When You Want to Learn More About Agatha: Supplemental Read Recommendations!

(image from here)

"If she [Agatha Christie] is read by miners, shop assistants, and old age pensioners, equally she is read…by academics, politicians, scientists and artists. They would feel ashamed to sit on a train reading a Tarzan book; they would hide a James Bond inside a copy of the Guardian; but they wouldn't think twice about opening up a Christie." -A Talent to Deceive, p. 4

Happy Thursday, dear readers!

One of our readers, NYC Book Owl, asked if we would do a post about some of our favorite supplemental Agatha reads. One of the things we have loved about our Year of Agatha project has been learning more about the Queen of Crime through her own words as well as through the words of other fans who have spent a great deal of time studying her writings (#GOALZ). So, in this post you'll find some of our recommendations for those who might be interested in diving deeper into the world and life of Agatha Christie!

1) An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
This list should absolutely start with Agatha's own amazing autobiography in which she tells some great stories not only about growing up, experiences and people that influenced her writings, and how she felt about her success.

2) Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie
Agatha describes this book as basically her way of blanket-ly answering all the questions she got from friends and fans about her time working with her archaeologist hubby, Max, on his digs in Syria. We can just imagine some second cousin thrice removed asking her at Christmas "Oh hey what's it like living in Syria??" and Agatha reaching into her bag and just handing her a copy of this book. Since so many of her stories were inspired by her travels in the Middle East and her experiences on digs, this is a neat window into that part of her life.

3) Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran
We are kind of obsessed with John Curran. Mostly in a OMG YOU ARE SUCH AN AWESOME AGATHA NERD JUST LIKE US kind of way. Curran got to live every Agatha fan's dream and go through her handwritten notes to learn more about how she planned the novels we all love so much. We love this insight into her work, and will certainly be consulting it as we get into phase 2 of The Year of Agatha: writing our own Christie-style mystery!

4) The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple by Anne Hart
This is a "biography" of Miss Marple using all the clues about her given to us in her novels and other Agatha writings. This is SUCH a fun read because as you go through it you think "oh hey yeah what do we know about Jane Marple as a young woman?! And yes, just how many nieces and nephews does she have??" Anne Hart has also written a similar volume about Hercule Poirot.

5) A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie by Robert Barnard
This is a fantastic read for anyone wanting to get more into the nitty gritty analysis of Agatha Christie. Barnard talks about Agatha Christie's place in the classic fiction genre, her strategies for deception, and how her to-this-day mysterious disappearance as a young woman influenced her writing. There is also a section of his one paragraph reviews of each book that are often SO FUNNY they had us laughing out loud!

6) Poirot and Me by David Suchet
This book is truly such a gem, particularly for those of you who (like us!) basically equivocate David Suchet with Hercule Poirot. This is a delightful account of David Suchet's more than 20 years of playing Poirot, and offers a glimpse into the emotional connection he has with the character and his personal stories from filming the show.

7) Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie by Anne Martinetti, Guillaume Lebeau, and Alexandre Franc
Finally, although this graphic novel could be seen as over-simplifying Agatha Christie's history, it is a cute, quick overview of her life and worth it just for the pictures alone!

Have any of you read a book from this list? What are some that we missed? We are always on the lookout for more Agatha learning :)

-A. & E.