Author: Agatha Christie
I have always wanted to read every book, short story, and play she wrote in publication order. When I was younger this was almost impossible as there were so many, and our small town library did not have them all. And the small town I grew up in did not have a bookshop. I had a written list in my purse with titles I owned marked off. I was always trolling yard sales for Christie books I didn't have. Then life got in the way....I married, had a son, got divorced, worked full time.....reading took a back seat to life. Now that the kids are grown, and life is a bit less hectic, I have more time to pursue things I find interesting. And it's so much easier to find books now....between public libraries, bookshops, online ordering, web sites and ebooks/audiobooks...I can access any book I want quickly and easily! I still work full time, and I have a household to run....but I manage to find time to enjoy books now that I don't have little ones to tend to. So, I decided this year was The Year. I was finally going to start: Agatha Christie in publication order. Everything. Every word I could possibly dredge up. I won't finish this year....but I have started and I am LOVING it!!
I was so excited when I finally got to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in my Christie quest. I can still remember the first time I read this book. The ending caught me completely by surprise and I was just caught up in how perfectly Christie had totally tricked me! :) Reading this book was like visiting an old friend that you haven't seen in a long time. I listened to the audio version. Hearing the story unfold just added another layer to a superbly written mystery novel!! The Murder of Roger Ackroyd -- even though it was first published almost 100 years ago -- is still one of the best mystery stories ever written. It is seen by many to be her masterpiece....although I think And Then There Were None might just have the edge on that title. Either way, Christie's superb writing in Ackroyd had a profound effect on the mystery genre.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was first published in the UK and US in June 1926. The book was adapted into a play and also had several radio performances, plus a television adaptation by ITV in 2000 and in graphic novel format in 2007 (HarperCollins) The television adaption was enjoyable, but made too many changes to the story line for my taste. David Suchet is superb as Poirot as usual...but the script deviated from Christie's original a bit too much. The story is perfect as it is.....why mess with it??
The audio book I listened to was very enjoyable. Narrated by Hugh Fraser, the audio is just shy of 7 hours. Fraser gives a good performance. Definitely entertaining!
On to the next -- Next up another Poirot novel: The Big Four!
No comments:
Post a Comment