Thank you for this whole series. You made me appreciate the way her books reveal her interesting and sometimes contradictory, attitude towards xenophobia and moral and social mores reflecting the struggle within British society itself at that time as it was grabbing with those issues. It is sad that her work is not appreciated more in this regard rather than considered just the quintessential entertaining detective stories. Thank you for all the wonderful and insightful commentary. I am so freaking looking forward to dissecting my dear Miss Marple. And YES to the Goodreads group idea!
I enjoyed the series and even though I didn't watch the videos of the books I haven't read yet, I really gain a lot of background/knowledge on Agatha Christie thanks to all your hard work. It's easy when one reads just a Christie every year to miss those common themes in her work. I have read more Miss Marple than what I thought I had, but I'm sure I'll read along with you next year! And I'm sure because I probably already ask, but what is the lipstick you're wearing? It's stunning. And I usually don't comment on it, but your makeup is alwys so beautiful!
Yesss, all aboard for Mission Marple!! And I'm not 100% sure on the lipstick, but I would guess it's The Balm's liquid lipstick in Sentimental. I love that formula ;)
Very interesting point about how Poirot being foreign brings in the xenophobic theme. Poirot suffers, although comically, from that himself, often being on the receiving end of milder forms of it. Love the idea of Poirot’s being a romantic; I was especially drawn to that as a young reader. And really, that kind of points out that Poirot is a more complex character than is usually believed by critics of Christie. I don’t know if you’ve read Sayers, but she also carries a strong theme of bourgeois attitudes toward drug use (among other things), and an enormous emphasis on the “stiff upper lip” British cliche. And yes, absolutely, the best parts of Christie mysteries involves Marple and Poirot using their less “rational” intuition and general, deep knowledge of human nature. Like you, my eldest far prefers Poirot to Marple, feeling that Marple is a bit too snobby and judgmental, while Poirot is more understanding and, yes, romantic. But she will always hold a very special place in my heart. Can’t wait for “Murder at the Vicarage”! It’s my favorite Christie and one of my favorite mysteries of all time. Thank you very much for this project! It’s really been fun watching all the videos.
Thanks for the show. You mention how Christie mentioned drugs in her books. Knowing that Agatha Christie was once a nurse with considerable knowledge of medicine, I think she drew on that experience quite often in her literature. Many murders in her books were committed using drugs or poisons. Just like how she used her family's money concerns in her early life as motives in most of her mystery crimes, she used her knowledge/experience in the medical/medicinal field as well.
Yep, there's a whole book called A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup exploring Christie's use of poisons & drugs in her work... fascinating stuff! Always interesting to see how authorial experience shows up in their books
I rarely comment on UA-cam videos but just wanted to say I really enjoyed this project and thank you so much for sharing it with us. I still haven’t watch the ones I haven’t read yet but excited to come back and hear your thoughts when I do. I also got into reading Poirot in my teens and have recently started reading them again now a decade later in my adulthood. I actually started reading them again around the same time you begun your project, which was kind of cool. You definitely deserve more views and subbies!! I hope this channel continues to grow, because you really do put in so much work into creating content that doesn’t really exist anywhere else on UA-cam and even on podcast. Bravo, love your work
I have so enjoyed this series. Can't wait for mission Marple. Whimsy Wednesday's sound amazing. I love the books and the BBC show from many years ago. Would you also consider doing the rest of Agatha's books at some point?
Although not a member of Goodreads, I'd definitely sign up in order to have some good Christie/Marple discussions :) I've been re-experiencing a lot of Marple recently. I've read all the books (mostly in my teenage years);so I'm now allowing myself the luxury of going through them again in different formats. I've listened to a whole bunch of audio dramatisations with June Whitfield as Marple;and I'm currently reading the graphic novel adaptation of Vicarage. Nonetheless,when January comes around I shall definitely join in the complete re-reading. I look forward to it :) I think you'll find that the 'changing face of society' element is brought more sharply into relief with the quintessentially British Marple than with Poirot. Should make for some interesting insights and discussion fodder. Excellent series,btw. I will revisit it in full (I came in a few months after you started) before Mission Marple.
Yes, I'm really intrigued to see how rereading Marple goes for me! It's been years since I've read her, so we shall see how things progress. Definitely hope you join in! :)
Having watched 'em all, I' was kinda trying to guess what you were going to mention ahah looking forward to Mission Marple & hopefully other mystery novelists!
