Yesterday I bought the first part of The Agatha Christie Book Collection. It is a hardbacked book together with a magazine of the same title. The first one was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Books and magazines will be released every fortnight. I am a real sucker for stuff like this. They make a great addition to my Agatha Christie collection. The magazine is really a re-working of the magazines issued with The Poirot Collection and the Agatha Christie collection - but I still like to have them and browse through them from time to time.
Website is www.agathabooks.co.uk. It also looks like they are only available to the UK and Ireland.
Agatha Christie Bus
Sunday 8 January 2012
Monday 12 December 2011
Newsletter
The Agatha Christie Newsletter is out!
As I sit here with the wind and rain lashing against the window and listening the fog horn from the Lizard lighthouse blasting out - I am already making plans to visit the Christie Festival in Torquay in September. When I went for one day this September it was a lovely sunny, hot day!
I have entered a competition to win all the Miss Marple audio CDs - wish me luck.
I have also emailed HarperCollins as they were asking for volunteers to read and review a new format of Agatha Christie's books. This sounds really intriguing and I do hope that they take me up on the offer.
Talking about warmer climes - I think this is the perfect evening for me to watch Evil Under the Sun - Ustinov version. I much prefer this version to the Suchet one - even though Suchet was filmed on Burgh Island. I just love the scenery in the Ustinov one and the costumes and acting are so over the top that you can't help but love it. My favourite scene: Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg performing "You're the Top".
As I sit here with the wind and rain lashing against the window and listening the fog horn from the Lizard lighthouse blasting out - I am already making plans to visit the Christie Festival in Torquay in September. When I went for one day this September it was a lovely sunny, hot day!
I have entered a competition to win all the Miss Marple audio CDs - wish me luck.
I have also emailed HarperCollins as they were asking for volunteers to read and review a new format of Agatha Christie's books. This sounds really intriguing and I do hope that they take me up on the offer.
Talking about warmer climes - I think this is the perfect evening for me to watch Evil Under the Sun - Ustinov version. I much prefer this version to the Suchet one - even though Suchet was filmed on Burgh Island. I just love the scenery in the Ustinov one and the costumes and acting are so over the top that you can't help but love it. My favourite scene: Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg performing "You're the Top".
Sunday 11 December 2011
Recommended Christmas Christie Reading or Viewing
As we are approaching the Festive season I thought I would recommend some Christie reading material - and / or viewing.
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. This is a collection of short stories. The title story is set in an English country house where they adhere to the lovely traditions of Christmas, trees, midnight mass and loads and loads of food! Stars Hercule Poirot. Includes a foreword by Agatha describing her own remembered Christmases when she was a child.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas. A full length novel featuring the dapper Poirot - also takes place in an English country house at Christmas-time.
A Christmas Tragedy. Another collection of short stories from The Thirteen Problems. This one starring Miss Marple who is staying at a Hydro (a spa hotel) over Christmas.
The first two have been made into tv adaptations starring David Suchet but the last one has never been filmed.
Enjoy!
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. This is a collection of short stories. The title story is set in an English country house where they adhere to the lovely traditions of Christmas, trees, midnight mass and loads and loads of food! Stars Hercule Poirot. Includes a foreword by Agatha describing her own remembered Christmases when she was a child.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas. A full length novel featuring the dapper Poirot - also takes place in an English country house at Christmas-time.
A Christmas Tragedy. Another collection of short stories from The Thirteen Problems. This one starring Miss Marple who is staying at a Hydro (a spa hotel) over Christmas.
The first two have been made into tv adaptations starring David Suchet but the last one has never been filmed.
Enjoy!
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Fantastic News - well I think so.
John Curran, who wrote the wonderful Agatha Christie Secret Notebooks has announced he is releasing another book "Murder in the Making" - again about Agatha Christie. This will be released in September and I, for one, can hardly wait....
Monday 2 May 2011
Secret Notebooks
I just had to say a few words about Agatha Christie's Secret notebooks by John Curran. If you are interested in Agatha Christie then this really is a "must have". John Curran was granted permission to go through all Agatha's notebooks - she used children's exercise books to plot all her mysteries and write down notes and ideas as they occurred to her.
John has done a really brilliant job in putting this book together and it is interesting to read Agatha's notes and to see the things she put in the books and the things she omitted. Probably best to read this once you have read Agatha's books as there are spoilers.
What I particularly like about this book is the fact that there are facsimile pages of Agatha's notes and next to these they are transcribed so very easy to read. Its absolutely fascinating and gives an insight into how the Queen of Crime plotted her mysteries.
John has done a really brilliant job in putting this book together and it is interesting to read Agatha's notes and to see the things she put in the books and the things she omitted. Probably best to read this once you have read Agatha's books as there are spoilers.
What I particularly like about this book is the fact that there are facsimile pages of Agatha's notes and next to these they are transcribed so very easy to read. Its absolutely fascinating and gives an insight into how the Queen of Crime plotted her mysteries.
Wednesday 27 April 2011
The Thirteen Problems
I have just finished reading this collection of short stories. They "star" Miss Marple and are based on the concept of a group of people who gather together on a Tuesday night and pass the time by telling each other true stories where there is a puzzle element to be solved. They are very easy reading and I have enjoyed them all.
My favourite one is "The Tuesday Night Club".
However, I find "The Affair at the Bungalow" quite difficult to understand - despite reading it several times! I think it must be just me. Would be interested in anyone else's view on this particular story.
Contained within these is "The Blue Geranium" which you may know has been recently adapted for TV starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple - being a short story expanded to 1.5 hours of television I am sure was no mean feat. Even though I am not keen on the later adaptations which have changed the storylines - it was good to see something a bit different.
My favourite one is "The Tuesday Night Club".
However, I find "The Affair at the Bungalow" quite difficult to understand - despite reading it several times! I think it must be just me. Would be interested in anyone else's view on this particular story.
Contained within these is "The Blue Geranium" which you may know has been recently adapted for TV starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple - being a short story expanded to 1.5 hours of television I am sure was no mean feat. Even though I am not keen on the later adaptations which have changed the storylines - it was good to see something a bit different.
Saturday 9 April 2011
The Secret Adversary
One of my favourites where we are introduced to Tommy and Tuppence. It's interesting as they have both been demobbed from the first world war and can't find any work and are very short of money. This is what I love about Agatha Christie - she writes in what was for her the present and it provides an insight as to what life was like.
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