About reading

  The story is set at Manderley Mansion, an imaginary place in Ireland whose owner is Mr De Winter. It takes place in a period of time that spans from Rebecca’s engagement and marriage with Mr De Winter to her life with him after being married.In the book there are several main characters: Rebecca, Mr de Winter, his first wife, the maidwoman, his first wife’s friend and the police. All of them were in trouble since Mr de Winter’s first wife died and this problem won’t be solved until the end of the book.

The story starts when Rebecca was working for a rich woman and she met who would be her husband. After a short and difficult engagement she marries Mr de Winter and goes to Manderley but it is here that her problems begin because he remembers his first wife and because the maidwoman had a very good relationship with the dead woman.

            One day the maidwoman suggests that Rebecca should organise a fancy dress ball and she should wear a dress that was in a painting on a wall at Manderley.

Also there was a room Rebecca was not allowed to enter and which had been Mr de Winter’s first wife’s.

After having found the ship where Mr de Winter’s first wife was, the police and Mr de Winter’s friend try to find an explanation for her death ‘which is unexpected and different from their thoughts’.

Last year I had the opportunity of watching the film, directed by Alfred Hitchcok and which caused me the best impression, over all the photography. Before watching it I had read in the book cover that it had been the winner of two Oscars: best film and best photography.

For all the reasons mentioned above I recommend this book and the film, too.

You won’t be left indifferent.

  “In the house” written by Margaret Johnson, is the book which I have chosen to read this year for my English course.

  This book is a story based on “Big Eye”, a fictional reality TV programme about young people living together for forty days in the same house. Although I don´t like reality TV programmes, I chose this book because it had a CD and therefore I could listen to the story and read it.

   Four boys called Leo, Nigel, Simon and Pete live in the house with only one girl, Annie, who tells us the story. These young people have been chosen to be on the programme but they can know nothing about what happens outside the house, and there are cameras that watch everything they do. People at home watch them on their televisions and they can also phone to say who they think should leave the house.The last person to leave will win a lot of money.

   After reading this book I can tell you that I prefer reading the book than watching the reality TV programme.The reading is interesting because I have practised English and I have enjoyed it. It was interesting to see how Annie´s thoughts and feelings about her friends change in five days. Every character has a different personality and she doesn`t realise it until the end of the story.

The story

This is a real story about Erche Namu, a girl who was born in China, in a small village where Moso customs were really relevant for the population. The book describes the house where she lived with her mother Latso, her two sisters and her brothers very clearly and you can easily imagine the landscape of the village, its mountains, Lake Lagu and their life among crops and animals.

The book shows us that her family was different from her neighbours, because her mother had broken with Moso traditions when she decided to join the communist revolution and she had to abandon Namu´s grandmother’s house. As a result, her mother began her own life in a new place and after some years, Namu was doing more or less the same as her mother, travelling from one village to another and from one country to another. At first, her main aim was her family life, and later her career, because of her good talent for music, especially as singer. She could take part in different events and perform for organizations, such as the Liangsham Minority Singing and Dancing Troupe in Xichang or in the Shangai Conservatory, making good progress until she was forced to abandon her profession as a singer. Then she decided to change her job, and she worked in modelling and also travelled to new countries in Europe and America. Finally she decided to publish her fascinating life and read the manuscript in her mother’s house. During these years, the village and Moso traditions had changed in many ways and she had really become a ‘Treasured Princess’, which was the meaning of her name.

Opinion

An enjoyable and entertaining story developed in the past, with great use of expressions in the passive form, which have been really useful for a clear understanding. Furthermore, the vocabulary is not extremely difficult and the reading easy to follow.

