Shining (The Shining)

by Stephen King

[clq]

A while back I asked someone for suggestions on books that would frighten me. I've felt disturbed, uncomfortable, and thrilled by books, but I have yet to feel genuinely frightened. The Shining was suggested as a remedy to this.
I've never actually seen the film, so I didn't really have much of an idea of what to expect. Considering how popular the film seems to be, I did fear that the book might seem a little formulaic and... film'y. Fortunately it didn't. The story spent exactly the right amount of time setting itself and its characters up, crossing into the realm of excitement just as it had made me care enough about the story to also care about its outcome. I generally tend to find supernatural stuff annoying, but in The Shining the 'real' elements of the story were strong enough to at least fool me into accepting the less rational parts of what happened. I really liked the style the book was written in, and I found the story to be addicting, gripping and entertaining. Alas, despite living in what is essentially a hotel while reading, I didn't find the book to be that scary. There were several points at which I got goosebumps, but they were all due to the touching moments rather than the scary ones. Still though, The Shining is a very entertaining, worthwhile read.