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The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and theOrient Express
The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and theOrient Express | Andrew Eames
7 posts | 4 read | 17 to read
In 1928, Agatha Christie, the world's most widely read author, was a thirty-something single mother. With her marriage to her first husband, Archie Christie, over, she decided to take a much needed holiday; the Caribbean had been her intended destination, but a conversation at a dinner party with a couple who had just returned from Iraq changed her mind. Five days later she was off on a completely different trajectory. Merging literary biography with travel adventure, and ancient history with contemporary world events, Andrew Eames tells a riveting tale and reveals fascinating and little-knowndetails en route in this exotic chapter in the life of Agatha Christie. His own trip from London to Baghdad--a journey much more difficult to make in 2002 with the political unrest in the Middle East and the war in Iraq, than it was in 1928--becomes ineluctably intertwined with Agatha's, and the people he meets could have stepped out of a mystery novel. Fans of Agatha Christie will delight in Eames' description of the places and events that appeared in andinfluenced her fiction--and armchair travelers will thrill in the exotica of the journey itself.
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DGRachel
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Why, yes. I am using #Bailey as a book rest. If she‘s going to use the entirety of my lap as a pillow, it seems fair that I put her to work. 😆

#readingbuddy #bookandbailey

Karkar I do the same! ❤️📚🐶 5y
75 likes1 comment
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DGRachel
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Not something I expected to come across in a book retracing Agatha Christie‘s first trip from England to the Middle East. 😳

GingerAntics Wow, that poem has aged well. It‘s amazing, really. 5y
Blaire 😳 5y
52 likes2 comments
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LeahBergen
The 8.55 To Baghdad | Andrew Eames
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I got my match for #AChristieSwapIsAnnounced! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Should I pretend I don‘t know we are matched in pairs? 😆

DGRachel Since @Sorceryandswords told us we were matched 1:1, I think it‘s safe to say your match knows and is both very excited and very stressed about what she is going to do for you. 😘 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel Bahaha! 😂 Don‘t stress at all. I obnoxiously tried to fill out as much as possible on the form because I know I have a lot of books (and Litsy posts to look through 😬). I‘m so glad we were matched! 😘 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel Let me know if you need me to post photos of the novels I currently own (although I‘ve read a lot more of them than that 😂). Hmm.. and let me know which books about/bios of Agatha you‘ve read, please. 6y
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DGRachel @LeahBergen If your TBR is books you don‘t own & haven‘t read, then I‘ll be good scrolling through that. If there are books that are high priority, though, please let me know! I have not read any books about Agatha. What I know of her history comes from talking to my mom, watching Masterpiece, and the Doctor Who episode with David Tennant & Catherine Tate. 😂 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel Ah, that makes it easier for me to plan. 👍🏻 Yes, my TBR on here is all unowned and unread. And now I think I‘ll need to watch that Doctor Who episode. 😆 6y
DGRachel @LeahBergen It is one of my favorite episodes! 6y
DGRachel @LeahBergen I meant to ask - are you collecting certain editions of Christie‘s novels? Any requests other than no mass market paperbacks? 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel Not really. I have several different types on my shelves from the new trade paperbacks to old hardcovers. I always like hardcovers (the inexpensive new editions or vintage) if you can find any for cheap enough (meaning cheaper than the paperbacks 😆). Whatever you can find! How about you? Is there anything else Christie-ish you‘ve thought of or would like especially? Do you drink tea at all? 6y
Sophoclessweetheart Havefun! 🖤👏😉 6y
DGRachel @LeahBergen I‘ll go hunting this weekend! As for me, I really can‘t think of anything in particular, although the tagged book looks really good, as does that book of poisons, and there‘s a graphic novel biography that I‘ve been eyeing for a while. I drink tea in spurts, so yes. Tea is always good and won‘t melt in the post. 😊 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel I‘m on the hunt, too. 😄 6y
DGRachel Which of the ones you‘ve read is your favorite (or if that‘s too hard, do you have a favorite Christie character)? 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel Ooh, that‘s a toughie. I‘d have to say any of the ones with a Middle East setting? Probably Death on the Nile or Murder in Mesopotamia. I‘m hard-pressed to pick between Miss Marple and Poirot, though. My first foray into Christie was reading all of the Miss Marple books in my teens but I came to love Poirot as an adult. In recent years, I‘ve been enjoying some of her stand-alone novels. How‘s this for “more than you need to know”? 😂😂 6y
DGRachel It‘s PERFECT! 😘😘 6y
DGRachel @LeahBergen On a not-strictly-bookish note: how do you feel about boxes or jigsaw puzzles. I was going through your Litsy feed, but I zoned out at about the one year mark. 😂🤣😂🤣 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel That‘s understandable 😂😂😂. What sort of boxes do you mean? Decorative bookish boxes? Sure! I hadn‘t done a jigsaw for years until this past Xmas, when I bought a Nancy Drew one and thought I‘d have to force visiting family to have a go at it. Well, they fell on it like savages. 😂 It was fun! 6y
DGRachel Just brainstorming. The Etsy shop I was counting on went on vacation until the end of the month. 😭 6y
LeahBergen @DGRachel How dare they?? 😆 6y
kspenmoll Sorry I missed this! I have been on & off Litsy & missing things. Enjoy Agatha! 6y
121 likes19 comments
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erzascarletbookgasm
The 8.55 To Baghdad | Andrew Eames
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Some orange and yellowish-orange book covers.
#orangecovers #riotgrams @bookriot

HeatherBookNerd I ❤️ Cutting for Stone 7y
53 likes1 comment
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LeahBergen
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A little nonfiction #AgathaChristieLove.
#AutumnReads

108 likes6 stack adds
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Lkbbooks
The 8.55 To Baghdad | Andrew Eames
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Following Agatha Christie on her journey from England to Iraq. Eames' book was written shortly after 9/11 and is a combination of Agatha's story with modern history. Great for fans of Agatha Christie and Murder on the Orient Express. "In the modern world there are few journeys which are far more complex and difficult than they were seventy-five years ago, but to travel from London to Baghdad by train is one of them."

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LeahBergen
The 8.55 To Baghdad | Andrew Eames
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This #somethingforsept pick is about a man retracing Agatha Christie's 1928 train trip from London to Baghdad. Travelogue and Agatha Christie facts combined? Count me in.

RealLifeReading Oh that's a great pick' 8y
[DELETED] 2232195534 I've never heard of this. Putting it on my list. Always thought it would be fun to take the Orient Express! 8y
37 likes9 stack adds2 comments