tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post8757221028264918935..comments2024-03-18T10:56:29.768+00:00Comments on Clothes In Books: Dress Down Sunday: Christie versus FlemingClothes In Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-58580501380914199702016-04-26T21:06:50.150+01:002016-04-26T21:06:50.150+01:00Do try them - such easy reads and full of charm an...Do try them - such easy reads and full of charm and warmth. I think you'll like them.Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-20979286283456109972016-04-25T23:38:52.195+01:002016-04-25T23:38:52.195+01:00I haven't been doing very well on my plans to ...I haven't been doing very well on my plans to read more short stories but the Parker Pyne stories are definitely ones I want to try. TracyKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303342674824383688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-57907944297054587622016-04-22T22:43:51.799+01:002016-04-22T22:43:51.799+01:00Oh good point, and I'm sure she read Maugham, ...Oh good point, and I'm sure she read Maugham, she was so well-read. I have a jigsaw of a photograph of her bookshelves - next time I do it I will make a list of the writers there. I like Maugham a lot, and one time featured on the blog an Ashenden story where a lady tears up her underwear to staunch a wound. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-58479762476692691572016-04-22T11:40:28.040+01:002016-04-22T11:40:28.040+01:00I like these stories too - they are satisfying. Th...I like these stories too - they are satisfying. This one reminds me, and I'm not sure why (tone, perhaps?) of Ashenden, which I assume Christie would have read.skiourophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08200877834536477400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-4920957146047162262016-04-18T19:29:45.157+01:002016-04-18T19:29:45.157+01:00Yes I agree, and comforting is just the right word...Yes I agree, and comforting is just the right word. I'm not a fan of the thrillers, but then one of my favourites of her books is Man in The Brown Suit - I don't know how you'd classify that one....Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-8248853071894439502016-04-18T17:32:35.796+01:002016-04-18T17:32:35.796+01:00I know Christie loved her thrillers, Moira, and if...I know Christie loved her thrillers, Moira, and if I don't think most of them work nearly as well as her detective fiction, some of them are fun! And I am firmly on the side of Mr. Parker Pyne lovers! For some reason, those are the most comforting stories in the canon! I love Mr. PP's stable of actors playing out these fantasies to fix people's lives. Of course, they should all be arrested for the things they do, but for some reason, this fantasy of problem-solving (the earliest attempts at virtual reality?!?) are easier for me to swallow than all the grand conspiracies of So Many Steps to Death and They Came to Baghdad!Brad (ahsweetmystery)https://www.blogger.com/profile/12012914349226406144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-91401605851450773742016-04-18T11:35:39.261+01:002016-04-18T11:35:39.261+01:00Yes indeed - and when people try to guess her poli...Yes indeed - and when people try to guess her politics from her stories I feel the same: she was moving chessmen for entertainment purposes. She obviously did have very strong views about all kinds of things, and tells us about them in her autobiography, but you can't guess them (necessarily) from her books. <br />I think she could have done a lot more with Parker Pyne, it's a brilliant and actually very unusual idea - I can't think of much to compare them with.<br />And great catch on James Bond!Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-31335343393256603272016-04-18T11:13:38.732+01:002016-04-18T11:13:38.732+01:00Christie's non-detective stuff is fascinating....Christie's non-detective stuff is fascinating. She was always fond of dipping her pen in satire and parody. I read an introduction to THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY by Val McDermid, and she makes the point that some people mock Christie's thrillers without realising that they are making fun of her thriller writing contemporaries, and of course in PARTNERS IN CRIME she is involved in sending up her Detection Club confreres.<br /><br />The Parker Pyne stories are fascinating in the way that they use the form of the detective tale in order to do something else. The protagonists are real people who are being taken for a ride by a master plotter, nominally Pyne but really Christie. It's like the average reader being literally caught up in fiction. Another case of Christie being all meta-textual.<br /><br />Of course, Christie did actually have a character called James Bond. He was the somewhat hapless hero of a story called the Rajah's Emerald from 1934, although it's sort of a shame that he wasn't the hero of this story!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-65220996147122491112016-04-17T22:37:03.356+01:002016-04-17T22:37:03.356+01:00Yes - and whenever I read them I wish she'd wr...Yes - and whenever I read them I wish she'd written more of them.Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-34522291809880068002016-04-17T22:36:44.860+01:002016-04-17T22:36:44.860+01:00She was a realistic but game traveller I think, lo...She was a realistic but game traveller I think, loved her adventures.Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-46164457511864667132016-04-17T22:36:18.841+01:002016-04-17T22:36:18.841+01:00Oh yes, you are right, I tracked down a DVD a few ...Oh yes, you are right, I tracked down a DVD a few years ago in order to watch them, rare treats indeed. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-87216517039525959252016-04-17T22:35:46.565+01:002016-04-17T22:35:46.565+01:00Yes she did, and in several of her other books too...Yes she did, and in several of her other books too. I think she loved travel and could see the romance and glamour they might seem to offer. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-50195291128212796182016-04-17T22:35:06.252+01:002016-04-17T22:35:06.252+01:00I do know they are not everyone's cup of tea, ...I do know they are not everyone's cup of tea, but I re-read them regularly.Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-38125034872064456922016-04-17T22:34:47.128+01:002016-04-17T22:34:47.128+01:00I think you're right - she was good at several...I think you're right - she was good at several genres, and I think would have made a success in any of them.Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-77097424525153566872016-04-17T19:04:44.136+01:002016-04-17T19:04:44.136+01:00I like them, too, Moira. They are funny and someho...I like them, too, Moira. They are funny and somehow rather touching with some penetrating shafts of insight into human nature. And I like the way things don't always turned as PP planned.Christinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16510409974009816550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-15446130451420091282016-04-17T18:20:27.960+01:002016-04-17T18:20:27.960+01:00Christie had some interesting train rides - being ...Christie had some interesting train rides - being stung by hornets and bed bugs, subsisting on plum jam in Russia, having "certain suggestions" made. Or was that on a boat?Lucy R. Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08632983296994349550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-20993094322348219082016-04-17T15:05:34.445+01:002016-04-17T15:05:34.445+01:00I love the Parker Pym stories. Some of them were ...I love the Parker Pym stories. Some of them were made into tv shows on the Agatha Christie Mystery Theatre (I think that's the name).Mac n' Janethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05732924562630675589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-58459608808357705372016-04-17T13:31:47.121+01:002016-04-17T13:31:47.121+01:00Oh, this is a good one, Moira, and I'm really ...Oh, this is a good one, Moira, and I'm really glad that you mentioned it. I like Parker Pyne, and I sometimes think these stories don't get enough 'press.' Christie certainly made use of the mystique and atmosphere of the train, didn't she?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-7471012218454595322016-04-17T12:14:03.645+01:002016-04-17T12:14:03.645+01:00Blimey amundo! Very odd - and I should re-read the...Blimey amundo! Very odd - and I should re-read the Pyne stories actually - thanks Moira!Sergio (Tipping My Fedora)https://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-86591306508012303912016-04-17T11:50:54.766+01:002016-04-17T11:50:54.766+01:00Moira, I think Christie was fond of spy fiction. T...Moira, I think Christie was fond of spy fiction. There are shades and even outright elements of espionage in some of her books. Of course, I have not read all of her novels but that's the impression I get.Prashant C. Trikannadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079354501998741758noreply@blogger.com