"Murder on the Orient express" by Agatha Christie

I don't usually read mystery crime novels, but when I was at my grandmothers she gave me this. And I though to myself ''hey its a classic! And Mam (my grandmother) gave it to you''!
So I read it. Obviously.

It was ok. I don't think it was extraordinary though.

A lot of people will have read this book, because it's been here for a while. Which is why I'm not sure what to say about it. And seeing as it's a murder mystery I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has.

So basics only.

The main character is a detective, and his name is Hercule Poirot. He's from Belgium. And he's... smart. He's a really good, really famous detective. He speaks I don't even know how many languages, I mean in this book alone he spoke English, French and German at least.

And he's just solved a mystery so he's on his way back to England (cause that's where he works apparently) and he takes the Orient express, a train that crosses Europe. Everything is going well, he's in first class, he's got a pal to keep him company.

And then a murder happens. Obviously.

So he gets asked to investigate, and he does and eventually he figures out who did it even though the plot of the murder really is ridiculously convoluted.

I'm not sure why I didn't appreciate this book all that much. Maybe it was too slow, maybe the plot didn't intrigue me enough. Or maybe I just don't appreciate the genre enough.

But if you like murder mysteries go ahead I'm you you'll like it better than I did.

"Picnic at hanging rock" by Joan Lindsay

My stepfather gave me this to read, which was why I was a little wary when I started reading it. He has a tendency to give me some creepy and/or odd things to read and watch.

Surprise surprise... it was weird. Good. But really odd. To be completely honest I'm not even sure what it was even about, or what actually happened.

Long story short this book confused me.

It's about these girls that disappear in the Australian bush. So you read the story and you follow these girls up to the point where you know they're going to disappear (cause it's written on the back of the book) and then nothing. Nothing at all. They're gone. Gone. And that's it.

The rest of the book is about the reactions of the people who were affected by their disappearance. And no one in the book knows what happened. Which means that when you read the book, you have no idea what happened.

And it's very, very frustrating.

And throughout the whole book you just keep wondering, and to keep myself calm I kept telling myself that all would be resolved at the end when we would finally find out what happened to the girls, and why and how they disappeared.

Yeah that didn't happen.

It was a good read though. It was interesting to see the different reactions of the people in the story depending on their characters, and even their social status.

I just wish that I knew what happened to those girls.

"Animal Farm" by George Orwell

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"

So this was one of the most depressing and terrifying books I've ever read. Long story short its the best metaphor ever created to represent the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.

An entire revolution and movement recreated in a farm, where the Tsar is the farmer, the Bolshevik leaders are the pigs, and the rest of the animals represent the people.

And it's horrible it really is, because it starts out so hopeful.
Its the animals rising against the oppression and cruelty of man, becoming free and ruling themselves.
All animals are equal, there will be no masters, and none shall be above the rest.

Then it all goes wrong. Because some of them are smarter than the others. In other words the pigs take over, and take advantage of the innocence, stupidity and trust of the others.

Propaganda is a big theme of this book. Its everywhere. After every speech from the boss pig, his most trusted adviser goes around the farm convincing the animals that all their sacrifices are for the greater good.
And this very same pig gives them reports saying how life has improved since the rebellion, giving out false statistics and retelling history to the pigs advantage.

Its all the more terrifying when you know that this is actually what happened in Russia. The propaganda I mean. Not the pigs.

Its scary stuff, it really is. I would definitely advise you to read this. It's food for thought, especially on the matters of propaganda and manipulation.