“And Then There Were None” Book Review

A Vision Of Life

This is the first story of the “Avonlea Story Club” for the month (January 15th- February 15th). We tried to write the genre “Adventure” for this month. Hope you like it. My another club member is @emerald-notes​ . Please check out her story for the month too. P.s. The photo has been taken from the internet.

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I woke up at 9:40 PM. ‘Shit!’ I’m gonna miss my train,’ I thought. I quickly went to the bathroom, trying to fresh up, but to my unfortunate life, I could never do anything fast. I came back from the bathroom and started applying all sorts of lotions and moisturizers contained in my daily skin care list. But ugh! It always takes a lot of time. However, I tried to finish dressing up as quickly as possible because I had to catch the train at 10:15 PM. It was getting super late. I did not even look at my watch, fearing it would already be 10:15. Instead, I just quickly hopped in my car and started driving to the direction of the train station. But again, the traffic lights! “It’s gonna kill all of my time” I thought. While waiting for the traffic light to turn green, I tried not to think what would happen to me if I was to miss the train. I started to feel very nervous and stressed. But then, to my great relief, the green signal came, and I started driving right away. The speed I was following was greater than ever because there was no way I could afford to miss the train. Finally, I got to the station. But again, to my utter disappointment, it was already 10:20 PM, and the train had already started running. I stood there watching it run. I could not stop thinking only if I had come 5 minutes earlier. Why did I even stop at the signal? What if I’d woken 5 minutes earlier? But there was nothing to do. What happened just happened. I missed the train. I was in great despair. What was I going to tell my parents? They would be disappointed with me as usual. I found a bench and sat there. My phone rang. I did not look at it because I knew it was my mother calling to know whether or not I got to the train safely. I couldn’t just receive the call and tell her that I didn’t get to the train, let alone safely. I started to get annoyed when my mother kept calling me for the third time. I wasn’t to face the situation. I couldn’t even decide what I was going to do now that I’d missed my train. “But I must do something”, I kept thinking. The whole situation was very pressurized, and I didn’t want to be in it. As I couldn’t stay undecided even for some time, I decided I would just sit there until I thought I should move. I knew it wasn’t an effective decision or maybe no decision at all, but I needed it in order to feel relaxed. Yes, I needed it, I needed some free time to make myself distracted. Yes, distraction was all I needed. I deserved it, I couldn't let myself get pressured. I was extremely tired, and I was beginning to feel restless. My eyes were closing. And then everything became black. 

I woke up again with a start. ‘Where was I?’ I thought. It seemed that I was in the station and fell asleep. ‘Of course, I didn’t leave it and didn’t even talk to mom and finally decided to rest here instead. What a silly thing to do!’, I thought. Suddenly, my eyes caught the stare of another  pair of eyes. The pair of eyes belonged to a man. The man was a bit gigantic.  He was looking at me with a wicked smile on his lips. He reminded me of someone I knew but couldn’t remember at that moment. I could not help hating him. He was making me uncomfortable with his continuous staring and annoying smile. I knew that that particular behaviour of that man was intentional. I kept thinking what I would do if this cruel man suddenly attacked me. I could not remember where I had parked my car. But that was not an issue because the keys are going to lead me to my car. So I started to search for the keys. But, Alas! My bag wasn’t with me. Quickly I reached my pocket, and it was what I had expected, my wallet was gone too. ‘What was I going to do?’ I started to become very tensed. I imagined the cruel man to have taken my stuff to put me in this dangerous situation. ‘How can I be this careless?’ I blamed myself. Then a worse thing happened. The man seemed to call someone without moving his disgusting stare from me. He was surely telling his friends to come meet him in the station. I seemed to guess what was going to happen if his friends had arrived. He and his friends were gonna surely hurt my feelings. I was going to be doomed. And yes, to make it obvious, I saw his friend arriving in the direction of that cruel man with a disgusting laugh. ‘No, this is not going to happen’, I pleaded to myself. I stood up and, without thinking twice, started running in the opposite direction. I thought maybe running from the situation would save me that time. But I was wrong. I heard mocking footsteps behind me. Yes, they were also running after me. As I said, I was doomed!

