The Touching The Void guys came to my elementary school for an assembly when I was in 5th grade. The image of how he demonstrated how he broke that leg is pretty indelibly in my brain.
I hate to break it to you, oh impotent one, but you're not the big bad anymore, you're not even the kind of naughty.
Xander ,'Showtime'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
flea - Dec 26, 2009 3:22:36 pm PST #10711 of 28370
information libertarian
Consuela - Dec 27, 2009 10:46:03 am PST #10712 of 28370
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
I was thinking of you this morning as I was watching the movie version of Touching the Void on cable.
Hah! I will take it as a compliment that a story of a climbing epic-but-not-tragedy reminds you of me. *grins*
That docudrama was almost too much for me: I had to stop the Tivo and go away for while when they dramatized Joe breaking his leg.
To bring this back to literary subjects, the book Touching the Void is really excellent, highly-recommended, and it has a happy ending of sorts.
Connie Neil - Dec 28, 2009 9:25:00 am PST #10713 of 28370
brillig
For those who like their romance reading spiced with rapid political rhetoric, there's a diary from the weekend on Daily Kos about romance novels.
There's a mention of Smart Bitches in the comments, and I was taking copious notes on what books I should read.
Ginger - Jan 01, 2010 3:56:43 pm PST #10714 of 28370
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I just belatedly read the His Dark Materials trilogy. I knew Pullman was antireligious, but I now fail to understand why organized religion didn't join together for an ecumenical burning at the stake.
Dana - Jan 01, 2010 3:57:50 pm PST #10715 of 28370
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
I now fail to understand why organized religion didn't join together for an ecumenical burning at the stake.
No kidding. I also couldn't figure out why certain parties didn't object to it being marketed as young adult.
Hil R. - Jan 01, 2010 4:00:28 pm PST #10716 of 28370
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
It seemed to me like his main target was Catholicism. (I read them a few years ago, and was giving advance warning to a Catholic friend whose 9-year-old daughter was reading them a little after I did, for anything that she might want to discuss with her. I ended up giving some warnings for religious stuff and some for sexual stuff. Luckily, the girl stopped reading halfway through the second book, because I really would have had no idea what to tell her about the third.)
Ginger - Jan 01, 2010 4:00:31 pm PST #10717 of 28370
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
It's children's literature only in the sense that a child is the main protagonist.
DavidS - Jan 01, 2010 4:08:10 pm PST #10718 of 28370
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
but I now fail to understand why organized religion didn't join together for an ecumenical burning at the stake.
Well, they did successfully kill the movie.
§ ita § - Jan 01, 2010 4:21:00 pm PST #10719 of 28370
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
The increasing anti-religious tone really soured me on the storytelling. It made me sad.
Beverly - Jan 01, 2010 4:30:33 pm PST #10720 of 28370
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
I'm not sure Pullman's anti-religious tone was any more pernicious than Lewis' Christian allegory, though.