Terry Pratchett novels, CS Lewis

[Tabouli]

Just peeked at the website and saw much rumination on good ol' Terry.  After an initial burst of enthusiasm I got a bit bored with the Discworld stuff, but I have to chip in with my deep love of his "Nomes" children's series (the first of which, I believe, won the Smarties award later won by HP).  Very entertaining, and also a fascinating exercise in junior cultural relativism, I always thought.  The Johnny series also has its moments, though sadly my attempts to stir HPFGU into fervent and copious comparisons of Hermione and Kirsty as portrayals of a very bright girl in her early teens with all-male friends have come to no avail.

Always looked at Pratchett's female characters with a curious eye.  I've long suspected him of earnestly and honestly *meaning* to have strong, stereotype-bustin' women in his books, but never quite pulling it off convincingly.  They tend to be very outnumbered by male characters in the books I've read of his (the first part of Equal Rites aside, though perhaps that's the exception that proves the rule), and are trying just a bit too hard.  Grimma, in the Nomes books, is a good example.  Mind you, I've raised this before as well, and no-one got excited enough to argue or agree with me or make any comment.

On the subject of Narnia, I've always loved 'The Magician's Nephew' best, partly because it's the most... hopeful, to my mind (love the creation scene!).  The freshest.  I also love it because it makes a simply wonderful prequel.  The wardrobe being the apple tree is great stuff.  I suppose an argument for reading the books in publication order is that you rather miss the cleverness of it reading it chronologically.  The first time around I had 'The Lion etc.' read to me first in primary school, so I did experience the cleverness of 'Nephew', but these days I reread them in chronological order.

Tabouli.


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