I had to quicken my steps as I was running for my life. I could swear that I had not run that fast in my entire life. There was a kind of forest near the station. Finding no other convenient place, I directly ran into it. As expected, the forest was very dark. As I was running deeper, it was getting darker. At some point, I could not even distinguish the trees. So, I had to slow down as I didn’t want to get hit by a tree and cause me more trouble. I noticed that the footsteps were no longer audible. I thought maybe they became busy with something more exciting. However, I was relieved. So, I sat down under what seemed to be a huge tree. I was sweating and struggling to breathe. I began to  think about a lot of things. I didn’t think it was worth living. Never in my life I did something extraordinary. It was rather boring as hell. I didn’t even like my parents. I was sure, neither did they like me. What was the point of calling each other and knowing stuff, I could not understand. Suddenly I saw a glimpse of light at the far end of the forest. I started walking towards it because my brain was incapable of thinking about anything else. 

As I reached the source of the light, I found a house. It was a wooden house. The house appeared very dark, perhaps because it was made out of very dark colored woods. I knocked at the door. I knocked it twice. An old woman finally opened the door. Her hair was all silver and she gave me a soothing smile. As I was just going to ask her something, she moved away from the door gesturing me to step inside. I obeyed her because she seemed friendly. I thought maybe she was the one who could actually help me get out of the situation. I sat on a tool near the fireplace. The old woman sat beside me. It seemed like she was ready to hear me talk. I could not decide where to start. It was always very difficult for me to start the discussion. Instead I started looking around her house. The house had only one room in which we were sitting. There was no other furniture other than the two chairs (where we were seated) and a table. The contents on the table were really weird. There were some moving dolls and a glass tube filled with a sparkling purple liquid. The dolls were very lovely looking. They had smooth skin and rosy cheeks and were glowing and radiating charisma. I was pleased at their beauty and their movement. Then, the woman spoke. 

“You seem to like the dolls, don’t you?”

“Yes, they are very comforting and lively”, I replied.

“You can be like them, you know, if you want.”

She took the glass tube from the table.

“This is called the ‘Elixir of Beauty’. This can make you happy just like it made the dolls happy”, she said pointing the tube towards me. 

I took the tube. 

“You can drink it” she seemed to suggest. I was hesitating. Things can happen this easily, I did not believe. “Can I really be as happy and lively as the dolls? Shall I trust the woman?” I kept thinking. 

Suddenly I woke up hearing a beep. It was my alarm. I really woke up this time from this peculiar dream. Was it a nightmare or an excitement, I could not tell. But I realized that, I didn’t yet miss the train. The train which was to take me to the job interview was still waiting. I could not miss that chance like I did before. I knew I needed it. ‘No slow-motion work this time’, I told myself. But firstly I had to take some moments to finish up my skin care routine peacefully because it was important. I had plenty of time but I had to make it useful. 

And I did reach the station and hopped on my train timely and safely. As the train was running, I decided what I would be doing after I had appeared for the interview properly. I needed to call my mom. Probably she liked me or liked me not but I did not have to think about that. I also do need to call my therapist and thank her. She was a good adviser after all. As the train started to run faster, I kept thinking about the dream. It felt too relatable. Like I had lived my life in that dream. 

All about Dinosaurs

Everyone of us knows more or less about dinosaurs. But the question is, do we actually know what dinosaurs were or how they lived or became extinct? Well, let us know briefly about the dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were thw animals of the Mesozoic era which were chiefly terrestial, gigantic and fossil reptiles, a group of extinct and are considered as the largest land animals. Mesozoic era was divided into three periods and they were the Triassic period, the Jurassic period and the Cretaceous period. Dinosaurs lived in those three periods. The dinosaurs lived about 245 to 66 million years ago and they lived on earth for about 160 million years.

