The effects of blogging

I’ve found that ever since we were assinged to write an analysis of the book and blog about it, I’ve focused less on “going with the flow” and allowing myself to be caught up with the story of my book, and instead focused on things that might be of note for my assingments. To put it differently, I’ve been reading my books more critically than I usually do. However, I haven’t really noticed a difference in the pleasurability with my new reading style, neither an increase nor a decrease in the enjoyability of the book. I suppose that, when you get down to it, reading is reading and the quality of the story is the most important factor in whether or not you enjoy it.

  It was also an interesting experience to blog, although I doubt I’ll ever do it as a pastime. What I found even more interesting was observing the progress of my fellow classmates’ blogs, humor was prevalent in many of the texts I read, insuring an interesting read for me. With this in mind though, I don’t honestly think that blogging has improved me in any way. It hasn’t really given me any ideas for my analysis and the experience of reading feels the same as it always does.

Stephen King; a king amongst authors

Stephen Edward King was born the 21st of December and is currently one of the most well-known American authors; he is especially well known for his horror stories. He debuted with the novel “Carrie” in 1974, a horror-story that came hot on the heels of mass-cultural successes such as Ira Levin’s “Rosemary’s baby” and “The Exorcist” by William Peter Blatty. “Carrie”, despite being his first published work and being forced to compete with other best-sellers, was actually made into a movie, paving the way for his third book “The Shining”, which was also made into a movie. This alone should be proof of his talent. His comfortable, homey writing style and extensive use of humor are perfectly complemented by his simple yet elegant writing style. There is no theme in horror that he will shy away from, and his productivity is at such an impressive scale that he decided to publish many of his books under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman”. Stephen King is a fantasy writer of the highest caliber, a literary giant against whom few can compete and even fewer can prevail. All people, experienced with books or not, regardless of greater or lesser literacy, should try at least one of his books in their lifetime.

The Desolated States of America

The Stand takes place during the 1990s in post-apocalyptic U.S.A, after a plague of literally biblical proportions has wiped out roughly 99.4% of the world’s population in a peroid of no more than 19 days, leaving the few survivors to serve as pawns in an epic battle between good and evil. The plague was a top-secret biological weapon developed by the U.S Army, referred to as “Project Blue”. Project Blue is a modified version of the flu that not only targeted humans, but also the majority of domesticated animals like dogs and horses.

  During the spread of the plague that the masses called “Captain Trips” there is a total breakdown of society, resulting in violence, brutal martial law and inevitable death for most members of society. The resulting setting for the story is a bleak fantasy world, with the once glorious legacies of humanity standing a silent vigil as nature swiftly reclaims the remains of a now obsolete society.

Book report, or an analysis?

Several people have written about how analyzing a book is ever so much more challenging than writing a report about it and how they wish to analyze the book because of how wonderful it is to have a challenge and the joys of surmounting such a difficult obstacle. Perhaps some of them actually believe this, or for that matter, perhaps all of them do!

  I, however, do not. If not for the grade limits on a book report, you would be reading a post about how I had already finished one. No, I am writing an analysis, if for no other reason than having the possibility of scoring a 6. People take the path of least resistance to their goal, that is simply common sense. However, if I want a 6, I need to analyze the book. So here we are. But don’t worry, it’ll be glorious.

Task 3: B

The chapter starts with 5 old friends sitting together in the gas station owned by one of them. Times are hard in their little town of Arnette, and many of them are unemployed. Even those few lucky enough to have a job rarely get to work any more than 30 hours a week, but unlikely as it seems, one of them will play a major role in the salvation of mankind.

  Stuart Redman is a quiet man. No stranger to hard work and poverty. He’s well regarded in Arnette, though he has few friends, and precious little time for them. His wife died four years back, and though it was short, he consideres the time he was married the best time of his life. Though he thought about leaving Arnette when his wife died, he never really seems to be able to leave.

  As the friends sit around and discuss the economy, Stuart notices a car driving along the road towards the gas station. It’s erratically rolling along at 15 miles an hour or so, but as it veers toward the gas station it simply doesn’t stop, and destroys several of the gas pumps. After it finally grinds to a halt, the friends decide to take a look at the occupants of the car. The car contains the decomposing remains of a woman and child, and the driver, a man, appears to be extremely sick. They call an ambulance, but before it arrives the man frantically questions them about the cars occupants, who turn out to be his wife and daughter, though he is unaware that they are dead. After being comforted, the man quickly sinks into delirium and soon faints.

  Little did these five friends know that the woman and child, quickly followed by the man, were to be the first of many to die of an epidemic of epic proportions, of the plague known as “Captain Trips”.

The Stand; Like eating beef jerky with your brain

It’s currently the year 2012. We have machines that can see through your skin and look at your bones. We have machines that can keep you alive even if your heart and brain don’t work. We even have machines that can look at just a single drop of your spit and tell us who your parents are. But as we speak, people the world over are reading books. Books are simple things, just words on paper, and they are by no means new, they’ve been around for hundreds of years. In light of our technological advances, it may seem strange that people still rely on books, or even willingly spend their spare time reading one for no other reason than that they find it entertaining, but if you take the time to read “The Stand” you’ll probably see why they would do so.

  Stephen King’s “The Stand” is one of the finest works of a genius author. It’s a lengthy book (1135 pages), but I am already close to finishing it, something I consider a testament to the quality of its content. I found myself simply unable to put it down for any great length of time, and look forward to seeing how it ends.

  I decided to read this book because I had previously read a few of Stephen King’s other literary works, which were excellent. However, when I heard that “The Stand” was supposed to be the pinnacle of his accomplishments, I simply had to read it. While I don’t regret my decision, I do feel that “The Stand” doesn’t quite warrant all the somewhat overly generous praise it recieves. Not that it hasn’t been an excellent read thus far!