I Read "Dix Petit Nègres" (And Then There Were None) By Agatha Christie.

Dix petits nègres by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What is funny about my experience of reading this book is that I didn't even know that I was actually reading the famous "And Then There Were None" until it was mentioned by one of my good friends, as I was reading it in French, and as the title of the French version was different from the original one. It might not sound so funny to you but it was for me, and I got even more excited to finish the book after that.

It was so intriguing, and I bet that all of Agatha Christie's books are so, besides this novel made me contribute in the process of finding the culprit. As a matter of a fact, I found myself reading that rhyme more times that I care to remember, each time one of the guests dies and, of course, despite all the logical thinking I ended up getting it wrong.

I won't say more about it, because I think knowing nothing about the story is what would make it enjoyable for the reader.

View all my reviews

Finished Reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.

Read from October 14 to November 24, 2013

 

Yann Martel went through a lot to come up with a book that would attract the curiosity of a large number of readers, as he explained in his note, and he did a good job. He wrote his novel because he was told it would make him believe in God and it did. I mean how could Pi survive without God's presence and help?

The story is told by Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi), about his life in India, in the Pacific ocean and then in Mexico and Canada.

Back in India, he tells us about his Father being being a zookeeper, and some general information about different animals that are kept (or not) in their zoo, which I found so fascinating. One learns heaps of things about them in this book. We also learn about his interest in religions, as he becomes a faithful Muslim, Hindu and Christian at the same time.

Then he narrates his adventures in the Pacific ocean, which makes the most breathtaking and incredible story I've ever heard up till now. I am not going to say more about the story, because I would like you, readers, to discover it by yourselves.

This book reinforced my ideas about the existence of a caring God (which I never doubted Thanks to Him) He who protects us from the most unexpected and horrible things, and He who only provides what is better and good for us. The only thing we should do is to do what He ordered us: to believe in Him, always trust and be grateful to Him.

So the novel has totally achieved its goal in making me feel the presence of God, and I would recommend it to every living soul.

Finished Reading "The Fault In Our Stars" By John Green!

Read from October 09 to 14, 2013

With this novel, I was like "I love you John Green", and then "I hate you John Green" and then " I forgive and love you John Green", I might sound like a Drama Queen, but everything was so unfair and sad, as Augustus and Hazel would say jokingly.

I won't talk about the story, as nearly everyone is acquainted with it, but I will talk about the book, and how I felt while reading it. Actually, I experienced almost every blessed feeling and sentiment that ever existed (I know I'm exaggerating, but I hope you will cope with it). I hated and adored the book. I often said to myself that I'm never going to re-read this novel, but then I'm mostly like "that should be given another shot". I felt bad for Augustus and Hazel, but then again I couldn't help but admire their strong will while facing off their desease. 

That being said, I really like the title of this novel, it so fits the general theme of the book, and sounds so becoming and so attractive that even though it was about a girl having cancer (and you should know, dear reader, that I'm not into this kind of books) I was so excited to read it. 

I would recommend this piece of awesomeness to every living soul.

Finished Reading "Never Let Me Go" By Kazuo Ishiguro

Read from August 28 to September 24, 2013 

 

This review contains spoilers. If you wish not to know anything about this book before reading it, which I see best for you, then please don't read that.

I thought that this novel was written by a Japanese author, as his name indicates, that it was translated from Japanese into English, and that I'd see more of those Japanese names inside of it. However, the author turned out to be British, the novel was originally written in English and there were no Japanese characters.

But there actually was another kind of people who solved normal ones' health troubles by gradually losing their own short lives. So you might imagine my feelings towards all this, or you might not. I, myself don't know what to make of it.

It seems intereting but then it feels wrong. You want to feel bad for them, but when you see how they are dealing with it without drama, you just accept their death without grieving for it. You see that there is soul within them, but you can't help noticing how cold they treated each others at times.

So those poeple are clones whose only mission in life is to donate their organs to real life poeple; otherwise they are in charge of being the donors' carers or, as I might call them, entertainers. Kathy is one of these latters. She tells us through this book the story of her short life, that will "Complete" whithin eight months or so. She tells us about Ruth, Tommy and her other friends, being children and slowly growing up into adults, and learning more about themselves in this prossess.

The story was intriguing, but the monotonous writing style kept making me want to close the book after only reading a few pages.

Finished Reading: "Emily of New Moon" by Lucy Maud Montgomery!!

Read from August 12 to 26, 2013 

 

I have always been a huge fan of L. M. Montgomery, and this book is making me fall even more in love with her. I so adore her unique writing style, and very large and creative imagination.

