Philip Pullman is an author with a reputation. He is the children's Dan Brown. He's known more for the controversy about what he writes than for how he writes.
I don't like Dan Brown's writing. I read the Da Vinci Code and though I thought it was gripping and exciting, it was also patronising and unbelievable. I also read the first chapter of "Angels and Demons" and decided it was the SAME book! I won't mention Brown's weird ideas about history and religion.
In contrast, though I approached the Northern Lights with scepticism due to the author's reputation for bashing religion and the church, I'm thinking that Philip Pullman is an excellent author!
I confess that I saw "The Golden Compass" - the film version of "The Northern Lights" - just before Christmas and before I read the book. It was very much a children's film, albeit quite a violent one, but an enjoyable romp with some imaginative scenery and special effects. The "daemons" were entirely believable! Though I thought the compass effect was done about three times too many.
I went to see the film with people who HAD read the book and they said that the book made much more sense.
And it did. Not only is Pullman an excellent author who provokes the imagination with enchanting descriptions and clever dialogue, he also spins a good yarn. The world(s) he has created is large, varied and yet coherant. He draws on reality but uses it flexibly to create somewhere of this world, possibly from another century, but also not of this world.
Does he attack the church? Well, I think so. Somewhat. He's certainly very political and implies that the church has lots of influence on the state and indoctrinates children with it's nasty ideas. But he's not attacking the church that I know. I don't know his background - maybe he has issues with the church - his own "demon", if you like. But I, as a member of The Church (meaning the body of people who follow Jesus Christ), didn't feel particularly put out by it. Plus, it's allegorical, so, unlike the Da Vinci Code that presents itself as almost-factual, you're free to see the church as being that of Pullman's world, not of our own.
The only REALLY weird thing was the Bible being translated into the context of Pullman's world. Oh, and his interpretation of it. Most odd and made me feel slightly uneasy.
The film and the book are a little out of synch. Having seen film 1 and then read book 1 it will be interesting to read book 2 and THEN see film 2 to see how things progress.
I found the book more grown up than the film - a better place for an adult to be. I would sincerely hope that children would be reading it too! The film - OK for kids but plain confusing for adults.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Friday, March 14, 2008
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Book: Prayer by Phillip Yancey
This book was recommended as a good read on prayer but didn't live up to expectations.
Before I wrote these notes on it I did some searching and it's hard to find a bad review of the book. And I have to say that, despite the slow start to it, the book did grow on me as I read it, and it did inspire me to pray more and differently. But it was with relief that I finished it. It was just REALLY hard going.
This is probably more a reflection on me than on the book. Let me explain...
Much as my writing is very long and waffly, I like my reading to be concise and to the point. I like stories and illustrations, but they should help make the point rather than clog up the book and make it slow going and repetitive. Plus, I read non-fiction books like this slowly and carefully, taking everything in, underlining what's important, so I don't need the same point to be made several times.
You can probably work out that I thought that this book was too heavy on anecdotes, too light on simple, to-the-point theology, and too repetitive. The book IS a meandering journey rather than a write up of the destination. It's a discussion rather than a sermon.
In a book like this it is sometimes important to reinforce a point but, particularly in the early chapters, I found Yancey going round in circles without making much real progress. After reading about a third of it I wondered what I was going to get from it other than lots of questions and fairly stock answers.
I found later chapters were a bit more practical and inspiring and Yancey's honesty and openness about his struggles with prayer really make the book. By the end I has the feeling that he has somehow gained some mastery of the topic and he had managed to share it with me. I just wish it hadn't taken him so many words to do it.
I didn't find many points to disagree on, though Yancey's theology is obviously very open. He's not afraid to tackle the difficult questions, and not afraid to leave you without a firm answer either.
I'd like to see an edited version distilling his findings into a much shorter work. But worth reading if you have the time.
