A New Thing!!!! Just like I used to announce reviews in advance so folks could watch the movies and be ready to discuss, I am announcing a semi-random book in advance! It’s fun, it’s short, it’s FREE (in most places depending on copyright laws), and it is so popular there’s a good chance many of you have already read it. If you haven’t you can skim through the whole thing in like 3-4 hours, so just do that instead of watching a movie this week. On Sunday, a week from now, I will put up a discussion post and we can chat.
This is possibly a terrible idea. But it could also be fun! The Secret Adversary is one of my favorite Christies and I’ve read it loads of times, so I don’t have to reread it. DilDeewana just mentioned she wants to try Christies, and I know Eva is reading it. And I am hoping others of you have read it in the past since it is one of the most popular books ever and translated into ever language and so on and so forth.
If you haven’t read it, let me sell you on it! Agatha Christie had one set of detectives who were different than her others. Tommy and Tuppence are a couple of detectives, and a couple who were in love, and (what I think is most interesting), a couple that aged accurately and organically over the course of their books. This is the very first book, it features Tommy and Tuppence as two post-war (WWI) young British people, looking for jobs and ready for adventures and also in love with each other but not sure how to say it. Tommy is a former soldier and war hero, Tuppence is a minister’s daughter who drove ambulances during the war and can’t settle down to civilian life. They are childhood friends, knew each other again during the war, and now have bumped into each other in London post war just in time to be caught up in a Mystery and Adventure.
In later Tommy and Tuppence books, they face the challenges of early married life, feeling useless and out of things in middle-age, the struggles of moving into a new house after retirement, and finally a whole book about nursing homes. And go through British history too, starting post-WWI, moving into the small economic boom, then WWII, then the security of the 1950s, and finally the uncertainty and changing world of the 1960s.
So, read this book, enjoy the romance and adventure and lack of copyright protection, then come back in one week to talk about it with us all. And then go about your life knowing you can read the later Tommy and Tuppence books whenever you want.
And when I say “read for free”, for real, read for FREE. Copyright has expired (woo-hoo!) so the whole dang thing is online. Click this link to download:
https://books.google.com/books/download/The_Secret_Adversary.pdf?id=d6r6mO0DWh0C&output=pdf
Or if you want it all kindle formatted and easy for 99 cents, click this link:
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Adversary-Agatha-Christie-ebook/dp/B072KP3GSL
dontcallitbollywood 
I’m in!! Can’t wait to get into my first Christie 🙂
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Yaaaaay!!!!! At least you and i can talk about it.
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This is so fun! One of my first memories of reading English novels as a child are Agatha Christie books. I remember reading traditional Indian storybooks with pictures and then the next memories I have are of raiding my dad’s book collection and reading Agatha Christie. As a kid, I always had to tell myself, get through the first 50 pages and then you will be hooked. It never failed.
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Yaaaay!!! I just started this one, planning to just skim it for a reminder, and I am already sucked in. You are right, she is just irresistible.
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Great idea, thanks. For the next round, I’m not sure I can read a book in one week, but I can definitely compile my thoughts on this one til Sunday.
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Not to worry, if I do this again, it will be a similarly “fast fun free” option.
On Mon, Jan 4, 2021 at 12:55 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Great book! Gutemberg.org has the book with Amazon Kindle, EPUB, doc, text, and html formats. All are downloadable and can be loaded into your reading apps. Oh and all the books on that site are free. 🙂
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I love Project Gutenberg!!!! I need to get better about checking there instead of just being lazy and getting the 99 cent version on kindle.
On Mon, Jan 4, 2021 at 8:31 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, and I hope this means you will be joining the conversation next Sunday?
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I certainly will try! By the way, if you’re a subscriber to Britbox, the TV miniseries based on the book is there.
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Has anyone mentioned Mira Nair’s “A Suitable Boy” now streaming on Acorn TV?
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Oh yeah! Our Europeans reported on it when it became available over there. I think the consensus was a little dull and not enough Tabu.
That book is definitely NOT going to be a DCIB book club pick 🙂 At over a thousand pages, I think even if I gave us all a year, we would not be able to get through it.
On Mon, Jan 4, 2021 at 9:02 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I just finished sort of streaming A Suitable Boy. By sort of streaming, I mean that i watched 3 of the 6 episodes. I very scientifically chose to watch episodes 3, 5 and 6. There was enough information that I don’t feel that I missed much. (And there was minimal Randeep Hooda.) What scientific method caused me to pick those episodes? Vijay Raaz had brief cameos in each. (I think he must be the director’s lucky charm.)
Watching only 3 episodes tightened up the story and, I think, made it more compelling, with a satisfying ending. And the scenery and sets were gorgeous. Worth the abbreviated watch.
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Genius!!!! I am tempted to follow your example, but a little voice in my head is stubbornly saying “that’s wrong! you always have to watch teh whole thing!”
On Mon, Jan 4, 2021 at 11:42 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I can’t read books on screens – I can check the local bookstore but there is a good chance I have to order the book (used, won’t cost much) BUT it will take time. So give me a heads up on the next book that you are reading AFTER the 10th so I can get the order in now.
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Booo! The next one I was thinking of was actually two short stories. Are you able to print about a dozen pages? That’s how long they are, so it isn’t much printer ink.
And The Secret Adversary is so popular, and simultaneously so out-of-copywrite, that you might be able to get it from a local bookstore if you have one, or library. Or get Amazon to send you a new copy before Sunday for not that much money.
On Mon, Jan 4, 2021 at 3:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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