A man becomes obsessed with the idea of pleasing a woman… and he’s not about to let anything get in his way.

Brevard County Public Libraries elected to remove the books from their stocks after reading the material for themselves and subsequently deeming it inappropriate.

“[W]e bought some copies before we realized what it was. We looked at it, because it’s been called ‘mommy porn’ and ‘soft porn,’” Cathy Schweinsberg, library services director, told the Palm Beach Post. “We don’t collect porn.”

She additionally noted to the paper that no one in the community had requested the book’s removal.

“Fifty Shades of Grey” does not venture into new territory – other classic books, including “The Kama Sutra,” an ancient Indian text by Vatsyayana, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D. H. Lawrence and “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov all feature sexually explicit imagery, and are all allegedly available at libraries throughout the county.

“I think because those other books were written years ago and became classics because of the quality of the writing,” Schweinsberg said when asked by the Palm Beach Post about the difference between the older works and the new sensation. “This is not a classic.”

The E. L. James book, the first in a trilogy, is reportedly based on a work of fan fiction based on another wildly popular series of books – “Twilight.”

So far, the trilogy has sold over 3 million copies, between physical and digital sales.

I’ve explained all about Sunday Survey in my first ever Sunday Survey report. Click here to read the complete explanation. Basically it’s a book discussion I conduct on my Twitter account, @GeekInc18, that starts off with a basic book-related (or not so related) question such as “What’s your favorite book?” or “What do you think of book translations?” The result of our discussion goes up here to Bookerie.

SUNDAY SURVEY. 8 APRIL 2012: How Trendy Is Your Reading?

DEFINITION OF ‘TRENDY’: “in accord with the latest fad or fashion” (The Free Dictionary)

When I think about the word ‘trend’ or ‘trendy’, my mind always refers me to people who flock in Louis Vuitton stores to get the latest model handbags that this designer boutique has to offer. I also picture people rushing to Apple stores or authorized Apple resellers to get the latest iPad or iPhone or whatever else it is that the company is launching. It also reminds me of people trying desperately to get seats in the newest restaurants and bars (in the mall I used to work in, there’s a trinity of trendy restaurants that people go to: Union, De Luca, Monolog).

As with the aforementioned areas – fashion, gadget, F&B – books also follow the trend. The word ‘trendy’ applies very much in this world, be it on the publishing side and on the retail side. Each year, there tends to be a book or two that everyone’s looking for, that they must read, that they simply have to won because it is the ‘in’ thing to do. It’s the book on everyone’s mouth, the one your friends are telling you to read, the one that people joke about/rant about on the Internet.

Back in 2005, around the time I’d completed my first year working in the bookstore (as a customer service staff), it was as if everyone and their cousin and their cousin’s pet chihuahua were all reading the same thing: Dan Brown. There wasn’t a day that didn’t go by without someone asking for The Da Vinci Code and/or Angels and Demons. A local publisher did a rush job of publishing a translation of the book in my native tongue and the result was so bad that the grammar and spelling nitpicker in me wanted to lash out. But, hey, they sold out anyway because everybody wanted to read it.

Three years later, in 2008, the young, the female and even some of the more open-minded adult males, gravitated towards the biggest series of the year: Twilight. The majority of the hype is obviously because of the movie so understandably people were curious about it. What surprised me was that some of the people who claimed to be fans at that time hadn’t even read the whole series but because they wanted to have a major Twilighter status (or become Twi-hards), they bought the other three that came after Twilight. Apparently in 2008 this was The Thing everyone does.

Let’s compare the situation with George R. R. Martin, who also had a book released earlier in the year, which was the fifth installment in his A Song Of Ice And Fire series. A Dance With Dragons came out in paperback, was not available on international or open market paperback editions, and still sold out at a rapid rate. I’m guessing that the reason for that is the fanbase. The first four books in the series also sold out like hot nuts in a street vendor but that’s because the TV series, Game Of Thrones, was playing on HBO. But ADWD got sold based on the fanbase. There are legions of Martin fans who have been waiting literally forever for this book and they bought it as soon as it came out. Possibly the sale of the previous four helped accelerate the promotion of this books, but no one came to me saying, “I have to read it because it’s what the New York Times says that is good.”

Even more so than ADWD, however, the fiction bestseller in my former bookstore was surprisingly an old title. It’s Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks Of Being A Wallflower that is currently being adapted into a movie by the author himself. A friend of mine quipped, “The number of hipsters in Jakarta has increased and they now want to read Perks.” And it is, in a way, quite a hipster book. But it also could be that there are just too many Logan Lerman fans in this city. Either way, it’s the trendiest book we sold last year.

And early this year, there is no doubt as to what the trendiest book of this year is. Here’s a tweet from my friend @katalyona:

@katalyona my friends went to kinokuniya ps yesterday and hunger games adult cover was sold out! that must be #trendbooks

@katalyona then my friends asked her sister to buy hunger games in kinokuniya spore and it was sold out too!!!

That’s right. You know a book is trendy when a bookstore runs out of it despite having stocked dozens, or even hundreds, of copies.

The hype for The Hunger Games has been building up since two years ago. In addition to being a very good book indeed, because unlike most YA fiction authors Suzanne Collins is a very competent writer, the buzz of the first movie that just came out in cinemas last month was very strong. So naturally, bookstores are selling this title while sitting on their hands, covering their eyes with sunglasses and lying on the beach. In other words, it’s an easy sell. As was the case with Twilight, these days people race to get their hands on The Hunger Games and its sequels because if there’s a movie, and everyone else is talking about it, then yes, most of us would surely like to know what’s going on.

Now that we know the situation, let us consider the next questions:

• Is it a MUST to read what everyone else is reading?
• How often do you read books that other people have read before?
• Do you pick books by following what other people are reading/have read?
• How much are you influenced by the media, the critics and the popularity of a book in determining what you should read next?

Everyone has their own opinion (as later my friends’ tweets will show you), but here is my two cents, or rather my own experience and situation, on the matter:

1. First of all, this all depends on what your reading principle is. Mine is: read whatever you want, whenever you want.

I never feel obliged to follow the trend because I’ve always liked to be a little bit different from everyone else – that’s how I am built. But I also never felt the need to find the most obscure title I could find on the shelf just to prove that I’m always bucking the trend. Why should I, anyway? Sure, I love reading obscure titles, but if I can’t discuss it with anybody, it’s no fun either.

I avoided The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson when the English translation first came out and everybody else was raving about it. I didn’t want my opinion on the books marred by their opinions so holding out until the hype died down seemed like the better thing to do. But of course it was very hard to hold out for very long because the English remake of the movie was being made, it’s going to be back on everyone’s mouth and the hype will rise again and bla bla bla… so I eventually just picked up the books and read them and boy, do I love them.

I didn’t even care that everyone was raving about it. I would always have my own opinion based on my personal experiences (which is having gone to Sweden, experienced two weeks in Stockholm, living with native citizens, and having strong familial ties in the country as well) that have nothing to do with other people’s views on the books. The movies, be it the Swedish ones or the American one, didn’t even factor in. For me, they’re entirely separate entities from the book. Whatever buzz they generated, they would never have anything to do in my personal enjoyment with the book. So, was I following the trend? I don’t think so. It just so happened that the books were trendy and I happened to be interested in them at the same time.

2. Secondly, what you read is sometimes influenced by external factors. In my case, it’s my job.

Right now, working as a journalist, I have to write movie and book reviews on a monthly basis. Last month I reviewed The Invention Of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. The month before, The Heroes Of Olympus. The previous month The Power Of Six. All very popular books, they are what the cool kids are reading right now, for various reasons. I enjoyed all of these books and I actually quite worship one of them. Does this mean I’m trendy? I guess, yes, in a way, I am. I read what everyone else is reading and I am not ashamed.

In my previous job as a book buyer, reading the trend is an absolute must. It is virtually impossible for one to work as a merchandiser and not know what in the world was being published even if you don’t like them. I never used to be a big fan of comic books but then Superman: Earth One came out and I heard everyone was talking about it. I got curious; the curiosity then got the better of me so I read the comic book. I wrote a four-starred review.

And then came Blackest Night. Before this series I was, like, “Sorry? What’s a green lantern? Is that a lantern with green light?” Upon its release, I was flooded with emails that my boss forwarded to me, emphasizing why the series was important. Then I went to fan forums and all the comic book geeks were raving. I thought, “Oh, I want to rave about it, too! Let’s see what the fuss is all about.” I picked one up and afterwards, I went, “OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME YOU DON’T KNOW HOW COOL GREEN LANTERN IS?! FORGET THAT SUCKY RYAN REYNOLDS MOVIE! READ THE COMIC BOOKS BY GEOFF JOHNS IT’S SO AWESOME YOU HAVE TO READ IT!” (Yes, I really did go capslock-y on Blackest Night. It’s all kinds of embarrassing now that I think about it but, seriously, the series is cool. Geoff Johns for DC President, really.)

If I weren’t doing what I’m doing for a living, I never would have known about them – any of them – at all. I don’t hate being ‘forced’ to read them by my jobs and I don’t regret reading these trendy titles that everyone else is reading. Some books I discovered on my own can be utter crap. So if I find a gem in the ‘current fashion’, why not?

So even though I’m pretty resistant about trends, I still follow it. We live in an era where information is free. Whether you want to or not, you’ll still be seeing what everyone else is crazy about. Sometimes joining in can be fun, even if you’re being held at gunpoint by your paycheck.

3. Ultimately, it’s your own personal reading taste that will determine what your read, trend or not.

If you know me, then you’ll know that I:

- Love fantasy novels (especially ones with magic and wizards), classic literature, LGBT fiction and historical anything.
- Already have a list of Must-Read Authors. They are, among others, Ben Aaronovitch, JK Rowling, Matthew Pearl, Rick Riordan, Charlie Cochrane, Bart Yates, Lauren Willig, Michael Scott and Jacquie D’Alessandro.
- Never read anything just because it’s on the New York Times bestsellers list or just because it’s being written about in the New York Times. (I trust Guardian Books more anyway.)
- Find reviews subjective, no matter how object the reviewers try to make it.
- Love movies.

Based on the above, can you guess what my library looks like?

I’m guessing no.

Why? Because I really am a random reader. Like I said, based on points 1 and 2, I would read anything that interests me, either because I want to or because I have to. I don’t care about trend, but sometimes I can’t resist it. So basically I read anything and everything and I don’t care what anyone thinks about what I read. Ultimately it’s my brain, my eyes and my hands that I use when I read – nobody else’s but mine.

I spent half of the year last year reading heavily promoted/hyped up books like The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes (Man Booker Prize winner of 2011), Inheritance by Christopher Paolini,  A Game Of Thrones and Stephen King’s 11/22/63. If you look at my nightstand, you’ll probably think, “Oh, this girl keeps up with the latest trend in reading. Her reading is very trendy.” But then I’ve also probably read some books you’ve probably never even heard of. All Lessons Learned by Charlie Cochrane and Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant novels.

All of these books suit my interest and that’s why I picked them. Being different is awesome. Not following the trend is your choice. But if you come across a good one, why not bite it? There’s nothing to lose.

4. Fad comes and goes, what’s trendy today may not be so tomorrow. It’s what stays with you for a long time that counts.

For the whole night, I’ve been trying to determine whether classic books can be classified as ‘trendy’ or not. If someone says “To Kill A Mockingbird is a must-read! If you haven’t read it, don’t call yourself a book lover!” I would probably hit that person. Because if there’s one thing I hate, it’s pretentious windbags and utter snobs who think that we need to read a certain book to be cool.