Before I wrote these notes on it I did some searching and it's hard to find a bad review of the book. And I have to say that, despite the slow start to it, the book did grow on me as I read it, and it did inspire me to pray more and differently. But it was with relief that I finished it. It was just REALLY hard going.
This is probably more a reflection on me than on the book. Let me explain...
Much as my writing is very long and waffly, I like my reading to be concise and to the point. I like stories and illustrations, but they should help make the point rather than clog up the book and make it slow going and repetitive. Plus, I read non-fiction books like this slowly and carefully, taking everything in, underlining what's important, so I don't need the same point to be made several times.
You can probably work out that I thought that this book was too heavy on anecdotes, too light on simple, to-the-point theology, and too repetitive. The book IS a meandering journey rather than a write up of the destination. It's a discussion rather than a sermon.
In a book like this it is sometimes important to reinforce a point but, particularly in the early chapters, I found Yancey going round in circles without making much real progress. After reading about a third of it I wondered what I was going to get from it other than lots of questions and fairly stock answers.
I found later chapters were a bit more practical and inspiring and Yancey's honesty and openness about his struggles with prayer really make the book. By the end I has the feeling that he has somehow gained some mastery of the topic and he had managed to share it with me. I just wish it hadn't taken him so many words to do it.
I didn't find many points to disagree on, though Yancey's theology is obviously very open. He's not afraid to tackle the difficult questions, and not afraid to leave you without a firm answer either.
I'd like to see an edited version distilling his findings into a much shorter work. But worth reading if you have the time.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Book: The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
I've been off sick the last few days, sleeping, resting, and taking my mind off my churning stomach by both reading and writing.
One result of which is that, after about 6 months of on-and-off reading, I've finally finished a book!
The Eyre Affair is a cleverly comic, extremely eccentric romp through time space and reality. I'm sure I missed out on a lot of gags by not being familiar with some of the literary classics on which it's quite heavily based (Bronte and Shakespear getting lots of mentions), but I still found it amusing and entertaining.
It's clever in the sense that the book mashes together reality and fiction. It's set in Swindon, but it's not quite the Swindon we know...or the United Kingdom that we know, for that matter. Names, places, events, often sound familiar, but have been taken into a slightly-alternative reality. This skipping between reality and fiction is also a topic of the book.
I'm not very good at reading, and it took so long that I'm sure I missed out on some meta-narratives, and was not able to appreciate the intricacies of the book. But it was still a very entertaining read.
Would I read it again? Or the next book in the series? Possibly, but I was troubled throughout by the fact that I wasn't quite getting it all because of my lack of literary knowledge, so I certainly won't go straight to the library. Recommend for the quirky, clever, and well-read reader.
One result of which is that, after about 6 months of on-and-off reading, I've finally finished a book!
The Eyre Affair is a cleverly comic, extremely eccentric romp through time space and reality. I'm sure I missed out on a lot of gags by not being familiar with some of the literary classics on which it's quite heavily based (Bronte and Shakespear getting lots of mentions), but I still found it amusing and entertaining.
It's clever in the sense that the book mashes together reality and fiction. It's set in Swindon, but it's not quite the Swindon we know...or the United Kingdom that we know, for that matter. Names, places, events, often sound familiar, but have been taken into a slightly-alternative reality. This skipping between reality and fiction is also a topic of the book.
I'm not very good at reading, and it took so long that I'm sure I missed out on some meta-narratives, and was not able to appreciate the intricacies of the book. But it was still a very entertaining read.
Would I read it again? Or the next book in the series? Possibly, but I was troubled throughout by the fact that I wasn't quite getting it all because of my lack of literary knowledge, so I certainly won't go straight to the library. Recommend for the quirky, clever, and well-read reader.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Book: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
A friend of mine used to keep notes on books she had read and films she had seen. I hope to occasionally jot down what I think of books, films, maybe music here. Not reviews, but reminders to me of what the thing was about and what I thought of it.
I've just finished reading "Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith", kindly loaned to me by a friend.
