Niall-Connector

We have now moved to another Stephen King short story, "The Body". It's about four 12 year old friends who go out to look for the body of a boy from another town, who was hit by a train. The book takes place in 1960 and I could see many differences between then and now. For example, in the book, the boy 3 pounds of hamburger meat, hamburger buns, 4 cokes and it only cost him 2 dollars and 17 cents. Another thing I noticed was the racism and sexism. The boys repeatedly use racial slurs and many of the female characters are looked down on upon and treated unfairly. But the main thing I noticed was the child abuse in the story. Three of the four kids are regurlaly beaten by their parents, and one character (Teddy) even lost his ear when his father put his head to an iron. Also, teachers at their school threaten them with violence multiple times. In fact, one teacher even says "I'll slap you til your blind. The state gives me that power you know." Now a days, parents and teachers are permitted of ever threatening or raising a had against a child. Most of these changes are for the best, but some things from 1960 should've stayed the same.

Niall's Post: Stephen King and 1408

Stephen King is one of America's most well known authors. He has written many books including Cujo, Misery, The Shining, and short stories such as The Body, Shawshank Redemption, and 1408.

I Know of 1408 because it was recently made into a movie with John Cusak and Samuel L. Jackson. I don't usually read horror books, because I often get afraid, but I Was attracted to this book becuse of the story. I thought it was a great idea and very original. Usually it's a haunted house not a hotel and I thought it would be alot of fun to read and everyone in our group would like it.

Joseph's Post: Summary

Mike came to The Dolphin hotel because he wanted to stay at the room 1408. The room is haunted and Mike writes books about haunted places. The hotel manager doesn't want him to stay in the room because many people have died in it including 12 suicides. Mike doesn't care because he is not afraid of ghosts and things like that. But when he enters the room he starts feeling sick and says it is like being high.

1408 by Stephen King

We decided to change the book. We are now reading 14o8 by Stephen King. We found the audio book here: http://audiobookcorner.blogspot.com/2009/02/stephen-king-1408.html

The actual book is in a volume of Stephen King books called "Blood And Smoke".