Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Friday, February 19, 2016

Round the world in eighty days

Round the world in eighty days

The character of Phileas Fogg
Phileas was an ordinary English gentleman. His life was his routine such as going to his club and back to his house. His hobbies were playing cards due to his love for betting and his the other favorite activity was reading the newspaper. He was an INTROVERTED person and no one knew about his life in the past or at the present. Also, he was a very wealthy man. Moreover, Phileas has not even had kids or a wife and no one knew about his father, mother or his siblings. In his house, he was living alone and nobody had ever visited him. All in all, Phileas was an ordinary and wealthy person and nobody knew about his life at the past or at the present.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer''

''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is a novel, which was written by Mark Twain in 1876, about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. In my opinion, it is a great book. My favourite scene was when Tom cleverly persuaded his friends to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work. In this scene I discovered this great law of human behaviour: in order to make a person desire a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

David Copperfield

 My favourite scene from the book David Copperfield was when David visited Mr Micawber in prison.Mr Micawber was a very poor man that he had been arrested because he wasn't able to handle his money.David Copperfield was still very young and was being accommodated by Mr Micawber and his family.The poor man said : If a man earns twenty pounds a year and spends nineteen pounds and nineteen shillings, the result is happiness.But if he spends twenty pounds and one shilling, the result is misery.This scene was a life lesson!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I recently read a very interesting book by  R. L. Stevenson called Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
It is an atmospheric fantasy ,horror book which however is more like a mystery until the end and not that scary.It's topic is,being able to be someone else in appearance from time to time or just for a day and do whatever you want without consequences because no one will know it was you and nobody would be able to blame you for your actions.Doctor Jekyll had all these thoughts and decided to try a dangerous experiment with which he could achieve this dream, if everything went well.However if you changed to that other person,as time passed,you could find it difficult to be yourself again and heavily affect your personality;and there is a very interesting adventure revolving around that topic.

I  would recommend this book to everyone that likes, kind of dark, mystery and fantasy books.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Charles Dickens's biography

                             A very interesting book!

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens is one of the most famous writers in Britain. He was born in 1812 near Portsmouth on the south coast of England and he died on 9 June, 1870. As a child, he and his family were living in poor and he didn't have a lot of happy memories. His father was in prison because of the debts that were not paid.
                                           
       His novels

   He has wonderful written skills! By his novels, not only did he present his strong feelings, but he also defended the people who suffered by poverty. He always supported his opinion and his books are controversial. "Christmas Carol", "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield" and other world-famous mastrerpieces have a very important message for all of us.

My opinion

At first glance, I don't like the idea of reading a biography due to the fact that I think that it might be boring, but we mustn't forgot the phrase: " Don't judge a book by its cover." Then I came round to my teacher's way of thinking. Never had I been fascinated so much by a book! I definitely recommend it! While I was reading this book, I also noticed that there are more to biographies than meets the eye! And I am ready to run a mile in order to read another biography like this. 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Oliver Twist


In a city of England, there was a place for people who had no money and nowhere to live, called the warehouse. Oliver Twist was born in there. His mother died after the birth. Poor Oliver was born in a world which had no love or pity for him, since he had no relatives. When Oliver became a nine-year-old child, he started working for three poor meals per day until the day when Oliver with his friends decided to ask for more food. As a result, Mr. Bumble, an important officer in the town, took him away and shut him up in a dark room with a notice on the gate which was offering five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver. Oliver was a prisoner in the dark room, clearing the yard every morning. One week later, Mr. Sowerberry, a man who was making coffins, saw the notice on the gate and asked to take the little child with him for five pounds.

That evening, Mr. Bumble took Oliver to Mr. Sowerberry’s house, but his wife got very angry, as Oliver was just a little child yet and he would grow up on their food and drink. Next morning, a boy whose his name was Noah Claypole, was knocking the door. Because his parents were penniless, all other boys were rude to him, but Oliver didn’t know that, so he was glad that he in turn could be rude to Oliver.

During the moths which followed, Noah and Mrs. Sowerberry made Oliver’s life very unpleasant, while Mr. Sowerberry was very kind with him. One day, Noah told Oliver that he comes of a bad family and in a second, Oliver got mad and attacked him. Mrs. Sowerberry listened to the screams and rushed in the room the boys were fighting and blamed Oliver for his bad behavior and asked Noah to run to Mr. Bumble and ask him to come home while at the same time, she shut Oliver in a dark room. When Mr. Bumble came, he told Mrs. Sowerberry that she was very generous with the kid and she should stop giving meat at his meals, but only some soup and then he left.

When the first light of the day showed through the windows, the little kid left the house running forward to the hills. He was walking for seven days having some bread and water with him, until he arrived into the little town of Barnet, a few miles from London. There, he met a child who was about his age, his name was Jack Dawkins. Jack gave him food and a place to stay for the night with some other kinds and an old man named Fagin. Next morning, when Oliver woke up, the old man and the other kids taught him how to steal handkerchiefs and watches, but he couldn’t understand how it would help him to become a good man. Some days later, Oliver got out with the two other boys for some pick-pocketing. Their target was an old man who seemed to be rich. When they took his wallet, the three children started running back to their lodgings, but one resident grabbed Oliver and injured him. The old man understood that Oliver wasn’t the thief and he decided to take him at his place until he became better. At the same time, the two other children returned back to Fagin and told him the story. Immediately, Fagin decided that they would have to find Oliver and get him back; otherwise, he could cause them many problems if he spoke to the police.

For a couple of weeks, Oliver was ill and was lying in a bed at the old gentleman’s house. A servant of his was taking care of Oliver since he felt better. The same night, he had to return some books he had borrowed and asked Oliver to return them and gave him some pounds to pay for them. While Oliver was going to the bookstore, Bill Sikes, a friend of Fagin found him and returned him to Fagin immediately. Fagin took off his new clothes and took the five pounds from his pockets and shut him in a dark room.
The next morning, Fagin took Oliver to the other thief, Bill Sikes, a bloodthirsty man who needed Oliver to enter in a house he had already targeted and help him rob it. When Oliver got into the house, a couple of servants saw and shot him. After that the thief grabbed the child and started running to the fields, but the servants were running after them, so he left him on the ground and started running alone until the servants lost him.

After some hours, Oliver stood up crying from pain and his hand was bleeding. He took a look around until he saw the house he had to steal and then he decided to walk there and ask for help. The servants opened the door and recognized his face without knowing what to do. At the same time a pretty lady named Rose, appeared from the top of the stairs and asked the servants to lay the poor boy on a bed and call the doctor. In a couple of days, Oliver became better and for three months he lived with the family, being very optimistic for his future.

He was very pleased for his new life, until one night, Rose felt very sick and Mr. Giles, who was the host, sent Oliver to find the doctor for Rose. Oliver started running ahead to the nearest inn in order to find the doctor, but on his way to home, he met a strange man who was very aggressive to Oliver. Oliver tried to get away and started running back home. At the same night the doctor came and was taking a look at Rose, while Oliver was at his bedroom when he saw Fagin with the strange man from the inn pointing at him. He understood that they were planning to take him back and turn him into a thief again.

The strange man named Monks, seemed to be very anxious about Oliver, and he tried to learn as much as he could for the boy. After a meeting with the workshop’s master, Mr. Bumble, revealed to the master that Oliver is his brother. On the other hand, Nancy, which was Fagin’s follower, was looking after Bill Sikes as he was ill for weeks. Next morning, after Sikes felt asleep, she run ahead to Rose’s house, where Oliver was living at, in order to warn her that Monks and Fagin were planning to take Oliver back.

Rose told the story to Oliver and both decided to go and speak to Mr. Brownlow again and reveal him Nancy’s secret. When they arrived at Mr. Brownlow’s house, Rose explained what happened to Oliver that night he sent him to the bookstore, and then the old gentleman decided that they had to find the man named Monks.

Nancy had told Rose that she could only find her at 12 o’clock every Sunday evening. Next Sunday, Mr. Brownlow with Rose and Oliver went to find Nancy, but Fagin had sent Sikes to follow her and find out if she would reveal his secrets. When the little girl returned, Fagin was sitting with Sikes waiting for her; they were waiting to murder her. After they killed the little girl, they both fled away, but the police found Fagin really soon. Some days later, Sikes found some lodgings to stay, but it didn’t last long. One peaceful night, an angry crowd gathered around the house Sikes was hiding. That night was his last, as he decided to hang himself from the roof of the house.