It is obviously a wonder to most of the people that hopw did the dinosaurs appear in the earth. Mostly it is thought that land mass was gathered on the continent Pangea. So, scientists think that’s how the dinosaurs were originated and they first appeared in South America.

There were both types of dinosaurs- herbivorous and carnivorous. Their forms were mosly like bid lizards, some were like gigantic sharks and others were like big flying birds. Foods of dinosaurs weremostly plants, grass and dead animals. The colours of dinosaurs were dark like the elephants and rhinoceroses. Some also think there were also dinosaurs of bright colours like purple, orange-red and even with blue spots.

Now, let us discuss how the dinosaurs were divided into those three periods of Mesozoic ers. Of course different types od Dinosaurs had appeared in each period.

The Triassic Dinosaurs: The Triassic dinosaurs were reptile types. Some were active, some were covered with feathers. Some known dinosaurs were- the Caelophsis, the Plateosaurus(late Triassic), the Staurikosaurus(lateTriassic) etc.

The Jurassic Dinosaurs: They were mostly like mammals. There were also some sea monsters. Famous dinosaurs were- the Camarasaurus, the Brachiosaurus (late Jurassic), the Allasaurus ( late Jurassic) etc.

The Cretaceous Dinosaurs: In this period, the climate of the earth had changed. There were hard dwelling dinosaurs. They were- the Velociraptor, the Tarbosaurus, the Triceraptors etc.

ArgentinoSaurus was the largest dinosaur and its length was 22-33m. While, Campsognathus was the smallest dinosaur and its length was only 1m.

Dinosaurs used to lay eggs. Dinosaurs were hatched from eggs. The average lifespan of most dinosaurs were 100-152 years.

Today animals like turtles, birds and crocodiles have similarities with the dinosaurs according to some some of their characteristics. Some think that the dinosaurs could roat as their size were enormous. But dinosaurs actually sounded like the chirping of birds.

When we hear about the extinction of animals, the first animal that comes to our minds is the Dinosaur. Dinosaurs became extinct fully in a mysterious way. Some scientists think that the asteroid impact on the earth killed the dinosaurs. Some think, the dinosaurs became extinct all on a sudden. Some say as the climate was changing, the dinosaurs failed to adapt with the new environment and thus they became extinct.

‘The Alchemist’ Book Review

‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho is a short, simple book but still bears so much significance. The language is simple and easy to understand but the meanings appears somehow really deep. The story follows a young shepherd boy who searches for treasure and realizes and learns so much meanings in the way. he learns about luck and destiny. He appears to understand gradually about specific values of certain things.

I have realized many philosophical things over and over again. Like I have realized, one who experiments and learns new things must move forward with his life without binding herself to any activities. In the book, the travelling is that sort of experiment. There is always a way out from any kind of trouble no matter how hard it is. It is no coincidence, it is destiny. There is nothing impossible for us to do or gain because everything needs to make the matter possible lies within our souls. Human soul is the greatest of all as Allah Himself has said.

After reading this book life seems beautiful. Even if there are troubles and disturbing phenomena going on, it is worth to believe and to rely on life completely. 

‘The Alchemist’ is a book of realization. The things we already know but haven’t have enough before to realize. This is a great spiritual and moral book. I will definitely recommend this to all the philosophy lovers.

“The Haunting of Hill House” Book Review

It starts the quote “whatever walked there, walked alone”. This quote somehow seems to explain the whole story, right? The book wasn’t something I had expected. It deals with mental horror more than it deals with the ghostly horror which was not something I had expected though I knew there would be something psychological to it.

 It starts with Eleanor going to the Hill House by getting an invitation from Dr. Montague. The descriptions added about the town downstream the Hill house were like something we expect from a typical haunted house story. However, I too enjoyed the journey of Eleanor going to the Hill House, the writing was very effective in that part. The atmosphere inside the Hill house which has been described made me feel suffocated. The Hill house was described to consist of different rooms with different colours of the rainbow but still very dark and deep, just to think about this it feels like nature is against lighting the house. All through the book, Hill house did not only spread horror, it also had spread hatred, loathing, jealousy and suspicion. But at some points, I felt that though Hill house was disastrous, Hill house was also their comfort zone to an extent. One very disagreeable thing about the book is that it’s very draggy. You’ll have already gone through almost 2/3 of the book but you’d feel nothing major is happening actually. I would have liked it better if it did contain a bit more things going on. 

