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Miss Marple: The Body in the Library
“I must say,” said Sir Henry ruefully, “that I do dislike the way you reduce us all to a general common denominator.” Miss Marple shook her head sadly. “Human nature is very much the same anywhere, Sir Henry.” p84 Hello! Welcome to the third installment in my Miss Marple blog series. Today, I have the first reread (for me) in The Body in the Library. I liked quite a bit more this time than the first time I read it, and I really enjoyed it! The Book This book is the story of Miss Marple’s friends who wake to find the body of an unknown woman on their library floor.…
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Miss Marple: The Thirteen Problems/The Tuesday Club Murders
“Human nature is always interesting… And it’s curious to see how certain types always tend to act in exactly the same way.” p 167 Hello! Today, I am here to talk about the Miss Marple introduction we deserve, known in the UK as The Thirteen Problems and in the US as The Tuesday Club Murders. And in fact, a few of these short stories did appear in print before the Murder at the Vicarage, so I feel justified in making this statement. The Book I am realizing as I start this reread that I have actually not read a lot of the Miss Marple books in their original form as…
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Weekend Joys in Books and More: January 15th
Happy Friday! I know that I have certainly been shaken by what is happening in the US over the past few weeks. It is a lot to process, and I am trying to take as much time as I can to give both myself and those around me grace as we process the almost insane amount of baggage we are being handed. This week, I have 5 things to help you start your weekend off in the best frame of mind possible. 1.) When I get tense at night and have trouble sleeping, I tend to lean towards soothing audiobooks. My go to is Lord of the Rings, and I…
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Miss Marple: Murder At The Vicarage
“I know that in books it is always the most unlikely person. But I never find that rule applies in real life. There it is so often the obvious that is true.” p 216 Hello!Welcome to the first post of my 2021 Miss Marple read through. In which the choice of first person narration is confusing, we visit St Mary Mead, and the inimitable Jane Marple solves her first case with very little effort and lots of knitting. The character of Jane Marple was inspired by Christie’s grandmother, although “much more fussy and less spinsterish”, and I have always enjoyed her calm, observational style of murder solving. She is the…
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Announcing: The Miss Marple Reread
Hello everyone, For the last couple of years, I have started every year by treating myself to a special edition of something and rereading a classic. Two years ago, I reread all of the Anne of Green Gables series (you can read my final thoughts on that HERE), and last year, I reread all of Jane Austen’s books from a really beautiful boxed set. This year, I am reading Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books! With everything that has happened in 2020, I have found murder mysteries to be weirdly satisfying, and no one is better at weaving entertaining mysteries than the wonderful Agatha Christie. I also found a set of…
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August: diverse genre books (and slumps)
Eek, First of all, where has this summer gone!?! One minute it was June, and now I feel like I blinked and it was September. Honestly this month has been the most “splumpy” I have had this year (although I did get married and write my organization’s annual budget, so perhaps there is a reason for the slump. This month, I have what I consider to be a small success which is that the majority of my books were by BIPOC authors, which leads me to be give you a few recommendations of the diverse author variety, particularly in diverse genre fiction. One of the things I am working on…
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Cozy Mystery Round Up
Every once in a while, I need the book equivalent of a freshly baked cookie, something light, fluffy and without much substance. The books that give me the best “cookie” vibes are almost always “cozy” murder mysteries, especially when they have a female detective. I mean, when the world feels like it is ending, what could be better than reading about bad-ass women who can fix all the problems that they are given and still manage to enjoy themselves? My all time favorite series is the Phryne Fisher series, which was also developed into an absolutely wonderful television show. This series is set in late 1920s Australia and is based…
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My Reading Month: June
Audiobook Gold, Great Sequels and Old Friends
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My Reading Month – Trees and Murder
I feel like I have been coming out of a bit of a fog over the past month – between work and life things, my life has been incredibly crazy over the past year, and it is so lovely to begin to have a little breathing room. I still have not found myself reading all that much over the past month, and have only finished 1 or 2 physical books. This is probably due to the fact that the one of my other obsessions, RuPaul’s Drag Race, has been airing the final episodes of its most recent season, so I have been going down that rabbit hole instead. (Go Big,…
because stories are important