I could obviously watch you talk about Agatha Christie forever so I'm sad this is drawing to a close :D You know I was wondering recently because I find Poirot kind of irritating, but I wonder if that's deliberate on her part and whether it's actually because he is a foreigner that she made him unlikeable. I think if nothing else, meeting you has made me think more about Agatha Christie and her work rather than just sort of reading them and enjoying the mystery so kudos for that!
What an awesome wrap-up! So much great info on Christie and of course on Poirot, Hastings and British customs/traditions. I'm *so* excited for Mission Marple and have made a list of the books that I don't have. :-D Also excited to hear about the possibility of going through the Dorothy Sayers books; I have Whose Body? on my shelf, but have yet to read it. Have a great weekend!
You made me a big fan of Poirot and Christie this year, and I so look forward to becoming a Marple fan in 2019. Thanks for posting the tentative Marple schedule! I'm not on Goodreads, I follow you (and other BookTubers) only on UA-cam, so I can't say anything about your plan for book clubs on Goodreads.
I admit I have never read a Christie novel, but I love how you shared your takeaways from this project. I especially like how you described Christie's preference for nature over nurture and then how that preference appears in her books. I wonder if that even comes into play with her attitudes on parent/child relationships? It sounds like by the end, maybe she started to embrace the idea of nurture a little more? It is just so interesting to find out more about Christie as a person by looking at the themes and how her attitudes evolved over time, like when you were discussing her handling of adultery. I know very little about Christie, but this made me curious to find out more!
This was an excellent wrap up of what you've noticed from your Poirot reading, I really enjoyed it! You got me thinking on a couple of the points too. Re: xenophobia, it's interesting but I kinda noticed that Christie tends to rail against the generally held stereotype of certain groups, and often uses the reader of the time's prejudices to divert them from the truth. See for example Dr Tanios in Dumb Witness. I feel she mocks a lot of stereotypes in Murder on the Orient Express too. While I can't say she's as progressive as we would like today, I agree with you that she was probably more progressive than a lot of the folk she was surrounded with. It's as though she didn't like people making up stereotypes about other groups; she instead wanted to observe those other groups herself and then from that tended to make up stereotypes of her own, haha. So, she was on the way (ie not blindly accepting what others said for the most part) but not quite there. And she always seems fascinated by people different from herself. I hope that makes sense. The most recent thing I read of hers was Come Tell Me How You Live and I'm probably particularly influenced by that. As far as adultery goes, I find it fascinating that for a woman whose husband left her for another woman in such a devastating way, she tends to write much more complex "man stealing" women, like Linnet in Death on the Nile or Arlena in Evil Under the Sun. It's not that she's necessarily being sympathetic to them, but they are more than just an evil person who goes around stealing husbands/fiances. (Although I find Arlena kinda sympathetic being as she is, well, kinda pathetic. I am a bit of a softy though haha.) Perhaps what happens to them is enough for her 😉. And yay for history nerds! The 20th Century has so many huge societal changes in it for the history lover, and the fact that Christie novels span the best part of the century also make them great for that reason 😊. Can't wait for Mission Marple, I think you are going to find some interesting themes to talk about there too. I am definitely going to read along with the dates. And I've said yes to the Goodreads forum idea, though would be keen for wherever if there are other ideas. I always feel kinda bad taking up so much space in the UA-cam comments 😜. While I have a Goodreads account it's in very poor state (ie I hardly use it), but would definitely dust it off. Oh and just to let you know, tonight my flatmate and I watched Paris is Burning. It was so interesting, we both really enjoyed it!
Ooo, I'm so looking forward to getting to Come Tell Me How You Live! Glad you enjoyed that one. Yes, I absolutely love the way she portrays Arlena, in particular. I find it really quite touching how much empathy she has for Arlena/the type of woman she is... it shows her humanity, I think. Never feel bad about long but thoughtful comments! I love it :) And YESSSS for Paris is Burning! It's such a fascinating look into that period of history, but it's also so thought provoking about what sexuality, class, race, gender, etc. mean for different people Gird your loins for Mission Marple!!!
Thank you for this whole series. You made me appreciate the way her books reveal her interesting and sometimes contradictory, attitude towards xenophobia and moral and social mores reflecting the struggle within British society itself at that time as it was grabbing with those issues. It is sad that her work is not appreciated more in this regard rather than considered just the quintessential entertaining detective stories.
Thank you for all the wonderful and insightful commentary. I am so freaking looking forward to dissecting my dear Miss Marple. And YES to the Goodreads group idea!
