2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion

The Shining (The Shining, #1)
This topic is about The Shining
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. Week 22: Scary Book > The Shining by Stephen King

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Jessie Wolf I've never read a book that scares me because I'm generally a wuss... I got the idea to read this book as my scary book from Friends, let's hope my copy doesn't end up in the freezer!


message 2: by Grace Meredith (new)

Grace Meredith (koreantrash) I'm way too scared to read this one... Instead, I chose Phantom of the Opera. :D I'm also a wuss. Best wussies!


Jessie Wolf Phantom of the Opera sounds like a good plan!


message 4: by Grace Meredith (new)

Grace Meredith (koreantrash) Plus I have the movie, so if the book doesn't scare me enough I can revert to that. :D


Jessie Wolf That's cheating! Plus the book is always better, it'll be way scarier, I reckon, I always get way more absorbed in books


message 6: by Grace Meredith (new)

Grace Meredith (koreantrash) Yeah... Sometimes the movie makes it come alive for me, though. Like the LOTR movies.


Jessie Wolf Never read or seen those, but I get that with the Hunger Games


message 8: by Grace Meredith (new)

Grace Meredith (koreantrash) Really?! I thought the Hunger Games movies were worse than the books. But they did help me understand what the scenery is supposed to look like.


Anastasia (anastasiaharris) | 319 comments The Lit Lover wrote: "I'm way too scared to read this one... Instead, I chose Phantom of the Opera. :D I'm also a wuss. Best wussies!"

This book is too scary for me too Lit Lover. I used to work nights in a secluded hotel. This one is just a little to close to my reality for comfort.


Jessie Wolf The films are worse than the books, don't get me wrong, but I thought the films were good in a cinematic way that made everything come to life


message 11: by Grace Meredith (new)

Grace Meredith (koreantrash) Now that I agree with. Although Jennifer Lawrence is a pretty bad actor, in my opinion. And she doesn't look like what Katniss is like in the book at all.


Jessie Wolf I agree she makes a bad Katniss


Silvia Turcios | 304 comments I am reading The Shining right now, I had considered it for the category Movie or for a friend recommendation, however the book has resulted a little scarier than I was expecting :D ... so maybe I would use it for the category Scary, but I don't know yet :P Now that you are discussing Movie vrs Book, I think it depends on the adaptation work. LOTR was a wonderful adaptation, The Shining is terrible and yes, sometimes it helps to see the movie to picture the book, but sometimes our imagination make a better mental movie than the most famous director :)


Jessie Wolf I couldn't agree more Silvia!


Bana AZ (anabana_a) | 414 comments The Lit Lover wrote: "Now that I agree with. Although Jennifer Lawrence is a pretty bad actor, in my opinion. And she doesn't look like what Katniss is like in the book at all."

Yes! Katniss was supposed to look like she hasn't eaten a decent meal her whole life.

Anyway, for The Shining, I loved this book. It had the right amount of scary and disturbing for me. It was my second King novel and it made me want more. I hope you'll like it! :)


Jessie Wolf I'm about a quarter of the way through, enjoying it so far :)


Teressa | 12 comments I too picked this book and am scared to start it. I plan on reading it in the daytime only. Hopefully that will help. I keep thinking of Rachel hiding it in the freezer. Haha


Jessie Wolf To be honest with you, I'm about 3/4s of the way done and I haven't found it scary at all


Teressa | 12 comments Oh good! Is it more creepy/mystery than scary? I've seen the movie and didn't find it that scary but heard the book was scarier. I live in CO and have been to the Stanley Hotel which the novel is based on. Definitely a creepy place


Jessie Wolf Yeah, it's definitely more creepy than scary


message 21: by Emily (new) - added it

Emily I think that there are a few really scary parts to this book, but overall it's more creepy than scary. (I still think that the topiary animal scene is one of the scariest scenes I've ever read, but maybe that's just me and my irrational fear of things moving when they shouldn't.)

As for the movie, ugh. I read the book first and then saw the movie, and because of that I really disliked the movie. It's a good movie on its own, but it totally screwed up the feel that the book has. Jack Nicholson is a wonderful actor, but he played the character as kind of crazy from the start, where he's supposed to turn crazy as the story goes on. Ruined the whole vibe.

But yeah, I hope you enjoy the book. It's one of my favorites. :)


Jessie Wolf See I don't find the topiary animals scary at all but I think that's because of my cynicism! So I guess it's scarier for some people than others


Sophie (sawphie) I also read this book for the scary week and found it just creepy enough! I'm also kind of a wuss, so I didn't want to tackle a terrifying book (like It for example, I'm still terrified by the movie).
I really like The Shining, it was a real page turner and it reconciled me with Stephen King.


Jessie Wolf I found it quite disappointing, I think there were lots of missed opportunities to make it a truly scary book


Francesca | 391 comments Kate wrote: "I think that there are a few really scary parts to this book, but overall it's more creepy than scary. (I still think that the topiary animal scene is one of the scariest scenes I've ever read, but..."

Completely agree with everything you said about the movie. I think the movie was good on its own but it had completely the wrong tone and feel than the book. That's probably why Stephen King himself disliked the movie so much.


message 26: by Jana (new) - rated it 3 stars

Jana I read this. I remember liking this genre when I was a middle schooler/high schooler, but I stopped reading it. Now I know why. I did NOT enjoy being tense while reading.


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