My reflection on the book

Namu´s story and her mother´s story, are real examples about what a woman can do with her own life, breaking traditions to achieve new opportunities and taking their childhood as a good reference for this. The life of Namu reminds me of the relevant changes that Spanish and European women went through last century: most of them lived in small villages and were well prepared to cook, clean the house, take care of their children and families, but one day they decided to look for other options…

Thanks to this, the women of the 21st century can, fortunately, study and make progress to become good professionals in the civil service or in private companies in fields as relevant as science, business, technology, journalism, fashion or politics … and not only on household chores… So I think the quotation from the book, they decided to go into the far mountains and go walking near the rivers far away is a good summary of the plot.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an intriguing mystery and adventure novel written by Mark Haddon.

The story is set in the UK, in present time. The main character, Christopher, is an autistic teenager who lives with his father in Swindon. One night, he discovers the corpse of her neighbour’s dog, Wellington, bleeding on the road. As he really loves animals, he feels very sad about Wellington’s death and decides to investigate its murder.

While he carries out his investigation, he discovers a lot of things which he did not expect to find. As he wants to know more things, he has to do a great effort to overcome his fear to talk to people and to keep his detective activity hidden from his father, who is bound to disapprove it.

I consider this novel a really interesting reading, not only because of the intriguing plot, but also, and over all, because of the original point of view it offers us. It is Christopher who is “writing the book” and tells the story himself, which makes it more realistic. The author provides a valuable insight into the world of an autistic person. He presents the main character as a very clever student, with photographic memory and an incredible ability for Maths, but with a huge difficulty to socialize and understand other people’s minds and feelings.

Although the author of the book is quite tactful at treating the autism matter, the novel could hurt some people’s feelings, as it uses bad words and vulgar expressions. Also, I would not recommend it to children under fifteen or sixteen, because it requires a mature reader to be well-understood.

Anyway, it is a very pleasant and moving story, suitable for all occasions, which definitely won’t let anyone indifferent.

    INTRODUCTION:

    Title: Night without end

    Author: Alistair MacLean (retold by Margaret Naudi)

    Genre: Adventure

PLOT:

A British Airways plane crashed on the Polar ice-cap, and three scientists from the weather station had to save the survivors before they died from starvation or exposure. So they decided to take them into their cabin. When suddenly the radio was smashed, Dr. Mason began to suspect everybody and decided to investigate who their guests were.

Soon he discovered that the plane’s pilot had been cold-bloodedly murdered because he found a bullet in his back, and the plane’s radio operator was killed that night. So he had to investigate the crimes and at the same time he had to travel with the guests through the ice towards the coast, without food and with a killer in the group.

CHARACTERS:

The Scientists:

·         Peter Mason: the main character. He is the person who tells the story. Mason is in charge of the weather station in Greenland. He is a brave, strong and intelligent doctor that must lead a group of people through the Polar ice-cap to keep them saved from starvation and exposure.

·         Jackstraw: he is another scientist. Dr. Mason describes him like this: “If you all live to get home again, it will probably be thanks to Jackstraw. He knows more than any other living man about how to survive on the Greenland ice-cap” It’s a brave and very quiet man with a lot of knowledge of extreme situations.

·         Joss: (Joseph London) he is the radio operator in the scientists’ cabin. Joss is younger than his partners. He stays at the cabin waiting for the expedition group.

The Plane survivors:

·         The Plane’s Radio Operator: this man was seriously injured when the scientists saved him from the wrecked plane. His name was Jimmy Waterman and he was murdered in the cabin the first night.

·         Marie LeGarde: is an old woman that is supposed to be a famous actress. She is very helpful taking care of the injured people on the plane. She is a nice, lovable and cheerful person.

·         Margaret Ross: this is the stewardess. She is a very emotional and sensitive person. Dr. Mason distrusted her because she was supposed to be with the radio operator when he was murdered. She had a pain in her back.

·         Nick Corazzini: he is a business man that goes to Scotland to take over a new tractor company. He helped the scientists to repair the old tractor in order to leave the cabin.

·         The Reverend Smallwood: this is the man who wears a priest’s collar. He is a minister of religion who went to London for an important meeting of the Unitarian and Free Churches. It is a very calm, serious and quiet person.

·         Solly Levin: he introduced himself as Zagero’s manager from New York City. He is a little man that was wearing a large jacket.

