05.08 Free Choice Blog

"The Shinning" by Stephen King
Full Section: "Closing Day"

Summary:
          Closing Day is a section of the book that tells everything that happen when Jack Torrance and his family arrive to the hotel where they would be staying all winter for Jack's job. During this section Hallorann, the chef of the hotel, takes the family through a tour through the kitchen. He gets very close to Danny, and he tell him all about his shinning, his power to predict the future and to know what people think. He tells him that he has the same shine sometimes. Then he talk to him about things that happeningn in the hotel that he may see, and that he should not be scared. When Mr. Hallorann leaves, Ulman takes them through the hotel for the last time before closing and Danny starts seeing blood and weird faces on the walls. Finally, everyone leaves the hotel except the Torrances.

Questions:
My personal reaction after reading this section of the book is fear. I actually felt like if I was watching a movie or in real life. I felt like if I was in The Overlook, walking though the very old fashioned halls, surrounded by all those rich people and expensive furniture.

The author uses mainly flashback and foreshadowing. He somehow, through Danny, is telling us that something is going to happen at the end that is not going to be good at all. Danny's fear is a clue that something horrendous is going to happen.

04.08 Free Choice Blog

"The Shinning"

Right now I am reading a new book called "The Shinning" by Stephen King. Such book is divided by sections or chapters. The last full section I read was titled "Shadowland".

Summary - "Shadowland"

• Danny is waiting for his dad to come from his job interview. In the meantime, his imaginary friend Tony, who has appeared to him before, takes him to a series of dark and magical places in his minds. Many of those places he sees he doesn't recognize them, but they do scare him. At the end, Tony takes him to a dar k room and he sees his mom's old record all scattered and broken in the floor, and he sees in a tub, a hand and a limb bleeding. Then his father arrives and he wakes up all sweaty and run to hug him.
  
  
  
  Questions:
  
  
  

  What was your personal reaction to this reading selection?
  • I haven't finished reading this book, but I love it. I love the way that the author played with my mind in this chapter. I loved the way that the author described the situations and places where Tony takes Danny. I was so detailed, that it seemed like if i was watching a scary movie.
  What do you believe the author’s intent was, and what patterns of organization did you observe?
• The author's purpose in writing this chapter was to describe to the author that Danny is somehow talented. He wants to create a mysterious mood to keep the reader hooked and scared. The author uses different types of patterns of organization in this book, especially he uses a lot of flashbacks and foreshadows.

Right now I am reading a book that is composed by a series of chapter: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

Chapter 2: The Glorious Whitewasher.

Summary:
      Tom is punished by Aunt Polly for his misbehavior. She sends Tom out to whitewash the fence on a Saturady morning, but because he is to lazy he is looking for someone to do such task for him. He started bragging to everyone that he was the better at doing so and everyone in order to prove him wrong ended up washing the fence, while Tom did nothing.

1. What was your personal reaction to this reading selection?

I am really having fun reading this book, specially this chapter. I loved the way that this clever boy fooled everyone into whitewashing the fence. Tom reminds me of my little sister, and everytime I read this book, I picture my little princess.

2. What do you believe the author’s intent was, and what patterns of organization did you observe?

The author's purpose is mainly to entretain the reader, and to make them laugh somehow. Mark Twain, in the whole book, he uses chronilogical order. He describes tom through his actions and they are written in order.

The last book I read was called "Full Dark No Stars" by Stephen King. This book is devided into 5 sections or 5 stories. The last "full section" I read was short story called "A Good Mariage".                

                                        Summary: "A Good Marriage"                                                                Darcy was married to Bob, they were a happy old couple until one night Darcy found out some evidence that proved that her husband was a famous serial killer. Having to hide his husband's identity was too much for her, so she killed him and was never caught.                                       

    What was your personal reaction to this reading selection?

 I was really impressed because it was hard to believe that such innocent woman could be able to kill his husband, a serial killer that has been wanted by the police for many years. I thought that he was going to kill her as well as he muredered the other girls. I learned that people are not always what they look like, and what they pretend to be in society. Everyone can have a dark secret that can end up in chaos!

     If you were to create notes to help you remember the most important points from your reading, what style of notes would you use and why?

I would use a web summary, because I believe a web summary makes it easy to remember the events and in the order they happened.

"My name is Wilfred Leland James, and this is my confession. In June of 1922 I murdered my wife, Arlette Christina Winters James, and hid her body by tupping it down an old well." -1922
That is a very rough introduction sentence of the last short story I read. It is called 1922 and it was published with another three horror stories in Stephen King's Full Dark no Stars. I really enjoyed every part of this story because I loved how the author explained so detailed the deaths and actions of his main character James. This is my favorite book and of course, my favorite author.

Stephen King

What kind of reader am I?

Today I did a quiz to find out what kind of books or readings I enjoy. The answer to it was very accurate. The results showed that I like reading science fiction books and dramas. I loves those kinds of reading, but something that I also love and was not one of the answers was Horror stories. Horror stories are very detailed and it makes you feel like if you are living the situations. Science fiction is also a great types of reading because it expands your imagination and it entertains you somehow. And of course, dramas are amazing. It helps you to get out the romantic that is inside each of us. I love reading and I think that all types of reading are important, but we all love some things more than others, and I my case, that is science fiction, dramas and horror!