IGCSE2 On Fire

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 exce...

  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...

  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 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 . 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 ...

 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. T...

                                  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 so...

Science-Fiction stories by Isaac Asimov   Published in 1956 This book is actually four little-short stories, and they all have the theme: science-fiction. They are robots, time travel, aliens, giant super computers, and a lot more. Every story is about 10-20 pages. I really loved the book; theses four short stories are really amazing. They are remarkably simple to understand and are very surprising. I loved every description of the author because he really manages to put us in his own world. Also, his stories are very interesting to read because he creates new worlds at each one, with new characters and new laws of physics. The plot is always surprising, no one could ever have guessed them. Everything just connects and the whole story is good to be read again. However, the stories could have been more developed even if I love the book as it already is I recommend this book; it can be read pretty fast to fill your free time and is simply amazing.

“A Dead Man’s Folly” (Clara Z) . Published in 1956, “A Dead Man’s Folly” is a captivating fictive murder mystery. It was written by the well-known crime author, Agatha Christie . This novel has been adapted into a film twice: in 1986 and in 2013.          Hercule Poirot , a Belgian detective, is summoned to Nasse House by his friend, and crime writer, Adriane Oliver. She is organizing a fake murder hunt for Mr. and Mrs. Stubbs’s guests at the summer fête. At the last minute, Mrs. Oliver senses something sinister is going to happen and calls upon Poirot to find out what is happening before it is too late. The next day, a teenage girl is found dead during the fake murder hunt, which was scripted by Mrs. Oliver. It is now up to Poirot to lead the investigation. Beware, no one is who they seem.    “A Dead Man’s Folly” is an exciting and suspenseful novel that will leave you hanging until the very last page. I personally really enjoyed ...

    2IGCSE2 EGESI Chinomso November 2022 Mrs. Cnockeart   The clocks by AgathaChristie Published the 7 November 1963 Agatha Christie was born 15 September 1890 made the best-selling mystery novellas series of all time. “The clocks” is a mystery novella talking about how a young girl named Sheila Webb working at the Cavendish Secretarial Bureau. After arriving at 19 Wilbraham Crescent for a job she was expecting to walk in an elderly woman the only thing she found was the dead body of a stabbed man surrounded by four clocks announcing its 4:13PM even the cuckoo clock 3PM… I really enjoyed reading this novel throughout my vacation for several reasons: I loved the fact that even if Poirot solves the mystery, the story is mostly narrated by Colin Lamb, a British Special Agent. It adds a whole new parallel story to the main plot, first Colin Lamb struggling to solve the main crime, who is the murderer? And then Poirot resolving not only the main crime...

  _____________________________________________________________________________________ Blog entry Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice ______________________________________________________________________________________           Did you ever wonder how folks found love in the strictly-ordered society of the 19th century?        Pride and Prejudice is a romance novel written by Jane Austen and published in 1813. Austen’s work was very well welcomed by her audience of her day. The book has now sold over twenty million copies and paved the way for over a dozen of film adaptations : it still is, today, one of the most loved romance books of English literature! The book follows young and smart Elizabeth Bennet and her family through a rough and adventurous series of events: Mr. Bennet’s estate is unfortunately to be inherited by his nephew Mr. Collins. If th...