Hey! I'm new also.  I like this book pretty well.  My favorite Poirot books are Death on the Nile and The ABC Murders.  I enjoyed Murder on the Links but felt like AC tried to overdo it a little with all of the twists, turns, and surprises.  Let me know what you think when you are finished.

i really liked murder on the links . the twists and turns kept me gripped to it.

Hi ciderhouse. I just finished Murder on the Links. I didn't really like the way the murder was presented and all the character's motives. Have you read And Then There Were None. WOW. That book was so good I finished it in less than three days.

Yes, And Then There Were None is one of my favorites.  It was actually the first Christie book I ever read.  I also use it in my classroom, and my students love it too.  I just hate that Poirot is not in it, because I love him so much.  But he has plenty to choose from. 

I felt the same as you about Murder on the Links. I just thought the way it all came together in the end was a little strange.  I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think I'd label it a favorite.  I'm not sure I liked her knocking on Sherlock Holmes's methodology either, because I am a huge Doyle fan as well.  I like that Poirot and Holmes are very different and have two different methods, but I don't think one is necessarily more or less talented than the other.

Yes, Murder on the Links was not one of my favorites. Have you read Five Little Pigs or Death in the Clouds? I have not read the latter, but I am planning to do so soon.

What grade level do you teach? I am currently in seventh grade. Do you have any other favorite Poirot mysteries you reccomend for me to read? Thanks.

I teach eighth grade actually.  There are so many good Poirot mysteries to read that you really can't go wrong, but some of my favorites have been Death on the Nile, The ABC Murders, Evil Under the Sun, and Murder in Mesopotamia.  I haven't read either Five Little Pigs or Death in the Clouds.  I have only seen the movies for those. 

Other than Agatha Christie, what other books have you enjoyed?  I am always looking for new, good books to read and include in my classroom.  Do you have any suggestions?

Well, currently I have been reading Jane Austen's novels. I found them very good, although it is hard to get used to the language. I have just started reading "Jane Eyre" and I so far I really like it. The plot is strong and Charlotte Bronte is an excellent author. Before that I read her sister, Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights".

Have you read "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R. King? It's the first book in the Mary Russel series. It's a mystery, involving Sherlock Holmes ( I won't give anything more away). Perhaps you'd enjoy it.

I'm planning on reading "A Tale of Two Cities" soon. My teacher suggested I should read that next year.

Can you suggest any books for me to read?

Wow! You are reading on a much higher level than a lot of my eighth graders.  You sound like you'd be one of my top students.  It sounds like you are already reading some of the things that I would recommend to you.  I love Jane Austen, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is also one of my favorites. 

Are you interested at all in the history of the Tudor Dynasty?  A lot of my female students that are on a similar level enjoy those books.  They like learning about Henry the VIII and Anne Boleyn. Jean Plaidy and Philippa Gregory write really good books about this time period.  My favorites are The Lady in the Tower and The Other Boleyn Girl.

Some other of my favorite books to recommend include Lois Lowry's The Giver, Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Have you ever read any of those?

Since this is a British website, are you from Britain or another country? I teach in the United States.  Just wondering what the classroom book assignments might be like in different countries.

Oh, one final thing.  Have you gotten into this whole Twilight graze like my students?  They are quite obsessed with these books.

I will certainly check out The Beekeeper's Apprentice.  Thanks for the recommendation.

Hi Arlena. I'm also new to the group but i've been an AC fan all my life! Its great to have a forum like this where her books are kept alive. I live in South Africa and many of the people I know havent read a single AC book, which is a shame really because i think the stories and plots are timeless, despite having been written so long ago. I liked Murder on the links, although it really isnt my favourite Poirot book. It kept me guessing though, which is what i like about AC's books - its not easy to guess who the villain is until Poirot himself reveals it at the end!

I live in the United States as well. I am unfamiliar with the Tudor Dynasty. I'll have to got to the library soon and check it out. I really enjoy reading historical fiction books. Thanks for the reccomendations.

I read The Giver last year, along with some of Lois Lowry's other books. Her books are very dismal, but she writes with such feeling one can never put her books down. I haven't read Speak or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I'll probably read them over summer break.

