My first time reading this classic horror novel, and ultimately the thing is: it’s not the hedge animals or the woman in the bath tub that is scary. It’s that there are real fathers like Jack Torrence and real women & children who live in fear of them ( )

Wow. That ended bloody ( )

REDRUM. Esa era la palabra que Danny había visto. Y aunque no sabía leer, entendió que era un mensaje de horror el que se había reflejado en aquel espejo. Danny tenía cinco años, y a los cinco años pocos niños saben leer, pocos niños saben que los espejos invierten las imágenes y pocos niños, casi ninguno, saben diferenciar la realidad de sus fantasías. Aunque, claro, Danny tenía pruebas de que sus fantasías, aquellas fantasías relacionadas con "el resplandor", acababan cumpliéndose. REDRUM-MURDER. Y el palo ensangrentado.
Pero su padre necesitaba aquel trabajo. Danny sabía que en la mente de su madre cada vez ocupaba más espacio la idea de divorcio y que su padre pensaba una y otra vez en algo malo, en algo malo y en suicidio. Sí, necesitaba un trabajo, aunque fuera aquél. ¿Aunque fuera aquél? También podía ser que esa fuera la excepción, que no se cumpliera lo que Danny había soñado despierto. Total, era cuidar de un hotel de lujo, de ciento diez habitaciones, que quedaba aislado por la nieve durante al menos seis meses. Así que hasta el deshielo iban a estar los tres solos, ¿solos?, en el inmenso edificio. Y apenas llegaron, lo reconoció. Ya lo había visto. Aquel era el edificio. Aquella era la habitación. Aquel era el espejo. REDRUM-MURDER.

Yikes . . .scary, violent, gripping, horrifying . . .all of these words capture this classic Stephen King tale.

Only Stephen King could suck a reader into a story that is this unbelievable. It most definitely fits the tag of paranormal, and it also reminded me why I don't read this genre much. It's just all a little too unreal for me. However, King is masterful at weaving in so many realistic details as well as driving suspense to unbearable heights, I can't say I didn't enjoy the ride.

The Shining is about a family of three who take care of a hotel during the winter months in the remote Colorado Rockies. The hotel has a history, and let's just say, it isn't pretty. The five year old son of the family has a gift of "shining" which let's him see events past and future as well as read people's minds to at least some extent. I can't really explain what goes on inside the hotel in a way that will do it justice. You have to read it. In fact, I'm not sure I 100% know what exactly happened. Let's just say it makes for super scary reading.

Definitely not my favorite of King's work. Usually he has more paranormal/magical touches, and here he goes much further than that, but it's very, very well done. If you like the horror/paranormal genre, I can't imagine you wouldn't like this book a lot. ( )

I finally tackled this book! And it was really good. I have never seen the movie but I still thought that I knew what to expect when I started this one but it was a bit different. There is a ton of hype surrounding this book and I fully expected this book to become an all-time favorite. It didn’t quite make that list for me but it was still a great read.

After losing his teaching job, Jack accepts a position as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Jack, his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny will spend the winter alone at the hotel. Jack thinks that this will be the perfect opportunity for his family and hopes to finally finish the manuscript he has been working on. Jack’s 5-year-old son, Danny, seems to know things because of his special gift. He can sense that some bad things have happened in this historic hotel.

This story felt ominous from the start. The more I learned about the hotel the more certain that I was that I would not want to visit. Whatever you do – stay out of room 217! Jack had his share of problems before taking on the job at the hotel and after a short period of time, he spirals into periods of madness and violence. Danny was really the star of this novel though. Being at the hotel was hard on this gifted boy who could see things others couldn’t but he proved to be incredibly brave. I really appreciated his connection with the former cook at the hotel, Mr. Halloran, quite a bit.

I thought that Campbell Scott did a great job with the narration. I believe that this was the first time that I have listened to his work and I was rather impressed. I thought that he did a great job with the cast of characters in this story which included not only an adult male and female but also a child. I thought that he brought a lot of excitement to his reading and found myself wanting to listen for hours at a time.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that it was a very enjoyable story and I am thrilled that I am finally able to say that I have read it. My only complaint is that the story did feel overly long at times and bogged down a bit in some sections but overall it was a great reading experience. ( )