The debonair Basil Marigold's

I am now only 4 novels away from concluding the 2nd Agatha Christie challenge; Reading in chronological order the Mrs Marple book's. Four away. I have to be honest I have at times very much so struggled with the character of mrs Marple. Having the previous year read the entire canon of, Hercule Poirot (33 books in just about 7 months). Mrs Marple is not as engaging or as interesting as my little egg shaped head Belgian detective, by a country mile, in my opinion. She is also at times, somewhat dislikable in character, which struck me as odd and unexpected. This is not to say that the plot and twist are any less impressive than the, Poirot novels, as they aren't. They can be wonderful. For example, 'the 4.50 from paddington' was a great example of what Christie does best. It's probably one of my favourite books, if only, Poirot, was investigating the case. I would say that, Jane Marple is a shadow to Hercule Poirot. Maybe it is the exotic travelling and mobilit...

They became dinosaurs way before I had ever heard of them, or their music. I was about 14/15 and had stayed up late one night and flicking across TV channels, at the time, there was only the 4! I caught a film mid way through and in the scene a train flashes past a young boy stood in a darkened tunnel, the faces that look out to him from the train are deformed by pig like masks they then walk into a meat grinder and animated out of the other end and behind all this weirdness, and slightly discomforting video, was up to that point the greatest sound I had ever heard. It turned out to be, The Pink Floyd (rock dinosaurs, in 1990!) As I then spent the next hour watching the ever more disturbed evolution of, Bob Geldof, as 'Pink' descendin from a rock star to fascist leader as a metaphor for madness. I was hooked, instantly and needed to  find out more about Pink Floyd. I rememeber  the following day telling my best friend at school about this most disturbing of films. His st...

I am a terrible music snob. No, really. I am. This surprises you doesn't? It shouldn't. I think my passion for music, is perhaps higher than that for books, I think. Yet, even I can make mistakes and so it seems I have of late. I am sure I have blind spots in my musical knowledge; For instance, should you wish to consult an expert in Icelandic death metal, then this would not be me. Would you like to discuss the impact of the music of the 'Carpenters', then again, move on. You can probably also add to this whatever the DJ's (if this is what they are still called on R1), are playing on this station. I imagine it is some form of manifestation of what a migraine is, set to music. So. The, 'Joy Division' then. Perhaps the first band in the history of music to name themselves after the prostitution wing of a concentration camp. Which if not defining them as a band that wanted to challenge preconceptions then I am not sure exactly what else they could have done,...

His name was, Riccardo. He sat in front of me at the Kate Bush concert. I know his name because he seemed intent on introducing himself to both the women sitting on either side of him. He was American, he was gregarious.  After he had sat down and spoken to the women next to him for about 10 minutes I now knew that this was his second night at the concert & he was, the following day, travelling to Italy to spend time with someone he met on his holidays who had invited him to his Italian farm if he should ever find himself in Italy. First clue, Riccardo. When people say to you, 'Oh, whenever you are next over in a country 4000 miles away from your home, you must come to mine and we shall spent some time together'. THIS IS NOT TRUE. it means the opposite. Translated, it actually means. 'If you ever somehow find your way across 4000 miles of world, away from your home. Never, ever darken my door. I am saying this just to be polite knowing that 4000 miles is quite a ...

As an addendum to the previous post. I thought I would transcribe my master list to show, if anyone was interested, how the reading was spaced out during those 33 weeks. As you can see, some books were devoured in only a day (some nice thin volumes), while others took a few days. You can also see where I had to take a break from overkill. It seems to be a case of, perhaps, an average time of maybe 3/4 days to read a novel when I was fully focused. 1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)  read by 20-11-2013 nov 2. The Murder on the Links (1923)   read by 26-11-2013 nov 3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) read by 28-11-2013 nov 4. The Big Four (1927) read by 07-12-2013 dec 5. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) read by 09-12-2013 dec 6. Peril at End House (1932)  read by 05-01-2014 jan 7. Lord Edgware Dies (1933)  read by 13-01-2014 jan 8. Murder on the Orient Express (1934)  read by 15-01-2014 jan 9. Three Act Tragedy (1935)  read by 18-01-201...

And it ended. It ended on the 9th July 2014. The well blogged quest to read the 33 Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot novels, in a year. It didn't take a year. It took, coincidently, 33 weeks to achieve the goal I had set myself 52 weeks to achieve. I came in 19 weeks early! On average therefore, I managed 1 book a week. This is obviously not quite as it happened; How it happened is laid out in the below chart. It shows that I started gently and got very focused in the months of March, April & May. As you can see, I think I struggled with, 'Poirot Fatigue', in the month June. Finally polishing it off in early July.  It has proved a highly enjoyable experience, if at times highly intense! When you submerge yourself in a character over a compressed period you really do befriend them and begin to understand how the, 'little grey cells' work. So, what did I learn about, Poirot? Like, Inspector Morse. The literary character is far more gripping than the TV ...

Its time to discuss the ultimate abhorrent thing I have come across. A thing so abhorrent it is an affront to humanity, yet it is from humanity's mind that this great evil has sprung from. There are few truly evil things in the world. It is a very powerful word and should be used sparingly by us for only the truly evil. Yet, sadly some things are so abhorrent to us or should be seen as so, without a doubt. Like, reality TV for example, but that is not as abhorrent to me as what I'm talking about (indeed the very idea it could be judged worse than reality TV shows the very level we've reached!) What, you may ask is a greater evil than this? What is humanity produced that makes me shiver more than the success of reality TV makers? The rectangle toilet! Neither is there a place in the world, nor any less evil attached to it's accomplice, the square toilet seat!  Which desperately unhappy (evil soul) created this abomination? But more importantly, why?  ...