Emily's father is dead, and one of her mother's family members must take her in. So she goes with her Aunt Elizabeth Murray to New Moon and live there a happy life, making new friends, learning new things, and writing new letters and stories, as writing happens to be her favorite hobby. The story might not seem so becoming, but once you're in, you'll never want to be out.

I give this novel five out of five stars because there is no "six out of five stars".

Finished Reading: "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell!!

Read from July 26 to 27, 2013 

 

What made me want to read this novel is the name "Park" in the book's title. I knew right away that it was a Korean name since I'm a huge fan of the Korean culture (although one might as well not be that and figure it out).

As I predicted, Park is a half-Korean good-looking guy, who seems to do just well in his high school life, and has passion for comics and music. The others name that figures in the title "Eleanor" belongs to a big, red-headed and beautiful girl. She returns from an "exile" to her home in Omaha, and meets Park at the school bus. Over time, they fall slowly and beautifully in love with each other, and develop such a sweet relationship.

However they went through a lot of trouble because of Eleanor's abusive stepfather (add to that that the story is set in the 80's which means that there exist no cellphones nor internet to keep in touch), but then "love will always find a way" and that's what made me literally "devour" this novel.

I even love the ending! It might be mysterious, but it's full of hope...

Finished Reading: "Please Look After Mother" by Kyung-Sook Shin!!

 

Read from May 10 to June 13, 2013

 

"Please Look After Mother". Just reading its mere title would make you eager to read the book, also you can tell that it would be an amazing read. In fact, many things about this novel contribute in making it a great one: the writing style, the fact that each section of the book in narrated by a different person, and the content/story.

The novel is telling the story of a family that lost their Mother. Each member of this family keeps remembering this or that about their Mother and regret not being a good son/daughter/husband to her, not that they treated her ill, but everyone just forgot about Mother as soon as they stopped being kids.

This book actually made me feel guilty towards my own Mother, because Mothers really need to be highly thought of, and kindly treated. Everyone are sometimes annoyed because of their Mother's nagging, but we actually forget that Mother is a human being, who have her own dreams, her own fears, her own disppointements, her own weakness, and we keep thinking of her as Mother, that has to sacrifice everything for the sake of her children.

All in all, this book should be read by everyone!!

Finished Reading: "Charlotte's Web" by E. B. White!!

Read from April 06 to 10, 2013

 

Who wouldn't love a children's book?! This kind of books is quite instructing and simple, and one can't fail to get something out of it. That's the exact case with "Charlotte's Web".

The story is about a normal pig that was turned into some radiant and important pig thanks to his helpful friends Charlotte, the spider, and Fern, a normal human girl, in order to keep him alive. He didn’t want to be killed in Christmas, and he got what he wanted all right. Every time Charlotte wrote something on her web praising him, he tried to be what was written and did well at it most of the time. This book has to be read by everyone, and I assure you that no one would regret giving it a try.

Moreover, White’s style is quite fascinating, and it makes one fall in love even more with this great novel.

I gave it five out of five stars, for it absolutely deserves it.

 

HAPPY READING DEAR READES!!

Finished Reading: "Matilda" by Roald Dahl!!

Read from March 31 to April 07, 2013

I spent an awesome time reading this book!! I liked Matilda's character so very much!! She's a quiet intelligent girl, but then she can't overlook any injustice against herself, she would do whatever it takes to calm down her anger. I particularly liked the first chapter in which the author described her habits of reading, it was so motivating!!
Roald Dahl's writing style is so simple and amazing!! The emphasis in this novel was on the innocent caprices of the children versus the adults’ impatience, and it all came up with a quite interesting novel. I would recommend this book to everyone!!

 

HAPPY READING DEAR READERS!!

Finished Reading:" The Old Man And The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway!!

 

Read from March 28 to 31, 2013 

 

"The Power of Perseverance", this is another name I would give to this book!! Hemingway couldn't come up with a weaker or a more desperate person to describe well what it means, for the one who's not losing hope in this novel is an unlucky old man facing off the hazardous sea. The language is a little bit difficult, since the vocabulary is about ships, sea creatures and such, but then I got what is essential to know.

The story beging with the old man, Santiago, being unlcky. He couldn't get a fish for a long time, and his assistant's parents made their son leave him to work for a lucky boat despite the boy's objection. The lad loved Santiago so dearly. Then the old man had to go to the sea without the boy's assistance to get some fish, and here begins the painful adventre. He went though a lot to get it, but he couldn't enjoy his success, for the sharks kept spoiling his fish as well as his body. He wouldn't let go of it, all the same, and defended it with all his power.

