I'm Still Slogging Away

Just in case anyone was wondering, I missed my December 1st, 2011 deadline. But I'm still reading and I will finish before the summer. I hope.

135 Down, About 114 to Go

With my May 1 deadline looming, I just completed reading "Murder on the Orient Express". That means I've read about 135 short stories, novels, novellas, plays, and novelizations of plays. I now have approximately 114 more to tales to go. It isn't going to happen. My new deadline? December 1, 2011.

Checking In.

I'm still working my way through the collected Agatha Christie works, but have taken a couple of necessary detours on along the way. At first I swore that I would ONLY read Agatha Christie books until the project was finished, and then came November.

Although I am prone to a bit of hyperbole, saying this past holiday season nearly killed me isn't far from the truth. The last few months have been the most challenging and least rewarding months of my retail "career". At the beginning of this descent into hell I had jokingly said that working retail was the modern equivalent to working in a 19th coal mine. By December 24th I truly believed it.

Continuing to work on the Agatha Christie Project, something that I really enjoy, became very difficult. At first reading on my breaks was something to look forward to and provided a much needed escape. Eventually though I just couldn't switch between reading and reality with the ease required. I was too tired to focus on what was happening on the page and really take it in. Facts and plot points evaporated in my brain moments after I read them and the stories lost their impact.

So I set down Dame Agatha and picked up Simon Doonan's autobiographical book "Beautiful People". This short and episodic work took me far too long to read but it helped me through those bleak days. I did manage to read the seasonably appropriate "Murder on Hazelmoor" over my brief 4 day Christmas Holiday I received thanks to a cold and succumbing to sheer exhaustion (most of Boxing Day was spent with me staring glassy eyed into the middle distance).

When I did return to the project I had the grave misfortune to read a novelisation of the play "Black Coffee". To get that bitter taste out of my mouth I read "A Beautiful Blue Death" by Charles Finch. It was a present from my partner and was one of the best gifts I received this year.

I'm now returning to the project with "The Floating Admiral", a book collectively written by The Detective's Club of which Agatha Christie was a member.

Announcing Another BLOG!

Over the last while I've noticed that the Agatha Project Blog was getting a little cluttered with postings unrelated Agatha Christie. I've decided that I need another place to express myself, someplace that I don't feel the need to censor what I'm thinking or posting. Enter The HMS Hyperbole Blog, a place for ponderous items, racier pictures and anything a little off topic. Between the two pages I will attempt to make 5 entries a week. Sometime postings will appear in both places, but generally anything related will go here on the Agatha Project page and everything else on the HMS Hyperbole page.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mother's birthday. In honour of her birthday, I thought I'd share this charming inscription I found inside a Nancy Drew book. See, Norton loves Becky SO much he stole Noelle's book, a gift from her grandmother, cleverly scratched out her name, and then gave it to Becky. I love my mom so much I paid $3.99 for this book for her. In both cases, it's the thought that counts.

Happy 120th Birthday Agatha Christie!

...or more accurately Happy Birthday Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan nee Miller aka Dame Agatha Christie aka Mary Westmacott.

Hello Miss Marple!

Having deviated again from the reading plan prescribed by the Official Agatha Christie website, I cracked open The Thirteen Problems this week. I loved it so much that I deviated slightly from my own list and read the first six stories before The Mystery of the Blue Train.

It is obvious from reading these first Miss Marple stories that Agatha Christie must have enjoyed writing them. They are full of colour and energy, unlike The Big Four where she can barely manages to conceal her weariness of Hercule Poirot. I'm interested to see if Christie's desire for a paycheque is as apparent in The Mystery of the Blue Train.