tales which have other embedded tales as well. Nevertheless, the stories are interesting and you can learn a few things about Arabian and Islamic culture, legends and their figures. Also, there are a few lines from the Koran. So far I find it really interesting and I'm determined to finish the volume. It's about 800 pages long, so I will have something to read for a while now.

Natalie Scharf: Sophie, Sisi's Little Sister

The first time I saw this book was when my mom and I were shopping for presents before last Christmas. I got curious, since I had read lots of books about Sissy but none about any of her sisters. Plus this particular sister had the same name as I do, and, even if it doesn't make much sense, that made me even more curious.
I got the book for Christmas and finished it within two days, so I guess it goes without saying that I liked it. However, I'm quite sure that it is far from being the true story of her life. It's way too scandalous and it's not really likely that these kind of things happened to a princess in the 19th century.
Despite all of this it was an interesting read. The only thing that annoys me is that the book really made me want to know more about Shopie's real life but I have yet to find a reliable source. I recommend this book but do not expect historical accuracy.

Julia Barrett: The Third Sister

I was bored the other day and looked through the books in my room, hoping that in a miraculous way I would find something I hadn't already read. I managed to find The Third Sister by Julia Barrett. As a note says on the first page, I got it as a present for my 18th birthday from one of my friends. Now that was not yesterday (unfortunately) so I didn't have to worry about remembering the details. (As it turned out, I didn't remember a thing about the storyline, in fact, I start to doubt that I had ever read it). The book is supposed to be the continuation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and the writer indeed does a good job imitating Austen's style, and the usual structure of her stories. Generally speaking I like Jane Austen's works and I liked this book, too. But at the same time they make me smile. I couldn't help but think of how if they were set in the present, most of the big-big problems could be avoided by a phone call, an e-mail, or even a text massage: "Don't trust him, he's evil. Choose the other one." Of course, it would kill all the excitement.