Agatha Christie. 

It is difficult not to fall in love with her addictive books for familiarity and simple comfort reading. Akin to Arthur Conan Doyle’s ’Sherlock Holmes’ collective. These of ’Agatha’s’ sit alongside a scenario of hot black coffee, hobnob or ginger snap biscuits and feet up to channel focus on the lovely pleasurable pages turned. Familiarity is always a solid presence with a few chosen authors in the opening of a much loved series of books. This, in their inclusions into lifestyle, allows complete and much appreciated chill factor. A way to reduce the anxieties of life. No challenging written word content to make you feel edgy. It’s like a film where you know the ending and can always watch again. Or, in the case of other watched/read films and books….leave you so distraught you never want to see, read or watch them ever again.  There are many of these that I am too heartbroken after watching or reading to actually give thought or recognition to. You shove them, purposefully, out of your mind.

However. Found my wonderful ‘collection and sent by weekly/fortnightly? postal delivery’ hardbacks from so, so long ago when tidying the house. Each, when delivered, read avidly over a few days and a deep sense of ensuing satisfaction always guaranteed. These books here? I shoved them on the ‘Den/Study’ shelves. The collection? One of those sign up and pay weekly or monthly plus postal delivery for said books. How on earth did I pay for them way back when on a wage of £10 a week. My wife was paid £5 a week as a hairdresser. Our little bijou flat was £15 a week rent. Hairdresser’s tips were our survival pot. No idea actually how I bought them. Maybe selling bits of collective unwanted stuff from over the years. However, I digress. Then I noticed when looking at my photographed spine titles that a few of Agatha’s books that I had read decades and decades ago were not actually there. Definitely not in my collection. Why? How many missing? So……looked on Google and eBay to see if I had all of them. 

Apparently not! Six short of the full collection. Probably did finally give up because of lack of funds to buy them all. There are 34 here. 40 is the full number to aim for! Screen shot a photograph of someone selling the whole caboodle. Last gallery photograph below.

So, having now, as said, screen shot a full collection selling on eBay to see what was missing from my ‘just a few books short’ collection. Once I’ve written them down, after studying the full collection eBay seller’s spines, I will hunt down the missing ones in this collective essential. Need the additions to complete a much loved iconic inclusion in my life. Have noticed eBay have a fair few of this lovely red hardcover production. Won’t be too difficult to get the missing six.

And….shortly. I will seek the order of reading of said books from start to finish and read, not like in the past as a random adventure, but as how Agatha wrote them from first to last. Each written story sequentially. Should be fun.

To finish here I began thinking of how certain authors become addictive. Not in small numbers of followers, but people in their millions. The Conan Doyle, J. K. Rowling, Charles Dickens, etc. Intentional formulaic writing or pure happenstance? Probably the latter. Genius inherent.

Please tap on each gallery photograph to enlarge.