It's a book about...well, I'm not sure what. It's a general overview of what the author - the "pastor" of a large, fairly liberal church in Michigan - thinks about Christianity I suppose.
It's a controversial book for some. I agreed with most of it but had problems with some things. I'll just give a very quick overview of the chapters (or "movements" as he calls them). Forgive any use of church jargon that you don't understand, it's hard to talk about these things in a brief way without using words that either mean nothing or are loaded with meaning.
The chapters have names, not numbers, and are as follows:
Jump is about the building blocks of faith. He touches on "creeds" (statements of faith) and explains how they are useful but need to be flexible (like springs, not bricks), and why it's OK to have questions and why joy is important.
Yoke is about different teachings, truth, and how it's important to interpret the Bible. By this he means both understanding what the writings would have meant to their original audience 2000 years ago, and in terms of re-applying what is said to our culture today. His biblical, historical and cultural knowledge shines through the whole book and is very interesting.
True. I suspect this is a controversial chapter and I found it difficult myself - especially his notion of finding truth around us. I agree that you can find elements of truth outside of what's written in the Bible but he seems to think that, if it seems OK to you then you can call it truth. I'm a bit more fundamental in that I think there is an ultimate truth to find, and that you can find things that are "good" outside of that truth, but not all the "good" things are "true", or indeed helpful. I do agree that we are too inflexible with our beliefs and application of truth and that this is bad, but I found Bell to be too soft with the general notion of truth itself.
Other bits of this chapter were good with stuff about how God is everywhere but we don't always recognise it, and about taking our faith with us into our whole lives...good stuff!
Tassels is about being real with ourselves and healing of the soul. There's some of Rob Bell's story of how he came to lead this huge church and then have a bit of a breakdown and what that all meant for him and how God helped him through it. He explains how we also need to go through a similar process sometimes. Pretty nitty-gritty stuff that's easy to read and hard to actually be real with, but full of great truth. Includes a great section about the sabbath!
Dust is about "discipleship"; that is, being called by and following in the teachings and life of Jesus. Again, lots of historical and cultural background make some very interesting reading but other then a good feeling about being chosen, I didn't feel it challenged me much.
New is about grace and the process of being "made new" which happens when we believe in Jesus. Essentially about how we get forgiven for "sin" (the wrong stuff we've done)
and how, if we believe in Jesus, this happens by what God has done and not by anything that we do. It's about being who we were meant to be and making the world more like it was meant to be. There's a call to action in there somewhere and a challenge to be people who "bring heaven to earth".
Good continues the theme talking about renewal and how heaven isn't somewhere that we will be going, but rather somewhere that the earth will one day be. It's coming here, rather than we're going there. Rob Bell's real frustration seems to come out here as he talks about what the "church" should be. This is what it's all about. Creeds, teachings, truth, healing of the soul, discipleship, grace, all leading to us - people that follow Jesus - being people who lead a life of serving God and serving others in order to bring the goodness of heaven to earth. Phew.
I enjoyed the book. It was a good and easy read. Rob Bell writes in a very conversational style and obviously is a very knowledgeable and wise man. I'd love to read more of his explaining of the Bible and the Jewish culture and traditions.
A few things I didn't like - aside from where I didn't necessarily agree with him.
I think he overuses metaphor. Bricks, tassels, velvet Elvises, superpastors, tour guides. It peters out after a while but at the start he really overdoes it, stretching the analogies further than the springs on his trampoline.
And I think he's not challenging enough. He makes some good points but, as I said before, a warm feeling is about all I got. Maybe it's the conversational tone? It made me want to think about things, not to actually change them.
The overall feeling I'm left with is that he should be writing a different book. Perhaps if he focussed more on the history and less on the philosophy I'd find him a better read? But then, if he did that he'd be writing a completely different book. And I think I quite liked the book. But I might need a second read to be sure. Martin, can I borrow it a bit longer???
I've just finished reading "Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith", kindly loaned to me by a friend.
