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Agatha Christie – Miss Marple’s Final Cases | Review

Title: Miss Marple’s Final Cases

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 240

Rating: 5*/5

Agatha Christie – Miss Marple’s Final Cases

This was great, and don’t let the title of the collection fool you. It might be the last Miss Marple book, but you can get away with reading them out of order and I thought this would be a great one for someone who’s looking to get into the series. That’s because it’s a short story collection rather than a novel, so it packs a bunch of different plot-lines into one and uses Miss Marple to tie it all together.

There are nine stories included here, but my favourites were probably Tape-Measure Murder and The Dressmaker’s Doll, which was downright creepy and not really a traditional cozy detective story at all. Miss Marple Tells a Story is also interesting because the whole thing is told from Jane Marple’s point of view, which is good news if you’ve been dying to get to know her a little more as a character.

Overall then, like most short story collections there are certain stories that I preferred to others, but despite that I still liked the ones that I didn’t love and to be honest, I can’t think of any ways it could have been improved. For me, it delivered on its promise and then some and it was just the book I needed at just the right time, too.

Agatha Christie

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J. R. R. Tolkien – The Book of Lost Tales I | Review

Title: The Book of Lost Tales I

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 297

Rating: 6/10

J.R.R. Tolkien – The Book of Lost Tales I

The Book of Lost Tales is an eclectic collection of the early work of J. R. R. Tolkien – in many ways, it’s the precursor to the Silmarillion, the infamous book of lore which no casual reader has ever struggled through. I haven’t even dared to start it, although I am looking forward to it.

Edited by Christopher Tolkien, the youngest son (now 89) of the great writer, it’s a fascinating insight in to the earlier thought processes and plot-lines that Tolkien documented as far back as the 1920s, but it’s only for hardcore readers – in all honesty, you should only really read it if you’ve already read the Silmarillion and you want to dig even deeper. In fact, it’s the first in a series of twelve books which Tolkien Jr. edited and published as The History of Middle-Earth.

And his father’s writing is excellent – even though it’s a little archaic, it’s understandable and interesting. The nuances might be lost, but you get the gist of the story-line and his descriptive prose is a wonder to behold. But then Christopher follows each tale with an essay in which every single nuance is pointed out and analysed to such a degree that the essays are often twice as long as the stories.

I know you can skip them, but that always feels like cheating – if you include notes and appendices then expect people to read them. If you expect people to read them, make them readable. My warning to you would be, ‘If you’re going to read it then don’t read the commentary – just lose yourself in Tolkien Snr.’s early, wonderful words.’