But the fact remains that some classic books are so popular that they will always be forever ‘in trend’, so to speak. It never goes out of fashion to read Jane Austen or Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s never not fashionable to read Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens.

Why are they called classics? Obviously because these books have been around for a long time. But also because there are people who love them and are still reading them until now. Such is the power of these books written by the great minds of old. And you have to wonder, what books will be classics in the future, when we’re all gone and the world is left to the next generation of readers?

That’s a question for philosophers, perhaps. Or scientists. I don’t know. But what I do know is this: my favorite books have always been the ones that I can read over and over without getting bored or losing the magic, even ten years after I first discovered it. Angels And Demons might be a trendy book in 2005 and I read it because I wanted to know what my customers were talking about, but I still read it now whenever I need quick and easy entertainment. I started reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy because the movie is coming out next year but I have a John le Carré Reading Project this year and I will not rest until I read all of his books. I could give you other examples but that would take the whole night to write about.

THE POINT IS. It doesn’t matter if what we’re reading is “the current fad”. Either it will go one to become a classic, like Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings, or be forgotten about as soon as the next big thing comes out (Twilight vs The Hunger Games). But if this trendy thing stays in your bookshelf forever because you love it, then it’s not a trend anymore. It’s just you and your favorite book… together forever.

Survey Results

My friends share their opinions on following or NOT following book trends.

@milazuliana I don’t follow trends. I only read “my kind of books”, but if the current trend fits into “my kind of books”, I get curious.

@milazuliana I don’t like to “jump into the bandwagon”, too. It’s either before or after the hype. :)

That’s a good way to go: reading a book before or after the hype. This way, I think, you can keep your own opinions free of influence. Total objectivity may just be achieved!

@angelikurniawan I don’t follow because not all the trendy books worth the hype like The Hunger Games for ex

@angelikurniawan that’s the exception. I like the millennium trilogy because I’m in love with Salander when I watched the movie.

@angelikurniawan and apparently that kinda story fit me but I watched the hunger games but to read the book, no thanks :)

If you know the story is not going to be to your liking, why waste time reading it? It all comes back to YOUR taste, in my opinion.

@dtorini The last #booktrends I follow and enjoy is Harry Potter. Lately I read what interest me (which may not be hip in book world).

@dtorini There’s JR Ward’s The Black Dagger Brotherhood that I follow. But I started reading them way before it became popular…

Lucky D. She’s been reading books for a long time. Even with popular romance novels, she knows authors long before they ever became popular.

@Astrapios I only follow book trends if the movie got my favourite actor/actress in it. Other than that, no.

@Astrapios I read them before they’re made into movies. Like, when there’s a rumour going on about it being planned. Not a trend yet, right?

Actually, I’ve been wondering. About last year when Jane Eyre came out. Did anyone read it because the movie was coming out? I think people were reading it because Jane Eyre is a classic, right? But that’s probably beside the point. Anyway, what Astrapios is saying could probably make a case for “selected trendy-ism”. Further pondering needed.

@ndarow hmm, because I read mostly everything, I don’t really care if the books I’m reading are on trend or not.

@ndarow but thankfully, most of the time I read books before they become widely known. For ex: HP, Twilight, HG

Yes! An omni-reader (my term) won’t care, usually, about what’s trendy or not. That’s because, either out of their own volition or some professional obligation, they will read absolutely ANYTHING and that includes trendy books. I believe if one does this for a long time, they will eventually be able to say, “I read that book before it became famous.”

Case in point:

@ndarow I read it two years ago, and I love it dearly. I’ve read it for five times now because I somehow see Charlie like I see myself.

(This was in relation to The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.)

