Literature

Literature
Literature is almost always influenced by historical, political or social features of the period. As time went by, literature reflected the opinions and ideas people had and the situations they were in (e.g. invasions by other nations, war, social pressure and injustice, moral degradation, lack of opportunities and uncertain future). These and many more concepts are regular themes appearing in English as well as American fiction.
There are many different genres of literature. Basically we can divide literature into poetry, prose and drama.
•    Poetry
o    is usually written in verses and it expresses the author's feelings, their interpretation often depends on the reader
o    poetry is a way of outlet for sensitive emotional people who want to express their feelings; people often write or read poetry when they are in love
o    People read poems to dream, to imagine and to think about their feelings.
•    Non-fiction
o    is literature of fact;
o    e.g. biography or autobiography, travel books, history books, diaries, textbooks, memoirs, etc.
•    Fiction
o    is an invented story made up by the author's imagination,
o    e.g. novels, tales, romances, novellas, short stories, whodunits, adventure stories, spy stories, thrillers, police novels, suspense stories, etc.
•    Novel
o    is a type of fiction containing interesting stories with a lot of characters and complex actions; novels either end in the way you expected them to or the writer may play tricks on you and will surprisingly change the end
o    it has mostly more than one main feature, but it is not compulsory; the main character is often an outlaw.
Children in general like fairy tales and stories, fables, children's rhymes and later juvenile literature.


My attitude to reading
I love reading very much. Books are my great passion. I have already read a lot of books but I can’t tell how many exactly.
When I was younger and had more free time I was reading almost all the time and everywhere. I wouldn’t have fallen asleep without reading. My mum buys me a lot of books and I also borrow books in the library. Now before the graduation exam I have less time for reading but I try to read every free moment.
I can’t tell which book and writer is my favorite. When I was very young I liked of course the fairy-tales. When I visited maybe the forth class I loved the books by Jaroslav Foglar. I loved the stories about the fast arrows and other brave, friendly and fair boys. When I was older I took pleasure in the sci-fi and fantasy stories. I liked the books by Tolkien, Sapkowski, Prattchet and others. They were my favorite writers for a long time. I read almost all their books. Recently I have been keen on thrillers. I like when I am being frightened. For example, Stephan King is awesome. Now I read only exercise-books, because I have to learn very much. As I said I haven’t any favorite writer at present and so I have chosen the book that I read as last and it is Stephen King – The Long Walk. I read this book every time, when I am in stress.
The long way
One hundred teenager boys participate in a walking contest called "The Long Walk." Each Walker must maintain a speed of at least four miles per hour; if he drops below this speed for a total of 30 seconds he receives a verbal warning. Walkers can eliminate a warning by walking for an hour without being warned. If, however, a Walker with three warnings slows down again, he is shot to death. A Walker with no warnings who begins to slow down has a total of two minutes before being killed. However, Walkers may be shot immediately for certain serious violations, such as trying to leave the road or attacking the halftrack. The halftracks use electronic equipment to determine a Walker's speed. .
The Walk begins every year at 9:00 AM on April 30 at the Maine/Canada border and continues down the eastern coast of the United States until the winner is determined. There are no stops, rest periods, or established finish line during a Long Walk, which does not pause for any reason (including bad weather or darkness); the event only ends when one Walker is left alive. They may request a water canteen at any time, and food concentrates are distributed each day of the Walk at 9:00 am.
The winner receives "The Prize": anything he wants for the rest of his life.
The main character of the novel is Ray Garraty, a 16-year-old boy. Garraty becomes closest to Peter McVries, another boy form the Walk.
After five days and hundreds of miles, the Walk eventually comes down to Garraty and Stebbins. At the end of the book, Garraty decides to give up. Garraty catches up with Stebbins to tell him this, but before he can speak, Stebbins grabs his shirt, says "Oh, Garraty!", collapses and dies - Garraty is declared the winner.
Garraty sees a jeep coming towards him, coming to award him the victory. Garraty walks past the jeep towards a hallucination of a dark figure, not far ahead, Garraty somehow finds the strength to run. This is the end of the story.