#appointment with Death

[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

[lobbycards]

Appointment with Death, Spanish lobby card, 1988

[mar-nu-falmar]

Elizabeth McGovern as Dame Celia Westholme in Poirot: Appointment with Death (2008)

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

[harmcityherald]

after my pantry run today I was able to swing by the library. They got my blood communion book in! I'm most excited about that one as I have not read that and unread lestat is a glorious thing!! The Jane Goodall book, Seeds of Hope is about plants and it will also be the first time of me reading her direct writing style. From leafing through the first chapter I am already enthralled her talking about her childhood garden and her and her young friends starting the alligator club and how it all set her on the journey of exploration of the natural world. that's going to be a good read too.

artemesia hitched a ride on my library card and got a few Asimov books. Her R. Daneel fetish unending and unbroken and perhaps eclipses my own devotion to asimov. artemesia and I have the love affair of the brains, as it were. its important to be able to respect the intellect of your significant other. trust me its one of the large print bucket list items you should look for in love. When everything else boils away with time you will be glad you chose a partner with a depth equal to your own. It sounds a tad narcissistic, but I'm already plenty guilty with self hubris theres no need to sugar coat it.

I have, of course, read Appointment with Death, but I'm an avid re-reader of things that hold my attention. I couldn't leave the library without a poirot under my arm and I like the backdrop of Petra and the gruff old matriarch everyone could care less if she were dead, save our poirot. Who utters a mantra so easily adopted, "poirot can not stand for murder." So, this will be this week's readings. Rice, Goodall and Christie. Giants, all three. I am quite depressed and apprehensive over the election. I worry about my disability and Medicare now, among the other fears about the growing fascism in the world. I'm also treating myself gently today and telling myself to not be discouraged. I hope you all can find a way to feel the same. so chins up and lets keep moving forward. I will never give up on the idea of world peace and unity, none of us should.

[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!

[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.

[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)

[countesspetofi]

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

[makemerainbows]

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

@unholy-gigi

[lobbycards]

Appointment with Death, Spanish lobby card, 1988

[thelastofthebookworms]

Previous polls in this series :

- Poll 1 : popular edition

- Poll 2

[bonhughbon]

I know we all agree Dame Celia Westholme and Edward Masterman eventually met and married each other 😎 but what’s your headcanon about how it happened?

I mean, I don't have any headcanons for them at all, anon. Really. Which probably also means I don't agree with you. At all.

Sorry to kill your imagination, but clearly, if you have watched the episodes, is one: they never met and are totally different characters, two: Dame Cecilia (spoiler alert!!) committed suicide, and Edward Masterman (or Teddy, as he was called in the show) was...well, free.

There are certain limits to one's imagination, especially when to comes to our favorite actors portraying such classic villains.

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]