Thank you so so much!!! And yay, I'm glad the Goodreads idea wasn't a total flop :)
I enjoyed the series and even though I didn't watch the videos of the books I haven't read yet, I really gain a lot of background/knowledge on Agatha Christie thanks to all your hard work. It's easy when one reads just a Christie every year to miss those common themes in her work.
I have read more Miss Marple than what I thought I had, but I'm sure I'll read along with you next year!
And I'm sure because I probably already ask, but what is the lipstick you're wearing? It's stunning. And I usually don't comment on it, but your makeup is alwys so beautiful!
Yesss, all aboard for Mission Marple!! And I'm not 100% sure on the lipstick, but I would guess it's The Balm's liquid lipstick in Sentimental. I love that formula ;)
Very interesting point about how Poirot being foreign brings in the xenophobic theme. Poirot suffers, although comically, from that himself, often being on the receiving end of milder forms of it.
Love the idea of Poirot’s being a romantic; I was especially drawn to that as a young reader. And really, that kind of points out that Poirot is a more complex character than is usually believed by critics of Christie.
I don’t know if you’ve read Sayers, but she also carries a strong theme of bourgeois attitudes toward drug use (among other things), and an enormous emphasis on the “stiff upper lip” British cliche.
And yes, absolutely, the best parts of Christie mysteries involves Marple and Poirot using their less “rational” intuition and general, deep knowledge of human nature.
Like you, my eldest far prefers Poirot to Marple, feeling that Marple is a bit too snobby and judgmental, while Poirot is more understanding and, yes, romantic. But she will always hold a very special place in my heart. Can’t wait for “Murder at the Vicarage”! It’s my favorite Christie and one of my favorite mysteries of all time.
Thank you very much for this project! It’s really been fun watching all the videos.
Thanks for the show. You mention how Christie mentioned drugs in her books. Knowing that Agatha Christie was once a nurse with considerable knowledge of medicine, I think she drew on that experience quite often in her literature. Many murders in her books were committed using drugs or poisons. Just like how she used her family's money concerns in her early life as motives in most of her mystery crimes, she used her knowledge/experience in the medical/medicinal field as well.
Yep, there's a whole book called A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup exploring Christie's use of poisons & drugs in her work... fascinating stuff! Always interesting to see how authorial experience shows up in their books
I rarely comment on UA-cam videos but just wanted to say I really enjoyed this project and thank you so much for sharing it with us. I still haven’t watch the ones I haven’t read yet but excited to come back and hear your thoughts when I do. I also got into reading Poirot in my teens and have recently started reading them again now a decade later in my adulthood. I actually started reading them again around the same time you begun your project, which was kind of cool. You definitely deserve more views and subbies!! I hope this channel continues to grow, because you really do put in so much work into creating content that doesn’t really exist anywhere else on UA-cam and even on podcast. Bravo, love your work
Thank you so so much!! I really appreciate the love :)
I have so enjoyed this series. Can't wait for mission Marple. Whimsy Wednesday's sound amazing. I love the books and the BBC show from many years ago. Would you also consider doing the rest of Agatha's books at some point?
We shall see! First I gotta get through Marple ;)
This sounds so interesting from a historical perspective! I have maybe read two of her books.
I mean... I obviously support you in any Christie explorations you want to do :)
Although not a member of Goodreads, I'd definitely sign up in order to have some good Christie/Marple discussions :)
I've been re-experiencing a lot of Marple recently. I've read all the books (mostly in my teenage years);so I'm now allowing myself the luxury of going through them again in different formats. I've listened to a whole bunch of audio dramatisations with June Whitfield as Marple;and I'm currently reading the graphic novel adaptation of Vicarage. Nonetheless,when January comes around I shall definitely join in the complete re-reading. I look forward to it :)
I think you'll find that the 'changing face of society' element is brought more sharply into relief with the quintessentially British Marple than with Poirot. Should make for some interesting insights and discussion fodder.
Excellent series,btw. I will revisit it in full (I came in a few months after you started) before Mission Marple.
Yes, I'm really intrigued to see how rereading Marple goes for me! It's been years since I've read her, so we shall see how things progress. Definitely hope you join in! :)
Having watched 'em all, I' was kinda trying to guess what you were going to mention ahah
looking forward to Mission Marple & hopefully other mystery novelists!
