THE SHINING By Stephen King

Oooooh *shivers*, no guessing which category this book got read for. You got it! A book that scares you. Before I go any further, let me clarify the kind of fear that this book induced in me. It was the shiver-down-the-spine kind of fear rather than the pant-wetting-screaming-crying kind of fear, although I could see how The Shining would have that effect on people. I guess I've just read too many graphic, horror/murder novels to be frightened of blood and gore, but no matter how many books I read, I will always be an unwillingly willing victim to psychological terror.

This is the first Stephen King book I have ever read and I must say that I wasn't disappointed. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from the great S.K but I'm really pleased with what I did read and I do not regret it in anyway shape or form. I will certainly be reading more of his novels in the future.

We start off with Jack at an interview for the job of winter care-taker at The Overlook Hotel. Looking at this as a second chance to get his life back on track after a life time of alcohol abuse, a slowly dwindling writing career and a more than dwindling marriage. However his son Danny has an incredibly strong psychic 'gift' despite being only five years old. Alone and snowed into the hotel, things start coming to life in the hotel and its grounds and things start to reveal themselves for what they truly are. The question is, is the Overlook Hotel a door to a new life, or something else?

Hallorann was my favourite! Throwing that out there right now, I liked Danny and Wendy as well, but I always loved Dick Hallorann throughout the entire time! He's the kind of person who you'd want for a Grandad, or and Uncle. His heart throughout the entire thing is so unique and genuine it is just impossible not to love him.

I would definitely recommend this book. It's gripping, your hooked from the first page, the characters are believable and after reading this it is incredibly easy to see why Stephen King is the best selling author he has become. You aren't just buying/reading these books for the author's name, you're reading these because they are amazing!

THE RAW SHARK TEXTS By Steven Hall

First things first, I think that the idea and the potential behind this book is amazing. I am all for people writing about mental health and the extreme effects it can have on people. Although when I  initially read the blurb I didn't get that it was about someone suffering extreme memory loss, I was expecting it to have more of a Left-4-Dead kind of feel to it. I was really excited to read it and out of the three I borrowed from the library, this one was at the top of the list to read, however I am a little sad to say that I sincerely doubt I will finish it.

Although the story, ideas and characters are all really, really good, I found it a little difficult and heavy to read, slightly tough to push through, and the when I put the book down, I didn't quite feel drawn back to read it again and I have found myself going more than a week without even thinking about picking it back up again.

Though the biggest sign for me is the fact I have gotten to chapter five and I'm still not entirely sure why I'm continuing to read it.

Now as I always say, just because I didn't finish the book this time, doesn't mean I wont come back to it and try reading it again. Circumstances in life change and what is easy to read at one point in our life may be difficult to read three, four years down the line. Never write a book off first time, try it at least twice before you decide you don't like it. Times and opinions change and there are a lot of really fantastic ideas going on in this book.

I know plenty of people that would enjoy this book, however, at the moment, I just don't think this is the book for me.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST By Ken Kesey

I've been wanting to read Cuckoo's Nest ever since I saw the stage production at our local theatre. I must say that if I was blown away by the incredibleness of the stage adaptation then I simple cannot put into words how much I have been effected but the novel itself. As someone who is greatly affected by mental health myself, I was interested to see what society had allowed to be broadcast.

I was a little worried when I started out reading the book and it doesn't have chapters as such, only breaks in the text and it's split into four lengthy segments, however in my excitement to read the book I push forward and I am so glad that I did! I badly notice the fact that there were no chapters and i found that once I picked it up, I could hardly bring myself to put it back down again. The pages seemed to turn themselves.

One of the biggest themes I picked up on throughout the novel was social standing and hierarchy. Although it s not a society in the way that we would normally talk about it, there is still a sense of community on the hospital ward and you can see the ranks which have been put in place. The vegetables and the bottom, followed by the chronics, then the acutes, after that its the aides and the the doctor and finally the Big Nurse. This is define clearly throughout and as in Tess of the d'Urbervilles and a lot of Percy Shelley's work (I choose these two as they are the other two texts i am working with for my course), The top tier of the society holds complete control and no matter how hard the lower levels of society try to change things, it never happens.

Although he isn't mentioned too often throughout the book, I think that Pete is my favourite character.  His quietness and the way he is put aside by everyone else really reached out to me. He clearly has a need that needs to be addressed and yet he is just swept under the carpet in a hope that eventually the issue will go away. I like Chief Bromden as well, and I think the way that his narration shows his growth as a person is very clever. His thoughts and opinions become longer and braver as the novel progresses whereas he started very quiet and scared and only narrating the bare minimum.

I am really glad to have read this book and I have really enjoyed reading it. But that isn't to say that there weren't parts of the book that made me stop and think twice about the way I think and the way society thinks as a whole. I think this is a brilliant commentary on Mental health and society, as well a social politics.

This is definitely one for a slightly older / young adult audience but one that I would most definitely recommend to every one. Its such a great book, with a brilliant message and to top it all, it's so easy to read!