There were heaps of things to learn from this novel, that's why I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

 

HAPPY READING DEAR READERS!!

"Finished Reading" Aleph by Paulo Coelho!!

Read from March 07 to 23, 2013 

 

It was ok as the two stars I gave it indicate!! As I was going through its first chapters I thought it was going to become one of my favorite books. But when the author's trip began -for the the book is about a trip that the author wanted to have- my esteem of the book kept decreasing, until it became total boredom. I couldn't get what the author wanted to tell us via this book, for me the events were incoherent and without any meaningful purpose.

What made me want to read this book in the first place is the its inpiring synopsis. I wanted to know what would be Coelho's opinion about making changes when the change is needed in one's life, about improving and taking risks, but I couldn't get it even after reaching the second half of the novel. Well I wouldn't say he didn't talk about these things, but the way he used to bring them up didn't impress me.

Finished Reading: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins!!

Read from March 01 to 04, 2013

I so love it!! It was awesome, and I simply couldn't let go of it until I was stopped by "END OF BOOK ONE".

I love Katniss with her cleverness. At first I thought it was mere good luck that kept making things work for her, but then I realized that the key to her success was her being herself. And I felt bad for Peeta, but I have a feeling that things will get better in the next two books. Well I hope so!!

The Hunger Games are about trying to stay alive in circumstances that totally forbid it. So you can guess it takes real hardwork to win them. And that's what makes the story so exciting.

So yeah!! I finally managed to read the first book of The Hunger Games, after all the credits it was given by nearly everyone!! Obviously, I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

Finished reading: Remember me? by Sophie Kinsella!!

Read from February 26 to March 01, 2013 

 

It was ok!! The things I didn't like about the book are probably more numerous that those I actually liked!!

Lexi wakes up one day in a hospital, and finds out that she has lost all the memories about the last three years. She finds herself in 2007, married to a good looking man, she's the Director of the department she was working at three years ago, and she's more beautiful and skinny. Well, all that seems perfect at first, but as she gets to know the new people around her as well as the old ones, she realizes that her life wasn't as great as she thought. So she decides to fix what was broken.

That's all. I gave it two stars because I was so bored that I had to skim through the book.

7 facts you may not know about: Harper Lee!!

 Here is my first post of the "7 facts you may not know about.." meme which I created this very morning. I got this idea because I'm not only interested in the books I read, but I would like to know more about their authors, the story behind them and such.

So, since I don't prefer reading the whole biography of a certain person, or a whole book or article about a certain period, I thought I can just increase my knowledge by picking seven random facts about someone or something (the author, the period in which the book was published, especially for classics, the story behind the book...).

 

I hope you will enjoy it, and that it will provide you something new to learn.

 

 

I just finished reading "To kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, which I loved so dearly, and I thought it would be awesome to begin this meme with its author Harper Lee: 

 

 

1- She was born in April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, a tiny town about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile, where her next-door neighbor and best friend was the pre-pubescent Truman Capote.

 

2-She was a tomboy.

 

3- Her novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," was published in 1961 and won a Pulitzer Prize.

 

4- The movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) won four awards, including Best Actor for Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch.

 

5-The character of Atticus is said to have been based on her father (Amasa Coleman Lee).

6-She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday November 6, 2007 for her services to literature by President George W. Bush at the White House in Washington D.C.

7- She continues to live a quiet, private life in New York City and Monroeville. Active in her church and community, and she usually avoids anything to do with her still popular novel.

Finshed Reading: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee!!

Read from February 17 to 24, 2013 

 

How can I do otherwise than falling in love with this AWESOME novel!! It was Harper Lee’s only book, but it was splendidly written. It is my first time enjoying an “American” novel, and I’m so glad about it.

 

The book tells the story of a Lawyer, Atticus Finch, and his two Children, Jeremy Atticus (Jem), and Jeanne Louise (Scout) who is actually talking in the book, and gives us random facts about this family and their neighborhood steeped with moral lessons about racism. Atticus took a case in which a black man, Tom Robinson, was falsely charged with the crime of taking advantage of a white girl, Mayella Ewell. The whole county of Maycomb was against Atticus being by the black man’s side, for they already knew it was all in vain.

 

I like Atticus’ character as well as his children's. His and Jem’s calmness and dealing with the troubles in a cool way, and Scout’s abruptness and giving way to her fists first thing once in a trouble. 

 

I gave it 5 out of 5 stars, and, God, it deserves every blessed star it got.

