Why This Book?

I believe i chose this book for multiple reasons.  One reason is because that i seem to really enjoy reading mystery books.  I love the fact that there is a central detective, sometimes with a partner, that uses their wits and the evidence at hand to solve a crime, usually either a murder or a robbery.  I really like how they gather evidence through almost any means necessary.  I also like how the plot builds up until the moment when the detective names the criminal and gives the evidence as to why they are guilty.  Another reason is that i have read other mystery books by Agatha Christie.  My favorite character is the famous Hercule Poirot.  He is a belgian detective who has never lost a crime and has never disappointed a client.  He is probably Christie's most famous character.

The Life of Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie's birth name was Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller.  She was born on September 15, 1890 in the English town of Troquay.  She died on January 12, 1976 in Wallingford.  She was nicknamed The Queen of Crime.  She married twice, first to Archibald Christie and then to Max E.L Mallowan.  She had 1 child with her first husband.  She was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971 for her contributions to literature.  What is weird is that in 1926, she mysteriously disappeared for several days for no known reason, and that still remains unexplained today. Her play, The Mousetrap, was made the longest production of any kind in British Theatre history on April 12, 1958.  But it had actually opened in London on November 25, 1952.

She has wrote many novels during her life, and people have sold over 2 billion copies worldwide.  This makes her sales only surpassed by the Bible and Shakespeare's works.  She is definitely one of the best selling authors of all time.  Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was also her first novel to showcase her eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.  Her last published novel, Sleeping Murder, featured the famous sleuth known as Miss Jane Marple.  And since she has sold over 2 billion copies of her books, they have all been translated into over a hundred languages.  Lastly, her novel known as And Then There Were None remains as her number 1 best selling novel.

Setting for a New Book

I have started to read an Agatha Christie book for my novel.  She is a very well known and best selling mystery novelist who has made many books.  She has also made books with different detectives, but she still has Scotland Yard help them in most of her books.  The novel i am reading is titled Murder on the Orient Express, and it is also published as Murder in the Calais Coach.  The main detective in this book is the famous Hercule Poirot, who is her best known character and is featured in most of her mystery novels.  The book takes place on the Stamboul-Calais Coach, which poirot must take in order to get back to London due to his detective business.  On the train there are a number of interesting people who are also present, including a Princess Dragomiroff from Russia.  But most interesting of all is Poirot's curiosity about a passenger called M. Ratchett.

Poirot is curious towards this Ratchett because he has an air of malevolence about him, even though Poirot only saw him for the first time.  However, Poirot actually talks to him.  But what iix really interesting is what he says.  M. Ratchett thinks someone aboard the train is going to kill him.  But Poirot refuses to help him, why i still do not exactly know.

I think that this Ratchett character is in danger, seeing as it is a mystery novel, so something bad has to happen.  Do you think this Ratchett will be murdered, or do you think Poirot will stop the murderer before it is too late?  I personally think he will be murdered, but i also believe that Poirot will undoubtedly catch the murderer before the train stops its voyage.

The best blog that i posted that represents good analysis of a developing theme is the post from Novermber 26, a Tuesday.  This blog meets the standards of the rubric because it includes a good supporting quote from the story, the quote supporting the fact that something is wrong with the clock trees and it could spell disaster for Fillory and the castle.  Also, the quote is used to thouroughly describe what is wrong with the clock tree, as the trees are not usually 100 feet tall for example or 15 yards around.  The blog then ends with a question for the readers: "Do you think this is an omen of what is to come later, or do you think it is just there for show?"  This lets the reader interact more thouroughly with their comments, instead of just having them say what their opinion of the book is.  Lastly, the post gives the reader a very good idea of what happens in the book, although some details may have been left out.

A goal i have reading wise for next trimester is that i will read more books and read books from different genres instead of only reading from one or two genres.  Then, a goal i have for writing next trimester is to write things like papers or projects with better grammar and words that are on a higher level of thinking.  So, some things i could improve on in reading are reading more books and trying to read at least a little bit every night.  Also, i could try to improve on digesting the information that i read so i could understand it more.  Lastly, some things i could improve on in my writing is actually studying grammar and words more so i can build on my writing abilities.

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A lot has happened in the book since the last post i did.  First of all, they actually got back to Fillory.  How they did it is very weird though.  They were still in the boy's room, but they had gotten drunk off of tonic and other alcoholic drinks.  And as they were sitting around a board game, Quentin was sitting against the back of the boy's bed, also drunk.  And as his vision began to blur, he started to hear seagulls.  He told Josh to stop, but Josh wasn't making any noises.  So as Quentin's vision returned to normal, he saw that he and his friends were on the boy's bed, but they were in the middle of the ocean.  They were back in Fillory, and Quentin was happy.

So, they were all sitting there.  Then, Quentin saw a ship swiftly approaching them.  It was the small ship that he had repaired earlier in the book.  But it was now piloted by Eliot, the high king of Fillory.  Quentin and Juliet were only king and queen, not high king or queen.  So as Eliot took them aboard, he began to explain what had happened since Quentin and Juliet had dissappeared.  First of all, the time in Fillory had passed a year and a day, even thought Quentin and Juliet were only gone for 3 earth days.  This is because Fillory and Earth run on different time streams, so time runs differently in both worlds.  But, then Eliot gets to the important part.  They aren't going back to the castle.  they are searching for the seven magical keys of Fillory.  Eliot was given this quest by the special animals of Fillory, the seeing hare being one of a few.  They had said it was important for Eliot to gather all the keys, as they thought that Fillory was breaking apart.  So now, Quentin has to help Eliot gather all the keys, or else Fillory, and possibly them, will be destroyed.

After the last post, the story has moved on a little bit.  After Quentin and his friends go upstairs, they do end up finding the clock.  But they don't think it will work.  So Quentin tries to go through the clock, but nothing happens.  Suddenly, a voice behind them says "You're doing it wrong, you know."  When they turn their heads, they discover that a little boy had said that.  After talking to him, they realize that their actual chances of getting back to Fillory are very slim.  This is because the boy says that he has tried multiple things to get to Fillory, not just the clock.  He also says the clock needs to get going, but he has tried that too, and it didn't work.  He also reveals that his parents had bought the house from the children of Fiona Chatwin.  And that the boy and his parents are distantly related to Plover.

So Quentin ends up playing with the boy, who just talks about random things.  They also play some board games and sing some songs.  The boy also took them on a tour of the grounds, which made them very bored.  But when they had finished with the Find Fillory game, they all sat in the boys room.  They needed to think about what they would do next, as they now knew that their chances of returning were getting slimmer and slimmer.

The Magician King is still a very great book. The plot is amazing, and the story moves at a pretty fast pace with surprises in every chapter. So after Quentin got out of the water, he and his friends went back to Josh's house to think. When they thought about what the dragon had said, Quentin realized that the dragon meant that the original entrance to Fillory was still open. This entrance was when the first Chatwin child entered the grandfather clock in Plover's house. So, realizing this, Josh made a portal to Cornwall, which was where Plover's house was. After they went through the portal, they looked at a map to find Plover's house.

Quentin and his friends had found Plover's house. But it wasn't just a house. It was more like a mansion. The house was huge, and they never knew that Plover had that much money. So now they have to get into the house.  The only problem is that the owners of the house, who are actually related to Plover, are throwing a party.  But, having the ability to use magic, Quentin and his friends easily sneak into the party and aren't noticed by anyone.  Then after a while, they go upstairs to find the grandfather clock that the dragon had hinted towards.