The Many Years of Agatha #2018

(William Andrew Loomis, Woman in Yellow Shirt Reading, from this charming blog called Reading & Art.)

Hello friends,

We are so excited for a new year and all the new ideas bubbling around in our little heads for Agatha and books and you guys and here we are to finally share them!

First, regarding Agatha: 
We, like you, are clearly having trouble quitting dear Agatha even though we've spent so much time with her already. This year we've decided to do a couple things, and the first is to take an opportunity to recommend to each other some favorites that we each read on our own the first time around, swap books, and chat about those favorites from the other mindtwin's perspective. Emily hates that she missed reading The Murder at the Vicarage and The Moving Finger, and Audrey is tickled to pick up The Man in the Brown Suit and 4:50 from Paddington. You'll find the schedule of the books we'll be revisiting each month where you always do on the blog, and you'll also be seeing evidence of the reading on our social media accounts per usual. We hope those of you who are newer to Agatha's work will drop in and join us when we're working on one you're eager to read, and share your thoughts with us here or on social media! And of course, because we truly love them and can't stop staring at them, we will also continue sharing our favorite vintage copies on Instagram and Facebook.

Second, regarding other authors:
We, like you, really like books and have enormous to-be-read stacks that seem to grow almost on their own! We know it can be a bit jarring for an account you come to for one thing (Agatha Christie, for example) to flip the script periodically and try to move in different directions, so we've decided to add a second venture to the Mindtwins Media Empire (to quote Jon Lovett #FriendsofthePod, we're working on becoming media moguls), which we've decided to call #drumrollplease... The Book & Cover! 

The Book & Cover will be a second blog and set of social media accounts where we will each review and recommend books by current authors and share more gorgeous cover art along the way (because we are obsessed)! Each of us will be reading, reviewing, and recommending a book each month, either a new release or a book newly released in paperback (listen, we're all on a bit of a book budget and sometimes we just gotta wait for that PB!). You know us; We're not here to be snobby about what's cool to read, to pretend we know more than professional authors about how a good book is composed, or to ruin your experience of reading a book with silly spoilers. We get asked all the time what we're reading now, and what we can recommend folks pick up when they're in their local book shops, so we're excited to share that type of info with our pals here, on #bookstagram, and elsewhere, about new books we're truly pumped about, and to hear your #thoughtzandfeelingz about them as well.

IN CONCLUSION, IN WITH THE SAME, IN WITH THE NEW, we like to say, and we'll be here doing more of what we love for as long as you'll have us (and books). What a world we're living in right now, and what an opportunity our writer friends offer us to imagine new things, visualize magical places, feel a different person's feelings, and escape our everyday. To quote one of us from Twitter in response to a favorite author's (#CharlesFinch) lament about whether it's right to create art right now, we say that without our writers and artists, everything stops. We stop, in our exploring, and considering of perspectives and moving forward day after day. What our author friends do is vital, and we're here to shout it. As Emily Mandel wrote in Station Eleven, "survival is insufficient!" So we're here to celebrate writers, old and new, on as many platforms as we need to, and we hope you'll keep joining us and adding your voices to the revelry.

Cheers, loves, we are ever,

-E. & A.

Wrapping up: The Conclusion of the First Year of Agatha | Our Thoughtz & Feelingz

Hi everyone,

First of all, if you're out there, THANK YOU for reading the blog, following us on social media, buying tshirts, sharing your thoughts, opinions, and photos, and generally being there. The experience of The Year of Agatha has been fascinating and fun and enlightening and empowering and so much more, so we wanted to share some of our #THOUGHTZANDFEELINGZ after this epic year!

Broadly speaking, though we're both admitted bibliophiles, this project has forced us to prioritize reading despite our busy lives working full-time jobs, finishing graduate programs, teaching classes, and (for one of us) planning a wedding! The way we divided the books allowed us each to read a little over one book a week for the entire year, sometimes both reading the same mystery at the same time, sometimes reading different books during the week. We both realized that a lot of the time we spend in boring meetings, riding public transportation, waiting for a friend to meet you for dinner, etc. (which these days we all often spend scrolling mindlessly through our phones) can instead be put to good use as little nuggets of reading time. While we both love television (especially the streaming variety) and would never malign it, making so much time for reading also had us being more mindful of our other media consumption as well. Not to mention an all-consuming project such as this one has been a great ice breaker at parties and in job interviews!