 Now, talking about “The Haunting of Hill House” means talking about the characters of the book. The protagonist is of course Eleanor and everything is about her. Her life seems really boring which needed excitement and hence the decision of going to the Hill house has arisen and she was genuinely happy to go there. She is very imaginative and keeps imagining a lot of stuff at the time of the journey. She is actually very insecure and an overthinker. She always keeps thinking about what her mother says or how she would have reacted in all of the situations. I felt like she had been controlled by her mother for the whole time. She troubles herself in every small matter. She is very pathetic and desperate which is very normal for her as she was brought up very strictly. And then comes Theodora. She is a chill kinda person who also seems to like excitement. One of the lines from the book is very appropriate as it has described the characteristics of both Eleanor and Theodora, “Theodora’s face was stiff and sulky, she likes attention, Eleanor without thinking, moved and sat on the floor beside Theodora.” Dr. Montague was the most adventurous among them. The only thing I want to say about Luke is that he is a flirt.

 Jackson’s writing style is very simple and easy to understand. She added many small details to make the hill house appear scarier and darker. But I did not like the style of her writing in case of conversations. It was messy with a disturbing flow which lacked smoothness.

This was all about the book. I enjoyed it though my expectation was a bit higher.

‘Battle of Troy’ Based on Troy (2004) movie

Troy is an ancient city situated on the northeast coast of Turkey. The Trojan war is a famous war, held between Troy and Sparta in Greek mythology. Homer was an author who had written one of the greatest epic poem in history named ‘Iliad’. The Trojan war was fully described in the ‘Iliad’. A brief history of Trojan war according to Troy movie (2004) is described below:

Troy was a peaceful country. Priam was the king of Troy who was very benevolent. Priam had two notable sons and they were- Hector and Paris. Hector was the greatest warrior in the Trojan army. He was a great leader, son and father. Paris was very attractive and lovable. But he wasn’t as much responsible as his elder brother Hector. On the other hand, Sparta was another ancient city in Greece. Sparta was an imoportant site in Mycenae. Mycenaean period was the most powerful period then. Menelaus was the Spartan king. Menelaus’s elder brother Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae. Agamemnon was a powerful warrior but not a good person. Menelaus was mostly a follower of his elder brother but was not as victorious as his brother. Menelaus was married to Helen, who was a beautiful lady. Helen never loved Menelaus and neither did he. Achilles was the bravest and best warrior of Sparta. Achilles was strong and careless.

Once Spartan king Menelaus invited Trojan princes Hector and Paris and were making a peaceful treaty between sparta and Troy. There, Paris fell in love with Helen and so did she. But Helen told Paris that she couldn’t be with him as she was married to Menelaus. paris made a plan to be with Helen. The next day Hector and Paris left for Troy and paris according to his plan smuggled Helen to Troy. In the middle of the journey, Paris showed Helen to Hector and explained about their affair. Hector felt embarraced of Paris. But consequently Paris convinced Hector and finally took Helen to Troy.

Meanwhile, Agamemnon and Menelaus discovered the runaway of Helen with Paris. Menelaus became furious and told Agamemnon that he wanted a revenge. Agamemnon liked that and planned to attack Troy and control the most important coastal city of Asia. Then Agamemnon commanded all the kings of Greece to gather their armies against Troy. And as Troy was a very powerful city, Agamemnon wanted to hire Achilles, the best warrior. As achilles wanted to be remembered in the history, he joined the war between Troy and Sp[arta with his young cousin Patroclus.