Finished Reading: Snow by Tracy Lynn

Read from January 29 to February 15, 2013 

 

What I liked about this book is the writing style of the author! The story couldn't in anyway impress me nor gain my esteem. I think that Tracy tried to put her own thoughts about the story of "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" and make something different that would actually be interesting and original, but she ended up mixing things up, although she made a success at times I daresay.

Jessica is the daughter of a Duke and a Duchess. After the death of her mother right after her being born, the duke couldn't help but despise her, and believe that she was the major cause of his beloved wife's death. Then Jessica grew up surrounded by the care of the servants, which made her no ladylike.

The father decides one day to marry and get himself an heir, but the stepmother is evil and she got Jessica into so many troubles. The latter ends up running away, because of the danger that surrounds her, and meets with the Lonely Ones, who will take care of her, and here begins her adventure.

As I said before, it wasn't that bad, and I gave it three out of five stars!!

Finshed Reading: Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen!!

Read from January 13 to 23, 2013 

 

Well, in this book I wasn't totally interested in the story itself, but I kept wondering how in the world Sarah Gruen has been inspired and got the necessary information for such an amazing book!! And the answer came at the very end, in the author's note.

So let's get back to the story, it is about that old man's life at the age of twenty three (another thing I couldn't fathom is how can she figure out that "old" "man"'s feelings and thoughts about this or that? Well I think that a writer has a right to imagine things, and I believe I'm being silly, but I assure you that these thoughts kept popping in my head during the whole read).

After the death of the young Jacob Jankowski's parents in an accident, he manages to get a job at the "Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show On Earth" circus as an animals' Doc. He falls in love with his boss' wife Marlena -althgouh he clearly knew that it was wrong of him to do so- and the real thing begins when she lets him know that it was mutual. I won't go any further because I don't want to spoil anything.

I think that Sara Gruen made a great effort to show the important role of the elephant Rosie, but I believe she couldn't get much of it by gathering two elephant's real stories, for I was more concerned about them separated -as she narrated them in the author's note- than the two gathered to make a story for Rosie.

I really like a whole world of things about this novel, and I would give it five out of five stars if it wasn't for those unreadable parts that made me skip large paragraphs and even pages (well, I have my own reasons to say that they were unreadable), but yes, I would like to read more of this brilliant author's books, because she can come up with new things for me to read!!

Finished Reading: Animal Farm by George Orwell!!

Read from January 11 to 13, 2013 

 

It was a clever yet simple read!! I actually had a presentiment that I would become one of George Orwell’s fans once I read one of his novels, and that is because of the credits his books were given. I’ve planned to read “1984” first but when I saw “Animal Farm” standing on the shelf undisturbed (besides it seemed an easy read) I just jumped on it and started the read right away, without further procrastination.

It lived up to my expectations, and I’m real grateful that I was given the chance to read it and savor its many “tastes”. It went from sharpness, to sadness, to happiness … And thank God I was able to get the hidden meanings that lay behind the simplicity of the book’s style.

The story begins when one day old Major, the prize Middle White boar, gathered all the animals of the Manor Farm, and opened their eyes to the hideous cruelness with which they were treated, and the sad nature of the life they were leading by serving those humans and getting next to nothing in return. So what his experiences have taught him is that the only way they could put an end to it all and make their lives bearable is by setting themselves free, and commanding their “Animal Farm” by themselves, the only condition was to never behave like a human being: all animals must be equal and work together. So after his death the animals lead the Rebellion and won their “Animal Farm” back, and lived their laborious happy life together under the seven commandments they made for themselves inspired by old Major’s speech. But then came conflicts and arguments between them, and some of the “witty” animals that were seeking power and wealth changed the commandments little by little to fit their selfish ends, and the ignorant and indifferent animals spent their lives working for the sake of those pigs.

I think that the ending is what it should be, for no happy ending is to be sought if there are greedy intentions to lead one astray!!

Finished Reading: Coraline By Neil Gaiman

Read on January 01, 2013 

 

This is my first time reading this kind of books, I mean that one with ghosts in it and poeple that look through buttons instead of their eyes and do all sort of weird and disgusting things, and I like it. It is not that I am fond of those creatures, for I don't know what morality lies in bring them up in this book, though I like the message that the author tried to send: one should be satisfied with what one own, and without difficulties life wouldn't be as interesting and as funny. I know that we have heard these things before, but I see no harm in being reminded of them from time to time. I think I dicovered heaps of new things the past year thanks to God, and I believe there will be a whole world of them to find out this year (God Willing)!

Top Ten Books I Resolve to Read in 2013

Hello again with the "Top Ten Tuesday" which is "an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish".