Stephen King is one of the most respected and well known men to ever write horror stories, behind Edgar Allen Poe of course. Stephen King is very famous all around the world for his novels such as It, Halloween, Carrie, The Shining, Pet Cemetery, as well as another amazing fifty-nine other novels. I have only read three of Kings books, Carrie, Pet Cemetery, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which I have selected for my book report. Personally The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was my least favorite, I did not find it frightening at all, and a little boring at times. It seemed like a nine year old would not be as intelligent as the the girl in the book and very unrealistic. Not that any of his other books are realistic, just this one did not satisfy me with the amount of horror even though it is classified as a horror story.
Trisha McFarland, a nine year old in the year of 1998 from Maine, is the main character of the novel. She is a child of a troubled family. Trisha's parents recently got a divorce, and her brother seems to always argue with their mother as sort of a rebellious state of punishment for leaving their father. This always left the mother and the brother constantly arguing with Trisha feeling left out and depressed. This is why during their hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail in Maine, her mother and brother failed to notice that Trisha hadn't continue hiking with them after she stopped to pee and really got lost. She stayed semi-sane by hallucinating her idol, Tom Gordon a pitcher for the Boston Red Socks, was with her to help her though her situations.
If I was directing the movie of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon I would choose Willow Shields as my main character, for the part of Trisha McFarland. Willow Shields p...
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... in the novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon I would choose to talk to Pete McFarland. Speaking from experiencing conflict within my family, I know that arguing does not solve any problems, it just digs you deeper into your hole of problems. Pete cannot change his parents wishes to split up and is just making their situation worse by antagonizing the parents to get back together when they're clearly not right for each other. Pete needs to learn to move on and accept it even though it might be very tough for him to accomplish, but its best for the family so he needs to see that. He is also upsetting his young sister when he argues with their mother, which leads her to drop back from them while hiking so she could get some peace and quiet not being able to deal with the conflicts anymore. Pete needs to start being a role model for her instead of someone she despises.
'Rita Haywort and the Shawshank Redemption' was first presented in 1982, by Stephen King and hooked the hearts of the world's readers. Literature reviews were immediately written about the book and quickly recognized as one of the years best. Rek Rehn, a book reviewer for Mouth Shut.com Wrote: 'This book is the jewel of the crown, a tender tale of hope, friendship and retribution.' Years later in 1994, Shawshank Redemption was again recognized by a wider audience. It was released as a major motion picture directed by Frank Darabont. The film presented very respectable actors, such as Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. 'The Shawshank Redemption creates a warm hold on our feelings because it makes us a member of a family. Many movies offer us vicarious experiences and quick, superficial emotions. Shawshank slows down and looks,' said Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times. Although Shawshank Redemption is a excellent film, it is interesting to see that three obvious times the movie goes astray are when the director Mr. Darabont, chose to revise Kings book. It was not a good idea in all three cases. Steven king was the one with the better idea.
The Life of James Baldwin James Baldwin states, “I knew I was black, of course, but I also knew I was smart. I didn't know how I would use my mind, or even if I could, but that was the only thing I had to use” (PBS 2). This quote from James Baldwin from an article by PBS sums up the challenge he had to face because he was black. Through his personal life, his work and his accomplishments, James Baldwin has been considered one of the most prestigious writers in American Literature. Growing up an African-American in the early 1900s, James Baldwin didn’t have it easy.
The book uses fictional documents, such as book excerpts, news reports, and hearing transcripts, to frame the story of Carietta "Carrie" White, a 17-year-old girl from Chamberlain, Maine. Carrie's mother, Margaret, a fanatical Christian fundamentalist, has a vindictive and unstable personality, and over the years has ruled Carrie with an iron rod and repeated threats of damnation, as well as occasional physical abuse. Carrie does not fare much better at her school where her frumpy looks, lack of friends and lack of popularity with boys make her the butt of ridicule, embarrassment, and public humiliation by her fellow teenage peers.
Stephen King was born in Maine in 1947. His father abandoned him when he was 2 years old. His mother and brother was all he ever knew. Him and his brother were raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana where his father lived at the time. He was also raised in Connecticut too. His mother decided to move them back to Maine for their own good. There he got a job at Kitchens of Pineland. A kitchen of Pineland was by a mentally challenged hospital. He went to a Durham grammar school then attended Libson High School. In 1966, He graduated. At University of Maine of Orana, he was a sophomore that wrote for The Maine Campus, the school’s newspaper. He became a member of the Student Senate in Student politician. He also attended an Anti-war movement. In 1970, he graduated. His examination was a 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. From his examinations, he got a diploma to be a full time teacher.
James Baldwin was a man who wrote an exceptional amount of essays. He enticed audiences differing in race, sexuality, ethnic background, government preference and so much more. Each piece is a circulation of emotions and a teeter-totter on where he balances personal experiences and worldly events to the way you feel. Not only did he have the ability to catch readers’ attention through writing, but he also appeared on television a few times.
The Dark Tower – Stephen King The Dark Tower is a series of stories that follow the main character, Roland "The Last Gunslinger", as he travels across a harsh desert on a mission to find the "man in black". His mission is to make it safely to the Tower in order to save himself and the very existence of the universe. The entire series revolves around the tower and how essential it is. The tower is a central point where different planes of existence merge and if Roland doesn't make it there before it gets destroyed then everything else will be destroyed along with it.
evidence of Stephen King being very interest in horror showed in his work in his early
Dr. Seuss I took an unconventional approach in the topic I chose for my reading assignment – whereas most groups selected single novels, my partner and I opted to read a collection of short stories by none other than the notorious Dr. Seuss. Were I writing this essay on a “normal” book, I would be able to pose a question about the book itself and answer it in an ordinary sort of way. However, given the subject matter I have chosen, an essay on an individual book, though possible, would be a very tricky thing to do. It would be wiser, and probably easier, to respond to the man himself. My decision to respond to the man himself makes many more choices – what facet of Dr. Seuss shall I ask myself questions about? I think perhaps I first need to give some brief biographical information on the man to understand the background he’s coming from. In 1904, Theodore Seuss Geisel was born in Massachusetts, USA. I have not been able to find too much documentation about his childhood, but he certainly did not come from a terribly poor or terribly unsuccessful family… in fact, his family had owned a local brewery in their home town of Springfield for several years. Ever since his childhood, Geisel had dabbled in the fields we all know and love him for today… for instance, during bible recitals, he read the verses to a rhythm and often in rhyme. In High School he wrote many short essays and drew cartoons for the school paper, and even then he had adopted a pseudonym for himself – “Pete the Pessimist”. Upon graduation, Geisel began studying literature at Oxford university, as his original intent was to become an educator… even then, he punctuated his time at Oxford with his job editing and contributing to the “Jack-O-Lantern”, ...
King owes his success to his ability to take what he says are “real fears” (The Stephen King Story, 47) and turn them into a horror story. When he says “real fears” they are things we have all thought of such as a monster under the bed or even a child kidnapping and he is making them a reality in his story. King looks at “horror fiction...as a metaphor” (46) for everything that goes wrong in our lives. His mind and writing seems to dwell in the depths of the American people’s fears and nightmares and this is what causes his writing to reach so many people and cause the terror he writes about to be instilled in his reader.
We all have cravings, be it for snacks or sweets, there is always something we desire. We crave horror in the same way. In Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he argues that people need to watch horror films in order to release the negative emotions within us. King believes that people feel enjoyment while watching others be terrorized or killed in horror movies. King’s argument has elements that are both agreeable and disagreeable. On one hand he is acceptable when claiming we like the thrill and excitement that comes from watching horror movies; however, his views regarding that the fun comes from seeing others suffer cannot be agreed with because the human condition is not as immoral as he claims it to be.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is written by the famous psychological writer, Stephen King. King usually steers more to the fictional stories and characters that people usually would see in scary movies. The difference in this story is that King brings realistic fears that could easily happen to us. This difference is what makes it so more surreal than his other stories, making this story so much scarier. The novel starts off with nine year old Trisha McFarland and her brother, Pete McFarland, and divorced mother, Quilla Anderson, take a family outing to the Appalachian Mountains. Pete and Quilla walk ahead of Trish deep in argument that is a normal occurrence between the two. Out of desperation, Trisha steps off the trail to relieve herself and get away from the constant bickering that she knew would last the duration of the trail. Trisha continues to go deeper in the woods so no other walkers could see her. Once done, she realizes how deep she has gotten. Instead of traveling the same way she came in, she decides to take a different route back to the trai...
Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.
For such a successful writer, Stephen King really had no secret to his writing style. King has credited free writing for his best ideas. He also has a very down to earth way of looking at his fame. Stephen King would read for four hours, and then he would write for four hours or until he reached 2,000 words. In a Time magazine interview, King called this his nine to five approach and that he, “worked until beer o’ clock.” When asked where his ideas came from, King would often reply, “I have the heart of a small boy. . . And I keep it in a jar on my desk.” Also, he does not have just one particular way of writing horror, and what often sets off the terror in his readers most was the vast amount of detail portrayed.
For my book I chose to read The Body by Stephen King. This novel is about four young boys taking a journey to find a body somewhere in the woods that is at the county line. This story is about more than just four boys going on an adventure its about them becoming closer to each other and learning real life lessons along the way. The four boys are all going into their first year of middle school so this is a time in their life when they learn things that will help them in life.
His daughter is named Mary Cochran. She is a young girl of eighteen years of age. She has a lot going on in her life, and with no mother to help her along her way, and a father who is distant, she is having trouble getting by in life. Mary likes to go on walks around their town of Huntersberg to do a lot of thinking and to try and clear her mind (English).