Hector and Paris arrived at Troy with Helen. Priam, king of Troy accepted Helen wisely as his daughter in law and named her ‘Helen of Troy. The next day Spartan army arrived at the beach of Troy and began to destroy the apollo temples of Troy. There, Briseis, cousin of Hector and Paris was praying.Achilles took Briseis and returned to the Spartan camp. agamemnon wanted to have Briseis but Achilles protested and there created a feud between them. So Achilles denied to go to the battle next day.

The next day Paris challenged Menelaus. There held a duel between them. Paris used the sword of Troy in the battle. But as Paris was very weak and he had never been to any battle, Menelaus easily took away Paris’s shield. Menelaus injured Paris in the thigh and he fell to his knees and scrawled to his brother and could not stand back again. Hector caught hold of Paris and disagreed with Menelaus and Agamemnon tom let Paris return to the battle again. Menelaus became violent saying that the rules of war had been violeted and attemted to kill Paris. Then Hector killed Menelaus immediately. Agamemnon became shocked at his brother’s sudden death and ordered the Greek armies to attack Trojans then and then. Then a great fight betweeen trojan and Greek started. In the fight Hector killed one of the powerful warrior of Grreek, Ajax. After that Greek army soon returned to their ships. Trojan King Priam started to gather his councilors to plan about attacking the Greeks. The Trojan armies were very good at archeries. So, Priam ordered his archers to attack the Greeks in the next day at day break. The Trojan archers threw flame arrows to the Greek camps. And then Hector and his armies surronded the Greek camp and attacked the Greeks. Then Patroclus was in the armor of Achilles to inspire the Greek armies as Achilles denied to fight. Hector thought Patroclus to be Achilles and killed him. When he removed the helmet, he realized that the one he killed wasn’t Achilles but his cousin Patroclus. Achilles heard about the death of his cousin and became raged in anger.

The next day Achilles challenged Hector for a dual. Hector got prepared for the battle. Hector was sure of his demise and so he in the previous night showed his wife Andromache a secret tunnel out of Troy. He also told her to rescue as much Trojans as she could when there would be a full battle in the city of Troy. 

There held a great dual between Achilles and Hector. Both of them were so courageous and strong. But eventually Achilles killed Hector and took his body with him to the Greek camp. At this Praim got hurt. So, in the middle of the night, Priam went to the Greek camp in disguise and rerquested Achilles to return his son’s death body to him as his son deserved an honour of proper burial. achilles was pleased with the courage of Priam and returned his son’s body and Briseis to Priam and told him that Hector was the best warrior Achilles ever fighted. And then Achilles announced a 12 days off of the battle for Hector’s funeral. Agamemnon became angry at that. At that time Odysseus, king of Ithaca, planned to build a great Trojan horse and told Agamemnon that they could attack troy by hiding in that horse.

The Trojan thought the Trojan horse to be a blessing from the sea God Poseidon ans accepted that. At the dead of the night, The Greeks came out of the horse and began to destroy Troy. At that time, Hector’s wife Andromache led Paris and otherTrojans through the secret tunnel. Paris left Helen telling that he would come with Briseis and went to find Briseis. On the other hand, Achilles kept searching the Troy for Briseis as he fell in love with her. Priam watched the Greeks destroying all the Trojan religiousa datatues and claimed that Greeks had no respect for the God. Then,Agamemnon killed Praimand caught hold of Briseis and tried to enslave her. But at that time, Briseis killed Agamemnon with a blade she was hiding in her back. Then Achilles came running and found Brisies there. Paris found them both, shooted Achilles with arrows several times in the heels and killed him. Briseis burst into tears but Paris took her with him and left for the tunnel out of Troy. At last Odysseus found Achilles’s body and arranged a funeral for him.

The battle of troy was a great battle but none of the side won the battle as both of the king got  killed. The beautiful city Of Troy got destroyed because of jealousy, stubbornness and love.

Adult & Young Celebrities Look Alike

I’ve found some of the child actors\actresses look exactly like some adult actors\actresses. They should be in the movie together where the child actors\actresses will play the younger version of the adult actors\actresses.

