Ann: Thanks for your comment — I’ll have to check We out. It’s about time for another dive into dystopia. But maybe I should wait until after finals… :)

I don’t have the desire to read much dystopian fiction nowadays. I think I reached my quota in high school after having read 1984, Brave New World, Handmaid’s Tale (on my most-despised book list), and We. If you like 1984, you should read We. It was written by a Russian (Yevgeny Zamyatin) shortly after the revolutions in the early twentieth century. Orwell admitted it influenced his writing of 1984. We is certainly my favorite out of those four.

I could argue that point, but it’s late… :)

I guess the same could somewhat apply to the scriptures, couldn’t it? They’re full of doom and gloom. Luckly they’re balanced with a message of hope and repentance, unlike most dystopian fiction.

Connor: I can’t handle much dystopian fiction. Sure, it’s relevant, but it’s so…depressing. :)

Shirley: Hmm, I don’t think I’ve done a Harry Potter-specific post ever (at least not a standalone), so thank you for giving me tomorrow’s post topic! :) If you liked Harry, you might want to try reading some of Diana Wynne Jones’s books — the Chrestomanci quartet is a good place to start. (Wikipedia will tell you all you need to know.) I agree that the LOTR movies were very well done. They almost perfectly captured the feeling of Middle Earth — the music, the cinematography, the dialogue, everything. As for the books, I personally love them, but some (ahem, you know who you are) find them long-winded. I’d recommend reading them as you would an ancient myth or saga — that’ll put you in the right frame of mind to receive it. It’s not a Dan Brown book by any stretch. For C.S. Lewis, you should try reading The Great Divorce next, and then if you want something drastically different, read his Space Trilogy. Anne of Green Gables is delightful, and the journals of L.M. Montgomery (the first volume, at least) have much the same flavor.

Ah, I could talk about books forever. :)

Just a few more comments on specific books: I am one of those people who was very skeptical about Harry Potter when I first heard about the books. My daughter who was in Germany at the time–about 2000–told me about them. I thought, “No, wizards and magic are just not my thing.” Well, I went over to Germany to be with her when she had a baby and was persuaded to give them a try. It took a while to get into the first one but once I got in a ways, that did it. I read three of them before coming back home. I definitely think J.K. Rowling has done a service in bringing the spirit world to life, however it really is. And I love Professor Dumbledore!

The same daughter, last year, convinced me to see The Lord of the Rings movies. I had resisted ever seeing any of those because I tried to read The Hobbitt back when my kids were in Jr. High and thought it was so great. I just didn’t think it was good, try as I might and never made it through it. So I was prejudiced against the whole works. Well I loved the movies and got to see all three within a two-weeks time period! :) I’m ready to try the books and have Fellowship of the Ring on hold from the library right now. Usually I’ve found books to be better than the movies but those movies were so good that I don’t know…(I did the same thing with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I tried reading the book a long time ago and decided I didn’t like it. Then my son got the movie last year and I watched it with his kids, and loved it.) I really love the battle-between-good-and-evil theme in all these stories and the gospel doctrine that is in them. So now I’m in the process of finishing the last two of that series of books. I already liked C.S. Lewis because of The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity which I read years ago. I am definitely going to read more of his books!

Lastly, back in the ’80’s when I was doing my visiting teaching, the lady mentioned that she thought I would like Anne of Green Gables. I had not so much as even heard of those books but I took her up on it and of course, I loved those too! And then ‘they’ came out with the delightful movies of them, mmm. :)

Okay, I feel like I’ve probably taken up too much space and time (of whoever reads this) but it’s fun to talk about books!! Now I’ve got to make myself a list of all the books I’ve ever read. Thanks!

Ditto and ditto. I’ll probably read 1984 once every other year, and Brave New World is coming up soon on my “to read” list. Dystopian fiction is so… relevant.