The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek

The Road to Serfdom“When the course of civilization takes an unexpected turn — when, instead of the continuous progress which we have come to expect, we find ourselves threatened by evils associated by us with past ages of barbarism — we naturally blame anything but ourselves.”

 

I suspect that you would call The Road to Serfdom F.A. Hayek’s magnum opus.  It was written in 1944 towards the end of the Second World War, when countries had been exposed to various socialist political experiments and the effect they had on the countries that adopted them were very, very evident.  But Hayek did not take for granted that people’s common sense would see the dangers.  He was well aware of the hazards socialism still posed with its pernicious ideology and promises of a better future where everyone would be equal, the rich would pay their fair share, and all would be secure within the society.

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Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Great ExpectationsGreat Expectations: “My fathers’ family name being Pirrup, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.”

In the mid-19th century, in a marshy area of Kent, Philip Pirrup, or Pip as he was called, lived with his crotchety, abusive sister and her husband, a loveable, yet rather simple blacksmith named Joe.  While Pip attempts to avoid his sister’s wrath, a wrath that she appears to happily cultivate, he also forms a deep attachment and friendship with Joe, who equally enjoys Pip’s company.

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Unfinished Portrait by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)

Unfinished Portrait“Do you know the feeling you have when you know something quite well and yet for the life of you can’t recollect it?”

Oh, wow!  After my first Westmacott novel, Giant’s Bread, I was really dreading Unfinished Portrait, but what a masterpiece of human psychology, human frailty and the unexpected journey that life has in store for all of us!

The novel begins on an island where a successful portrait painter meets a young woman who is ready to take her own life.  Through speaking with her, he learns of her childhood and marriage and both the humorous and tragic circumstances that slowly led her to where she is that day.

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Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient ExpressMurder on the Orient Express: “It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria.”

Also Published as:  Murder in the Calais Coach

Detective: Hercule Poirot

Published: January 1934

Length: 265 pages

Setting:  Aleppo, Syria; Stamboul (Istanbul), Turkey; somewhere in Yugoslavia

 

In Murder on the Orient Express, after travelling from Aleppo to Istanbul, Hercule Poirot receives a telegram to return home and he books passage on The Orient Express, a well-known passenger train. Also onboard are:

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The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

The Mill on the Floss“A wide plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embrace.”

In The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot takes the reader into a lazy, peaceful part of England, where life is lived in a slow reverie with the river ebbing and flowing and yet hard work and struggles can be at the forefront of existence.  Yet within the scenery and the everyday monotony, there are people who live their lives with hopes and cares, frustrations and joys, dreams and tragedies.

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The Hound of Death and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

The Hound of Death: “It was from William P. Ryan, American newspaper correspondent, that I first heard of the affair.”

Detective: None, as these are tales of the supernatural

Published: October 1933

Length: 218 pages

Setting: various:

A compilation of 12 short stories, The Hound of Death and Other Stories are not mysteries, but instead are tales of the macabre, tales of the supernatural, tales that are linked to the scary unknown.  The tales were as follows:

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The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

The Thirteen Problems

The Thirteen Problems:  “Unsolved mysteries.”

Detective: Miss Marple

Published: June 1932

Compilation:  Short Stories

Length: 256 pages

Setting: St. Mary Mead, Downshire (fictional)

 

During two different dinner parties in St. Mary Mead, Miss Marple is host and guest.  There is a suggestion of the sharing of puzzling mysteries, where one person in the group tells a story and the others surmise its outcome or solution. Surprisingly, the small town spinster, Miss Marple, demonstrates her superior brain power and deductive skills.  As each dinner guest shares a puzzling mystery and the others surmise the solution, Miss Marple is able to navigate all the clues, both obvious and unexpected, to solve each mystery in her quiet yet practical manner.

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