reading reading reading

So if you guessed our ages based on the books we have been reading recently you would probably be off by a decade or 2. Matty is working his way through the Harry Potters. He is currently on Goblet of Fire. We have also started watching the movies. I saw the first three before I read the books but he hadn't. We watched Sorceror's Stone Tuesday night. NO idea how to spell that. We should be getting Chamber of Secrets tomorrow. He seems to be enjoying them. But not loving them. Which is unfortunate. I was hoping he would love them. Though I didnt love the first 2 myself. We will see what happens.

I have been reading the His Dark Materials trilogy. Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass. We had seen Golden Compass, I got interested and then started reading about all the controversy surrounding them. About how they were anti-Church atheist propaganda blah blah blah and I assumed that it was simply religious crackpots looking for some new book to burn since Harry Potter hadnt really gotten them much of anywhere. After reading the first one I got a feeling of anti-establishment but not so much anti-church necessarily. Or not so much that I thought a child would really get it. But then I read the second one and I totally saw the issue. And then I just finished the last one. And . . . well I kinda see their point. I am of course not for sensorship or book burnings or anything. But I can see why the religious are pissed the fuck off. Because it isnt like there is a theme of atheism or anti-religion in the books. That is the fucking plot. I mean if you can read, you know what he is getting at. Because he isnt just getting at it, he is saying it. And I dont necessarily think that it is something that a lot of kids would understand. I think they are books that should be read and then discussed. But I do not see a whole lot of discussion in this country between kids and their parents over the books they are reading. Especially books that deal with this sort of heavy god stuff. Which isnt the author's fault. It is the parents fault. But maybe I can see the parents' point of not wanting their young kids exposed to it. Maybe. Now the recommended ages appear to be 10-12 and up. And maybe at that age it would be cool. Though I think I would have been pretty confused at that age.

Now for movie adaptations . . . Golden Compass was a decent movie. Great special effects, interesting story. Left me watning more. And apparently the second and third were officially going to be made into movies as well. However New Line says that due to the disappointing box offce from the first, the sequels are being held back at least. My biggest question to New Line is, did you actually read these books? Because I cant imagine the studio exec who decided that the second two books should be made into major release movies. I just dont see it. I mean the technical difficulties alone would make it hard to imagine anyone trying to do them justice. But the plot, the themes? I mean I have had the same discussion about the later Narnia books. The first ones stand as stories and kids will see them as stories. The last ones are pretty preachy and if the religion is removed from the plot, the plot gets pretty weak. But weak is not non-existant. And the Narnia books are pretty Christian. These books, the religion is the plot, and it is very anti-Christian, anti-established religion, anti-God. With the big G.

Sooo . . . yeah. If anyone else has read these I would love to hear comments. I tried not to tell about the actual plot, and would definitely recommend them as interesting material. Not fantastic in the story department, but certainly ballsy.