Summer Retreads

For whatever reason, in the summer I find myself rereading a lot of my favourite series. I know that the summer is typically either the time when people challenge themselves with difficult classics that they don't have time to read during the rest of the year, or entertain themselves with light and fluffy beach reads. Sadly, there is no beach where I live. Nor do I feel the need to challenge myself with something difficult and possibly unpleasant. Instead, I turn to favourite series that I've enjoyed in the past.

Currently I'm reading both Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms series and Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series. I'm nearly finished the 500 Kingdoms series - there were a number of the 500 Kingdoms books at my branch of the library last week, so I managed to grab a bunch in one fell swoop and read them in order. I'm just working on the last one, The Sleeping Beauty, which is my least favourite of the series. This is the one in which she attempts to meld Terry Pratchett-style humour with her usual earnest fantasy. For me, it is not a success. I don't always find that humour comes across well in books, and I'm not a fan of Terry Pratchett-style humour anyway.

I'd read my copies of the Mary Russells that I own last month, and really enjoyed them. I wanted to read a few more in the series and, as luck would have it, my library also had a number of Mary Russell books last week, so I picked those up too. It's nice when the library actually has the books that I am looking for, so I don't have to wait to order them in! I am reading them somewhat in order: I own The Beekeeper's Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, and The Moor, so I read all of those back-to-back (which is not entirely in order). I picked up A Letter of Mary, Justice Hall, and Locked Rooms from the library, and am reading those in order.

However, I am also re-reading another series which I am finding very enjoyable. Everyone knows of my love for Agatha Christie mysteries and those featuring her diminutive detective, Hercule Poirot, in particular. I've reread the books so many times that one would think that there's nothing new left in novels for me. However, this summer I decided to reread them in order. Much to my surprise, I have never read Agatha Christie's Poirot novels in their publication order. I usually just read through them at random, picking and choosing books at whim. I am rather enjoying reading the books as Christie wrote them.

So far, I have read: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder on the Links, Poirot Investigates, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Big Four, The Mystery of the Blue Train, Peril at End House, Lord Edgware Dies, Murder on the Orient Express, Three-Act Tragedy, and Death in the Clouds. I am currently working my way through one of my favourites; The ABC Murders. While the books are not strictly chronological - in that they do follow the natural progression of time but that you don't need to read them strictly in order - it is enjoyable to watch the relationships between the characters develop. The friendship between Poirot and Hastings deepens and grows, the animosity between Japp and Poirot mellows. And, too, the reader understands little references throughout the books to prior crimes which Poirot helped solve.

It was, I think, somewhat of a mistake for Christie to marry off Hastings so early and send him to Argentina. It makes for somewhat of a stretch after The Murder on the Links to have him conveniently turn up in London to help solve cases with Poirot. Fortunately, he does not appear in too many: The Big Four, Peril at End House, Lord Edgware Dies, and The ABC Murders so far. And, some of Poirot's greatest mysteries are without Hastings: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder on the Orient Express.

Murder on the Orient Express is one of my favourite Hercule Poirot novels. The solution is so clever and it all just unwinds at the end. I can't help thinking about all the behind the scenes manipulation of the parties on the train. I would like to read a novel from the point of view of the train passengers - it would be fascinating.

I also must point out Peril at End House: this is not one that my mother has a copy of, so it's not one I read a lot growing up. As a result, it is, for me, one of the lesser known Poirots in that I never remember anything about the book until I read it again. Although, I must admit, that even though I have read the Poirots so many times I usually don't remember who the murderer is. I think I do, and then realize at the end of the book that I have remembered the red herring whom Christie wants me to think has done the murder! However, there are a few in which I do know who the murderer is. In that case, it is fun to read the book from the murderer's point of view and try to grasp all the little clues that Christie put down for me to figure out who the murderer is.

Probably one of my least favourites is The Big Four. This was Christie's attempt to write a real "thriller" with spies and vast international conspiracies. I just don't think it works as well for her. Her real strength is in the type of English-country-house mysteries with tricky puzzles - not in the realm of international espionage. It does not work as well for me as some of her other books.

I'm only about one third of my way through the Christie canon, and I'm looking forward to reading the remaining books. This may last me until the end of the summer! It's especially interesting reading the earlier Poirots at the same time I am reading the Mary Russells as they are both set in the 1920s. (However, I've moved on to the 1930s with Poirot by now.) It's fun to compare the subtle differences in writing between a writer who is writing contemporaneously with the time period, and a writer who is writing of the time period in a historical sense. Not to mention that the two are completely different writers and characters. I would, however, love Laurie R. King to set up a situation in which Poirot and Holmes meet. She's brought in other fictional characters, surely she could set up a meeting between England's two most famous sleuths? Such a book has the potential to be amazing. I'll keep my fingers crossed - Ms. King has a new Mary Russell out in September - maybe this could be the one!