I think maybe the most interesting thing about this argument for not reading — or, rather, fot being given free rein to still discuss books you haven’t read — is that it reveals the existence of Qui a tué Roger Ackroyd?, which apparently rethinks the twist ending of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, suggesting that Christie herself got it wrong. While Ackroyd isn’t my favorite Christie novel — nor, I think, anywhere near her best — it is an interesting book, and one that I have read. I’d be interested in checking out Bayard’s book. (In translation, of course. My French just isn’t good enough, I’m afraid.)
Link via Ed Champion.
I started reading Christie back in the ’60s, starting when I was 10 or so and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was one of my favs because it taught me to be prepared for the unexpected. Few other authors play so much with genre expectations tho, that I’m often disappointed. Arturo Perez-Riverte did it nicely in The Club Dumas.