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How many HP books do you own?

detectivepauljohn 25 Sep 08 at 10:24 a.m. GMT

mine are

• Evil Under the Sun
• Death On the Nile
• Cards On the Table

I also own Miss Marple's Murder at the Vicarage and Quin's The Mysterious Mr. Quin which are both excellent, too. I will buy The Hollow and Mrs. Mcginty's Dead or either The Third Girl and Hallowe'en Party next 2-3 months.

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detectivefan010 17 Jan 11 at 3:58 a.m. GMT

I have read the following:

• Murder on the Orient Express
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas
• The ABC murders
• Curtain:Poirot's last case
• Poirot's early cases
• The mysterious affair at Styles.

Puffinjill 02 Nov 10 at 7:09 a.m. GMT

Send them to me!!!!!!!!! I can't bear to part with books, even if I will never read them again. I know that passing on your paperbacks to a secondhand shop will let another would-be AC fan discover the delights of her books but I couldn't do it!!! I know one set of AC books should be enough for anyone but I can't seem to stop there!! Dear oh dear, I AM way too obsessive about my books.

Your hardback collection is coming on better than mine, Knotty! They should certainly help keep you occupied throughout your long, cold winter.

knottyceltic 30 Oct 10 at 2:54 p.m. GMT

I just made a buying blitz this past month to stock up for our long cold Canadian winter.  I now have 15 new (to me), used, AC hardcovers to read over the winter.  I'm like a kid in a candy store.  Too many good ones to choose from now  ;o)

That probably brings my Hardcover collection to about 52.  Soon I will go through all my softcover/paperback editions and sell them at the second hand book shop.  AC is a rare commodity there so I know they will sell fast. 

englishriviera 30 Oct 10 at 1:05 a.m. GMT

I have read 12 Poirot novels and all short stories. I am a fan since my mother bought our first Christies novel "Murder at the vicarage" , a Miss Marple.

My favorites are: The blue train, Halloween Party, Lord vEdgware dies, Death on the Nile, Death in the clouds, Cards on the table, and of course The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

The ones I love the most ,I also have the BBC radio dramatisation and the film.

ivi21 29 Oct 10 at 2:50 p.m. GMT

That website looks great, I will join it as soon as I have a little more time.

knottyceltic 29 Oct 10 at 11:12 a.m. GMT

No worries Mr. Graves.  When i see the initials HP I always think "Harry Potter" before "Hercule Poirot".  It's just habit from when I was a member of a Harry Potter discussion forum for many years.  I'm still a big Potter fan and am eagerly awating the arrival in theatre of the first installment of the last book.  :o)

Mr_Graves 21 Oct 10 at 11:37 p.m. GMT

That sounds like such a cool website!!! I must visit it...

As for the HP books I own (I am ashamed to admit that when I first saw this post, I thought that it was Harry Potter books! These accursed initials!) I have about 12. I've just checked- make that 11. 

knottyceltic 02 Oct 10 at 2:19 a.m. GMT

I own 45 hardcovers and I don't know how many paperbacks.  I use this cute little website to keep track of my AC books, which I've purchased and which I have read.  It's called "Shelfari" and is here:

www.shelfari.com

After you join you get to put the book on your shelf that you are currently reading.  Then you pick the books you've already read and those you WISH to read and you can pick the exact book cover that you have.  You can also leave comments about the book, review it, tag it and if you click on the book it takes you to the discussions about it.  There are also "groups" there and your profile will list which groups you belong to.  When you get replies from any of your groups or book discussions the replies are noted in your profile when you log in.

