the murder of roger ackroyd

the murder of roger ackroyd, by agatha christie

anna is a huge fan of agatha christie and has read pretty much everything that aggie wrote. i, on the other hand, hadn't read anything by the queen of murder mystery.

it is pretty widely accepted that 'the murder of roger ackroyd' is agatha christie's finest work, so i thought that if i was going to read one it might as well be this. there's a book out at the moment called '1000 books to read before you die' and this book makes it onto that list.

obviously the story has all the hallmarks of 1920s, 1930s murder mystery - a rich murdered man, a suspect butler, a former british officer, a beautiful young woman and no end of household intrigues that act as red herrings to the main mystery. there are also the obligatory gatherings in drawing rooms to probe suspects and so on. the investigation in this story is carried out by agatha christie's famous hercule poirot.

there is no doubt that christie was an excellent writer. in this book she writes in first person from the perspective of a male doctor. that is largely convincing, but when people write as members of the opposite sex it doesn't always ring true.

it was a good book, and i really enjoyed it. i'd say it was a good option for my one big murder mystery reading. i won't give away the plot twist that this book is famous for - even if the story is nearly 80 years old.

on the headphones: 'bulletproof' by morcheeba, from the album 'the big calm'. http://www.morcheeba.net/

soul survivor

soul survivor, by philip yancey

this is not my first review of a philip yancey book, and i have to say that they are all pretty solid. but the two i have reviewed on intraspace so far - the jesus i never knew and this one - would have to be my favourites.

i would seriously recommend this book to anyone who was jaded with christianity or anyone who thought they knew what christianity was about but hasn't gone in for it.

the book is subtitled "how my christianity survived the church" but that isn't really the theme of the book. instead yancey writes about the people who influenced his life and saved his faith (he started out life as a racist fundamentalist in the southern states) - everyone from martin luther king to dostoevsky. he writes a chapter on each of 12 different people.

yeah, so that's about the sum. i found it pretty absorbing and definitely want to check out more about some of the people he talks about. highly recommended.

on the headphones: 'anyway' by telepopmusik, from the album 'angel milk'.