Obviously, reading all of Agatha's mysteries between the two of us in itself has been a really delightful experience. Her books are timeless, the plots engaging, the characters funny, terrifying, clever, alive, and the twists are brilliant, even a hundred years later. We each wanted to share some thoughts about Agatha's books after this year with her work, as well as an oft-requested list of each of our five favorites.

Emily
I was a little less familiar with Agatha's work than Aud going into this year, so many of the books were totally new to me. Knowing Agatha was so renowned as an author, I went into the experience expecting to be impressed. However, after reading 52 of her books over the course of the year, I am just straight-up bowled over by her mind. She has such a talent for creating an engaging plot that hooks you like a melody and keeps you turning the pages that in the few books that aren't quite as catchy, you're totally shocked to be underwhelmed. She is the Queen of Mystery because she has a gift like none other for creating tale after tale with so many quality red herrings and plot twists that even her most avid readers are still kept guessing. I think one of the things I've enjoyed the most about the books, though, is Agatha's skill with dialogue. Creating dialogue between characters that sounds natural and not stilted is terribly tricky, and so many of Agatha's books contain funny, or chilling (or both!) conversations that really advance the plot. She knew people, and how they would interpret situations or conversations or clues. She knew how to explain motives, as well as painting a picture of settings and scenes that could be as cozy as a little, flower-covered English cottage or as bleak as a windswept seaside cliff. She knew what would matter to readers, and what readers would believe mattered to characters. Getting to know her through her work this year has been really something.

After an agonizing narrowing down process, here are  my five favorites, in no particular order: 
1) The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence at their finest, the witty dialogue bubbles like champagne and the action races along, I read this one in one night, staying up way past my bedtime to find out what happened!)
2) 4:50 to Paddingdon (This one is such a good solid mystery, and I loved Lucy Eyelesbarrow, Miss Marple's adorable, clever, brave sidekick who can make dinner for the landed gentry and track down a dead body all in one night without batting an eye #girlboss, plus this is a great Miss Marple, whom I now seriously adore)
3) Endless Night (IT'S SO GOOD AND CREEPY!! I love how deep into character Agatha went to get into the narrative of this story, and what a great sneaky plot it is. Terrifically well done. I'm not a big Halloween person, but I think I'll read this one around that time every year!)
4) And Then There Were None (There is seriously no two ways about it, in my mind, this book is brilliant. I've already shared it with so many friends who have different tastes in books, but they all race through it and proclaim it great. The character development is top notch, the setting is ominous and terrifically well painted, and the reveal is oooh, excellent. An absolute classic.)
5) The Seven Dials Mystery (This was one of  my earliest reads, and a story I was totally unfamiliar with. It's a very interesting set-up, with a mysterious secret society, and its more of a caper, which I really enjoy, but what I liked most was the plucky heroine Bundle Brent, who didn't mind what any man told her was her role, and did as she pleased with calm and cunning. Another #girlboss I adored.)

Audrey
As I've said time and time again (sorry, #brokenrecord), I've been an Agatha Christie fan for a long time now. The thought did cross my mind for a quick second back at the beginning of last year whether or not I would be bored re-reading books I had devoured as a teenager. I couldn't have been more wrong. Spending this year revisiting my favorite author has been the most delightful experience - even more so to share it with one of my dearest friends! There's nothing quite like having a good friend to discuss books with! Not only have I loved my midnight text marathons with Emily about that ending to Sparkling Cyanide I forgot about or Hastings' latest crush, but the Agatha Christie community we have found here on the blog and on social media has given me an even deeper level of enjoyment of Agatha's works. I've loved reading reactions from our #bookstagram pals as they've reached the end of Roger Ackroyd or shared their love for some of my more obscure favorites. Reading is one of my deepest joys, and it warms my heart to no end to have dedicated this year to a genre and an author I have admired for so long!

And now on to my favorites: (Like Emily, this took me FOREVER to decide! I ended up sharing some of my more surprising favorites, because honestly, they're just all so great.)
1) The Murder at the Vicarage (I can't say this enough: go read this book pronto. It has some of the funniest lines I think Agatha ever wrote. And Griselda Clement is literally my hero.)
2) A Pocket Full of Rye (A surprising favorite for me! This year taught me I am more of a Marple fan than a Poirot fan when it comes to the books [even though I adore David Suchet's Poirot performances more than I can say!], and I thought this portrayal of Miss Marple avenging her murdered maid was one of her best!)
3) Crooked House (This book is just terrific. Like And Then There Were None, this was a case where a standalone novel without Agatha's usual crime fighters was a home run. Agatha does creepy/dysfunctional families well, and this was, in my opinion, perhaps her best. Add to that one of the most mind boggling endings and you have a true classic!)
4) Cat Among the Pigeons (Even though Poirot has basically no page time in this later Agatha novel, I really loved the angsty and very realistic teenage girl characters that made up the majority of the story.)
5) Murder in Mesopotamia (This was always one of my favorite Poirot TV adaptations, so I was primed to love this book. While the mystery itself isn't necessarily earth shattering, the Middle Eastern setting is so much fun, and you can tell it was very dear to Agatha's heart.)


People have asked all year if we're "tired of it" yet, and perhaps surprisingly (aside from short story droughts, oof) the answer has always been no. This project has been a joy and an inspiration, for reals, from beginning to end. Which is why we aren't really going to let it end! Our next post will offer our plans for The Year of Agatha, phase two, in 2017. We hope you'll continue to follow us as we make our way further through the world of mysteries and crime fiction!

- E. & A.

Papa Poirot Gets Protective: Peril at End House | 1931

(image from here)

"You are in danger - grave danger. I tell to you. I! And you do not know who I am?" -Hercule Poirot, Peril at End House, p. 23

We have come to the end of our first #YOAreadalong! Thanks so much to those of you who read Peril at End House with us this week - it was so fun to hear your thoughts and become better acquainted over Agatha! Also - stay tuned for the winner of our #giveaway announcement in the next few days! And, for those of you who haven't had a chance to read Peril yet, fear not! We will still give you our recap for this week, and you can join us for our next #YOAreadalong, Murder on the Orient Express!

The Sum of It:

Hercule Poirot is still "retired", but is happily reunited with his bestie Hastings for a seaside vacay. While getting their resort on, Poirot literally stumbles upon a cute girl named Nick Buckley who, while they are chatting, is nearly killed by a stray bullet. Poirot is obviously concerned for her safety and goes into full Papa Poirot mode and makes it his life mission to keep her out of harm's way. Nick is a little apprehensive (and sassy) at first about this total random foreign stranger making his way into her life and insisting that someone is trying to #MURDER her, but after Poirot has Hastings explain to Nick just exactly who they are dealing with (THE Poirot!), she takes him seriously.

Poirot suggests she find a fairly dull, yet reliable, friend to come stay with her to make sure there's no more attempted murder funny business going on so Nick says I HAVE JUST THE GIRL! Aka, her cousin Maggie. However, Cousin Maggie has been at Nick's fairly crumbly mansion, End House, for not even 24 hours when she is found #MURDERED, and apparently mistaken for Nick when she is killed! Poirot, feeling fairly devastated that he was not able to prevent this death from happening under his nose, vows to track down the killer before they are able to knock off their intended target.

Nick has surrounded herself with quite the cast of characters who sound like a real bunch of #newromantics in her crumbly old house, including Nick's cousin Mr. Vyse, a lawyer whom Hastings is immediately suspicious of on account of his being a lawyer and having blonde hair and an impassive face, Commander Challenger, a stalwart military man with a suntanned face and a not-so-secret love for Nick, Freddie (aka Frederica), Nick's alternatively zen and spastic (#cocaine) bff, and Mr. Lazarus, a glamorous and wealthy art dealer who is Freddie's not-so-secret man on the side. Nick is renting the lodge on her property to some VERY AUSTRALIAN AUSTRALIANS (Poirot finds them suspicious because they seem toooo sincere). Some characters outside the frame include Nick's secret lover, a wealthy, Lindbergh-style pilot trying to fly around the world, and Freddie's erstwhile husband. We also get to see Inspector Japp!

