Third Girl by Agatha Christie

Before Reading:
Today I've decided to tackle something that requires a little more effort on my end. Poirot novels are usually hit or miss with me. Third Girl in the past has been a big miss. I've tried to get into it before but usually give up after the first chapter or so.

While Reading:
It was odd that they knew Norma was a "third girl". I just think it's an odd part of Christie novels that everyone happens to know everything about everyone. It's like England is a small town made up of only rich people. This is why I usually prefer her Miss Marple series. Miss Marple is a much more self-aware character.

Random notes I made:

"Ha! She's shocked by all stuff at a so called 'supermarket'."

"Where is Hastings? I need Hastings."

"Wait, who is that again?"

"A wig... well I guess that's better than Clark Kent's glasses..."

After Reading:
This is a fairly run of the mill Christie. It had a good twist, but not one of her best. A few too many characters/couples for my taste. It's not a harmful book, but I personally didn't gain much from it either.

Plot: 7/10
Writing Style: 6/10
Meaningfulness: 3/10

A Wonderful Weekend with Mary Poppins

This weekend has been dedicated to sewing masks for hospitals in my area. While sewing I decided to pick up (or rather listen to) Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. I remember reading this novel when I was little and I was so excited when it came across my recommend page on YouTube.

Before Reading:

I don't remember much from when I first read the novel. Most of my memories are a weird jumble of the book, the Disney movie, and the Broadway musical. One scene that sticks out most in my mind is when a witch brakes off her finger and gives it to a baby? I have no idea where this story is going. Could get pretty weird. 

While Reading:

Yes! I love this! It is exactly what I need right now. It's a light hearted children's novel. Much funnier than I remember. I can't tell you the number of times its made me laugh out loud. 

Mary is a little different than I remember. She's very prim and proper in the Disney movie and the stage show. She is still is in the book, but there is a little more snark. She's also surprised at her own magic, which I thought was odd. This made her feel younger, like she hadn't quite realized  her own powers yet. This came up in the sidewalk chalk tea scene with Burt. They were both surprised with what they were wearing and who/what was at the cafe. 

The twins were wonderful. The part in which they talk to Mary about forgetting how to talk to animals was profound. It's the strongest moment in the novel. Travers was clearly highly aware of her audience, both children and adults. 

The story is highly progressive when it comes to animal rights. At one point Jane and Michael go to the zoo at night. Everything is "upside down" because all of the people at the zoo are the ones in the cages. There is a conversation that the animals have while watching the Admiral in a cage. He angrily shouts about being in cage and the animals see it as part of the "show". They refer to him as a "beast" and just sort of shake their heads at now brutish humans can be.

The witch finger thing was as weird as I remembered.

After Reading:

This was one of the best things I've done this weekend. I could not recommend Mary Poppins more. 

Plot: 9/10 *There were a couple parts where I zoned out

Writing Style: 10/10

Meaningful: 10/10 *It's a little typical Anglocentric, but hints of progressive ideas especially when it came to animals was powerful.

Here's the link to the audiobook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-8alaK_KDI&t=9881s

Introduction

I've been thinking about how wonderful it would be to become a book reviewer. However, I kept telling myself that I have a job; I'm a teacher. Today is Day 23 of my Social Distancing during the Covid-19 outbreak of 2020. Today I've come to realize that my life can't just be teaching. Today I start my journey of reviews.

On this blog, I plan to review mainly books, although I do plan on review a few movies (mostly based off of books). Because it's difficult to give literature a single numerical value, I'm going to rate everything based off three critical areas; Plot, Writing Style, and Meaningfulness. The Plot score will be based on how much the piece kept my attention. The score forWriting Style will be determined by the quality of the writing. Finally, the Meaningfulness score will come from the value of the text in the world of literature (Is this text important? Will it make people think? Will it open minds?).



Can't wait to get started reading with you!

- The Lady Adventurer