[the_old_crowd] Re: something to read (i.e. His Dark Materials)

[pennylin]

Hi --

<<<<So what else are you all reading lately?>>>>>

"Tolkien & the Great War," "Bloodline of the Grail" (or something like that), "Franklin & Winston," "The Infertility Cure" and POA are all on my nightstand.  

Of more interest to this crowd might be two that I finished a few weeks ago: "Return of the Heroes: LOTR, Star Wars, HP and Social Conflict" (by Hal G.P. Colebatch (what a British name!!)) and "Faith in FantasyLands" by Russell Dalton.  

Colebatch's title is a bit misleading.  The book is largely based on several conference papers he wrote in the early 1990s, well before HP was published.  He's included a *bit* of HP discussion here and there, but it's clearly just been "worked in" to an existing framework.  His true love is LOTR and that's the overall primary focus of the book.  But, if you are a LOTR fan and/or interested in the Tolkien fan culture, etc., it's really a great read.  

Dalton's book was good, but it's largely the same grounds covered by Connie Neal (although the focus is more than on HP, as he includes significant discussion of both LOTR and Star Wars).

Going on to Stephanie's spoiler space for HDM:

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<<<<I think the thing that bothers me most is that Lyra and Will have sex at the end and these kids are 13!   I know that some people will argue that they don't actually "go all the way" -- but they are clearly having VERY intimate contact, particularly by the standards of Lyra's world.  What would we do if Harry and Hermione were sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest in PoA when THEY were 13?>>>>>

Yes, I was bothered by this too, based on their age.  Despite being overall not too connected to the characters, being the hopeless romantic that I am, I did root for Will/Lyra ..... of course, that just made me hate the ending that much more.  

The other thing of note about this is that Pullman did handle that scene brilliantly in that it's totally open to interpretation as to whether they did "go all the way" as you say, Stephanie.  Some adults I know have said they didn't believe they did have sex, while I think they did.  Certainly children readers might be able to read that passage and not fully know what went on.  It proves actually that JKR could introduce subtle sexual awakening in the HP-verse when the kids are more appropriately aged (in the 7th book for example).  I don't think she will, based on what she's said in interviews ...... but she *could.*  

Penny   
      


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