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Creepy stories by Edgar Allan Poe (Chloé)

Creepy stories by Edgar Allan Poe   I always liked creepy, macabre stories like Creepypastas and real cases of murder; indeed, they don’t scare me. I chose this collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe because I had already worked on one of his texts in theater class. Creepy Stories contains 6 little stories. In this review, I will tell you about two of those short stories and why I think you should read this book.  To begin, I am going to introduce you to Edgar Allan Poe. He was an American poet and novelist of the XIXth Century. He was born on January 19th 1809 and died on October 7th 1849. He is mostly known for his short stories that are macabre and creepy.  The first story I’m going to summarize for you is The Black Cat. This story starts with an unnamed narrator with a strong affection for cats, but when a black cat bites him one night, he punishes it by cutting its eye out and hanging it from a tree. He soon finds another black cat, similar to the first except for a white

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie (Caroline)

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  Appointment with Death is a book written by Agatha Christie and was published in 1938. The book also got a movie adaptation in 1988. Agatha Christie is a very famous mystery writer. She was born in 1890 and died in 1976. During his holidays, Hercule Poirot overhears a conversation: “You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?” After discovering the body of Mrs Boyton, he claims to be able to know who was the murderer under 24 hours. , To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the book. Indeed, at the same time, I both liked and didn’t like it. Since it got me out of my usual genre of books, I discovered murder mysteries novels. I have to admit, it was exciting to read, because all the suspense made it easier to read through the long descriptions. My curiosity made me want to read more of it. I also tried to keep track of the different suspects and tried to guess who was the murderer at the end, which I didn’t succeed in.  However, I have to mention, although it was out of m

“Partners in Crime” written by Agatha Christie (Elizabeth)

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  The story I would like to present to you issues from a compilation of short stories in the book “Partners in Crime” written by Agatha Christie(link) in 1944. In this case, a famous explorer named Gabriel Staavansson goes out on a 2 year expedition in the north pole. The issue is that when he arrived a fortnight sooner than expected, he couldn’t find his wife, Ms. Hermiocvxcne Leigh Gordon. So he went to her Aunt’s home Susan Clonray, where she was supposedly staying. But she wouldn't give much information as to where Hermione was. After a while, he finds out that she was in Maldon thanks to a telegram sent from Hermione that he managed to catch a glimpse of. Staavansson traveled there to find his wife again but there was no sign of her, so he went to Blunt’s Brilliant Detectives to seek help. The detective couple went for her search in Maldon when Tuppence remembered that there were two Maldons in England and that they needed to go to the other one in Sussex. Sure enough, they fo

The Green Mile by Stephen King (Emily)

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  THE GREEN MILE , by Emily Kreuger, 2IGCSE2 THE GREEN MILE , by Emily Kreuger, 2IGCSE2 The Green Mile was written by Stephen King , a world-famous horror author, and published in 1996. This novel tells the story of Paul Edgecombe, a death-row supervisor, and his encounter with a new inmate. Throughout the book, the author slowly reveals that this inmate, John Coffey, has supernatural powers. This prompts Paul Edgecombe to discover the truth about the prisoner's incarceration. The book received two awards: the Bram Stoker Award for Novel in 1996 and the German Fantastic Prize for Best International Author in 2001. It was also adapted into a f ilm in 1999 by Frank Darabont. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. First of all, my favorite character in the book was of course Mr.Jingles: a curious mouse that happened to be living on the prison block. Mr. Jingles, also known as Steamboat Willy, was important to the plot because, without him, the other prison guards would have never disco

My book is One Child by Torey L.Hayden (DARIA)

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  My book is One Child by Torey L.Hayden . It was originally published in 1980.    This book is about Torey Hayden's experience as a teacher for special needs children. We discover how she takes care of children. And how she always stays patient, even with the most severely disabled children that sometimes tend to be aggressive or not cooperating. The plot is mostly turned towards one pupil in particular: Sheila. This new six years old student started attending Torey’s classes after she committed an act of violence against another student in her school. We then find out about Sheila’s family issues. Torey notices that Sheila also has advanced capacities.  Tiger’s Child is then published in 1995,  by Torey Hayden explaining Sheila’s life.    I really liked the plot of the story, however I did not get with the book. It seemed like I read a lot, and the plot did not advance. I also had issues finishing the book because of personal reasons. I truly believe that this book is inte

Bill Swiggs "Blood in the Dust" (Chloé W)

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 Blood in the Dust :  During the holidays, I read Blood in the Dust . This book by Bill Swiggs  was published in 2019 and is a Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing prize winner. Set in Australia in 1853, it tells the story of two young boys on a quest to restore what is rightfully theirs , as well as the story of a family arriving in Australia to start a new life.    Toby and his younger brother Patrick are forced to set off on a long journey after their parents’ murder and the loss of the family farm. They don’t know where they are going or for how long they will be gone. But, one thing is for sure: they will be back and will restore the family fortune . On their way, they will make friendships and create forever-lasting bonds . They will, however, have to fight to survive; and, whatever happens, stay together.    Meanwhile , a family of four has just arrived on the promissing land that is Australia. At first, they struggle to build a new life. The father has to find a job to sup

Agatha Christie, "The Mysterious Mr Quinn" (Ella)

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                                  The Mysterious Mr Quinn review  Today I will be sharing my honest opinion about a book I recently read: «The Mysterious Mr Quinn» by Agatha Christie which was published in 1930. This book is basically divided in 12 short stories. Throughout every one of them we can witness the same two characters meeting each other and solving mysteries together. The book is narrated by one of them: old Mr Satterthwaite. The other one is called Harley Quinn and though he is in every story, strangely enough, we know very few about him... At first I didn’t expect this book to be a short story collection so I was a bit confused at the beginning. That didn’t prevent me from loving it though! Every story had a different style and context, and various characters. The ending of the stories are also always the same : Mr Satterthwaite finishes by solving the mystery or finding the missing piece in the story with the help of Mr Quinn. It took me a bit of time to truly get into