My first post for Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025 hosted by Fanda @FandaClassicLit where Fanda has picked a list of 24 short stories by Agatha Christie to read over the year covering Christie’s pantheon of detectives as well as some standalones. January’s pair of stories feature Hercule Poirot and Tommy and Tuppence (one each), very…
Review: ‘The Blue Geranium’ by Agatha Christie #AgathaChristieSS24
‘The Blue Geranium’ is the second short story that Fanda @ Fanda Classic Lit has chosen as the June picks for her #AgathaChristieSS24 where we read two short stories she’s selected every month. While I’ve been doing a joint review of so far, this month as one of her picks turned out a cat story,…
Review: ‘The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael’ by Agatha Christie #ReadingtheMeow2024 #AgathaChristieSS24
This year I’ve also been joining in the Agatha Christie Short Stories 2024 challenge hosted by Fanda at Fanda Classic Lit but until she pointed it out hadn’t noticed that one of the stories she’d picked for June coincidentally happened to be one featuring a cat—so of course I had to read and review it…
Agatha Christie Short Stories 2024: May
For May 2024, Fanda @FandaClassicLit who is running an Agatha Christie Short Stories Challenge all through this year has picked two enjoyable stories, one a light-hearted one featuring the sleuthing duo Tommy and Tuppence, ‘The Crackler’ published among others in the collection, Partners in Crime and the second with the mysterious Harley Quin, ‘The Sign…
Guest Post: Review: ‘What Every Girl Wants’ (1937) by Phyllis Bottome #1937Club
Today I have a guest post from my mother who enjoys joining in with Karen and Simon's clubs. This is her review of a short story from a new-to-me (and her) author Phyllis Bottome. I am not overfond of short stories with a few exceptions, like “The Cats of Ulthar”. Afterall, how much can an…
Agatha Christie Short Stories 2024: March
For March as part of her Agatha Christie Short Stories Challenge 2024, Fanda at Fanda Classic Lit (find this month’s post here) has picked two stories, one featuring Christie’s recurring detectives, Tommy and Tuppence and the other, a standalone. Both stories have an element of fun (and felt Wodehousian for different reasons) and in their…
Review: Foster (2010) by Claire Keegan
I may have been late in getting to Claire Keegan’s Foster (2010) but I’m so glad I finally read this beautiful, heart-warming yet also poignant story of family, home and the bonds that truly connect people, which need not necessarily be those of blood. This short story is narrated in the first-person voice of a…
Book Review: Nocturnal Apparitions by Bruno Schulz and translated by Stanley Bill #ReadIndies2024
I received a review copy of this book from Pushkin Press via Edelweiss for which my thanks. Pushkin’s Essential Stories series has given me a chance to explore many new-to-me writers of which Polish writer and artist Bruno Schulz, born in Drohobych, part of today’s Ukraine is the latest I picked up. Nocturnal Apparitions (2023)…
Agatha Christie Short Stories 2024: Harley Quin and Poirot (January 2024)
Fanda at Fanda Classic Lit is hosting an Agatha Christie Short Stories 2024 challenge where she’s selected two stories to read each month. For January she has picked two stories from 100 years ago, Christie’s very first short story ‘The Coming of Mr Quin’ and a Poirot mystery ‘The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman’, the…
Book Review: One for Each Night: The Greatest Chanukah Stories of All Time (2023) by Sholom Aleichem et al.
My thanks to New Vessel Press for a review copy of this book via Edelweiss. When I downloaded a review copy of One for Each Night: The Greatest Chanukah Stories of All Time, I did so based on cover and title and did not read the blurb, and so when I started reading, I was…
Literary Potpourri 