The Shining by Stephen King

I'm not one who easily gets scared by books and movies, and neither am I enthralled by the horror genre. But when you're a citizen of the reading world, you can not ignore a legend like Stephen King. His most popular book to date is unarguably The Shining, with large publicity coming from its movie adaption featuring Jack Nicholson in his Oscar winning role.

As I read this book, I was amazed by how King could make a fire hose lying on the corridor floor -which changes its position every time Danny glances back- make you look up to reassure yourself that your not alone. The silence of the Overlook hotel somehow seeps into your room and every step Danny takes, rings loud and clear. The hedge animals were definitely the most creepiest objects in the book, closely tied with the dead lady in Room 217. And that creaking elevator filled with confetti which turns on by itself in the middle of the night is enough to give you the goosebumps there and then.

Like any other book, I was once again left muddled by a few booktions:

1. What is Redrum? Tony warns Danny in a vision that "Redrum" is the sign of his impending doom, and the term is reverberated throughout the novel. Although much of Tony's visions do come true, Redrum does not make any sense till the end.
2. The Overlook has an extensive history of murders and tragic deaths. Despite which it still attracted high profile politicians and celebrities in the older days. Odd. But what really gets me is how was Mr. Ullman able to hide this dark past form the public eye? And who is Derwent? Why does it bother Ullman when Jack presses for details about Derwent?
3. Who's scrapbook did Jack Torrence find in the basement which outlines the hotel's history?
4. Did the caretaker Delbert Grady, who died and killed his family, also possesses the shining within his family? Why was that one family particularly targeted by the Overlook, and others left as they were?
5. What had happened to the previous caretaker? Why the sudden open position just before closing time.
6. If the Overlook was after Danny for his shining, why had it never bothered with Halloran? I know that he was less powerful than Danny, but something is better than nothing for the hotel before it was aware of Danny.
7. Overlook is owned by rich businessmen who are investing into it in every way. Why not get a new boiler?

Have the answers or more questions? Let me know in the comments below.
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1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

I'd seen this book on bestseller lists everywhere, yet couldn't get my hands on it. Once I finally tracked it down on my treasure quest, I was pleasantly surprised to see how thick the book was. After reading a couple of chapters, a thick book can mean a Yes! What a great story. I don't want it to end. or a *Groan*. How many pages left? 

1Q84 clearly was the first emotion, however, towards the end I was panicking that the pages were thinning and yet the story was nowhere near finishing. Murakami abruptly ends the story, leaving the reader with a giant question mark over their head.

Here are my booktions for 1Q84:

1. Who is Tengo Kawana's biological father? His father takes his secret with him to the grave. What does he mean when he tells Tengo that, "You're nothing."
2. The woman in the family picture left to Tengo in his father's will does not resonate with his earliest memory of his (assumed) mother. If the woman in his memory isn't his mother, who was that woman?
3. What happened to Eriko Fukada's dohta? Or is Komatsu right when he wonders if the Fuka-Eri we know, the dohta escaped into the outside world.
4. Could the nurse Kumi from the cat town be his mother reincarnated? Who is the killer she remembers so well, and what secret does she want to know from him? It's also odd how Aomame's policewoman friend Ayumi dies in similar circumstances.
5. What does Tengo write about in his new novel which could damage Sakigake, and has the little people in a frenzy.
6. The little people from Ushikawa's dead body start to make an air chrysalis. Who is the new dohta, maza?
7. Towards the end, Sakigake are desperate to find and contact Aomame because she in some way she can reconnect them to the voice they lost. How?
8. Could Aomame have been the new prophet before she left 1Q84? I'm assuming this from the air chrysalis Tengo sees of her in his father's bed. Or could it be signifying something else.
9. Who was the NHK fee collector knocking on Aomame's, Tengo's and Ushikawa's doors?!! How could Murakami not answer this!
10. What happens to Tengo's older girlfriemd who is "irretrivably lost"?
11. Who and what are the little people? I kept on expecting the author to introduce them to us, yet he's left us as clueless as the readers of Air Chrysalis. 

Kindly leave a comment and let me know what you think. Cheers!

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

J.K. Rowling's latest book released under the pseudonym , Robert Galbraith, follows a private detective working on a three month old apparent suicide. The book is no edge-of-the-seat thriller; rather, it has a calm flow of feeding out new information every few pages or so, inviting you to read on. Until the final chapter, the reader remains clueless about whether it was a suicide or murder and if so, who was the murderer. A conversation in the final chapter reveals all the details and the case is solved.

Here are my Booktions:

1. If Alison was never in love with John Bristow and was secretly in alliance with Tony, why did she cover for his morning alibi?
2. John Bristow is purported to be a miser and in deep financial trouble, yet why is he throwing money away like paper for Strike's investigation?
3. How come the hoodie and gloves that Bristow swiped from Deeby Mac's flat were never noticed missing by the police? and how could Deeby Mac recount the items when he never visited the flat and saw Guy Somé's presents?
4. Wilson the security guard slips in a puddle of water. Strike assumes that the water is from the roses (which may have been quickly dried by Bristow). Even so, how much water can a few roses leave on the floor for a person to slip on it?
5. Why doesn't the infamous scene-creating Charlotte not meet Strike throughout the book? Especially, after (I assume) seeing his pictures with Ciara Porter in the media. Or after the engagement, if indeed as Strike thinks, she only did it to make him mad.
6. The bookition which bugs me the most is that if Brsitow was anyway going to inherit Lula and his mother's fortunes soon with his mother's imminent death, why would he go through the trouble of having Lula Lundry's death investigated? Especially when it could all end badly for him.

Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think happened in the comments below.