The Shining by Stephen King

My thoughts:
Okay, so yes, I finally read this! It's amazing to me how old this book is. It seems like yesterday when my parents were reading it and then they saw the film and came home saying how bad it sucked. HaHa. I agree with that observation. I read somewhere that the reason King himself was not happy with Kubrick's adaptation of the book was because he made the Jack Torrance character so unsympathetic. And he's right. In the book, we get to experience the gradual downward spiral of Jack, despite his faults  and mistakes in the past. He really remains a sympathetic character because King makes it very obvious that the hotel is in control. I just never really got that from the movie. And the horrible miscasting of Shelley Duvall as Wendy is a travesty. The character of Wendy in the book is nothing like Duvall's depiction.

Anyway, I didn't mean this as a review of the film. I just wanted to make some comparisons because I have never really liked the film and after reading the book, I like it even less. The book is so much more detailed and we get to learn a lot more about the history of the characters and the hotel which is something I always look for in a book. I want to know what led us from point a to point b; something a film adapted from a book is usually very hard-pressed to accomplish. Also, there are some very genuinely creepy scenes. I will never quite look at hedge animals the same again...or tunnels in the snow (no worries on that since I live in Tennessee now). As usual, King succeeded in telling me a good story while supplying me with the creep factor I love. Can't wait for the upcoming sequel, Doctor Sleep!

About the book:
First published in 1977, The Shining quickly became a benchmark in the literary career of Stephen King. This tale of a troubled man hired to care for a remote mountain resort over the winter, his loyal wife, and their uniquely gifted son slowly but steadily unfolds as secrets from the Overlook Hotel's past are revealed, and the hotel itself attempts to claim the very souls of the Torrance family.
The Shining stands as a cultural icon of modern horror, a searing study of a family torn apart, and a nightmarish glimpse into the dark recesses of human weakness and dementia.

*Book is from my own shelves

Book Tour: Guest Post from author A.B. Bard

Please welcome A.B. Bard, author of The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality.

On the Writer’s Responsibility

So, what’s the responsibility of the writer in the American Empire? Is it to sell more books just to paper his or her nest? I don’t think so. Writers engage in a learned, impassioned and imaginative discussion between the generations that has been going on since before American Idol. We have the gift to move vowels with our words. It is perhaps easier to move people only where they are already comfortable going, or simple to leave them right where we found them. But we at the NYC MTA won’t stop till you’re somewhere you never intended to go. Wake up, mo’fo! The world reeks of hunger, lies, inequality, violence and bad poetry. To write while staying silent about this overriding truth is to lend a hand in the perpetuation of pure, organic, locally-sourced and fair-traded evil. 

America has rushed into its Empire phase. Democracy is dead. So is Farrah Fawcett-Majors, but that’s another guest post. Obama is a moderate republican who could no more call for the dismantling of the military-industrial complex or a true separation between Church and State or a truly progressive tax on hobbits than he could call for a day of mandatory simultaneous public readings of HOWL by Allan Ginsberg, who’s dead too. We the People are now the enemy. We are the oppressors, the rapacious exploiters, the Men from Smersch. Although please remember that “the People” in the Constitution has been changed by definition. Corporations are People. E pluribus zippo.

I’m not so naïve as to believe that America is the root of all evil. China is worse, Russia may be even worse, and North Korea is fuckin’ scary. But America is on my watch. Besides, it’s the only nation with 24/7 access to pizza. So as a writer, it is my patriotic duty to zing out my best seditious libel, in the hopes that it will awaken my fellow citizens from their long night of endless daydreams. I hope you cried. I know I would have if I wasn’t busy fighting off this hobbit chewing on my leg.

The Killer Poet’s Guide to Immortality is the riveting tale of a frustrated poet who decides that the best way to get his work read is by pinning it to corpses with a dagger. Alternately profound and hilarious, this novel chronicles in rapid-fire succession AB Bard’s obsessive murder spree, rise to media notoriety, capture, trial, and execution by lethal injection.

Then it presses further, into the future . . .

About A.B. Bard

Reclusive Seattle author AB Bard’s poetry has twice been nominated for the Pushcart. He is the author under a pseudonym of two other hysterical novels, or perhaps historical novels, neither of which is funny. Mr. Bard is not now, nor has he ever been, a member of the Republican Party. Mr. Bard does not Tweet. He was awarded a sheepskin (BAaa) from Reed College Sleeper Cell. His one super power is the ability to repel all conventional measures of literary success. Mr. Bard is lap to a cat, pal to a girl, God to a dog, & dog to the Man.

To find out more, please visit him at http://www.abbard.com

This tour is with Pump Up Your Book book tours.

