I spent pretty much all of elementary school reading. Every day I’d go to the library and check out new books, read them that night and come back for more the next day. The librarian, Ms. Moore, took a liking to me, I suppose because I was there so often, and let me take out six books instead of the usual three or four or what
ever it was. In third grade she recommended Agatha Christie to me. I was so flattered that she was recommending an adult book to me that I went and read every Christie book I could get my hands on. A few years ago my high school library was getting rid of some books and students could take them for free so I went to check it out. Lo and behold there was Agatha Christie’s Passenger to Frankfurt.I immediately grabbed it. That book has sat on my shelf since sophomore year. It was only a week ago that I picked it up again. My writers group is participating in the “Live Free or Die Die Die” short story contest. Basically you write a mystery/noir short story set in New Hampshire and the best ones get selected for an anthology. While I was trying to write my story I thought I should read some mystery novels to get inspired. And there was Passenger to Frankfurtjust waiting to be re-read. So this time I read it looking more at how she moved the plot along, created suspense and developed her characters rather than just reading to see what happens. Reading the book reminded me of the significance Agatha Christie has to me. Every time someone mentions her name I smile to myself, thinking of Ms. Moore. I just love when books are attached to memories like that. Christie might not be to fiction as Shakespeare is to theater but she’ll always have a special place on my bookshelf.