1. Natalie Portman & Millie Bobby Brown

2. Ansel Elgort & Gabriel Bateman

3. Kiernan Shipka & Mckenna Grace

4. Hailee Steinfeld & Isabella Sermon

"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El- Mohtar & Max Gladstone

The story follows two of our protagonists belonging to two different futuristic worlds which are against each other. It follows different timelines, describing from the past historical events to the things which are probable to happen in the future. Basically, it is a story of time travelling to the past, could be for saving something or destroying things. Red is a time-traveling agent from a world more collective and dependent. Blue's one is calculating and more independent. So, red's the one who runs and Blue's the one who ruins. Red and blue eventually get a form to connect to each other: through letters. So, it's more like a "enemy to lover" romance story in the historical and sci-fi world.

I have really liked the concept and storyline of the novella. But i have found the language a bit difficult to get by. The books at the beginning and some points also seemed a bit messy. I lost the tract and did not understand some of the rapidly mentioned historical references. It took me much time to understand the plotlines as well. I just wish it was more understandable and swift to grab a whole bucket of information (the ongoings) all at once. But the good thing is, as we keep reading, the things start untwisting and it feels less confusing. And slowly you starts to love it.

The message of the story is the best. War is the worst thing we can do. Love is the one thing everyone needs to live truly and fully. Love is another name for freedom, not war, of course.

Plz write a story about Thor and the reader, where the reader meets the Mighty Thor, but drunk, in a bar.

Ok ill make it. But the fact is I think Thor never gets drunk. However lets make it.

It was a christmas eve night. I was soo upset because i just got out from a fight with my bff. So the first thing i did was to get on a bar and have some big shots of vodka. I was still crying when i got into the bar. I ordered the vodka still crying.  Someone noticed me from behind and came to me saying “If your upset you need to have whiskey, i believe”. I looked over my shoulder and found that it was Thor, the God of Thunder (then dressed partially as santa). I was shocked as well as happy as Thor is my fav avenger. I smiled at him. He smiled back and sat beside me ordering two huge glasses of whiskey. I thought to myself that after all my christmas would not be that bad. 

I know i could not made it that good. However, enjoy!

Your review on The Alchemist is so Beautiful and Touchy, which I could do the same, since it's my favorite book.

Your comment means soo much to me. Thank you for supporting me<3

Top 5 Andrew Garfield Movies

Andrew Garfield is one of my favourite actors of all time. He is good looking and exceptionally talented. I have watched most of his movies and just cant help falling in love with this brilliant actor. I am naming top 5 of his movies below:

1. Hacksaw Ridge: It is a historical/biography film. Andrew Garfield played the character of ‘Desmond Doss’. This movie is a masterpiece and very heart touching. It is completely different from other war films. You will never get bored watching this. Garfield’s performance was outstanding in this film. He was nominated for the best actor in a leading role in Academy Award 2017 for his performance in the film.

2. Silence: It is also a historical/biography film. Here Garfield potrayed the character of ‘Sebastiao Rodrigues’. This movie is based on strong belief in faith and the Creator. The movie makes us feel and think about our religion, makes us love and respect our Creator. I personally think this movie is a kind of gift to humanity. 

3. Breathe: It is a drama/biography/romance film. Andrew Garfield played the character of ‘Robin Cavendish”. This is different kind of romantic film. This is an inspiring film. The life struggle of robin and Diana teaches us not to give up our hopes on anyhting and teaches us to live our life no matter what the situation is.

4. The Social Network: It is a biography film. Garfield played the character of ‘Eduardo Saverin’ who is the friend of Mark Zuckerberg. This movie is about founding facebook, the success of facebook and the clash between two best friends after founding facebbok. It is different from other such biography films and not boring at all.

5. 99 Homes: It is a crime/thriller film. Garfield played the character of ‘Dennis Nash”. Here the character of Garfield was neither good nor bad. It was a different kind of film which represented the struggle of the only earning member of the family to hold his family together and make his family happy.