Monks had a little better future, as Mr. Brownlow found him and asked him to leave poor Oliver alone and gave him what belonged to him as his little brother. Monks had no other choice, so he left Oliver and moved to America, where he died in prison after some months. Oliver’s future was connected with Mr. Brownlow and his little friend Rose.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian gray was a very handsome, confident young man at the age of 19 who had his portrait done by an artist named Basil Hallward, who was also one of his best friends. Basil knew also a person called Lord Henry who was a very cynical man and he was very afraid that Lord Henry could have bad influence on Dorian. Lord Henry approached Dorian and since then they became close friends.
When Dorian saw the portrait he wished that the man in the portrait should be the one who would get old not him. Dorian met a beautiful actress named Sibyl Vane and he fell in love with her. He proposed to her and she was very happy about it.
Then Dorian went to the theater with Lord Henry and Basil to watch Sibyl acting but the only thing they saw was just a horrible actress with a weak voice and unnatural acting. When Dorian Gray asked her what the reason for her bad performance that night was, Sibyl replied that she can’t imitate love in a play now that she knows the real emotion of it. Dorian told Sibyl that she was just ordinary and he left her crying on floor. The day after, Dorian felt very bad for the way he treated Sibyl so he wrote her a letter in order to apologize to her when suddenly Lord Henry appeared and announced to Dorian that Sibyl had committed suicide. Dorian felt bad but Henry’s influence was very strong and Dorian couldn’t fight his personality so he forgot about Sibyl’s death immediately.
Dorian was watching his portrait having an unhappy face all the time and he didn’t like it anymore so he decided to hide it into his old study room. He didn’t want his servants to notice that the portrait is changing so he hired two workmen to do the job. He locked the door and felt safe again.
One night while Dorian was returning  home he met Basil on his way. Basil had to speak with Dorian because all this time Dorian was surrounded by immoral people and he wanted explanations. Dorian was upset with Basil because he continuously asked him questions about his behavior so Dorian went upstairs with him and unlocked the old study room where he was keeping the portrait. Basil was shocked when he realized that the old man in the portrait was actually Dorian and that the wish he had made all these years before, came true. Basil was looking at the portrait and couldn’t believe how evil that was and said to Dorian that he could change. Dorian wanted to change but his life was destroyed since Basil drew his portrait and he thought that Basil introduced him to Lord Henry too, so he felt that Basil was responsible for his horrible life and took the knife from the desk and stabbed Basil in the neck.
Later Dorian called Alan Campbell who was a scientist in order to force him to make the dead body of Basil disappear. And so it was done. Dorian felt relief.
While Dorian was walking on the street, a man caught him and pushed him against the wall. He told Dorian that he was Sibyl’s brother and that he came to kill him. Dorian thought really fast and answered to him that this wasn't possible since he was too young to be Dorian Gray. 18 years had passed since the accident and he looked like a 20-year-old. Sibyl’s brother was convinced. An old woman was watching from an old building and she spoke to James telling him that Dorian Gray escaped and that he lost the opportunity to kill him since she knew that Dorian looked always young without knowing how.
Later on Lord Henry organized a shooting party at Dorian’s country house. Dorian thought that it would be safe for him because James wouldn’t follow him. Suddenly there was a terrible accident and Dorian’s friends realized that they had shot a man instead of a rabbit. Dorian realized that that man was James and he felt relief.
The next week Dorian went to Lord Henry’s house and he confessed to him that he wasn’t happy with his life and that he is not a nice person. Lord Henry told him that he wouldn't change and that it was important for his friends to stay just like he was. Dorian returned at home and he was very nervous, so he decided to look at his portrait considering that it might know his good intentions. He look at the portrait but there wasn’t any change, so he took a knife and stabbed the picture. The servants saw the portrait of the young handsome Dorian Gray and on the floor the dead body of an old man with a very ugly face and evil eyes.