I remember the element of specialness and secrecy very strongly.
And I loved the books. Reading the Silver Chair was the first time I'd stayed up all night reading.
Well, I loved the books until the last one. I thought what happened to Susan in the last book was unfair.
Now I'm an adult with my own children I find myself a bit conflicted about the books. They're still ripping yarns but I'm wary of the mid-20th century ethos. I also find they've been tainted for me a little by the religious themes in them. In a similar way to the way I'm a bit more sceptical about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings now I understand the politics a bit more. I didn't pick it up when I was reading them as child. (I think because I was not raised in a household that had a lot of religious imagery or narrative in its culture.) I think the fact that the religious imagery gives me pause is definately my problem. I think it likely that I'm being bigoted about it. For which I am cross at myself.
Clearly the answer is to give the Captain Carroll and Pulman and Rowling and Dianne Winn Jones and anyone else who turns up let him get on with it in a spirit of enquiry and see what sticks. Bluebird is reading him Harry Potter. He loves that. (He didn't want to hear the last two pages of one chapter because someone died. He clearly takes it seriously.)
no subject
I remember the element of specialness and secrecy very strongly.
And I loved the books. Reading the Silver Chair was the first time I'd stayed up all night reading.
Well, I loved the books until the last one. I thought what happened to Susan in the last book was unfair.
Now I'm an adult with my own children I find myself a bit conflicted about the books. They're still ripping yarns but I'm wary of the mid-20th century ethos. I also find they've been tainted for me a little by the religious themes in them. In a similar way to the way I'm a bit more sceptical about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings now I understand the politics a bit more. I didn't pick it up when I was reading them as child. (I think because I was not raised in a household that had a lot of religious imagery or narrative in its culture.) I think the fact that the religious imagery gives me pause is definately my problem. I think it likely that I'm being bigoted about it. For which I am cross at myself.
Clearly the answer is to give the Captain Carroll and Pulman and Rowling and Dianne Winn Jones and anyone else who turns up let him get on with it in a spirit of enquiry and see what sticks. Bluebird is reading him Harry Potter. He loves that. (He didn't want to hear the last two pages of one chapter because someone died. He clearly takes it seriously.)