"Fiction reveals the truths that reality obscures." ~Ralf Waldo Emerson

There is nothing so satisfying in this world than a good murder mystery. And none so good (I dare say) than this, the mystery than influenced so many. Agatha Christie is, to me, almost one of the classics. There are very few perfect "who done it?" stories out there, but such a thing seems to have been found right here!
Reading something so gripping as And Then There Were None will make you want to write one of your own! I admit, I wondered while reading it if I would not like it because it was not romantic nor necessarily "action", but I found something truly unique in this book. It really did change my appreciation of books completely, and remind me that books don't have to be just for lazy entertainment, but can be thrilling and altogether stimulating!

This book is only a couple hundred pages, but is fraught with mystery from beginning to the end.
We open by meeting ten strangers. Each has received an odd invitation to spend the weekend on the private island of one wealthy man each assumes the other knows. Each of the ten conceals their own secret-- a scandal they swore they would never admit. But by the time they realize their millionaire host is nowhere to be found, the tide has already come in and all transportation off the island is delayed.
Here, their fate is sealed. As it says so beautifully on the back cover:

 "For each has been marked for murder. 

One by one they fall prey. 

Before the weekend is out, there will be none. 

And only the dead are above suspicion."

Oh but I'll have to stop here, I don't want to give anything away!

I fell in love with this book, and it has remained over the years one of my all-time favorites. Agatha Christie has mastered suspense, and knows exactly how to include those little things that will make your spine tingle.

I encourage all of you to give it a try!

Thank you for stopping by!

Keep reading!

1. “No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. — Lady Montagu

Morning everyone!
Today I have a little young adult piece for you. Only a couple hundred pages long, one could easily finish it in a week. I read The Knight of Redmond by Jennifer Clark when I was young and desperate for anything romantic that reached mother's standards of appropriateness, no matter if it was a serious novel, or more of a "fluff" book. However, that is not to say I did not enjoy it!
This is your classic village-girl-now-on-her-own-teams-up-with-handsome-man-for-the-greater-good-of-the-kingdom kind of book. But in this case, there are some rather gipping plot twists that will keep any young reader engaged!
I loved the battle/fight scenes, the romance, and the overall conflict between the two kingdoms.
The main character, Lily, is not one I particularly connected wholeheartedly to, but still enjoyed her as a heroin.
Lily and her mother have been outcasted as witches, so she is forced to live a life hoping to go unnoticed. However, with royal blood running in her veins, that is far from the high society life Lily is dreaming of, and was destined to claim. When trouble with the invading "Redmond" kingdom forces her to come in contact with a handsome enemy knight with dire commands he must complete, a sort of Romeo and Juliet scenario begins to unfold. Coming from rival kingdoms, danger threatens love and friendship.

It is a fetching tale of shamed reputations, secrets, kidnaping, betrayal, and desperation to end the war that has send thousands up in flames.

Overall, I'd give it about 3 stars. It is a pleasant little book that will keep you reading till the very end.

 "There is nothing to writing.
All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter
and bleed."
~Ernest Hemingway 

Hello, readers!

(You'll have to forgive my picture, I was in too big of a hurry to post I didn't have time to make it look too pretty!)

To start off, I refer you again to the quote above. Though there is a good chance you have read this before, I have chosen it as my heading because I feel it encompasses the theme of this book incredibly well.

Drowning in historical significance, I was more than willing to dive right in to this novel, and am happy to have it on my list of favorites! I have always found that Hemingway, much like Fitzgerald, weaves such raw, yet simple, details of a suffering society into the pages of their novels. Which is why I picked this particular quote. Hemingway has always provided cathartic release to readers through his honesty and simple language. Despite the fact that much of his symbolism and meaning would have been seen as a little too honest, at the time. 

In this story, our characters (without it being explicitly said) are living an aimless life. 

Drinking and traveling from place to place, it is not difficult to feel the numbness of the unhappy hearts wandering the bars of post WWI. 

Most of our characters are veterans (or ex-nurses) of the war and the entire layout of the plot is structured around their inability to find themselves after suffering through what they have. 

It is 1926, and the very idea of what it meant to be a man had been lost. 

The reality of war is that survival did not depend solely on bravery or ‘manliness’. In the chaos,  both the courageous and weak soldiers fell. 

Which is why the (main) men in this novel struggle to cope with feelings of insecurity and inadequacy, and seek to fill this gap inside them through other means. 

Though they know it would be wrong to outwardly speak ill of the war, they are all disillusioned at this point, and left to cope with the angst rendered to an entire generation who all experienced too much too young.

But what appeals and engages me most, is how the characters move through the scenes as though nothing can touch them. This is where the “lost generation” complex comes in with the lack of hope, and living as though nothing they do has or could have an impact, captures another side of a historical decade. 

Moving from the deafening parties of Paris, to the gripping bullfighting rings of Spain, they search for their new purpose and satisfaction in a world -- so open to them-- that yet now will never be seen as anything but empty and cynical.

Here, nothing is forced on you, yet everything Hemingway included has meaning. Their excessive drinking, unrequited love, bankruptcy, spiritual criticism, you name it. Reading between the lines has never been more enthralling.