To help with sorting out all the potential suspects, Poirot creates a list of possible baddies, A-J, item J being someone who exists but is unknown. Nick gets locked up in a hospital (for her own protection), and Poirot gets down to business with the investigating, at one point even making Hastings pretend to be a medium conducting a seance (blessed Hastings), before revealing a red herring or two AND surprising everyone with the #DARKTRUTH in the end.

Because that's what we all do on our seaside vacays.

The YOA Treatment:

Though there are a million things we could touch on, we want to leave some of the discussion to you guys! A few things we want to highlight:

>The Agatha Wrap Up: one of the things that is just so deliciously satisfying about Agatha Christie novels is how you rarely (if ever!) have lingering questions after you finish the book. Each detail of the storyline is there for a reason, and if it isn't there to bring color or character to the plot, you're going to find out why it's included before the book is done. One reader (Kelly) pointed out that Agatha goes to the trouble of resolving a minor, minor plot point at the very end of Peril and how pleasant it is to end on that kind of note.

>Sassy Poirot: Poirot is particularly sassy in this book. He and Hastings have their typical bickering, but it's at new heights during their End House adventures. Poirot is calling Hastings his "faithful dog", turning up his nose at English breakfasts, and makes a passionate plea for Hastings to get a Poirot-esque mustache (and to part his hair in the middle so as to be more symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing). Hastings observes that he repressed a "shudder at the thought." We also get some standard Poirot-to-Hastings zingers, including: "Hastings has a singularly beautiful nature. It has been the greatest hindrance to me at times." Of himself, Poirot cutely says, "I am convinced that le bon Dieu created Hercule Poirot for the express purpose of interfering. It is my metier."

>Classic Hastings: Hastings has previously revealed himself to be 100% certain of many things, and as a general rule he is almost always wrong and then totally baffled by his own wrongness. Poirot has picked up on this trend, saying to his friend after a particularly certain character assessment: "You have an extraordinary effect on me, Hastings. You have so strongly the flair in the wrong direction that I am almost tempted to go by it!" Hastings also recounts his own bafflement in an adorable story about Poirot's one failed case, saying "And I smiled, for at the time that Poirot told me that tale, he had instructed me to say "chocolate box" to him if ever I should fancy he was growing conceited! He was then bitterly offended when I used the magical words only a minute and a quarter later." So mysterious can't imagine why Poirot was annoyed by that.

>Style: This feels like quintessential Agatha and Poirot. The storytelling is pretty tight, although not quite at its zenith, and the mystery offers the classic set of twists at the end that leave you marveling at Agatha's creativity. Though some of the red herrings just FEEL like red herrings, it's fantastic how she ties them into the story so that even though they're not the main solution to the mystery, they are a part of the whole in a really clever way.

We also get a little more of a look into some of the big questions one could consider in mystery writing. In her autobiography, Agatha mentions that she is much more interested in the victim of the crime than the perpetrator. In this book, Poirot shares this perspective as he is discussing one of the many attempts on Nick's life, saying to her "For me -- I have different work to perform. I have the innocent to think of, not the guilty -- the victim, not the criminal." But this doesn't mean that Poirot isn't also trying to get into the psyche of the murderer. As he is trying to work through all his theories with the trusty Hastings, he exclaims "Motive!", saying "Let us come back to that, and regard this problem calmly and methodically. To begin with, how many kinds of motive are there for murder? What are the motives which lead one human being to take another human being's life?"

What did you love or hate about the book?? If this is your first Agatha reading experience, are you hooked? Did you already run out to your local book store or fire up the ol' Amazon account and grab some more? Will you join us for our next #YOAreadalong?? TELL US ALL YOUR THOUGHTZ AND FEELINGZ!!