#appointment with Death

[nocontextpoirot]

[markgatissappreciationsociety]

Time for a gathering!

It's summer, so let's go to Egypt with Appointment With Death, a Poirot episode from 2008.

Meeting online this coming Saturday, July 20, at 2 PM Central time, 8 PM UK. Please message for information if you'd like to join us for blond Mark in a hat!

Hope to see you there!

[pop-art-sixties-seventies]

Appointment With Death, 1966

[hemlock-in-the-cocktails]

Appointment With Death (1988)

[melissak2802]

Some musings on the central themes of Dame Agatha's novels.

Starting from Poirot novels. The first three formulated similarly by someone I know and agree with, slightly reworded by me, others are my thoughts.

Some spoilers for The ABC Murders and Evil Under the Sun ahead.

Murder on the Orient Express:

Justice. Including the question if the justice of conscience always matches the law.

Murder of Roger Ackroyd:

Fall of a person. Even someone kind, smart, caring, talented and overall sympathetic is in danger of temptations like greed and cowardice. Avoid the wrong path.

The ABC Murders:

Stigma. Someone alone, weak and especially mentally ill can easily become treated like a monster, while the true monsters more often than not are someone prosperous and healthy willing to transfer the consequences of their crimes to a defenseless person.

Death on the Nile:

Blind love/devotion. Even a selfless passion for someone can become twisted and cause corruption if it's enabling and obsessive.

Evil Under the Sun:

Lust and attention-seeking. Not only it's detrimental to your relationship/family, it makes you an easy victim for a pretty face willing to flatter you.

Hercule Poirot' s Christmas:

Arrogance. If you think yourself superior to the "regular fools" and in the right to toy with people's feelings and issues, one day you run into someone like you who will outwit you and make you suffer for what you caused to them.

Learning to overcome the haunting of past trauma.

Actions in a difficult situation are what shows one's true self. This includes a passive person learning to make decisions.

"Fighting evil" motivated by pride and revenge can make you a monster like your enemy if not worse.

Appointment with Death:

Unhealthy desire for power over people. More often than not the person like that just doesn't want to realise they are pathetic person. Also, one day you may bite off more than you can chew.

Domestic emotional abuse, varying reactions to it (apathy, embitterment, escapism) and ways to free yourself/help freeing someone from its power.

Five Little Pigs:

Righting the past wrongs. (On several levels.)

Big consequences of small things. Sometimes a misunderstanding, a badly-thought white lie or ill-timed joke can cause or contribute to tragedy.

Revenge doesn't make you happy.

Sometimes a family that looks weird from side can actually be harmonious in their own way.

Taken at the Flood:

Feeling lost. Almost everyone in this story starts with the ground being knocked from under their feet one way or another.

Perilous chase of fortune. (This is a fatal flaw of more than one character, and what the title of the novel refers to, being a poetry quote)

[lobbycards]

Appointment with Death, Spanish lobby card, 1988

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

Cooking With Christie: Outtake

What last Thursday’s loaf looked like right after it came out of the tin!

[frimleyblogger]

Appointment With Death

A review of Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie – 241030 Originally published in 1938 and the nineteenth in her Hercule Poirot series, Appointment with Death has all the hallmarks of a classic Christie tale. The victim is an extremely unlikeable woman, Mrs Boynton, who takes delight in ruling her family with a rod of iron and suppressing their freedom and individuality, a death which could…

[sirbogarde]

What is this sitcom ass musical montage in Appointment with Death 😭😭😂😂😂😂

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2023 - June

Between finishing my PGCE, still struggling with burnout, and a lack of self restraint with the PS4 I've had a bit of a shit reading month in comparison to my last few months. I did reread Emma though and that's made everything better.

Witches: James I and the English Witch-Hunts by Tracy Borman - I've not been discreet about my disdain for this book. It's full of unsupported speculation and bad faith interpretation of James I/his courtiers. If you want to read some fuller thoughts then read this. And if you are interested in Jacobean/English witches then don't read this book, if you want any recommendations then please ask, but be aware I'm not a specialist in the history of witches.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling - pretty much the same as last month, I was stressed and needed an audiobook.

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie - this was fine? Although I completely forgot I'd read this until I checked my reading journal so...take that as you will.

Metamorphoses by Ovid - started off really well for me. I loved Phaethon, enjoyed books 4-7 (I think? That feels right but I'm writing this on the train and away from my journal) a lot! But after this I got bored and was tired of the repetitive nature of the myths. I'm also not a pastoral/nature girl when it comes to books, so the endless amounts of trees, grottos, flowers, and birds started to grate in me.

Emma by Jane Austen - to quote Mr Knightley, "my dearest, most beloved Emma"! I've spoken at length about Emma and my feelings about it are only getting stronger as I reread it. It's my favourite book. It makes me happy. I cannot adequately into words how much I love it and why.

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin - I enjoyed my latest foray into Earthsea a lot, but it wasn't a patch on The Tombs of Atuan. I personally didn't connect with Arren's journey as much as Tenar's and it did effect my enjoyment. It is an excellent book, and I loved seeing Ged's arc come into completion (well, sort of - it FEELS very complete from here so I'm feeling apprehensive about coming back to him in Tehanu, but I have faith in Le Guin) but it wasn't my favourite of the three so far.

Articles on Emma - I'm not listing them all, I don't have the time, but, obviously, it's been a real mixed bag but I've been enjoying myself. It's been fun thinking about Emma in different ways. I'm just going to keep reading them until I've stopped having fun. It's also weird straying out of academic history and into literary criticism 😅

Currently Reading:

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - and regretting it

Evelina by Frances Burney - loving it!

More articles about Emma!

[nocontextpoirot]

[readingoals]

This wasn't one of my favourite Christie's but it was alright. The mystery itself was interesting though didn't hook me as easily as others have. I loved our protagonist, Sarah King, I thought she brought an interesting perspective to the crime. Her relationship with one of the victim's family members meant you sometimes second guessed how reliable she was which was definitely interesting.

[countesspetofi]

Carrie Fisher and David Soul in APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH (1988)

[creator-of-masks]

"The illusion that freedom is the prerogative of one’s own particular race is fairly widespread.

Dr Gerard was wiser. He knew that no race, no country and no individual could be described as free. But he also knew that there were different degrees of bondage."

- Agatha Christie "Appointment with Death"

[makemerainbows]

Who the hell is "The Vampire of Fairmount Park".....?

@unholy-gigi

[lobbycards]

Appointment with Death, Spanish lobby card, 1988