Old Favorites: Agatha Christie

We’re focusing on newer books, movies, and television shows for 2019, but that doesn’t mean we’re entirely ignoring old favorites! After all, what’s that saying–what’s old may just become new again (or something like that)?

Though she’s been dead for over 40 years, Agatha Christie is a perennial favorite with mystery readers. Her mysteries still circulate very well at our library, and I’ve been an avid reader of her work since I was a teenager.

I’ve blogged before about her work that we have at the library–here and here–and even written a guide to how to survive an Agatha Christie novel. 🙂

But since this week also marks the 129th anniversary of her birthday, I thought books that celebrate her life would be the best way to honor her. Because, even beyond her career as a writer, Dame Agatha had a fascinating life. . . .

Book Buzz: Literary Science Fiction, A Genteel but Murderous Groundhog Day, Regional Ozark Literature

Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For July, we’re looking at a haunting story about families and scientific experimentation gone awry, a madcap mystery set on a British estate, and an anthology collection of local literature.

My Year in Reading

What was your year in reading like?

I know a lot of my bookish friends tend to describe their year in reading by how many books they read — and I do that too — but that still doesn’t say much about your year in reading, like what you were actually reading in those 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, etc. books you read over the course of 2016.

And, so to that end, I thought I’d recap my year in reading –a lot of which did not end up on the blog — and you could share your year in reading in the comments.

Note: not all of the books I mention are available in the library, but we can certainly try to get them for you through ILL if you’re interested!

2016 Library Challenge: A Book That Scares You

BOO!

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare you.

Well, maybe just a little.

More directly, I was going to recommend some books so you can scare yourself, if you’re in the mood for it and want an early start to Halloween. . . .

2016 Library Challenge: A Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List

I’m going to veer away from my usual routine here, so please humor me.

When I had to pick a book from the bottom of my to-read list, I wasn’t quite sure where to even start. I mean, my to-read list on Goodreads currently has 128 books on it, and that’s not even counting the books I want to read but haven’t added.

I ended up deciding to read Agatha Christie’s 1920 debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I love Agatha Christie mysteries–the twisting and, at times, convoluted plots; the witty characters; the atmosphere. I’ve read roughly 40 of her books over the years, but I realized that I’d never read much of her early work, including her very first book. So, I read The Mysterious Affair at Styles and also 4 of her 5 next books–The Murder on the Links, The Man in the Brown Suit, Poirot Investigates, and The Secret at Chimneys–within a couple of weeks.

Books in Bloom Preview–Crime Time

Here at the Berryville Library we’re looking forward to the 11th annual Books in Bloom Literary Festival on May 15th. You’ll get to mingle with famous authors and fellow book lovers. To prepare for Books in Bloom, we’ll be running teasers about the authors who will be giving talks.  We also have works by all of this year’s Books in Bloom authors on display at the library. Read them now–meet them on the 15th!

Do you like true crime? Mysteries? Suspense thrillers? If so, you’re in luck because Books in Blooms will be featuring a few authors who publish in those genres. If you’ve read the blog for any length of time, you know that I really enjoy crime fiction, and I’m really looking forward to attending some of these sessions. We might run into each other!

Books in Bloom Preview–Author Tips

Here at the Berryville Library we’re looking forward to the 11th annual Books in Bloom Literary Festival on May 15th. You’ll get to mingle with famous authors and fellow book lovers. To prepare for Books in Bloom, we’ll be running teasers about the authors who will be giving talks.  We also have works by all of this year’s Books in Bloom authors on display at the library. Read them now–meet them on the 15th!

Do you like to write in your spare time? Have you ever dreamed of making your living as an author? If so, you’ll really enjoy attending the Books in Blooms talks where writers will be discussing the creative and business side of their craft.

Books in Bloom Preview–Career Reflections

Here at the Berryville Library we’re looking forward to the 11th annual Books in Bloom Literary Festival on May 15th. You’ll get to mingle with famous authors and fellow book lovers. To prepare for Books in Bloom, we’ll be running teasers about the authors who will be giving talks.  We also have works by all of this year’s Books in Bloom authors on display at the library. Read them now–meet them on the 15th!

Last week, we looked at Books in Bloom authors who will be focusing on individual books they have written, but have you ever wanted to hear an author talk about their career as a whole, especially if they’ve written multiple books? What’s it like to be an author for a living? What do they really think about the characters they’ve created? You’ll have a chance to hear them do just that too!

Guest Blogger–LeAnn Stark

[Last month, Green Forest’s library director, Tiffany Newton, was kind enough to write a review for Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. It was an incredibly popular post, and we’re excited to continue the Guest Blogger series with a new post from LeAnn Stark, the assistant librarian at Green Forest. ]

My New Favorite Women Sleuths

  Early detectives have mainly been male, with a few exceptions–Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple being the most famous.  Recently I discovered 3 authors, Laurie R. King, Jaqueline Winspear and Susan Elia MacNeal, with strong female private investigators. They were inspired by real-life stories from the women who pitched in during the 2 great world wars. While thousands of men were fighting, women found themselves filling in jobs that had previously been deemed unacceptable to them: building ships, aircraft, and tanks, delivering milk and coal and other supplies, driving ambulances, and much more. After the wars were over, many women didn’t want to return to the old restricted ways. Some had to keep working, due to a lack of men lost in the wars. These 3 authors do a wonderful job of exploring these issues.

2016 Library Challenge: Book with a Number in the Title

Happy Pi Day!

Since the 1980s, people have been celebrating the concept of π–the mathematical ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, which is always a constant 3.14 –on March 14th. Sorry to subject you to math lessons early in the morning.

I’m not entirely sure what people gifted in mathematical ability do to celebrate Pi Day because I was an English/history major for a reason. But someone in my classes always brought a pie to class on Pi Day, so I was always a fan of this holiday. I’m not going to argue with any train of thought that results in free pie.

Since I can’t deliver a pie to you through the internet, I thought I might instead offer a list of suggestions for this year’s challenge to “Read a book with a number in the title.”

A quick answer to this question would be to just read one of the many books in either James Patterson’s Woman’s Murder Club series or Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, both of which always feature numbers in the title.

However, there are a lot of other books in our system that also work for this category, so let’s explore a few of them. As always, if you’re interested in learning more about them, follow this link to our online catalog.