·         Johnny Zagero: he is a young boxer that travelled with his manager Solly Levin. He is a strong and dark-haired person.

·         Mrs. Phyllis Dansby-Gregg: she is a young woman wearing fur and rich clothes.  She is quite cold and selfish. She appeared in fashionable society pages from a newspaper as a London society woman. She travelled with her personal maid.

·         Helene Fleming: she is seventeen years old. She is from Germany and is Mrs. Dansby-Gregg’s maid. She was one of the injured people in the crashed plane.

·         Theodore Mahler: he is a very silent person. He is a Jewish. To introduce himself he didn’t say anything except his name.

·         Senator Hoffman Brewster: this is an old man with white hair and a moustache. He is an American politician. He goes to Europe to collect information for political committees.

·         Captain Hillcrest:  he is another scientist that was in charge of the expedition group.

OTHER INFORMATION:

I really enjoyed the book. It was an exciting and entertaining story.  The best part of it, I think, was the beginning of the book when the scientists found the crashed plane and they had to rescue the survivors from freezing and starvation, carrying them on their sledge.

The story makes you suspect of any of the characters as possible murderers. Peter Mason is the one who tells the story so when he suspects one person, you are suspicious of them, too. That is because you are reading his thoughts and that makes you think about the behavior of all the characters in the book.

CONCLUSION:

I recommend the book because, apart from exciting and entertaining, it is a nice story that I read without many difficulties, except some vocabulary. A good thing is that many of the “new” words I learned in this book are repeated during all the chapters, and this is helpful to remember and recognize them much more easily.

I haven’t read other books from this author, Alistair MacLean, but I wouldn’t mind reading another one.

AUTHOR: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

PUBLISHER: Orion Books (1968)

GENRE: Police Story

LEVEL: Advanced

I chose this book because of the authors; I did not know anything about them but, as soon as I read the surnames on the spine of the book and I realised that the authors were Swedish, I took it out of the library shelving.

THEME

The theme of Roseanna is the discovery of a killer in a murder which apparently has no clues.

PLOT

When a Swedish canal is being dredged, a corpse of a naked and strangled woman appears. Nobody knows about her and she is not on the lists of missing people. The police start to work on the case but are unsuccessful, so, in the end, the case is slightly put aside. However, a small group of policemen continue working and after hard investigations, they find some tourist´s photographs and information from Nebraska which help them make progress and catch the murderer after setting different traps, because it is not easy to prove that the suspect has really committed the homicide.

PERSONAL OPINION

Roseanna is more than a novel, it is the forerunner of all the Swedish police novels, so it is well worth reading.

In my opinion, the book is a great combination of different but linked facts which give it an outstanding general look. I mean, while you are reading, you can find breathtaking passages that are likely to catch all your attention, making it difficult for you to stop reading -for example, when the murderer is going to be caught. Besides, it is a highly entertaining book to read because it submerges you into an atmosphere where time does not exist. With this story, time goes by and you do not perceive it.

To sum up, I definitely recommended you to add Roseanna to your collection if you are a lover of police stories because it is really stunning.

Blood from a stone is a book from the crime and mystery novel series of Commissario Guido Brunnetti written by Donna Leon and published by Random House. I chose this book because I enjoy crime and mystery novels.

As other books of the Commissario Guido series, the action takes place nowadays in Venice. The fiction story begins on a cold night shortly before Christmas, when an illegal immigrant is killed. A group of American tourists are the closest witnesses of the scene, but they have only seen how the vendor of fake designer handbags has been shot by two men who disappeared among the crowd.

Commissario Brunnetti will have to find the answer to many questions. He wonders why a street vendor has been murdered by professionals . In addition, Brunnetti bumps into racism and absolute ignorance in relation to the African community which the dead man was a member of. He also wonders, why he has to face so many obstacles from his own superior during the crime investigation. But Commissario Brunnetti counts on some loyal workmates and old friends in order to try to solve this case, which doesn´t seem  easy at all.

