Agatha Christie

[John Wright]

I didn't think it appropriate posting this on either of the 'detective books' threads, anyway I was a great fan of Agatha Christie paperbacks back in the 1970s. Love her and hate her, the 'solutions' are too contrived, but still enjoy the books. Recently I've been reading several that I didn't read when I was younger, in fact I've been buying second hand Fontana editions from the 1970s - don't ask, that's just me.

Apart from the mystery of the stories I often thought as literature the books had some merit, and there was more to Christie, and a good bit of social history to be found, so I was pleased to find this site listing some memorable quotes from her books

http://shortlist.com/entertainment/books/wisdom-from-agatha-christie-novels

[Serial_Apologist]

I didn't think it appropriate posting this on either of the 'detective books' threads, anyway I was a great fan of Agatha Christie paperbacks back in the 1970s. Love her and hate her, the 'solutions' are too contrived, but still enjoy the books. Recently I've been reading several that I didn't read when I was younger, in fact I've been buying second hand Fontana editions from the 1970s - don't ask, that's just me.

Apart from the mystery of the stories I often thought as literature the books had some merit, and there was more to Christie, and a good bit of social history to be found, so I was pleased to find this site listing some memorable quotes from her books

http://shortlist.com/entertainment/b...hristie-novels

For a moment there, I thought you were going to say she was dead!

[John Wright]

For a moment there, I thought you were going to say she was dead!

I don't need to say she's dead; I can assume that everyone visiting Platform 3 already knows her earthly status, and anyway one can have a page of memorable quotes whether one is dead or not, surely?

[Nick Armstrong]

I've been buying second hand Fontana editions from the 1970s

John - a strange coincidence, this! As recounted elsewhere, Château Caliban has recently undergone a partial refurbishment, including the ruthless disposal of unwanted CDs and books. In a neglected bookcase I found the 15 or 16 Fontana editions of Agatha C which I devoured when i was a teenager.... in the late 70s. The covers are so evocative, transporting me instantly to places where I read them, like the bedroom at my grandparents' where I read them for hours on end into the night.

The mysterious collections of objects chosen for the covers intrigued me no end - a favourite was 'Cat Among the Pigeons'



So did these books go out to the charity shop? No! I love them too (or at least I loved them when I read them), and have promoted them to a more prominent place on the shelves, and plan to read one or two e.g. on holiday. And the French relative who's been here helping, being about the same age as I was when I read them, departed with one of them in his bag, part-read, as a good way into reading English (they love Christie in France, or at least in my gang). He'd chosen the story in question as it underpinned learning why London has so many Mews, and where the word comes from... What else, but this?



So agreed: quality, if of the 'light' variety

I've always wanted to read 'At Bertram's Hotel' (one of the best of the Joan Hickson dramatisations)... and a cracking cover.



Got that one, John? I need to find it !!




PS1: An article found at random about the Fontana cover art:

https://savidgereads.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/murder-mystery-on-the-english-riviera/

PS2: Among the quotes, I loved "One never quite allows for the moron in our midst."

[VodkaDilc]

I have recently decided that AC's books are a major gap in my reading experience. I have discovered the Harper Collins facsimile editions - faithful recreations of the orginal hardbacks, complete with the original dustcover illustrations. A bit more expensive than the paperbacks, but they give a real sense of period. Try matching that with a kindle or whatever.

I'm on the third, so only 80-odd to go. I'm sticking to the order of publication, as suggested on the Agatha Christie website, designed to avoid spoilers. I am wondering about missing out the short story collections. is that a wise move?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Count me among her fans, too! And of Tom Adams, the Fontana cover artist whose work always gave a clue among the various red herrings. I also have this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agatha-Christie-Art-Her-Crimes/dp/0896961443/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406482926&sr=1-3&keywords=tom+adams+agatha+christie

... which is well worth the fiver (incl P&P) that some "used" copies are asking.

(Voddy - the short stories don't show her at her best, IMO - they're at best sketches of ideas that might have made a decent novel.)

[umslopogaas]

A propos of nothing in particular, I used to live in Agatha Christie's old house. Not, I hasten to add, the whole of it, 'Styles' in Charters Road, Sunningdale, is a very grand Victorian house which had been broken up into flats and there was a broom cupboard left over which was the only accommodation in Sunningdale that I could afford, so I bought it. The owners of the big flats had accumulated a mass of AC paperbacks which they shelved in the communal entrance hall.

She did write 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' or some such similar title, but I promise, I never had a mysterious affair while I lived there. Well, I sort of did, but that's another story ...

Did anyone see the movie 'Agatha' (1978)? It starred Vanessa Redgrave as AC, which is a thought to conjure with.

[Serial_Apologist]

A propos of nothing in particular, I used to live in Agatha Christie's old house. Not, I hasten to add, the whole of it, 'Styles' in Charters Road, Sunningdale, is a very grand Victorian house which had been broken up into flats and there was a broom cupboard left over which was the only accommodation in Sunningdale that I could afford, so I bought it. The owners of the big flats had accumulated a mass of AC paperbacks which they shelved in the communal entrance hall.

She did write 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' or some such similar title, but I promise, I never had a mysterious affair while I lived there. Well, I sort of did, but that's another story ...

Did anyone see the movie 'Agatha' (1978)? It starred Vanessa Redgrave as AC, which is a thought to conjure with.

But the important question is, did you find any skeletons in that broom cupboard, umslopogaas?

[Nick Armstrong]

A propos of nothing in particular, I used to live in Agatha Christie's old house.

That's about as On Topic as you can get, by reference to the thread title!

I never had a mysterious affair while I lived there.

Shame. But I'm sure you were very Stylish...

[Flosshilde]

I don't need to say she's dead; I can assume that everyone visiting Platform 3 already knows her earthly status, and anyway one can have a page of memorable quotes whether one is dead or not, surely?

I shared S_A's thought - usually when we have a thread about an individual it's because they've just died, so one subliminally sees 'RIP' after a name in a thread title.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

She did write 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' or some such similar title

Yes - that exact title: her very first novel (and the introduction of Hercule Poirot onto an unsuspecting world). It was from that book that I learnt how to spell "possessed" when I was 12

Did anyone see the movie 'Agatha' (1978)? It starred Vanessa Redgrave as AC, which is a thought to conjure with.

Oh yes - great, toshy fun (with Dustin Hoffman as the journalist who prevents Agatha from committing a crime).

[Petrushka]

I devoured Christie books in the 1960s, a bit earlier than some of you, and recall reading two in one day when I was laid up with some illness as a chld. Read Hercule Poirot's Christmas at Christmas 1968 and, like so many of the stories, I remember to this very day 'whodunnit'.

Like a complete idiot, I gave away many of those 1960s Fontana paperbacks and have regretted it ever since.

[french frank]

The covers are so evocative, transporting me instantly to places where I read them, like the bedroom at my grandparents' where I read them for hours on end into the night.

More Proustie than Christie?

I've always wanted to read 'At Bertram's Hotel' (one of the best of the Joan Hickson dramatisations)... and a cracking cover.



Got that one, John? I need to find it !!

Loads of them here, Cal.

[vinteuil]

... all very well, but hardly Simenon

[John Wright]

I shared S_A's thought - usually when we have a thread about an individual it's because they've just died, so one subliminally sees 'RIP' after a name in a thread title.

Well the most recent, Claudio Abbado, Rik Mayall and Rod Franks threads, had RIP, most appropriate.

And so with Richard The Third, as with dear Agatha, the original poster expected folks on Platform 3 to know his earthly form.