BIC book club!

[prettyinpa]

Some of us here have expressed an interest in a book club, myself, @mermadelove, @LCResz, @ZombieMetroAnt, @Mcakes. If you'd be interested in joining, reply below. My initial thought was to mail the books around but if it means that some people can't participate, then I'm all for dropping that requirement. I'd love this to be a place where we nominate our favorite book and others can read it and comment. Something fun for the new year!  ETA: the booklist:

1. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (16)
1. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (16)
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (13)
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (11)
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (11)
4. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (11)
7. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (10)
7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (10)
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (10) Discussion begins 8-13.
7. The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck (10) Discussion begin 9-2.
11. The Fault in our Stars by John Green (9) Time to discuss 9-26
11. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (9) Now discussing below.
11. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (9)
11. What Happened by Hilary Clinton (9) Now discussing below.
11. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (9) Start reading now.
11. The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay Ashford (9)
11. milk and honey by Rupi Kaur (9)
18. A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (8)
18. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (8)
18. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (8)
18. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (8)
18. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence (8)
18. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (8)
18. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (8)
18. The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg (8)
18. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (8)
18. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (8)
18. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (8)
18. The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory (8)

Participants in spoiler

Spoiler

Participants:

PrettyinPA

AlexaSteph

Beadshopgirl

LCResz

Kim888

SoBeautiful

Fatimamummy

ZombieMetroAnt

PalomaFoster

k617

bakeamuffin
Susubee
Skcfan
Lazybeautybeast
SpaceLlama
greeneyedgirl107

Mermadelove
Mcakes
Aaliaa
Serenely
Myinsidevoice
MissPuff
juliehnguyen
lmi82
Knowledgebeauty
Titian06
quspork
darlyndar
KellW
misscg
EuniceO
Elles117
ClassicallyFab
ShiraBT
melanito
Heylady14
ChicagoEngineer
Imightneedthis
PrettyPaint
rachface2921

[MissPuff]

@prettyinpa, @mermadelove Me too! I've loved how the past couple of years women like Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington have just been like F It, we're going to start our own production companies and back our own projects rather than having Hollywood tell them they're not good enough. I've also loved Kerry Washington since "Save the Last Dance" 🙂 

[mermadelove]

@MissPuff I think the more ladies that so that in Hollywood and elsewhere, the better!!!

[mermadelove]

@prettyinpa @MissPuff  I have to say both of those ladies are awesome so it will be very interesting to see this!!!!!!! I loved the book so...!

[Titian06]

I received notification from my library today that an e-copy of Little Fires Everywhere is now available for me to read!  I was 83 on a waiting list for 22 copies.

[mermadelove]

I have to say I’m shocked at how many people were not so info this book. I thought it was just me because I sometimes have to take a pause after reading a book I think is really amazing that I really enjoyed because everything else seems lame in comparison for a while. Considering Agatha Christie’s reputation and the book’s status as a classic, I just expected more rave reviews. 

[Tamara76]

@mermadelove @prettyinpa I loved Murder on the Orient Express!  Finally finished reading and realized I had read it before, but definitely enjoyed it again!  I love what you said about being a pioneer in the mystery genre, which is actually a reason I love Agatha Christie so much!  I am also a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for similar reasons!   Great read!❤️❤️❤️

[prettyinpa]

@mermadelove- I wonder if it's standing is based on being a pioneer in mystery analysis. Now everyone and their dog has written books in this style and it's passe. I can think of a lot of writers that have done murder mysteries better, but maybe in it's day it was a big thing.

[mermadelove]

@prettyinpa. That is an excellent point!!!!

[melanito]

I really liked ending to Orient Express. Like she knew how to write a good mystery...though I found read boring since its all an analysis. I read it right after The Woman in Cabin 10 and found that to be a much more riveting and nail biting read. It's crazy if your book talks about how many Agatha Christie books have been sold. Like only beat by Harry Potter.

[sabrinas]

@melanito I just finished reading last night and actually didnt like the ending, it felt like it just stopped without any actual resolution, and so much analysis for such a lack luster ending!

I do agree the book was slightly boring, however it did keep me interested enough to finish it in less than a week!

[prettyinpa]

@Tamara76-  What an odd thing to counterfeit, a book? Just doesn't seem to be any money there, not like counterfeit cosmetics or purses. Strange what some people will do!

At any rate, since today's the 23, I'm going to open the discussion on this one so we can start reading the next book, the Great Gatsby. Hopefully that one will be more available at libraries for participants.

So what did you all think of Orient Express? I had a hard time getting into it, I don't know whether it was because the prose was dated or whether the intention was to obfuscate clues to the murderer, but it wasn't as easy a read as Little Fires.

[SpaceLlama]

Overall, I did enjoy reading the book until the end. CSI was one of my favourite series as a kid so I love murder mysteries. That being said, the thought of more than two people involved did cross my mind, but I quickly dismissed the thought since it would be a disappointing ending. Let's just say that I wasn't blown away. The highlight of reading it was figuring out who the handkerchief belonged to (thank you russian class!) 😂. I do agree with the others that it would've been nice to learn more about the characters, but then I guess Poirot telling us the solutions wouldn't be as shocking if we solved it ourselves. 

I probably won't be rereading the Great Gatsby since it hasn't been that long since I read it. I'm now #2 in line to read Little Fires so I'll read that in the meantime 😊

[quspork]

I powered through and finished the book today mostly because I was out of town this weekend so I had plenty of train/car ride time to read. And honestly, I wasn't a fan at all. I love a good mystery book and I'm such a fan of older books and the way they are written, but this was such a miss for me. I had a really difficult time getting into it and caring about all the "evidence." I also felt like it was really contrived and completely unrealistic. 

[RachFace2921]

I also was pretty unenthused with this one early on and threw in the towel.  I plan to resurface later in the book club queue.

[mermadelove]

After all but devouring Little Fires, I just could not get past even the first chapter of this book. It felt dated because of when it was written rather than when it was set, if that makes any sense…

[PrettyPaint]

Hmmm...I don’t know. I had a hard time adequately suspending disbelief, perhaps due to the lack of character development, so some portions of the book and particularly the ending stood out as rather implausible to me. I also didn’t care for the racial generalizations. I haven’t read much from the mystery genre, but I can see how perhaps the ending was novel for its time. I had read nothing from Agatha Christie before, though, so I did find it interesting in this respect.

[Titian06]

I found the book much easier to read than the first book.  That one took me weeks to read.  I read this one in two days.  It was a little confusing at the beginning.  It probably helped to be familiar with the Lindbergh kidnapping to understand the Armstrong case.  I felt who did it was pretty obvious.  The constant harping on the 12 stabbings, both right and left handed, some deeper and some more scratch like, and a couple were fatal and the rest were after death, along with there being 12 very different types of individuals on the train.  You had to have figured out that all 12 were involved.  The why was the hard part.  This gets me every time I read this book!  I can never remember how they are all involved.  I am never happy with Poirot for letting them off.  But if you think about it, how is he going to prove his theory?  For the most part all he has is circumstantial evidence. 

@greeneyedgirl107 asked if anyone would read any more Agatha Christie books.  I've read almost all of her books and would like to read the ones I missed.  I have about 10 of her books, including the next one we'll be reading, Death on the Nile.  (I saw the movie in 1978.  I saw Murder on the Orient Express in 1974.)

[greeneyedgirl107]

@Titian06 Which Agatha Christie books do you recommend?  I always thought Murder on the Orient Express was regarded as her best work, simply b/c it's the one I've always heard the most about.  Thus, that dampened my enthusiasm for her other books.  But I'm always open to suggestions.

Have you read any Georgette Heyer?  I've only read one of her books, Arabella, which I'm told is atypical for her sort of writing.  For some reason I consider Heyer and Christie to be similar, but IDK if this is true.  My library has a lot of Heyer, and I never know which mystery to read.

[ShortErica]

@greeneyedgirl107 I will admit I am an Agatha Christie fan though I in no way think she is without flaw. I prefer Poirot over Miss Marple. I remember thinking Death on the Nile was dull but enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express. My favorite book and the one I recommend is And Then There Were None (also called Ten Little Indians) which features neither of her main mystery characters. I have read it several times but not recently. If you are willing to give it a try, I would love to know what you think.

[greeneyedgirl107]

Thanks for the info @ShortErica!  🙂  I'm always open to books recommendations!

[greeneyedgirl107]

@prettyinpa I read Murder on the Orient Express years ago, and found it to be a quick read - but more because it was short than necessarily really enjoyable.  I remember my mother criticizing Agatha Christie for not developing her characters well enough, and I did find that to be true for this book.  IDK if I would have come to that conclusion on my own, though.  Did anyone else feel this way?

Also, aside from the interesting ending, another thing sticks in my mind.  What did everyone think about Hercule Poirot's reaction to solving the mystery?  

Finally, would anyone consider reading another Agatha Christie novel?  I personally would not - but never say never!  What I find most interesting about her was her 1926 "disappearance."  Some say she was contemplating suicide, others say it was a "Gone Girl" type thing...