book review

Book Review: Witness for the Prosecution

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Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie

Witness for the Prosecution: A Play in Three Acts
by Agatha Christie
4 out of 5 stars

Young Leonard has been arrested for murder. He befriended an old lady, who changed her will and then was murdered under mysterious circumstances. The housekeeper says that she heard Leonard talking with the old lady near the time of death. Leonard’s only alibi is his wife, who states that he was home at the time of the murder. But what jury would believe a wife in the witness box trying to protect her husband?

I loved this mystery! I liked that it is mostly told from the perspective of the lawyers for the defense as they try to find out what really happened and find evidence to prove Leonard’s innocence. The plot kept surprising me around every turn, and there are not one but three plot twists at the end! It was completely fascinating.

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Book Review: Welsh Legendary Tales

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Welsh Legendary Tales by Elisabeth Shippard-Jones

Welsh Legendary Tales
by Elisabeth Shippard-Jones
4 out of 5 stars

This collection of Welsh fairy tales is a complete delight! Each story is about 2-4 pages long. The writing is in a traditional fairy tale style, and the stories usually include some sort of moral lesson about being generous, minding your own business, or being cautious around magic.

Leprechauns, brownies, goblins, changelings, and fairies abound through the stories! There are magical cows who produce ten times the milk of a regular cow. There are fairy rings where the fairies dance the night away, and if you step inside one you will be whisked out of the realm of man.

I enjoyed reading these stories, one or two every evening at bedtime. I found them refreshing and imaginative and fun!

Book Review: The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories

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The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories
by Agatha Christie
Kailey (Luminous Libro)‘s reviewSep 26, 2021  ·  edit
really liked itbookshelves: owned-books, books-read-in-2021, favorite-mystery

This collection of short stories includes stories with Miss Marple, Poirot, and Parker Pyne. I enjoyed these so much! It’s amazing to me how Agatha Christie can create this little puzzle in just a few pages, and lay out all the clues and a few red herrings, then cleverly reveal the solution in an entertaining way.

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Book Review: Heidi’s Children

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Heidi's Children by Charles Tritten

Heidi’s Children (Heidi sequel, #3)
by Charles Tritten, Pelagie Doane (Illustrator)
3 out of 5 stars

Heidi is pregnant with her first child. Heidi and Peter have the village schoolteacher boarding with them, and the teacher asks if her little sister can come and stay with them and attend the school. The child, Marta, is so unhappy at her own home, and she blossoms under the love and affection that Heidi gives her. But will Marta get along with Heidi’s grandfather? The old Alm-Uncle is still hiding secrets about his past that might change the family forever.

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Book Review: Sad Cypress

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Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

Sad Cypress (Hercule Poirot, #22)
by Agatha Christie
5 out of 5 stars

Elinor has been accused of murder. Young Mary Gerrard was poisoned with morphine, and Elinor was the only one who had access to the sandwiches that Mary ate. Only Hercule Poirot can sift through the evidence and find the truth. There are various suspects: Elinor’s ex-fiancée who was fascinated with the dead girl, the doctor who attended Mary’s last moments, and two nurses who love to gossip. Who had the motive to kill an innocent young woman just turned twenty-one?

I loved this mystery! The clues really had me guessing, and I had no idea who the murderer could be until close to the end. I guessed that something was amiss with the nurses, but I also suspected the ex-fiancée, and I couldn’t figure out what the doctor was up to. They are all so slippery and everybody lies to Poirot.

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Book Review: Cousin Phillis and Other Stories

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Cousin Phillis and Other Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell

Cousin Phillis and Other Tales
by Elizabeth Gaskell
4 out of 5 stars
I have such mixed feelings about this book. It’s a collection of short stories, and every single one is depressing! These are the saddest, most awful stories I have ever read. The real problem is that the writing is so brilliant that it really makes you care about the characters! So when everything goes wrong, it is absolutely heartbreaking.
Also most of the stories finish with a lot of unresolved questions. They end abruptly with someone’s death, and we aren’t told if the surviving characters go on to get married or live happy lives or buy back the farm or anything. Loose ends dangling everywhere! Agh! Very frustrating.
I couldn’t finish reading them, because I was getting too depressed.

Update 2021: I finished reading the last two stories in this collection “Curious if True” and “Cousin Phillis”. These stories were a bit happier and more structured, and I enjoyed them!

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Book Review: Bambi

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Bambi by Felix Salten

Bambi
by Felix Salten
4 out of 5 stars

Bambi is born in a peaceful thicket, and he explores the meadow with his mother. He makes friends with the woodland creatures, and meets two other fawns, Feline and Gobo.

As Bambi grows up, he learns that there is danger in the forest, and the human hunters are a constant terror. Bambi witnesses a young buck killed by a mysterious thunder, and hears the buck’s screams as the humans deliver the final death blow with a knife.

Bambi’s own family is threatened, and Bambi sees other creatures meet death when a duck is eaten by a fox, and later that same fox is killed by hunting dogs.

Bambi meets his own father, the Prince of the forest, and learns wisdom from him. Bambi learns how to elude the human hunters. Bambi grows up and falls in love and has children of his own. There is always the danger of the hunt like a shadow over Bambi’s life, but somehow life goes on.

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Play Review: The Mousetrap

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The Mousetrap and Other Plays by Agatha Christie

The Mousetrap and Other Plays
by Agatha Christie, Ira Levin (Introduction)
3 out of 5 stars
This is such a great collection of Agatha Christie’s plays! Some I liked more than others, but they were all interesting and mysterious.

There were a couple of the plays where I found it easy to guess who the murderer was. I wonder if I saw the play actually being acted on stage, it might not be so easy to tell. So much depends on the tone of voice and the atmosphere of a scene. Reading a play just isn’t the same.

I love the complex characters, and all the red herrings and wild clues! Each play has a certain charm and fascination that kept my attention.

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