Book Club

Non-fiction

Christie published two non-fiction titles; her Autobiography and Come, Tell Me How You Live. Both give us an insight into her life and are written with honesty and humour.

Warning: These discussions may contain spoilers!

Come, Tell Me How You Live

Jemma 28 Aug 09 at 10:41 a.m. GMT

Christie chose to publish this title under her married name - Agatha Christie Mallowan. This would seem a clear indication of her decision to separate her private life from her public life

The autobiographical description of the excavations she went on with husband Max, are told in a lighthearted manner embued with humour.

When Christie first wrote the manuscript her publishers didn't approve of it. The tone was quite different to her usual work - Christie described it as "frivolous". Certainly the tone is lighthearted but when reading titles such as Murder in Mesopotamia, it is possible to see influences of her archaelogical life.

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GKCfan 28 Oct 09 at 5:50 a.m. GMT

I think that this is a very interesting look at what goes behind the scenes at an archaeological dig.  The scene that sticks with me the most is the horrible night where the Mallowans sleep in a room filled with scurrying rats!

MissQuin 04 Feb 10 at 9:35 p.m. GMT

I liked this one. It may not please fans who are only interested in her crime works. There were some funny incidents, the new fashion for zips and the trouble they cause. Then her husband Max's suggestion that he needs something heavy to push down his suitcase lid, so asks Agatha to sit on it! Not very flattering, but AC tells it good humour.

ave27 15 Aug 10 at 5:52 p.m. GMT

I found this book especially interesting after having read various Christies that take place in archaelogical settings in the Middle East ("Murder in Mesopotamia," "They Came to Baghdad," etc.). It was certainly enjoyable to read, and although I found some of the descriptions somewhat offensive, they are certainly relevant to the time and culture in which Christie was writing.

Number3 12 Sep 10 at 1:37 p.m. GMT

I also enjoyed this book.  I enjoyed the parts were ACM wrote about being the photographer for the dig and who can forget about the car and the driver.

belgian_in_ireland 26 Jun 11 at 3:50 p.m. GMT

Whenever I need a book to take my mind of more serious issues, I take out this one. It never fails to make me smile. Agatha tells everything with such humour and she shows her ability to depict people to the max here. Archaeology has always been one of my interests, so this book permits me to be part of a dig - even this many years after the fact.