Hil, i didn't find even the third book super controversial and was amused by Catholics getting all huffy about it. Questioning the motives of people who do very bad things to other people might just be ok, ya'll. And yeah, none of that really gets overt until the third book. The first big is just an awesome fantasy with animal embodiments of the soul and armored polar bears. POLAR BEARS.
I'm just, uh, just feeling kinda... truthsome right now. And, uh... life's just too damn short for ifs and maybes.
Mal ,'Heart Of Gold'
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."
erin_obscure - Oct 30, 2010 10:02:13 am PDT #12771 of 28293
Occasionally I’m callous and strange
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - Oct 30, 2010 11:35:23 pm PDT #12772 of 28293
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
I think the His Dark Materials books are only anti-Catholic/Christian if you choose to read them that way. They can be read as an allegory about power and institutions more generally. (Although I'd managed never to encounter the concept of the Fall as a positive thing until Pullman, and it blew this good little Christian's MIND. Fantastic stuff.)
I'm half way through Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger. I'm not usually a fan of her books as I find them melodramatic, but this one's beautifully written and pure, literary gothic. Loving it. I need to get more books in audiobook format - I can enjoy reading again that way.
Jessica - Oct 31, 2010 4:47:32 am PDT #12773 of 28293
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I think the His Dark Materials books are only anti-Catholic/Christian if you choose to read them that way
Hasn't Pullman said explicitly that he meant them to be an indictment of the Catholic Church?
DavidS - Oct 31, 2010 6:48:32 am PDT #12774 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Hasn't Pullman said explicitly that he meant them to be an indictment of the Catholic Church?
Strix - Oct 31, 2010 6:58:28 am PDT #12775 of 28293
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
Oooh, it IS Halloween! I should pull out Hill House and give it a good reading tonight.
Typo Boy - Oct 31, 2010 9:29:13 am PDT #12776 of 28293
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
I'd managed never to encounter the concept of the Fall as a positive thing until Pullman
There is a really good Harlan Ellison short story on this theme. The title escapes me, but perhaps someone else will remember.
Kathy A - Oct 31, 2010 10:15:19 am PDT #12777 of 28293
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
In my cataloging class yesterday, we were discussing relational databases, and I brought up LibraryThing. Turns out the only people who were familiar with LibraryThing in my class were me and the teacher, so I spent my break showing some of my classmates my list of books over there. That made me realize how long it'd been since I last updated it--I have to work on that soon!
Laga - Oct 31, 2010 10:34:10 am PDT #12778 of 28293
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
I think Ishmael looks at The Fall as a positive thing.
Is Intentional Fallacy why, when Georgia O'Keefe says they're Just Flowers, it's OK to laugh?
Steph L. - Oct 31, 2010 1:55:30 pm PDT #12779 of 28293
I look more rad than Lutheranism
was amused by Catholics getting all huffy about it.
Yes, it's pee-in-your-pants HILARIOUS when people object to their faith being skewered.
erin_obscure - Oct 31, 2010 2:24:17 pm PDT #12780 of 28293
Occasionally I’m callous and strange
Pullman never names a specific Real Life faith in any of the books or makes a direct correlation to the Catholic faith. Catholics can make that correlation all they want, but the books are pure fantasy.
eta: by which i mean that even as a someone who heavily studied religions, i never grokked the series as an attack against a belief system, but against a superpowerful Oligarchy using an ancient belief system to do terrible things to people, and that it is a good thing for people to question what they are being told in the name of Faith...which i consider to be true for every belief system.