I have read only the first book in the Twilight saga. My teacher reccomended it to me and everyone else was reading it, so I did. I found it very dull and unengaging. There was very little plot and I feel that one can't truly make connections to the main characters, and I think that's a major drawback. It was very unintelligently written, for there were a few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors that took away from the story. I know this is harsh, but I believe Twilight is for kids who don't enjoy reading, except for reading those Clique books (if you consider that as reading) and it should be left just as that. Twilight should be used as a reading aid, to get kids into reading books ( even if they are junky). I have no idea what the big hype is about and why Stephanie Meyer is being compared to J.K. Rowling as one of the best authors of all time. I will leave it at that. I think I am the only one in my entire middle school who feels this way. Thanks for listening to me.

Sahara-

What other AC books have you read? So far I've only read a few: And Then There Were None, Five Little Pigs, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Evil Under the Sun, and Murder on the Links.

If you don't mind me asking, what is it like living in South Africa? I live in the USA and things are pretty normal. I go to school, play tennis, practice piano, and read.

Thanks!

I'm glad to hear you enjoy historical fiction.  Other than mysteries, it is my favorite genre.  I really hope you check out the Tudor books, because I think you will enjoy them. 

Some other good historical fiction I'd recommend:  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Purple Hibiscus by Adichie, To Kill a Mockingbird (best book of all time!), The Crucible, Diary of Anne Frank, Esperanza Rising, and House of Scorpion (this one is a little more sci-fi, but I think you'd enjoy it).

I feel the same way about Lois Lowry books.  I enjoyed The Giver, but have not been very crazy about the other two in the series. 

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Speak if you get to read it.  It is not the deepest book by any means, but I love Anderson's writing style.  She is full of wit and sarcasm.  The Curious Incident book is just so different from anything else out there.  The narrator has autism, and it is so interesting to read about the world from his perspective.

Interesting comments about the Twilight series.  I tried to read the first one, but to be honest, I just couldn't get into the whole vampire thing.  I wanted to like it because so many of my students are obsessed with it, but I couldn't.  I agree with you, though, that the book is good to help engage students who might not otherwise pick up a book. 

If you like British Victorian literature-type books, I recently finished two you might enjoy.  One is called East Lynne by Ellen Wood and the other is Lady Audley's Secret (can't think of the author off the top of my head).  I read these in one of my graduate classes.  If you like Austen and Bronte, you might enjoy these.

Well, I think I could go on and on recommending books for you, so I will try to stop.  If you do read any of these, though, I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. 

Yes, I've always loved reading historical fiction and mysteries. Oooooh, I loved To Kill a Mockingbird! I read it last year and re-read it earlier this year. I've actually read all of the other books as well. I particularly enjoyed Esperanza Rising.

I sort of enjoyed Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, but none of the other books by her. I kind of thought they were a little to over the top.

I'll definietly give Speak and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (interesting title).

Have you read The Book Thief or any other books by Markus Zusak? I highly reccomend you read it.

I read East Lynne earlier this year. What a coincidence! I'll definitely check out the other book.

I have a question: What kind of projects do you do in your class? I mean, do you assign book reports or many essays? My class just finished a poetry unit, where we had to write many poems and share them with the class. Now we are on to descriptive writing and we are starting to type our essays. Just curious.

Arlena,

Its great to hear that there are still young people out there who still love to read! I am a huge fan of AC so i've actually read over half of all her works. Infact, i collect her works and so far i've got about 40 of her books in my collection, so I've read quite a few!! :)

As for living in South Africa, its great! I'm actually Zimbabwean, and have been living in Johannesburg for about 6months now and i like the city. I've also lived in Swaziland, so i do like to try out new places!Which part of the US are you from? I've only been to a few places in Boston, Minnesota and Phoenix and i enjoyed my visit. To answer your question, living in Joburg, South Africa is exciting - its a big city so life is rather fast paced. The weather is always great (one advantage of living in Sub saharan africa!) and there are so many beautiful places to see. I'm 25 and i'm done with school for now (Phew!) so my time is mostly spent at work, stuck in traffic, and the occasional night out with friends! I'm a self confessed book worm so i spend a lot of my time reading books or looking out for great bookshops where i can update my collection! Have you been to Africa yet?