It's a book about...well, I'm not sure what. It's a general overview of what the author - the "pastor" of a large, fairly liberal church in Michigan - thinks about Christianity I suppose.
It's a controversial book for some. I agreed with most of it but had problems with some things. I'll just give a very quick overview of the chapters (or "movements" as he calls them). Forgive any use of church jargon that you don't understand, it's hard to talk about these things in a brief way without using words that either mean nothing or are loaded with meaning.
The chapters have names, not numbers, and are as follows:
Jump is about the building blocks of faith. He touches on "creeds" (statements of faith) and explains how they are useful but need to be flexible (like springs, not bricks), and why it's OK to have questions and why joy is important.
Yoke is about different teachings, truth, and how it's important to interpret the Bible. By this he means both understanding what the writings would have meant to their original audience 2000 years ago, and in terms of re-applying what is said to our culture today. His biblical, historical and cultural knowledge shines through the whole book and is very interesting.
True. I suspect this is a controversial chapter and I found it difficult myself - especially his notion of finding truth around us. I agree that you can find elements of truth outside of what's written in the Bible but he seems to think that, if it seems OK to you then you can call it truth. I'm a bit more fundamental in that I think there is an ultimate truth to find, and that you can find things that are "good" outside of that truth, but not all the "good" things are "true", or indeed helpful. I do agree that we are too inflexible with our beliefs and application of truth and that this is bad, but I found Bell to be too soft with the general notion of truth itself.
Other bits of this chapter were good with stuff about how God is everywhere but we don't always recognise it, and about taking our faith with us into our whole lives...good stuff!
Tassels is about being real with ourselves and healing of the soul. There's some of Rob Bell's story of how he came to lead this huge church and then have a bit of a breakdown and what that all meant for him and how God helped him through it. He explains how we also need to go through a similar process sometimes. Pretty nitty-gritty stuff that's easy to read and hard to actually be real with, but full of great truth. Includes a great section about the sabbath!
Dust is about "discipleship"; that is, being called by and following in the teachings and life of Jesus. Again, lots of historical and cultural background make some very interesting reading but other then a good feeling about being chosen, I didn't feel it challenged me much.
New is about grace and the process of being "made new" which happens when we believe in Jesus. Essentially about how we get forgiven for "sin" (the wrong stuff we've done)
and how, if we believe in Jesus, this happens by what God has done and not by anything that we do. It's about being who we were meant to be and making the world more like it was meant to be. There's a call to action in there somewhere and a challenge to be people who "bring heaven to earth".
Good continues the theme talking about renewal and how heaven isn't somewhere that we will be going, but rather somewhere that the earth will one day be. It's coming here, rather than we're going there. Rob Bell's real frustration seems to come out here as he talks about what the "church" should be. This is what it's all about. Creeds, teachings, truth, healing of the soul, discipleship, grace, all leading to us - people that follow Jesus - being people who lead a life of serving God and serving others in order to bring the goodness of heaven to earth. Phew.
I enjoyed the book. It was a good and easy read. Rob Bell writes in a very conversational style and obviously is a very knowledgeable and wise man. I'd love to read more of his explaining of the Bible and the Jewish culture and traditions.
A few things I didn't like - aside from where I didn't necessarily agree with him.
I think he overuses metaphor. Bricks, tassels, velvet Elvises, superpastors, tour guides. It peters out after a while but at the start he really overdoes it, stretching the analogies further than the springs on his trampoline.
And I think he's not challenging enough. He makes some good points but, as I said before, a warm feeling is about all I got. Maybe it's the conversational tone? It made me want to think about things, not to actually change them.
The overall feeling I'm left with is that he should be writing a different book. Perhaps if he focussed more on the history and less on the philosophy I'd find him a better read? But then, if he did that he'd be writing a completely different book. And I think I quite liked the book. But I might need a second read to be sure. Martin, can I borrow it a bit longer???
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