We’re really pleased to announce the winner of our Harpercollins Queen of Crime competition – Shadforth WI Book Group. Reading groups and book groups were invited to tell us why they are passionate about Agatha Christie and why others should read her books. The prize was Agatha Christie’s entire backlist of books.
Here’s their winning entry and Lara, from the group, tells us a bit more about the book club and their top 5 books for reading groups. They are looking forward to getting and reading the books!
The winning entry
Agatha Christie’s work is wonderful because it is about people. She was one of the first to point out that all of life goes on in a village (like ours) just as much as anywhere else. She gave us two of the deservedly best known and most charming detectives of all time, and a series of lesser known characters that deserve to be discovered. Reading her books in date order gives you an image of life throughout the 20th century, from the ladies’ “fork luncheons” of “Sparkling Cyanide” to the age of flower power in “Halloween Party”. These stories also enable you to travel the world, with the knowledge that Agatha Christie’s writing is authentic due to her personal travels and involvement in archaeology with one of her husbands. Agatha Christie’s books suit the need for a light read, but also contain so much detail that they can be considered and returned to time after time. They are also very accessible being able to be read as a series or as stand alone enjoyable reads. To have the chance to rediscover and discover all the works of Agatha Christie with our own set would be a dream.
About our book group
Shadforth WI Book Group is based in County Durham, in the UK. It was started in October 2006 and involves a friendly group of people who usually meet to discuss a new book every month. There are currently 12 members, and although not everyone can make every meeting we all try to read the books even if we can’t attend. You can see all our books so far on Shelfari.
Our top 5 books for reading groups
It’s difficult to choose a list of the top 5 books that we’d recommend to other reading groups. Everyone agreed with 1-4, though there was a lot of discussion about number 5. The Canterbury Tales was the best so far as everyone really enjoyed it, even though they didn’t initially expect to.
1. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (in translation!)
2. Small Island by Andrea Levy
3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Get involved
We’re always looking for good offers and competitions that reading groups and book clubs would like to take part in – so please do check out our offers page to see the latest ones.
If you’re looking for a reading group to join – be it crime or otherwise – search here.
