an unfinished person (in this unfinished universe)

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I am a procrastinator, so suddenly my post for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival Tour was upon me and I had no idea on what I was going to write. Last year on a similar tour, I wrote about the Russian band named Agata Kristi. However, I knew I couldn’t do that again, so on what could I write?

Then I began to think about how I was introduced to the writings of Agatha Christie, and it got me thinking how you also might have been introduced to Agatha Christie? Why not share our stories on how we discovered Dame Christie’s works?

Let me begin:

My story is simple. It was my mother who introduced me to Christie when I was a teenager. It was around the same time she introduced me to Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth, John Le Carre and Alistair MacLean. I don’t remember which Christie I read first, but I’m going to guess it was either And Then There Were None or Murder On The Orient Express, two of my favorites.

To date, I’ve read 25 of her 80-plus novels. I read most of them last year and only a few this year. Later this month, I hope to pick up the pace a bit by reading at least two more for the next carnival.

So how were you introduced to Agatha Christie? Was it a relative, a friend, a movie, TV series or play based on one of her works? Or did you discover her on your own?

Follow the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Carnival Blog Tour on Mysteries in Paradise.

The post where I admit I have the attention span of a gnat (TSS)

Earlier this week, I outlined my modest reading goals for this month, one of which was to continue participating in a read-along of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House with Amanda of The Zen Leaf. However, this morning, as I picked up the book to begin again, realized I already am two weeks behind in the schedule and haven’t contributed a single post about the read-along, I decided that it was time for me to abandon this reading challenge.

Cover of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

I’m also reading two other books now, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson, and The Force Is Middling In This One (And Other Ruminations from the Outskirts of The Empire) by Robert Kroese. Friday I also received Purple Jesus by Ron Cooper in the mail, which I’m going to be reading along with a group over at Goodreads, after being invited by J.C. Montgomery of The Biblio Blogazine. Not to mention that I have Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, waiting in the wings, and which my wife is reading now.

Plus I have the attention span of a gnat. I have to admit that one of the reasons I continue with the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is because the books average around 200 pages.

Speaking of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, this month Agatha Christie would have been 100 years old on Sept. 15, if she still were alive, and in celebration of that, the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Carnival is having a blog carnival tour all month, started Wednesday and running through Sept. 30 (click on link for full schedule). This blog will be one of the stops on the tour on Thursday, Sept. 9, with me as your host for that day. I hope you’ll stop by here and the other blogs along the way.

Before I leave here to continue reading Larsson and Kroese’s books, I do want to mention a few posts from earlier this week on this blog that you might have missed: