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 BEHAVIOUR OF MOTHS By Poppy Adams

This is an interesting story about an elderly woman named Virginia who has lived alone in her family mansion for nearly fifty years, when suddenly her sister Vivien decides that  she is suddenly moving back in to the house to be with her older sister. This triggers memories and feelings to surface for the first time in decades and suddenly, the truth comes to light and the prices are finally paid... but is it to many decades to late?

I gotta say that I really enjoyed reading this book and it had me hooked quite definitely. The story line was simple and relatively easy to follow. Although I normally read something a little more complex in structure, it was nice to be able to read something that didn't take too much thinking about.

I really liked the back story of the protagonist, it was something different and something that is very memorable. Its a story that stands out among the thousands of other characters in the thousands of other books in the thousands of book stores across the globe.

I thought that the use of the child surrogacy plot line was an interesting addition to the story and really added another dimension to the intercharacter relationships. Although I can help but wonder what things would have been like if the child hadn't died so young... hmmm....

The ending of the book was very very sudden and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I kinda liked it and I also kinda didn't. It left me feeling a little bit helpless and I knew that I felt uncomfortable with the direction that the book was heading in. Ultimately I was saddened my the ending, but that doesn't make it any less of a really good book.

The only quarm I have is that the questions that Virginia asks all the way through the book don't get answered at the end of the book leaving you a little bit lost and disappointed with the lack of closure you are left with.

A good book that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good book that doesn't take too much concentration to read. A good book, a good good book.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES By Thomas Hardy - PHASE THE FIFTH

Well I must say that I think I was definitely correct in my prediction of this phase. In my last Tess post I suggested that this would be an action packed out-working of the previous phase and boy was I right!

Can I just say that if I didn't hate Angel Clare before, I most certainly do now. I'm sorry Mr Hardy... but how can you write a book where you hate all the characters, but love the book? It just doesn't seem possible. The whole incident with Brazil made me furious to the point of wanting to put the book down.

One thing that I did find very interesting was the way that Hardy reintroduces a number of different characters from earlier on in the book. These include Alec, Izz, Marian, Farmer Groby and a few other minor characters. All of these have an expected, individual effect on Tess, but what I'm most interested in is the collective result they have on Tess and the future that she was trying to write for herself. All these people are from Tess's past and we know that, in going to Talbothoy's and marrying Clare, she decided to move on and make an effort to change the future society had set for her. The re appearance of these characters makes it seem as though fate is purposely forceing Tess to relive her past and not move on into the future. I think this is Hardy showing us just how important the judgements of society can be.

I think I've made my main points about this section of the book, but as it getting closer to the end of the book; only two phases left, its getting increasingly difficult to talk about the book without giving spoilers.

Sorry it's a short one. x

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES By Thomas Hardy - PHASE THE FOURTH

In phase the fourth of Tess, a lot happens. We get to meet Angel Clare's family in some depth, Tess finally agrees to marry Angel, the wedding takes place and Tess takes that one important step we've all been waiting for and equally dreading. She reveals the truth about her history to Angel... after he marries her!

I must say I was shocked we Angel revealed his own secret which can as its own surprise if I'm honest, although I did feel that I shouldn't have been surprised by Angel's affair. Maybe I'm to hard on the lad, maybe I'm just extremely cynical about him. I'm finding that the more I read the book, the more I am being forced to like Angel. I say forced, because nothing about me wants to like, him. right from the start he's seemed too good to be true and I have been determined to hate him through and through and so far, Hardy is doing a fantastic job of making sure that doesn't happen. Drat those amazing authors!

In this phase we really do seem to get a better understanding of how far Angel has strayed from his roots in the vicarage. When he returns home, he is treated differently to his brothers and his parents will not talk to him about the future wedding other than to talk him out of it. Their difference of opinions and morals have really begun to properly separate this family. I guess the final decision to go ahead with the wedding was the straw that broke the camels back for Clare's parents. I had a feeling that Tess's parents would not attend the wedding but I was expecting someone from the Clare family to attend. When this didn't happen, it really made me realise just how much damage Tess is doing without actually doing anything herself. Just by being her, she has managed to separate Angel from his family, despite her best efforts to convince him otherwise.

Towards the end of the phase, after the wedding, Hardy does use incredibly obvious foreshadowing, maybe too much, with the crowing of the afternoon cockerel. This in itself is a perfectly good device to foreshadow a rather nasty, up and coming event, however the reaction of everyone else in the scene, really shouts out to us that something will definitely happen. Hardy infers a lot throughout this phase but this moment has to be the absolute clearest, especially as it is followed up with the notification of the death and near-death of two of Angel and Tess's prior colleagues.

I think the best way to sum up Phase the Fourth, it to call it the Phase of Revelation. Hardy reveals a lot of important facts and information in this part of the book, and equally not just to the reader. Hardy makes the characters reveal things to each other. Strengthening some relationships and stretching others. Judging by the number of secrets and promises that have been made and broken in this phase, I think we can safely say that we are in for a bumpy ride with Phase the Fifth.

ANIMAL FARM By George Orwell

Well, this is the second of Orwell's novels that I've read and I must say that I enjoyed it just as much, if not more so than the first one (1984). I had previously picked up a brief idea of what happened from hearing people talk about the book in my literature class, so I had a faint idea of what to expect.

Animal farm is the story of a group of farm animals who decide they no longer feel that they should live under the control of the human farmers. So what do they do? Start a revolution of course!

In the first few chapters, it felt like I was reading a children's book. It's not everyday you get talking animals and angry pigs in regular adult literature, but I guess that was what made it so easy to read and understand. Orwell, took the message he wanted to put forward and simplified it so much it became almost childlike in its presentation. It is also only 100 pages long so it really doesn't take long to read at all.

Clearly though this is not a children's book, holding a lot of strong themes and ideologies, it is definitely a book for the more mature readers/ older teens and up I thinks. It really makes you think about dreams and ideals and how well they will actually turn out and above all, are our dreams any different from our reality? Is there a difference in what we have now and what we want to have or, is it just a different mindset, allowing us to see the same situation from a different perspective.

A very deep book and personally, one that has made me think rather than talk. This is a great, simply complex book which I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a quick but thought provoking read.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES By Thomas Hardy - PHASE THE THIRD

Well, that's another phase of this interesting book read. in someways I found this phases to be much simpler and also much easier to read and to concentrate on. Not sure what made this so much easier going, but I think it might be down to the addition of a larger; not large, but larger amount of dialogue than the previous phase which I found got quite monotonous in places.

In this phases I felt that Tess began to blend in with the other characters a little more than she has done in previous phases and chapters. She becomes closer to people than we have seen her done before and yet Tess is trying to distance herself from the other people in the story even more than we saw her don previously. Where as before she generally just avoided spending time with people, in this phase, Tess actively tells people that she is no good woman and that there a far better woman to love and befriend than herself.

This really shows the effect that society has had on Tess's mental health as they down just have a downward opinion of her, but now they have finally managed to convince Tess to have a bad opinion of herself. If she can't even love herself how can she ever expect other people to love, appreciate and want her. Her actions and speaking patterns with other people become almost child-like and yet her thoughts and reactions are more adult and complex than you would expect a young woman like Tess to have to feel. The three women also have quite childish emotions concerning Mr Clare, this could represent how women were expected to be seen in society. No real intellectual thought and opinion, only basic, black and white feelings, with little depth and exploration.

Anaphora and cataphora are used quite a lot in this section of the book, in particular referring back to what has happened. As if Hardy is forcing us to remember what has happened to Tess, just as society is forcing her to remember her horrific past. Throughout there are hints and reminders of what has been, and equally clues as to what this will lead to.

I must say that Phase the Third has been a definite surprise to me and I wasn't expecting this from the book at all. I feel now that this book is a little less predictable than I originally thought it was and I am excited to see what else Hardy has hidden in his work for you.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES By Thomas Hardy - PHASE THE SECOND

Despite Phase the Second being the shortest of the seven sections of this book an awful lot happens to our protagonist. She returns home, we find out she's pregnant, she has the child, the child dies, she tries to find work, and she makes an attempt to try and fit back into society.

I think the reason that Hardy squishes all of this into four, relatively short chapters, is because he wants us to understand the way Tess is feeling. Tess doesn't want to dwell on this section of her life, and Hardy doesn't want us to either. He wants us to move on with Tess and realise that such a small section of her life, should not have such a massive impact on her future. This would have been particularly important to the audience Hardy was writing for, as he would have been writing for people who would have hated and loathed Tess for the situation she had supposedly gotten herself into. He wants them to move on as well and follow his and Tess's lead. I feel that Hardy is trying to convince us that purity (he describes Tess as: a pure woman) goes beyond the physical and is more importantly about the heart and the mind.

I found this section of the text rather difficult to plough through if I'm honest, but I feel this is because of the lack of speech and the greatness of all the details Hardy writes into the text. Both of these things, although making it a little hardy for the reader, play an important role in helping us to understand the character.

The lack of verbal communications with other characters helps us to begin to understand how lonely and isolated Tess is feeling. There is no one she feels she can talk to and no one seemingly willing to comfort her and treat her normally. This leads onto the effect of the masses of description. Because Tess is so lonely and isolated, she has more time to ponder on things and to pick at the fine detail in her life that she may not have noticed otherwise. We get to see deeper into Tess's perspective, while at the same time, getting a clear sense of setting and context.

I've found this phase and interesting one to read, if slightly slow. Nevertheless, I shall be looking forward to seeing what Phase the Third has to offer.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES By Thomas Hardy - PHASE THE FIRST

Before I begin, I would like to explain why I have chosen to review this book in the different, individual phases that Hardy set the book out in. After all, I have reviewed other books with parts and  phases but I've usually done these as a single review. The reason I have made this decision is because that is how the book was initially intended to be read. During the time period that the book was first published, the common people would not have been able to afford to buy a copy of the whole book, so to make sure that people could still read it, and to make the book more accessible to the poorer people, the book was serialised. This meant that each 'Phase' of the book would be published in a magazine which people could buy at an affordable price. As a result, I want to look at the book in the same way as the audience at the time would have done.

Anyway, now that I've clear that up. I'll begin.

I find it really interesting how we are not introduced to the title character until the second chapter of the book. We are only introduced to on of her relations. This could be to help us create a false first impression of Tess, which is challenged and contrasted when we do actually meet her. To be really honest with you, I found the first chapter rather funny and I couldn't help myself chuckling at Sir John/ Mr Durbeyfeild, take your pick. Though I feel obliged to humour him by calling him Sir John.

As I'm sure many people will agree, although Hardy is fine and fantastic author, I feel that in occasion,  he has gone a little over the top with his description making it easy to lose track of the narrative occasionally. However the narrative that you can follow is very well written and very easy to read. Throughout this phase, I've found my self planning to read a single chapter and then accidentally reading three or four without realising it.

In terms of my initial impressions of characters, Angel Clare seems too good to be true, although we haven't seen much of him yet and so far he seems quite the charmer, his impulsion to follow his head rather than his heart makes me dislike and have very little trust for him at all, and don't get me started on Alec D'Urberville, because in my books he's nothing more than self indulgent, egotist whom I have very little time for. Tess I feel very sorry for. She is stuck living with this evil man and his blind mother who has a love of chickens, yet she feels as if she has no choice in the matter. Despite the fact that her father has already said that he would be happier if she stayed home, she feels like it his her duty and she is bound by her own sense of morals and responsibility.

Tess is a really believable character and unfortunately, so is D'Urberville. I am really interested in the relationships I am beginning to form with these characters and I am looking forward to reading the next chapter.

THE RIDDLES OF EPSILON By Christine Morton-Shaw

I must say that this has been a most intriguing book, I know its another ghost story but hey I think it's a phase I'm going through. Despite it being another ghost story though, it couldn't have been more different to the one I read previously (The screaming staircase by Jonathon Stroud). Where as that focused on Humans vs Ghost and supernatural beings this is more about the supernatural battling itself and helping the humans to survive the fight. I say it's a ghost story but maybe ghost isn't quite the right word, the bright and dark beings aren't ghosts as such, they're more... well.... beings, supernatural beings!

One this I must say about this novel is that it is very complicated, probably the reason it has taken me so long to finish it, but maybe that's a good thing. It's good sometime to get into a book that tales a while, makes you think and the leaves you for hours... days even, afterwards going... 'So that's why!' or in my case 'I get it now!'

A couple of times I found myself a little confused by what was going on but I never lost interest in the book or the story in fact I only got more and more interested because I had complete faith in the author that she would deliver the answers sooner or later and she did.

I though the ending to the book was really interesting. Morton-Shaw could quite happily have ended to the novel a few chapter early had she not included one single statement from a character that leads into a whole new section of the story. It just goes to show how important small things can be. One sentence, which has the potential to change the entire story, or at least a decent chunk of it.

I really like the choice of words that the author uses for the more fantastical elements of the story such as Coscobora and Ouroboros. Although these do have real meanings linking in with the plot of the story, they are quite specialist words that the reader is unlikely to know at first glance. I thought this was brilliant because it left me in just about the same level of bewilderment and confusion as Jess was at the same point. I loved it!

Over all I think that this is a very clever book and very well put together. Although I felt that the black swans were maybe a little unoriginal in their colouring, the idea of swans in themselves representing the evil, I thought was very interesting indeed. Manifesting evil as something pure and beautiful isn't something you see every day and I am pleased that the writer made that choice. As I mentioned before, I am left with some questions that are unanswered however the more I sit and think, the more it fits together and falls into place. Its good to have found a modern book that makes you think and work so much. A brilliant read and one I would definitely recommend.

HERE (poem) by Philip Larkin

Here is of Larkin's more ambiguous poems and is also another poem which is based around a journey which allows the persona to think and eventually come to the point of having an epiphany. I think the main message of this poem that Larkin tries to convey, is the idea that silence isn't always a bad thing, that it can allow you to think and be peaceful for as long as you want with out being disturbed. He also presents a clear difference between the rural and urban environments.

Throughout the poem, the pace changes and movement it presented in a number of ways. Starting off fast and jolting and slowly becoming calmer, softer and more peaceful towards the end.  In the first stanza, words like 'swerving' are repeated a lot to give the impression of the fast, sharp movements of a train. Always swerving and bending in accordance with the track and the landscape. 'Halt' also suggests a sudden stop that wasn't expected. Although Larkin may not have intended it to be used in this context (Larkin is probably writing about halts as in small railway stations), it still helps to create a sense of fast movement which helps set the atmosphere for the rest of the poem. As the poem progresses the number of dynamic verbs that Larkin uses becomes less and less until the final stanza when there are non of these and we the persona has reached complete and utter stasis.

I find it really interesting how Larkin has used mechanical objects to emphasise the eternal movement that you find in towns and cities. 'Electric mixers, toasters, washers, driers - ' all work because they move in some form or another. I think that here, Larkin is trying to tell us that we have become so dependent on moving constantly, and forgetting to take a moment of peace, that we have now created inventions that move for us when we ca't do everything at once.

Finally when you get to the last stanza, the repetition of 'standing', 'here', 'ends' tells us that the persona is no longer moving on the train and is now stood still and still in thought.  The poem starts off reflecting the pace of a train, then the pace of people and then slows to complete stillness.

One element that is clear throughout the entire poem is the thought that the persona that Larkin writes in has very different opinions of rural and urban environments. When describing urban 'man made' places, he uses words like 'terminate', 'fishy-smelling', 'grim' and 'the slave museum'.  He is picking out all the negatives about what this place has become since it has been industrialised. This is incredibly different to the choice of words Larkin uses when talking about the countryside and the seafront at the end of the poem. 'fenced', 'flower', 'quicken' are all words that are used to tell us about this world away from the grisly horror that man has created with his own hands. This is quite clearly very different approaches to two very different places and it is clear which of the two worlds he prefers to dwell in. (mentally as well as possibly physically? Just a thought). The fact that he makes a conscious effort to separate these two places, reiterates to us how important the rural places are for Larkin's persona, and considering the number of times that this same theme appears in his other poems, possibly Larkin himself. 'And beyond it's mortgage half-built edges', suggests the idea of these two worlds being separate and having to actually work and take a step to get from one place to another. The actual description of the edges of town make it sound almost like a prison or something equally as impenetrable, trapping the 'cut-price crowds' and the 'grim head-scarved wives' inside the town, unable to leave and find the silence and the peace that Larking lets us experience through the persona.

Staying on the topic of this rural paradise that Larkin creates for his audience/readers, I find his interpretation of silence fascinating. Normally silence and loneliness carry the connotations isolation, negativity and friendlessness, however Larkin turns this completely on it's head and presents silence as something that should be welcomed and even strives for. He talks about the small quiet villages where 'loneliness clarifies' and living in a small village myself, I can completely understand and agree with what Larkin is saying here. He is trying to convey the idea that through silence, you can think properly without the whole world invading on your mind, and everything that you've been trying to get straight in your head becomes clear because the air is clear of all the busy fumes and the negative air of the towns. Larkin's collection 'The Whitsun Weddings' from which this poem was taken, was published in 1964 when there was a lot of industry in the town and cities due to the coal mining so the air would not have been as clean as it is now. This could contribute to the foulness to urban places that Larkin presents here.

In the last stanza silence is not the only thing that Larkin puts a positive spin on. He talks about weeds and neglected waters, as well as unnoticed weeds. These would normally also be negative, people aren't exactly the biggest fan of weeds and the first thing we do is pull them out if we find the in the garden. However I believe what Larkin is trying to tell us here, is that when we take time out to be quiet and alone for a little while, things that we never knew we were capable of, or hidden characteristics that had been suppressed by the urban oppression, are able to flower within you and sometimes, these can scare us because we don't know whats happening and we destroy them or pull them out of us like weeds, but I think that Larkin is saying that if we let them mature and develop, then they can 'flower' into something beautiful. Equally, being alone for a while, can encourage us to tend to and nurture the parts of us that we have neglected and let die away.

Silence is good, it opens opportunities to really listen to our own thoughts, and to take care of ourselves from the inside as well as out.