YES!! Mission Marple is on like Donkey Kong :)
I could obviously watch you talk about Agatha Christie forever so I'm sad this is drawing to a close :D You know I was wondering recently because I find Poirot kind of irritating, but I wonder if that's deliberate on her part and whether it's actually because he is a foreigner that she made him unlikeable. I think if nothing else, meeting you has made me think more about Agatha Christie and her work rather than just sort of reading them and enjoying the mystery so kudos for that!
I'm glad you've enjoyed! And I hope I've brought a tiny bit of extra love for good old Papa Poirot into your heart ;)
Yeah! And you stimulated my little grey cells, so to speak!
What an awesome wrap-up! So much great info on Christie and of course on Poirot, Hastings and British customs/traditions. I'm *so* excited for Mission Marple and have made a list of the books that I don't have. :-D Also excited to hear about the possibility of going through the Dorothy Sayers books; I have Whose Body? on my shelf, but have yet to read it. Have a great weekend!
YAY! Mission Marple is coming in 2019... get ready! :)
You made me a big fan of Poirot and Christie this year, and I so look forward to becoming a Marple fan in 2019. Thanks for posting the tentative Marple schedule! I'm not on Goodreads, I follow you (and other BookTubers) only on UA-cam, so I can't say anything about your plan for book clubs on Goodreads.
Thank you so much- I hope you can join for Mission Marple!!
I like that you say a lot without being redundant.
I admit I have never read a Christie novel, but I love how you shared your takeaways from this project. I especially like how you described Christie's preference for nature over nurture and then how that preference appears in her books. I wonder if that even comes into play with her attitudes on parent/child relationships? It sounds like by the end, maybe she started to embrace the idea of nurture a little more? It is just so interesting to find out more about Christie as a person by looking at the themes and how her attitudes evolved over time, like when you were discussing her handling of adultery. I know very little about Christie, but this made me curious to find out more!
Nothing makes me happier than making someone curious about Christie, so this is the best comment ever ;)
This was an excellent wrap up of what you've noticed from your Poirot reading, I really enjoyed it! You got me thinking on a couple of the points too.
Re: xenophobia, it's interesting but I kinda noticed that Christie tends to rail against the generally held stereotype of certain groups, and often uses the reader of the time's prejudices to divert them from the truth. See for example Dr Tanios in Dumb Witness. I feel she mocks a lot of stereotypes in Murder on the Orient Express too. While I can't say she's as progressive as we would like today, I agree with you that she was probably more progressive than a lot of the folk she was surrounded with. It's as though she didn't like people making up stereotypes about other groups; she instead wanted to observe those other groups herself and then from that tended to make up stereotypes of her own, haha. So, she was on the way (ie not blindly accepting what others said for the most part) but not quite there. And she always seems fascinated by people different from herself. I hope that makes sense. The most recent thing I read of hers was Come Tell Me How You Live and I'm probably particularly influenced by that.
As far as adultery goes, I find it fascinating that for a woman whose husband left her for another woman in such a devastating way, she tends to write much more complex "man stealing" women, like Linnet in Death on the Nile or Arlena in Evil Under the Sun. It's not that she's necessarily being sympathetic to them, but they are more than just an evil person who goes around stealing husbands/fiances. (Although I find Arlena kinda sympathetic being as she is, well, kinda pathetic. I am a bit of a softy though haha.) Perhaps what happens to them is enough for her 😉.
And yay for history nerds! The 20th Century has so many huge societal changes in it for the history lover, and the fact that Christie novels span the best part of the century also make them great for that reason 😊.
Can't wait for Mission Marple, I think you are going to find some interesting themes to talk about there too. I am definitely going to read along with the dates. And I've said yes to the Goodreads forum idea, though would be keen for wherever if there are other ideas. I always feel kinda bad taking up so much space in the UA-cam comments 😜. While I have a Goodreads account it's in very poor state (ie I hardly use it), but would definitely dust it off.
Oh and just to let you know, tonight my flatmate and I watched Paris is Burning. It was so interesting, we both really enjoyed it!
Ooo, I'm so looking forward to getting to Come Tell Me How You Live! Glad you enjoyed that one. Yes, I absolutely love the way she portrays Arlena, in particular. I find it really quite touching how much empathy she has for Arlena/the type of woman she is... it shows her humanity, I think.
Never feel bad about long but thoughtful comments! I love it :)
And YESSSS for Paris is Burning! It's such a fascinating look into that period of history, but it's also so thought provoking about what sexuality, class, race, gender, etc. mean for different people
Gird your loins for Mission Marple!!!
that Tatianna reference though haha!
Had to ;)