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Agatha Christie – They Came to Baghdad | Review

Title: They Came to Baghdad

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 192

Rating: 4.5/5

I liked pretty much everything about this one and so I’m super happy that I finally got to it. One of the main things that I enjoyed was actually the way that the location names captured the time it was written, including the H at the end of Basrah and the fact that London Heathrow was called Heath Row Aerodrome.

Then there’s the killer murder mystery at the heart of this, along with the kickass female lead who isn’t about to let gender norms stop her from having adventures. The result is a super fun little murder mystery with a lot going for it, and I don’t think there’d be anything wrong with it being your first Christie because it works quite nicely as a standalone.

And that’s your answer to the “would I recommend it?” question, so a little more on the why. I just think Christie’s great when she writes about other countries, which is one of the reasons why I love Death on the Nile so much.

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Elisabeth Horan – Self-Portrait | Review

Title: Self-Portrait

Author: Elisabeth Horan

Type: Poetry

Page Count: 148

Rating: 3.75/5

Disclaimer: I received this book for review.

I’ve read a little Elisabeth Horan before, and I’ve quite enjoyed her gritty take on poetry so far. She writes with an honesty that comes from the heart, even in this book which I suppose is almost like the poetic equivalent of a novel, or perhaps even a biography.

That’s because the entire collection is essentially themed around Frida Kahlo, and in fact quite a lot of it is partially written in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish, which made it occasionally difficult to read, but Horan did at least translate it for me.

All in all, a recommended read if you’re a fan of either Frida Kahlo or contemporary feminist poetry with a subtle undercurrent of rage. What more could you ask for from it?

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