Well Read Wednesday-Reading Project: Agatha Christie Pt. 1
As a voracious reader I like to set myself one or more literary projects for the year. The current task is to read my way through the extensive back catalogue of Agatha Christie works, as near as possible in chronological order. This is no small task since she wrote sixty six detective novels, several mystery novels, plays and fourteen short story collections. By the middle of March I had the first ten under my belt. This selection already shows a some variety in her early writing.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) Hercule Poirot’s first outing.
The Secret Adversary (1922) First appearance of sleuths Tommy & Tuppence
Murder on the Links (1923) The second Hercule Poirot novel.
The Man in the Brown Suit (1924) A Colonel Race mystery novel.
Poirot Investigates (1924) a collection of Poirot short stories.
The Secret of Chimneys (1925) A Superintendent Battle mystery Novel
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) Another Poirot novel.
The Big Four (1927) Poirot book 5
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) Poirot book 6.
The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) The second Superintendent Battle Mystery.
The decision to read all of the books followed on from two new books read late last year. Firstly there was Lucy Worsley’s ‘Agatha Christie – A very elusive woman’ and then the new collection of stories written in the style of Christie by twelve eminent women writers, simply called ‘Marple’. Both these led me to think that maybe I’d underestimated Mrs. Christie in the past. As I am in the habit of doing with a new (to me) author I decided to start at the beginning. Some of these have been great reads and others not so. I also have things to say about some of the social and cultural norms prevalent in the books, but more on that next time.
Of course being the hungry reader that I am , this project goes alongside all my other reading both fiction and non-fiction. Ah yes, the little black book on top of the pile? That's my complete Agatha Christie bibliography, recording all the books, which editions I have and the dates that I read them. Geeky or what!