I had never read a novel of the saga, but it was not a problem. The characters and their relationships are very well described. Nevertheless, and despite the map of Venice in the book and the detailed description of the city by the author, I had some problems with locations at first.

As I said, I like detective stories, and I was not disappointed with this one.

Deadly Harvest

Carolyn Walker

Cambridge University Press

Genre: Murder Mystery

Main Characters

Detective Chief Inspector Jane Honeywell: the new head of the Criminal Investigation Department. She’s a well-trained policewoman who has decided to break down with her boyfriend in order to be promoted to a better job.

Detective Inspector Pete Fish: He’s a good policeman, but he’s jealous of Jane Honeywell because he wanted to get the job of Detective Chief Inspector. At first he doesn’t seem very kind nor wants to cooperate properly, but finally he’ll do his best to help in the case.

Mervin Peck: a sheep farmer, quite simple and bad-tempered. He’ll become a victim too.

Jack Peck: Mervin’s brother, a scientific director at Hunter Products. He’s an ambitious and unscrupulous person who doesn’t hesitate to commit serious crimes.

Jo keane: the managing director at Hunter Products and Jack’s Peck accomplice.

Susan Peck: Jack’s Peck wife.

Rose Carter: a part-time teacher and statistician found dead at Chittleham farm.

Elisa Scott: a member of Project for Animal Welfare.

Plot

A young policewoman moves to a quiet and small village because she’s been offered a job as a detective chief inspector. She expects a peaceful and boring life there, just interrupted by some car thefts and house break-ins, but soon she has to deal with a strange case of murder.

When Jane Honeywell arrives into Pilton, she thinks that it is the kind of place where nothing exciting can happen. However, she’s going to discover that she’s wrong when a woman is found dead at Chittleham farm. She starts the investigation questioning the people who had found the body and they tell her that they had never seen the victim before.

After making some inquiries, the police discover the victim’s identity. She’s Rose Carter, a teacher and defender of animal rights, who had been having a relationship with Jack Peck, who then becomes the first suspect.

During the investigation, Jane finds out some sick sheep at Mervin’s farm, but she’s discovered by Mervin who, surprisingly, tries to escape after threatening her with a gun.

He’s finally arrested and… you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens at the end.

Personal Opinion

The prologue made me feel interested and I was ready to read a very entertaining mystery novel, but the first part of the book turned out a bit boring with the typical stereotyped characters and situations. I read the first part of the book without finding out any special change in the predictable plot; however, the story becomes more interesting when a new murder is committed.

Despite being a fairly predictable plot, I enjoyed the book. You’ll find that there are some suspicious coincidences, like the part when Jane is watching a television program that gives her, and the reader, an idea about the motive of these murders. Nevertheless, from this point the reading becomes more enjoyable and you want to reach the end just to discover if you were right about your prediction.

Are you the kind of person who needs a bit of love in the story? Well, you’ll have just a little; one more common situation is waiting for us on the last page of the book when Jane and Pete seem to be about to start a relationship.

Paco_INT2ºF

TITLE:            In My Sister´s Shoes

AUTHOR:      Sinéad Moriarty

GENRE:          General fiction novel

PUBLISHER: Penguin

LEVEL:           Advanced

Kate O´Brien is thirty and after a hard period in London away from her family and friends, working with the aim of raising her professional success as  a television presenter, she comes back to Dublin to celebrate her twin nephews´ birthday. She lives an exciting and independent life until then but now she will have to face up to a dilemma that will change her life.

As a result of the breast cancer that is diagnosed to her sister, Fiona, Kate is forced to abandon her cool life, to give up her exciting job in the London media, and to move back to Dublin. Besides, her brother-in-law Mark spends his time only achieving his own success, her younger brother only thinks in his shocking music, and her widowed dad needs to rebuild his own life. What is more, after the death of her mother due to another breast cancer when they were children, Fiona looked after Kate as if she was her second mother.

That is the reason why Mark blackmails Kate to take care of his twin sons, telling her that she owes Fiona.

