Lone Wolf
Deity
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2006
- Messages
- 9,908
She's the best-selling writer of books. Only the Bible outsells her. What can be the reason for such popularity? She's obviously not Shakespeare or something.
It's interesting to know that she, apparently, is being much more appreciated across the Channel then in her own homeland - Christie's books sell four times as many copies in France as in Britain these days and French critics tend to pay more respect to her then English ones.
I admit I belong to the circle of her fans, too, though I like only 1/3 of her books (mostly pre 50-ies ones, though there are a couple of exceptions) - she is quite uneven to me. Still, that's enough for me to feel gratitude to her for brightening my life.
I always read her in English, in Russian I find her ureadable. I much prefer the Poirot books, despite my avatar - though I like Marple as a character and as a literary creation a bit more, I find the Marple plots inferior.
Her characterisation in books I like is roughly on par with Dickens' characterization (about which enough had been said in the High Literature thread). Occasionally it's more subtle then her usual (see Five Little Pigs or The Hollow). The Five Little Pigs film in the Suchet Poirot series did a great job with the book, despite changing a couple of things (what does anyone think about that series, btw?)
It's interesting to know that she, apparently, is being much more appreciated across the Channel then in her own homeland - Christie's books sell four times as many copies in France as in Britain these days and French critics tend to pay more respect to her then English ones.
I admit I belong to the circle of her fans, too, though I like only 1/3 of her books (mostly pre 50-ies ones, though there are a couple of exceptions) - she is quite uneven to me. Still, that's enough for me to feel gratitude to her for brightening my life.
I always read her in English, in Russian I find her ureadable. I much prefer the Poirot books, despite my avatar - though I like Marple as a character and as a literary creation a bit more, I find the Marple plots inferior.
Her characterisation in books I like is roughly on par with Dickens' characterization (about which enough had been said in the High Literature thread). Occasionally it's more subtle then her usual (see Five Little Pigs or The Hollow). The Five Little Pigs film in the Suchet Poirot series did a great job with the book, despite changing a couple of things (what does anyone think about that series, btw?)