If you join, please send me a friend request. My shelf is located here:

http://www.shelfari.com/knottyceltic/shelf

ivi21 12 Sep 10 at 2:24 p.m. GMT

I got complete short stories with Poirot as a Christmas gift two years ago and then I have other Poirot stories and also stories with Miss Marple, Mr. Quin and Parker Pyne.I didn´t count them. But I don´t have anything about Tommy and Tuppence, I think that will be my next buy  

xrysoula 28 Aug 10 at 6:56 p.m. GMT

I am the proud owner of 40 Christies and I am determined to complete my collection! Right now I am waiting for 6 more that I recently ordered.

christie_greece 26 Aug 10 at 2:31 p.m. GMT

beligian in ireland I'm so impressed. I have about 30-35 books and I share them with my best friend. We started reading AC's books together and we are determind to read them all!!

belgian_in_ireland 28 Jun 10 at 6:57 p.m. GMT

I thought I had all the AC books, except for Star over Bethlehem and the Mary Westmacott novels.  But starting to read the books in the order they were published I have already come across a few that I don't have.

My AC books have their own bookcases (Ikea's Billy CD cases) and also contain her autobiography, the 2 biographies, Max Mallowan's Biography, the plays, the John Curran book and A Talent to Deceive.

Mr_west 10 Jun 10 at 3:33 p.m. GMT

i have 33 AC books:

○ the mysterious affair at styles

○ the mirror cracke'd from side to side

○ partners in crime

○ a caribbean mystery

○ they came to baghdad

○ death on the nile

○ the man in the brown suit

○ three blind mice and other stories

○ crooked house

○ sleeping murder

○ curtain

○ murder on the orient express

○ they do it with mirrors

○ mrs. mcginty's dead

○ the hollow

○ Destination Unknown

○ and then there were none

○ appointment with death

○ easy to kill

○ three act tragety

○ Parker Pyne Investigates

○ lord edgware dies

○ the big four

○ after the funeral

○ sad cypress

○ A Murder is Announced

○cat among the pigeons

○ one,two buckle my shoe

○ Murder in Mesopotamia  

○ the mystery of the blue train

○ the body in the library

○ 4.50 from paddington

○ The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories  

i almost finish to read them all and i'm still looking for more books. 

cameronjhw 08 Jun 10 at 4:18 p.m. GMT

I own all of the Hercule Poirot novels and stories also I have all of the mystery novels and atories featuring Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Parker Pyne, and Harley Quin. Also all of the novels that do not feature her detectives like And Then There Were None, Death Comes as the End, etc.

MissQuin 08 Mar 10 at 7:03 p.m. GMT

I don't know how many I own, I havent counted them! But more than 20 and the AC books have their own shelves.

csillasmystery 07 Mar 10 at 8:06 p.m. GMT

I have about 40 AC books, but I'd like to have all her books. Maybe someday.

Tommy_A_Jones 03 Aug 09 at 2:18 p.m. GMT

I can't have seen the covers you are talking about or not noticed. I had the issues where Evil Under The Sun was Yellow and had a Skull on, I can't remember who the Publishers were.

TheMole 02 Aug 09 at 1:26 p.m. GMT

If I had just begun reading AC w/ the new cover jackets then I would have collected those. But it is true that the "older" covers sometimes give you big clues as to who the culprit(s) is/are. The cover jacket for Mrs. McGinty's Dead is one that really gives it away!

marymck 02 Aug 09 at 11:27 a.m. GMT

Yes but the things they illustrate are often small things that appear insignificant when they arise in the story - almost as a throwaway line - and it is only much later on in the plot that the significance becomes apparent.  By having these apparently insignificant items on the cover there is no surprise when their significance is revealed and when the truth is out with one item, then immediately the significance of all the other items falls into place.  So once you know this is what the cover designer is doing, you can work out the who, how and why very easily as you have having the significant aspects of the plot rather heavy handedly underlined for you as you read it.  Does that make sense?

I have to say that the illustrators don't do it now.  But there was a whole series of AC imprints that did this a few years back.  I'll look up the dates of the editions in my copies.  These editions are the ones I least enjoy reading - and I hope gradually to replace them.

Tommy_A_Jones 02 Aug 09 at 10:37 a.m. GMT

I can't see there is anything wrong with the types of covers you suggest, as they just mention the type of things mentioned in the book, they don't reveal who the Murderer is, I have read some books and when finishing them realise the title sort of explains who did it, ABC Murders and 4.50 From Paddington mention Train timetables early on in the book and in the case of ABC in the blurb, I personally like covers that symbolise aspects of the book.