Agatha Christie and curious titles come together in perhaps my favourite episode of the podcast yet. And also the first one where we’re both in our 30s, guys. And also one of our most bizarre. In the first half, we look at titles and discuss whether we prefer them fancy or simple – yes, those are the categories – and quickly realise what a tangle that is.
On safer ground, we turn to Dame Agatha Christie in the second half, pitting her two most famous detectives against each other. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple – who will come out on top? The answers, as they say, might surprise you.
Listen above, via iTunes (rate! review!), or your app of choice – and let us know which you’d pick from each pair!
Here are the books and authors we mention in this podcast – it’s a lot this week – and, if you’re a fan of films, do give Colin’s podcast The C-Z of Movies a try.
What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
The Years by Virginia Woolf
The Lost Europeans by Emanuel Litvinoff
Eudora Welty
Christina Stead
Emma by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym
Dear Life by Alice Munro
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
A Pin to See the Peepshow by F Tennyson Jesse
Messalina of the Suburbs by E.M. Delafield
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
[could not find the particle physics novel title!]
The Secret Orchard of Roger Ackerley by Diana Petre
William by E.H. Young
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie
The Murder of Roger Acroyd by Agatha Christie
Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne
The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf
Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf
Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
Samson Agonistes by John Milton
Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The World My Wilderness by Rose Macaulay
Andrew Marvell
Alexander Pope
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie
The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
The Majestic Mystery by Denis Mackail
The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot by Anne Hart
The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple by Anne Hart
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Choosing between Poirot and Marple is just impossible! :)
Messalina was the 3rd wife of Emperor Claudius of Rome. She was rumored to be very promiscuous and it is said that she plotted with one of her lovers to overthrow Claudius and rule in his place.
Oo, thanks!
That’s an impressive list of books for one podcast! I haven’t listened yet but hopefully will get to it tomorrow as I’m sorting and packing, it sounds like just the thing to distract me from my moving stress (though it will probably add more books to my TBR list!)
Is the physics book Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl? It reminds me of those quirky titled books like Tractors in Ukranian. There’s also The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine.
And I vote Miss Marple over Poirot.
For some reason I stopped getting blog comments by email, so hadn’t seen this – that is precisely the book we meant! Thanks Karen :)