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Announcing the Agatha Christie Project!
I know there are many other people participating in their own Agatha Christie Projects, but this one is mine, a decision I made after realizing that I've only read maybe 5% of her novels, which isn't much in the grand total of 70+ books. My first introduction to Agatha Christie was as a teenager when my family first started watching the Poirot BBC series starring David Suchet. I was hooked from that point on, but being hooked did NOT include reading her books, at least, not until recently.
Why the sudden change, you ask? I dislike being tricked by current entertainment trends that change her plots around or her character personalities or even placing the stories in the wrong era altogether! I can give a little bit of grace for that last one, but not a lot, and here's why. Take, for example, Tommy and Tuppence from the 1930s. Are they going to have even remotely the same motives and life experience as a Tommy and Tuppence set in the 1950s? Their life experiences are different, their courtship would have been different, there hadn't been a second world war yet. All sorts of things crop up that are going to incrementally change the character personalities simply by moving them twenty years into the future.
I'd rather be informed than misinformed if that makes sense. I'd like to watch a new film adaptation and know immediately when it's faithful to Agatha Christie and when it isn't. Ironically, I do like Kenneth Branaugh as Hercule Poirot even though his is a much livelier and active incarnation. But at least he's not a brooding, depressed old man like John Malkovich's incarnation.
Anyway, on we go, off to the races, and all that. I will try to read as much in chronological order for each series as possible. Even though the books don't interconnect other than the characters, I find that it's the best method to see how the author evolves in their writing voice.
Miss Marple Series
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
The Thirteen Problems (1932, collection)
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939, collection)
The Body in the Library (1942)
The Moving Finger (1943)
A Murder is Announced (1950)
Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950, collection)
They Do It with Mirrors (1952)
A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
4.50 from Paddington (1957)
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960, collection)
Double Sin and Other Stories (1961, collection)
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962)
A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
At Bertram's Hotel (1965)
Nemesis (1971)
Sleeping Murder (1976)
Miss Marple's Final Cases (1979, collection)
Hercule Poirot Series
The A.B.C. Murders (1936)
Tommy and Tuppence Series
Other Agatha Christie Titles
And Then There Were None (1939)
The Pale Horse (1961)
Hello, I've stumbled on your blog from Hamlette's LMM blog party.
ReplyDeleteI am myself a huge fan of Agatha Christie; been reading her novels since ages.
Right now I am re-reading through her novels again (and this time, will review them). So happy to meet another Christie's fan. And I notice that you're a Classic Clubber too!
My blog is: https://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/, and you can find my Agatha Christie page here: https://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/p/this-is-thecomplete-list-in-publishing.html
Thank you for reaching out! I admit that I'm not as faithful with either the Classics Club or with my Christie reads as I should be, but I'm working on rectifying that. I'll check out your blog, thank you for sharing it!
DeleteHow are you doing with your Agatha Christie reading? I also find the differences between the books and the films odd - both interesting and annoying! I have read her books many, many times and embarked on a bunch of research that eventually became my own book. I would love to get your opinion on whether a reader like you would find it helpful. It's called Agatha Annotated: Investigating the books of the 1920s. I hope you'll have a chance to take a look. And good luck with your reading!
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