On Reading

In the last two weeks, I have read

The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass

... by Philip Pullman

The Tale of Time City
The Homeward Bounders
Howl's Moving Castle
Power of Three
The Game
The Magicians of Caprona

... by Diana Wynne Jones;

DWJ: Children's Lit and the Fantastic Tradition by Mendlesohn
DWJ: An Exiciting and Exacting Wisdom (selected essays by various authors)
Part of Four British Fantasists ... by Butler

Am contemplating re-reading Castle in the Air, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Deep Secret, Hexwood and Fire and Hemlock before week's out, along with two critical theory texts, and a thesis, and decide on my 3 extra texts.

Believe it or not--all these exclude the 14 lit texts and 1 English textbook I need to read for next sem. Just today, after meeting Dr A, I came home with 5 more library books and 7 more textbooks. Hurhur.

Ah well. Reading DWJ's texts is homework, certainly, but to be completely honest sometimes it feels like a guilty pleasure--because she's so deliciously funny and readable that I forget that I was supposed to be studying-- and if it were not for the excuse of ISM I would never have given myself the luxury of reading children's fantasies by the dozens (yes, it's more than a dozen novels already, I'm sure) And I'm very glad I got Dr A as supervisor lar-- she's a fantastic teacher, and I'm feeling quite reassured after the first meeting, although there looks like lots of work ahead. It feels like enjoyable work though, methinks :)

As for Pullman's trilogy-- I couldn't resist :P Began re-reading The Golden Compass after the movie's release, and was again deeply curious about what happens next. I hadn't decided on my author then, so I thought, what the heck, I will buy The Subtle Knife and count it under "module research expenses". And then I spent another 4 hours (on two separate days) sitting in Borders and finishing The Amber Spyglass, because I was annoyed that it's obviously more expensive after the movie hype. I never got round to watching that show in the end, but I guess that is of little importance--the original text's usually much better.

(This is a statement that often sparks off a noisy argument between my brother and I each time a Harry Potter movie installment is released--but I maintain my stand. Movies tend to throw character development out of the window cos there simply isn't enough time--Draco Malfoy is not suppose to ooze sexual appeal, for instance, but I guess that is forgivable (bonus eye candy is always forgivable, even if they're not your type), nor is Mrs Coulter supposed to be blonde, but all these dim in comparison to how plots are skewed for maximum efficiency in delivery. Results in a "Wait a minute-- this is a factual error!" for folks who've read the original, or "Huh? What're they talking about? They skip from scene to scene like we're supposed to understand, or something" for folks who haven't.)

So that's my fancy excuse for not watching The Seeker and Stardust. (The other pressing reason is that I'm too lazy to go and watch them. Plus hello, they cost money... After watching The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe massacred in a movie, I think I'll prefer to leave my memory of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence intact.)

Okay, time for me to hit the books again!

Wise words

Antony Green looked round until everyone was quiet again. "Most of you seem to favour punishment," he said. "But you realise it won't be punishment, do you?"

Everyone was puzzled at this. The way we all looked made Antony Green grin. "As far as this lady herself is concerned," he explained, "she was in the right all along -- all her life. Nothing is going to make her see she was wrong. And the only point of punishment is to make someone see the error of their ways. If they don't see it, then what you are doing to them is vengeance, not punishment. Right? I daresay a lot of you want vengeance. But if you do take revenge, that makes you as bad as this Mrs Laker herself. I want to stop the wrong in Cranbury. So I am not going to take revenge..."

Black Maria, by Diana Wynne Jones

And who says you cannot learn, too, from children's books? Woven so subtly within the pages are values--such simple values!-- that even adults cannot understand, sometimes.