About Me

My photo
Hi, my name is Sam. I'm a highschool student who just finished my sophomore year. I plan on enjoying my summer before diving into junior year. One of my favorite things to do is read, all sorts of books, from classic books and plays to modern books and stories. I'll read basically anything I can get my hands onto, from the library, or a book store. Or a new thing, by Nook (<-- which my awesome parents bought me for this past christmas.) Welp, during the school year I've been to busy with school and drama (both the high school kind and the theater kind)to read much, so this summer I'm hoping to read a whole lot more. And thats exactly what this blog is for. To 1.) keep track of all that I've read. And 2.) to have a place to write what I think about the books I read. I want to read at least one book per fortnight (Yup, thats right. I just used a random term in a normal paragraph. FYI, it means two weeks). And hopefully I'll stick to that. I hope to read more classic books that I wouldn't usually pick up, but that wont stop me from reading some new books that come out this summer. So, here's to hoping I'll stick to my goal. Happy reading! :)

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie


Well, my first few days of summer have not been quite as peaceful as I originally hoped. I found out that I got an audition at NESA (a magnet school based off of Lee High School) for their Theater Program as well as their Creative Writing program and it was rather unexpected. So, I've been scrambling to memorize a monologue and find a song I can sing. As well as wondering what the writing portion will be like. So that, on top of the fact that my sister just got back in town from Missouri, plus I'm helping with an elementary camp with my theater group and looking up information, a theater class on Thursday and my first day of drivers ed on Friday, I don't quite think I'll be able to start reading Pride and Prejudice this week. So I thought that instead, I would talk about a book I have already read, and quite adored.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie was originally published as "Ten Little Indians." The name was changed in 1940 because it could be considered racial epithet. Agatha Christie wrote many many books over her life time, but is best known for her detective novels. Many of her books were not liked at first because of her writing style of never being able to guess who the murder was. 

Agatha Christie was born with the name Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She was born born on September 15th 1890 in Torquay, Devon, England, UK and died on January 12th 1976 at the age of 86. She had a pen name of "Mary Westmacott" which she used to write romance novels. Her last name "Christie" comes from her first husband (Archibad Christie ) whom she married in 1914. They had one daughter, and divorced in 1928, two years after Agatha learned that her husband was having an affair. In 1930, Agatha Christie remarried to Max Mallowan, whom she remained married to until her death. 

"And Then There Was None" was written in 1939 and has been adapted into plays, and movies. The novel is about ten people, all who have come to Indian Island, all believing differnt reasons of why they are there. The novel progresses as the ten people start dying off, and the ten little Indian figures on the dining room table start disappearing as well. The ten know something is not right, but they are stuck on the island with no boat to get away until a few days later. They soon realize that each person who dies, dies in the same order of the "Ten Little Indian" Poem which each has framed in their rooms. It takes a little while to get used to the style Christie wrote this novel in, but once you do, the story is both easy to follow and intriguing. It was a story I enjoyed very much and has become one of my favorites. 

 Christie is the best selling author after the Bible and William Shakespeare. 

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Pride and Prejudice


Pride and Prejudice is a book by Jane Austen. It is about the Bennet family and how Mrs. Bennet is trying to get her five daughters to get married. It is one of Jane Austen's most popular books and it will be my first summer read. :)

During the school year I had started reading Pride and Prejudice. But during the school year I was busy reading textbooks and memorizing a play. I only got to about the 10th chapter (which in a book that has 61 chapters, really isn't that far into the book) before getting to busy and not finishing. I'll start the book over instead of trying to figure out where I was and trying to remember everything else.  Above is a picture of the same copy of Pride and Prejudice that I'll be reading :)

First post that has to do absolutely nothing with any kind of book.

Well since it took a while to make this whole blog, and its basically 1 am and I planed on going to sleep about two hours ago, I think I'll hit they hay and work on this more later. Friday is my official last day of school and then I'll set to work reading :)

Till then,

Happy readings,

~Sam