Ciderhouse,

I'm a big fan of Adichie Chimamanda - i read purple hibiscus and i really enjoyed it. i am currently reading another one of her books called 'Half of a yellow sun' and its good so far. I think you would enjoy a book called 'Nervous Conditions' by Tsitsi Dangarembga. She is one of the most prolific female Zimbabwean writers and if you liked adichie, you will most likely enjoy this one. It was one of my literature setbooks in high school and i fell in love with it from then!

Arlena,

Sorry I haven't written in awhile.  In my classroom, we do many different activities.  Our states requires an expository writing assessment, so we spend a great majority of the year learning to write those types of essays.  We do some creative writing, but not too much.  I also don't do a lot of poetry simply because we are so pushed for time.  I work really hard to teach my students how to write in response to literature to help prepare them for the high school curriculum.  I teach them things like how to use present tense verbs when discussing a story or how to include very specific details or quotes from the story to support their ideas.  I'll have so many students say things like, "That character is cool!" When they come into eighth grade so many write like that.  They don't understand the importance of supporting thoughts with evidence and support.  So, we do a lot of work on that.  In fact, I won't give them a grade on anything until they have corrected it over and over until it's right! Most of my students complain, but nearly all of them will come back when they are in 9th grade and thank me for pushing them so hard.

I wish we had more time to do creative projects.  One project I like to do at the end of the year is to put students into teams and have them create children's books.  They have to incorporate various literary techniques they have learned into the book.  It is always a lot of fun.

I am getting ready to order some new books.  I am going to look at Laurie R. King and Markus Zusak like you suggested.  Right now, I am reading Christie's The Secret Adversary.  I am really enjoying it.

Sahara,

I fell in love with Purple Hibiscus when I read it last year in grad school.  I took an Adolescent Literature class with a professor who has taught and traveled the world.  We also read Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - a graphic novel about a young girl being raised in war-torn Iran.  I am from Tennessee in the United States, and students in our region get very little access to any history lessons outside of the US.  While I was working on my Master's degree, I wrote a seminar paper on the importance of including historical fiction from other cultures around the world into the English curriculum so that our students can better understand the histories and cultures of the world.  I used those two books as examples in my paper. 

My professor suggested that we also read Half of a Yellow Sun.  I have been meaning to do that.  Do you think it is as good as Purple Hibiscus? I will definately check out Nervous Conditions.

One thing my husband and I love to do is travel, but we haven't made it out of the United States yet.  (He has been to Germany, but I haven't.) I have been to Boston and that was one of my all-time favorite trips.  I have heard that Pheonix is beautiful, but haven't made it there yet either.  If you get to visit us again, I would recommend seeing Charleston, South Carolina or Savannah, Georgia.  Those are my two favorite places to visit, but I am a Southern girl!

I know how great it feels to finally be done with school! I finished by undergraduate degree at 23, and now at 30, I finally finished my master's.  The thing I miss the most, though, about not being in school is the reading selections, so I am always contacting my professors asking for more book recommendations.  It is much more fun to read without having to worry about all the school work that comes with it!

Ciderhouse,

I'm starting my masters in January next year and i honestly envy you right now! You're done with the stress of grad school and i'm right at the beginning! i think your thesis on historical fiction from other countries is highlighting a really important factor in learning. In high school back in zim, we studied african literature, victorian and world literature. That meant we would have a total of nine books (three from each genre) and it really broadened our perspective of life in other parts of the world, as well as the literary styles of writing and the history from other countries. Plus it opened up opportunities to read some books i might have never heard of otherwise!

How is it going with 'The Secret Adversary'? I am not sure if i have read that one yet; what is it about (just an outline)

Sahara,

I wish you all the best of luck come January.  I really enjoyed getting my Master's degree.  I think after having a break and growing up a little I began to enjoy school more.  At my college I was very lucky, because they let me pick and choose almost all of my classes.  Therefore, I was taking everything that interested me.  I hope you have a similar situation.  What type of degree are you working towards?

The Secret Adversary is going good.  It is a nice break from the Poirot books I am always reading.  I like the characters of Tommy and Tuppence.  They are two young people desperate for money who hire themselves out as adventurers willing to do whatever to earn money.  They wind up entangled in a great national scandal.  To be one of Christie's early works, it is really well-written.  I would recommend you read it.

Hello  i am new to this site my name is joyce i have read all agatha's books for the last 40yrs watched all her films in black and white, she is great writer, i am just watching evil under the sun ....