Title: Cat Among the Pigeons
Author: Agatha Christie
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 352
Rating: 9/10
Agatha Christie – Cat Among the Pigeons
I’m glad I got round to reading this – Cat Among the Pigeons is a genuine Christie classic, one of the finest examples of her work that I’ve come across so far. Here, her writing is so engrossing that when Hercule Poirot appears around two thirds in to the story, you’d forgotten that you were expecting him – it’s a nice surprise, but you almost feel as though his presence is unnecessary.
The novel is set at the prestigious Meadowbank girls school, though its roots are in Ramat and in the death of a Prince as he tried to escape from his country. Now, I went to a working class secondary school which mixed sexes and didn’t cost a fortune per term – the setting of the story is as far away from that as my flat is from a palace. Still, Christie’s depiction of the school is so vivid and complete that I felt like a teenage girl who was really there. A scary thought, I know.
Adam is an interesting character, too – the young gardener with a secret second personality. Don’t worry, it doesn’t take you long to discover it, and indeed he’s one of the leading males in the novel, a novel that’s notable for its strong leading female characters and forgettable, minor males. Don’t let that put you off though, because that would be sexist. It would also be unnecessary – all of the characters are intriguing, and you’ll be tangled in the usual web of suspicion and dark unrest.
Here, then, Christie is at her best – you can see why they call her the Queen of Crime, and this novel can stand up against the best of them. The A.B.C. Murders, And Then There Were None, you name it – this deserves the highest praise that I can give to it. I urge you to go out there and buy a copy at the earliest opportunity, it’s a great little teaser of what was to come from the Queen.
Agatha Christie
Tony Hawks – A Piano in the Pyrenees | Review
Title: A Piano in the Pyrenees
Author: Tony Hawks
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count: 312
Rating: 4/5
This non-fiction book tells the story of what happened when a middle-aged British comedian called Tony Hawks decided to buy a house in France, almost on a whim. He also decided to take his piano over there so that he could finally learn to play the thing.
It was a fun little book, and overall I found it to be a pleasure to work my way through it. My only real complaint would be that the pacing was a little off, in that it felt as though the whole book covered a period of just a couple of months or so.
Other than that though, there were some great little insights into French culture here, as well as a few smatterings of French dialogue that were enjoyable for me as someone who’s slowly but surely trying to learn the language. There were also some great little examples of culture shock or of misunderstandings, particularly when Hawks was trying to navigate the complicated French legal landscape to purchase properties and to build swimming pools, despite being utterly useless at assembling basic flat packs.
I’ve read a couple of Hawks’ other books at this point, and tonality and sense of humour wise, it’s pretty similar to those. That means that if you enjoyed Round Ireland with a Fridge, for example, then you’re probably going to enjoy this one too. Sure, his sense of humour might not be quite right for everyone, but Hawks has always made me laugh and he did so here, too.
There were occasional borderline sexist comments in it here and there, but then I suppose that gave it a certain sense of realness. He was a single bloke surrounded by Frenchwomen, after all. But overall, yeah.
Learn more about A Piano in the Pyrenees.