GOES TO THE MOVIES by Stephen King

‘Goes to the Movies’, is a book contains five short stories that already filmed, made by the one and only Stephen King. This is my first King’s book. I thought I could start reading this first, besides, all my friends told me King is awesome. From every King’s collection, I decided to read this book for my lazy, breezy weekend. I thought it would be relaxing.

I was WRONG.

My lazy, breezy weekend suddenly turns into a creepy, scary weekend… and those are the feelings I couldn’t stop…’cause I CAN’T STOP READING THIS BOOK, for God’s sake…!!

The first story is ‘1408’. For those who already saw the movie, well… The movie is great and I won’t be ashamed to tell you, I was freaking out. The story, unexpectedly, is super-short, but it creep me out as much as the movie did. Mike Enslin (a writer who writes his experiences sleeping in creepy places, a very cynical person) is taking a visit to room 1408 at Dolphin Hotel in New York for his new book. Room 1408, is a place that never opened for public, simply because almost everybody sleeps there is died…or dying…or blind… Let’s just say bad things happen there. But this Mike insists to stay there. And the horror begins. Hotel room is surely is a good place for terror!

The second one is ‘Mangler’. I always hate big machine, and in this story, mangler (a machine that used to fold and dry laundry) become a big, scary murder that seems like eating everything. It kills people, and severed their hands, being possessed by evil. The story that comes from police officers-point of view is interesting, weird though, but still… Stephen King is the king of details. I can imagine the poor woman who got stuck in, struggling to go out, while the machine is trying to fold her and steaming her. Yuck. I actually stop eating my dinner while reading this story.

‘Low Men in Yellow Coats’ is the next story. Titled as ‘Hearts in Atlantis’ for the movie, this story is pretty long. And I don’t know why, a little boring for me. The first two stories I read are fast-paced and not puzzling at all. I need my brain to work up a little while I read the story about mysterious people who tried to do ‘I-don’t know-what’, and decided to stop. I am not into mysterious guys who hurt little kids. And I got distractions. But for those who actually not in the house with dogs begging for playing, having a lot of time to read, I think you'll be interested!

When I read ‘Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption’, I love the story. It’s about life in prison. I always interested in that scene. The story is told by Red, a guy who could supply anything from outside the prison, and Andy, his costumer. Both of them were charged for wife-murder (again, details!). Andy tried to escape from Shawshank, and there are a lot of interesting things going in that subject that makes this story worth-read. Seriously.

People said, save the best for last. That is so true, since the last story in this book is… The famous ‘Children of The Corn’! Yeay! I cannot comment any further. I love the story as I adore the movie. I’m so relieved my family didn’t grow corn for living—no offense, but it is scary. Read it for yourself!

Now I start to fall in love. I already in love with Mr. Tolkien, Clive Barker, Michael Scott, Mitch Albom, and here come the new guy, Mr. Stephen King. I would definitely read his other books. Now I’m reading Misery, and its…good! I’ll make sure I reviewed it after I finished.

*My poor boyfriend. He’s in my 7^th list of ‘Guys-In-My-Life’. He comes after Hugh Jackman, though. Hahahaha.

SASMAYA

Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

Accompanying the review of the Newberry Medal-winning book, we would also review a book that graced with the Newberry Honor in 1976, Dragonwings by Laurence Yep. It’s a story of a boy named Moon Shadow who, at eight years old, sailed from the Middle Kingdom (China) to the Land of Golden Mountain (United States) to meet the father he'd never seen but heard about from his mother. Settled in San Fransisco, Moon Shadow befriended with fellow Tang people (Chinese men) called The Company whom his father worked for, and got to know there were friendly Chinamen as well as wicked Chinamen among them. Later he and his father moved out of Chinatown, and lived with very nice demonesses (white people), Miss Whitlaw and her niece Robin, who welcomed them to their town. His father, Windrider, was very interested in flying after reading an article about the famous Wright brothers to the extent he built small-scale glider models. Though airplane was a modern invention, part of his motivation was the traditional belief in his own previous dragon existence. This belief of dragon reincarnation in his former life had greatly influenced Moon Shadow ever since he told him. As the time went by, Robin and Moon Shadow became companions, and Miss Whitlaw learned the truth about dragons that she believed to be terrible before while teaching Moon Shadow how to read and write. With the help of his new acquaintances friends, Moon Shadow learned that despite the stereotype and prejudice he believed towards the demons (the Americans), most were actually friendly and not willing to beat him up every chance they got. In the end, a seemingly impossible dream was accomplished, and feuding friends overcame their differences for the chance to see "Dragonwings" flied. Overall, this is a fine and touching historical fantasy fiction. The author was objective in plotting the story and setting the conflicts among the characters. Even though the Chinese were constantly set upon by the white majority, yet there were good Chinese and bad Chinese just as there were good Whites and bad Whites. And although the novel was originally published in 1975, the existing problems of racial prejudice, hate, drug abuse, violence, self-worth, trust, and friendship that are vital to students growing up everywhere today, were all addressed very well in this book. Just to note, despite of the fact that this book has won one of the most prestigious awards in children's literature, some might think there is too much profanity in this book for children, such as the mention of prostitution, opium addiction, murder, physical abuse, or maybe Nick Carter detective novels.

reviewed by Begy

The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld [SOLD]

Do you feel like having a relaxing day in the weekend? :) If yes, grab this book, ladies!

Hannah Gavener is an interesting character. She is sent away to live with her aunt when she is fourteen years old because of her father's escalating fury and madness. She spends the rest of her life trying to understand if people ever really live happily ever after.

She questions her sister Allison's relationship with Sam and wonders why she loves this guy. Her cousin Fig is the party girl who dates a different person from week to week. Hannah floats from relationship to relationship and usually ends up picking guys she knows she'll never really be happy with.

Nice book for girls and even more mature women who would like to reviews part of their life! Call us to have this book NOW! :)

(some of the reviews are taken from www. amazon. com)