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Someone Scream Murder??

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Have you ever watched the motion picture version of a book you loved more than any other?? There is something both incredible and tragic about watching one of your beloved books squeezed into a movie that is realistically phenomenal yet absolutely devastating in accuracy. Last night was one of those incredible and tragic nights for me. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is one of those books that leaves you thinking after the plot and story has ended. All of a sudden, all of the details are clicking into place, making what was once a jumbled and befuddling puzzle a crystal clear surprise! This image provided by  John Keogh . This Agatha Christie piece is the tenth of many in a series of murder-mystery novels starring the ever-so-intelligent detective, Hercule Poirot. This novel takes place on a train with a variety of unique and seemingly unconnected passengers, including Detective Poirot.  When the train gets caught in a snow storm, becomes stran...
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The Deadly Game of Hide and Seek

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Find the "lowly," take them home, Never let their souls be known. Give them hope and food and bed. Hope and pray they're not shot dead. Diane Ackerman's novel,  The Zookeeper's Wife ,    is yet another phenomenal and true story taking place during World War II. What once was a perfect paradise quickly became a war zone, graveyard, and ultimately a shelter that saved many. In Poland - the setting of the novel - lives a family of three humans and a ton of animals. A zookeeper, his wife, and their young son surround themselves with the many exotic and fascinating animals of their Warsaw Zoo in Poland. As the story unravels with the progression of the war and Nazi occupation, the reader feels as though hidden in the shadows along with the many Jewish escapees who were snuck out of the ghettos by the zookeeper or on the run from German soldiers. The story is amazingly realistic in the sense that the reader feels the tension, heat, and anxiety the characters feel...
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I'm Going to Revel in My 40 Degree Spring Weather

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With spring just around the corner, despite taking its jolly good time rounding the corner to State College, I think it is time that everyone find that warm, relaxing, "beach" book. Do you know what I mean? That book that makes you feel all warm and gooey on the inside because the plot is lighthearted and cute with minimal problems for all of you passive-aggressors out there. What spring weather should look like! Image provided by  Courtney McGough . What spring looks like for everyone else living in State College. Image provided by  Wayne Cappleman .  Sarah Dessen, an author with many novels published specifically for lovestruck or lovesick teenagers, published Once and For All last June. Her novel hits home for all of those who have loved before only to be ripped of their happiness and hope. While all of the broken hearts in high school may not be dealing with quite as serious a situation as the main character, these high schoolers will be able to compare ...
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Drink, Sleep, Repeat

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The band blared their intoxicating notes soaked in energy and passion. The women were all dolled up, draped in stunning dresses that looked perfect under the sparkling stars of the clear night. Their drunkenness was as ample as the amount of bubbles in their glittering champagne glasses. The blur of faces that swept past one's vision had absolutely no meaning, seeing as none of them had much of any connection to anyone else at the party. Even if they did, barely anyone will remember these faces or conversations or events or excessive drinks by morning as they nurse their blistering headaches - a pleasant morning gift upon rolling out of whoever's bed they crawled in earlier that morning.  Image provided by  Victoria Pickering . This uncommon setting was considered the norm at the Gatsby mansion.  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic known and beloved by many. While the general setting in this piece possesses the extravagant image of life i...
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The Murderous Kind of Love

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Why don't people just say what they mean? There is no need for all of the fluff that adds unnecessary depth to a conversation that is as plain as saying, "What a beautiful day!"  I think a lot of people feel these same sentiments whenever Shakespeare comes up in conversation or -for those of you who do not drag amazing, famous, dead writers into everyday chats - in an English class. This is understandable since William Shakespeare loves to use a form of English that dramatizes some of the most simple sentences, soaks his dialog with figurative language, and makes puzzles of scenes in a play that require deciphering to realize what is actually going on.  Well, I have one word for all of you who think you hate reading Shakespeare: Othello .  This image provided by  Jack Dorsey . William Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello , is my absolute favorite piece of old English literature I have read thus far. Othello possesses so many different aspects of so many diff...
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Ein Wort und Sterben Sie

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Not a word. Kein Wort. You cannot say anything.  Absolut nichts. One word will send your soul to the mercy of the executioners outside your house. You are not safe... anywhere. One word, spoken or found, that does not match up perfectly with what the soldiers are brainwashed to believe is true will get you and everyone you love sent to their deaths in a matter of seconds. This image of Nazi-occupied Germany is provided by  WWII Hitler Third Reich History .  World War II Germany brought so much secrecy, terror, and uncertainty to the individuals inhabiting the country, especially the good samaritans who chose to save lives rather than take them. The Book Thief,  by Markus Zusak, is an excellent fiction novel that portrays so many aspects of the war and the strains on everyday livelihood in Germany during these desperate times. While I have read a few war novels now, The Book Thief still stands as my favorite of them all. Zusak is able to create...
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Delayed Gratification is My Recommendation

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This book is for all of those who fantasize of other worlds, of crazy plots, of insane people doing a hundred radical things instead of one reasonable thing. This book is dedicated to all of the daydreamers, the ones with their heads in the sand, and  the ones in love with ostriches  (if this reference does not make an immediate connection to your inner Scooby-Doo fan, I highly recommend listening to these lyrics for further clarification and a good laugh). Twilight . Yes, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I understand that this book series has made either one of three impressions on you: 1) You have watched the first movie, was completely appalled by the horrendous acting and special effects, and decided that the series was worth absolutely none of your time. 2) You were bombarded with a slew of crazy, fan-girl dialogue that left you hearing high-pitched screeches defending one incredibly cute actor - by their standards - or the other without actually discussing any of the p...
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