Book Review: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer {and a few words about the movie}

My thoughts:
I've been pretty much saying this to everyone, but it's true...it's the end of an era.  It's hard to believe that it has only been five or six years since I read the first Twilight book, but in that short span of years, my reading has shifted tremendously.  I have broadened my horizons with more classics and literary fiction and, in so doing, I recognize the difference between great writing and writing that is less than so.  Now I'm not saying that I don't like the Twilight books because I do.  The Twilight series and the films in accompaniment have always evoked a sense of poignancy in me, I think in response to what I have lost in my own relationship.  I once felt the way Edward and Bella feel and, sadly, it's not there anymore.  Being reminded of the loss of true love one once had is a very hard thing.  Anyway, didn't mean to get so personal, but I just wanted to explain the effect the story had upon me.  I still break down in tears when I hear the Carter Burwell song from the films, "Bella's Lullaby," and I cried at the end of this book and pretty much at different times throughout the movie (I really am a highly emotional person so please don't fault me).  Moving on, I don't think that Meyer is a terrible writer, there is room for improvement (although I did think The Host was a better written book than the Twilight series) and I do think she has the potential for improvement.  Bottom line, she tells a great story and creates some terrific characters.  And in a lot of ways, the films brought out the best in some of the characters she created.  Like Charlie, Bella's dad...love him.  And Benjamin in this book and the actor who portrayed him.  And Lee Pace as Garrett....and Alistair...what an intriguingly absent character.  I think Meyer should write about them.  Perhaps Garrett summed up the entire series with the following words that he spoke in front of the Volturi (in the book):

I have witnessed the bonds within this family--I say family and not coven.  These strange golden-eyed ones deny their very natures.  But in return have they found something worth even more, perhaps, than mere gratification of desire?  I've made a little study of them in my time here, and it seems to me that intrinsic to this intense family binding--that which makes them possible at all--is the peaceful character of this life of sacrifice.....

And so, the Twilight saga is not just about a love story between a human and a vampire.  It is a story about family and lasting bonds, whether it's the Cullens or the Quileute wolves.  I truly believe that is the message Meyer intended to share.

The film:
Yes, the movie had some cheesy parts, as they all did, but it was still great to watch.  Like I said above, some of the characters/actors are just so great.  Who can resist Michael Sheen as Aro with his campy yet menacing mannerisms.  The Romanians were priceless.  Benjamin portrayed by Rami Malek was wonderful and Lee Pace as Garrett...so great.  I was intrigued by Alistair who was portrayed by Joe Anderson, but I really like him as an actor so that could be why.  And last but not least, Billy Burke as Charlie.  They couldn't have matched a better actor with the character in the book.  One final note:  the end that is not the end like the book.  Don't worry...it's not a spoiler.  You will see...it really makes the movie.

Benjamin

Aro

Alistair

Garrett

Charlie and Bella

Farewell, Twilight saga...at least we will be able to revisit you from time to time when we find ourselves feeling nostalgic.

Short reviews on some scary reads--The Passage and Breed

The Passage: A Novel
This is my kind of book.  Very horrific, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, Stephen King-esque.  All these elements make me happy when I'm reading a book.  I wish I was a fast reader and that I didn't have so many other books going because I would have devoted all my time to this book and finished it faster.  I'm not the type to read a series back to back (something I'm discovering about myself again as I try to read the entire Dark Tower series through July of 2013), but I'm also not a fan of cliffhangers and there is a big one in this book.  So, The Twelve may be on my horizon sooner than later.  Seriously though, Justin Cronin is a talented writer and he is great at delivering the scares and the desperation.  My friend, Heather, has said that The Twelve is even better.  If that's the case, then I think Mr. Cronin has a long future on my bookshelves.

About the book:
“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” 

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

Breed: A Novel
Wow! Just...wow! I read this book faster than I've read any book in a long time.  I could not stop turning pages.  I haven't been this excited about a horror novel since probably The Ruins by Scott Smith (please DON'T judge the book by its movie), another novel I could not put down.  Novak takes an ordinary topic...married couples unable to have children and desperate to do so...and turns it on its ear. What would you do to have a child?  I know how important my sons are to me and can't quite imagine life without them, but I ask myself.  Would I have gone as far as the couple in this book?  This is one implication of the book.  Also, how strong is our animal nature?  So, not only is this one a scary page turner (and also quite funny at moments), it actually gets the reader thinking.  If you haven't read this one...you just really must!

About the book:
Alex and Leslie Twisden lead charmed lives-fabulous jobs, a luxurious town house on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a passionate marriage. What they don’t have is a child, and as they try one infertility treatment after the next, yearning turns into obsession. As a last-ditch attempt to make their dream of parenthood come true, Alex and Leslie travel deep into Slovenia, where they submit to a painful and terrifying procedure that finally gives them what they so fervently desire . . . but with awful consequences.

Ten years later, cosseted and adored but living in a house of secrets, the twins Adam and Alice find themselves locked into their rooms every night, with sounds coming from their parents’ bedroom getting progressively louder, more violent, and more disturbing.

Driven to a desperate search for answers, Adam and Alice set out on a quest to learn the true nature of the man and woman who raised them. Their discovery will upend everything they thought they knew about their parents and will reveal a threat so horrible that it must be escaped, at any cost.

Thank you to the publisher for providing Breed for my honest review.

Book synopses obtained from Goodreads.com