Agatha Christie

[Moonraker]

Curtain is so depressing. I have only read it once, and then I had to read another Poirot to cheer myself up!

[nlgbbbblth]

I re-read The Clocks and The ABC Murders lately - very satisfying.

I find Curtain to be a powerful work; very engrossing.

Roger Ackroyd has to be up there too.

[Kitty]

Curtain is so depressing. I have only read it once, and then I had to read another Poirot to cheer myself up!

I was in floods. Somehow, I'd remained completely oblivious to even the possibility of that particular outcome. I've only read it once, and probably never will again. Though if Suchet films it, I'll watch.

Still haven't finished Cat - my problem is that I have too many books on the go at once! The Blyton similarities are so interesting, I wonder if AC ever read any EB

[hope189]

I have read ABC murdurs, but I didn''t find it all that great. Murder on the Orient express was the first Agatha Christie book I ever read and it is definitely one of my favourites. I recently bought a cpoy of Curtain. But I haven't read it yet as I was hoping to read Mysterious affair at the Styles first. Among my other favourites are Murder in Mesopotamia and Death on the Nile.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I've only ever read a few of Agatha Christie, this thread has whetted my appitite to read a few more, once I've finished reading Trevor's book. I have just bought the DVD titled And Then There Were None. 1945 edition. Watched it last night. Very good.

[Kitty]

I've only ever read a few of Agatha Christie, this thread has whetted my appitite to read a few more, once I've finished reading Trevor's book. I have just bought the DVD titled And Then There Were None. 1945 edition. Watched it last night. Very good.

Oh, I saw that a few weeks ago - agree, it was quite fun. Creaky but atmospheric. The acting was very stagey, but it added to the vintage feel.

[sixret]

Enid Blyton and Agatha Chistie books have special place in my heart eventhough I've read many books from other writers too.

The books entertain.That's more important.The books function is to entertain not like some snobs who claimed otherwise.

[70s-child]

Curtain is so depressing. I have only read it once, and then I had to read another Poirot to cheer myself up!

I was in floods. Somehow, I'd remained completely oblivious to even the possibility of that particular outcome. I've only read it once, and probably never will again. Though if Suchet films it, I'll watch.

I was tears too, and I never read it beyond the first time. I simply couldn't bring myself to... the whole tone of the book is so dark and depressing. But as a story it is brilliant.

I love Cat among the Pigeons. I read Christie for her characters nowadays. I used to read her for just the plots earlier, but the characters and the dialogues are so wonderful that I keep going back to them. I was re-reading "Why Didn't Ask Evans" sometime back and the two main characters are beautifully drawn and very charming.

Incidentally, did anyone see the new adaptations of Christie's works? I was dreading watching "Cat..." incase they mangled it like they did "Cards on the Table" (the book is a favorite), but I thought it was fine on the whole as was "Mrs McGinty's Dead". PBS is showing "Murder is Easy" this weekend and I am positively dreading this one because I like the book a lot and the reviews indicate they have made substantial changes to the plot

BTW, I also recommend the radio-plays and the Christie audio-books to anyone who hasn't yet heard them. Both are available on I-tunes. Many of the books are narrated by David Suchet and Hugh Fraser and they are excellent. The radio plays are also very good and very faithful to the original story (added incentive, they are available for free on I-tunes). Both keep me company on the stairmaster (I am a slug about going to the gym, and this is good motivation).

[Julie2owlsdene]

I went to see the stage play of Agatha's 'A Spider's Web', on Saturday night. What a brilliant play this is. I've never read the book, but will now go out and buy it. The play was well acted and so funny in parts. The whole audience loved it and clapped at various scenes. Pity it was the last night that I went to. If I'd been here in Cornwall when the play first came on five days before, I'd have gone to see it twice.

[Eddie Muir]

It sounds great, Julie. I shall have to keep a lookout to see if it's going to be staged in my area.

[Julie2owlsdene]

It's worth booking a ticket, Eddie. The best stage play I've seen so far, and I've seen quite a few

[70s-child]

Since there are so many Christie fans on this forum, I thought this list of her top-10 books (from the point of view of one fan) would interest people here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/se ... tie-novels

What do you think? Do you agree with this list?

I am fully aware that to get some kind of top 10 list of Christie can be impossibly difficult. I agree with some on this list, but def. not all. I am fine with Orient Express, Ackroyd, Then there were none, 5 little pigs, and Curtain in the top 10. Haven't read Endless Night yet (one of the few I haven't), but it is supposed to be outstanding. Don't agree with End House (good, but not her best) and most definitely don't agree with Crooked House, which I never took to. ABC Murders and Murder is Announced are both excellent, but I could exchange them with some of her other works for this list. Where are Pale Horse, 4:50 from Paddington, Cards on the Table, and the beautiful Sad Cypress? It takes a genius to think up the plots of each of these stories.

[Kitty]

I loved reading the list, and thought it was very well reasoned, but I suppose we'll always be subjective, and the only two he and I have in common are The ABC Murders and And Then There Were None.

I'm useless at favourites lists, they keep changing, but at the moment, I'd go with the two above and The Sittaford Mystery, Nemesis, Death on the Nile, The Man in the Brown Suit, N or M?, Cards on the Table, Appointment with Death and Evil Under the Sun.

[Eddie Muir]

Since there are so many Christie fans on this forum, I thought this list of her top-10 books (from the point of view of one fan) would interest people here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/se ... tie-novels

What do you think? Do you agree with this list?

I was most interested to read the list. My own three Agatha Christie favourites are:

1 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (which broke all the rules!)
2 The ABC Murders
3 Murder on the Orient Express

[Ming]

I only agree with three on the list - Orient Express, Curtain and And Then There Were None.

Where are Towards Zero, Death On The Nile and Sleeping Murder?