Kate´s life starts to turn around the stressful routine of the twins by doing unbelievable tasks , but also having a go at her irresistible ex-boyfriend or investigating her hidden family past.

Gradually we will be hooked in a story that surprises us with unexpected details of the characters.

Heart-warming, gripping, and hilarious, what Sinead Moriarty wants us to do is to see ourselves in each one of the troubles and solutions of her urban heroine. Cleverly, the writer creates a mixture of feelings and daily life challenges that will make us  vibrate, and  laugh at ourselves.

To sum up, this is a highly entertaining book that you can´t miss.

TITLE:  THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT- TIME.

AUTOR: Mark Haddon.

GENRE: Fiction.

PUBLISHER: The Random House Children’s Books.

LEVEL: Advanced.

MAIN CHARACTERS:

Christopher Boone: He is a 15 year old boy who suffers from autism. He is the narrator and the main character.  He lives with his father, Ed. He loves mathematics and science. He also likes pets. He has a rat named Toby as a pet. He attends a special school. Christopher´s illness makes it difficult for him to have a relationship with other people.  He doesn’t like to be hugged, not even being touched. He screams and reacts violently when people touch him. The boy does not like crowds or new places because his head forces him to look at everything that is new to him, and that overwhelms him.

Ed (Christopher’s father) : He takes care of Christopher. He strives to give his son an easy life. He overprotects Christopher.

Siobha : She is Christopher’s teacher. She helps him and his class mates with the difficulties of everyday life. She tries to make life easier. Christopher trusts her. He always asks her everything he does not understand.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PLOT

Christopher Boone is a fifteen year old boy who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome. He lives in Swindon, a big city in the south west of England, with his father.

He goes to a special school. His daily routine consists of going to school and then staying at home with his father studying maths, and science, his favourite entertainments.

One night Christopher discovers one of his best friends, Wellington (the poodle dog of his neighbour, Mrs Shears) dead in his neighbour’s garden. The dog had a pitchfork through its body. The boy feels really sad and decides to find out who killed him.

Christopher likes Sherlock Holmes novels a lot, so he decides to write a book about the murder. The book is titled “The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time”.

During the investigation he interviews all his neighbours, which is stressful for him, because he has never talked to them before, although they live in the same street.

One day his father discovers the book, and his son´s investigations as well. His father thinks that talking to unknown people is dangerous for his son. So he decides to hide the book, and tells Christopher to abandon the investigation.

While his father is working Christopher starts looking for the book all around their house. He finds it in his father´s room, in the wardrobe. He also discovers, by chance  a lot of letters that his mother had written to him, dated after his father told him that she had died in hospital of a heart attack. Christopher comes to the conclusion that his mother is still alive, and also that his father has lied to him.

He is completely shocked by the discovery to the point that he is unable to move. He stays in bed screaming, shaking and vomiting for hours.

When Ed arrives home from work he notices that Christopher has found the letters that his mother has been writing to him for ages. Ed cleans everything and confesses that his mother is still alive and also that his is responsible for Wellington´s death.

Christopher is afraid of his father, he doesn’t feel sure with him anymore, so he decides to travel to London to look for his mother.

He will go to London by train, so he will face many difficult situations such as going alone to the railway station, buying the ticket to London, catching the correct train and being in the train with a lot of unknown people.

In this novel two different settings can be distinguished: the first one is the detective novel related to Wellington´s murder and also to the important mysteries of Christopher’s family. The second one is related to Christopher´s emotions, his ideas, wishes and fears.

PERSONAL OPINION

Mark Haddon has written a gripping book I could hardly put down.

Before reading the book I knew slightly what autism is. It is one of those diseases that we hear about but we really don’t know how the patients´ daily life is.

The author has created a lovely character who faces living in a hostile world with courage. A hostile world made for “normal” people and not for the marginal people.

What I like most about this book is that the author makes the reader know how the protagonist feels all the time: when he is sad, when happy, when overwhelmed, when he is afraid.

I highly recommend this book.