@9perris not really, sometimes the hype makes me wants to try to read, but if I always re thinking before read (to avoid regrets) ^^;

@9perris me too, I tend to read looong after the hype, sometimes it even makes me don’t read it in the end, ex: Laskar Pelangi

@9perris oh if it’s can make me curious, then I’ll definitely read it in the end, but maybe needs some recommendation to encourage (depends on the books)

A cautious reader. Admirable, but my restraint is not as great as hers. (Wish it was, so my wallet could be thicker! ;) )

@kepikbadut my own interest. Like when I found that Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why is interesting, I just found out that the book’s quite popular

Accidental trendy-ism! No, but seriously, it’s always fun to discover a book on your own… only to find out later that yes, your favorite book is very popular. Consider it a validation of your good taste!

@aksamala for my personal reading, I don’t follow trends. If I’m interested then I’ll read it. But I got to follow #booktrends for my job.

@aksamala Been selling The Perks like peanuts, more than 20 cps a month. I read a few chapter and not interested to finish it #booktrends

In case you didn’t realize this since last week, I used to be her when I was working in the bookstore. We’re two peas from the same pod. And that is very well said indeed.

This ends our Sunday Survey for this week. Tune in again for the next session.

WorldCat Genres: Urban Fiction

• WorldCat has introduced an ‘experimental’ feature on their website that allows for an alternative method to browse library collections – this is their Genres section.
• Here you can explore: authors, books, movies, subjects, places, and a teen section (there is a list dedicated to Urban Fiction and teens).
• FYI: If you are not familiar with WorldCat, one of the coolest features is that once you are looking at an items’ page you can see where the closest book is to you by entering your zip code!
• At first I thought that there were only ten books featured on this site, but there is 550+! In case you are also confused on how to explore this longer list, you can find it under their “Books” section through “Explore More Books.” [**See image  immediately below.**]

Urban Fiction/Street Lit/Hip Hop Fiction Resources for Librarians

• In wiki style, this site provides booklists, social media, review & discussion sites, bestseller lists, articles, other wikis, power-points, pod-casts, and more.
• One could spend hours exploring links on this site… and the links on those subsequent pages.
• You can join the community of librarians to improve the site by adding information / links that will serve the community looking for Urban Lit resources.

Street Fiction

• Holy Smokes! This site blows me away… I can’t believe it took me this long to stumble upon it!
• Not only does this site feature Street Fiction, but sub-genres that are not frequently highlighted: Urban Nonfiction, Urban Christian Fiction, and Teen Urban Fiction. The majority of what is offered for each of these are reviews and purchase.
• An additional unique feature is their section for LIBRARIANS (!!) that includes articles, booklists, books on Urban Fiction, history of Urban Fiction, and more.
• One can also browse by author, place, and topic.

Street Lit Collection Development Resources

• This source is directly aligned with ALA ad delivered via wiki-style.
• You can explore readings, authors (and articles about them), resources, best sellers, reviews, and publishers.
• Also offered are other wiki pages on Street Lit Author Panels/Events and Street Lit/Urban Fiction Q & A.

I hadn’t undertaken any challenges in 2012 for several reasons. The first being that I’ve gone back to uni and am studying by correspondence, so I wasn’t sure about the kind of impact it would have on my reading time. It hasn’t been too bad so far. The second reason is that I feel pressured by the need to tick off my challenges – I don’t like having things on the to-do list if they can be achieved with relative ease.

So I present to you, my head bowed, a list of books I want to read this year that everyone else has:

1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

   (I bought this from Borders. Enough said?)

2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

   (Was put off this one when someone I detested said I must read it. Haven’t even seen the movie).

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

   (An English class at school had to read this – not my class. We read Pride and Prejudice).

4. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

   (This was bought from a physical Angus & Robertson store!)

5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

   (Had planned to read this earlier until a friend said it was the saddest book she’d ever read – and we were working in a pretty sad place at the time!)

6. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

   (Not sure why I’ve never got around to this. It looks like something I’d really like).

7. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

   (Going to blame this on Bryce writing this when I was still reading The Babysitters Club. I’ve read a lot of his more recent books, so this should be read too.)

8. Bossypants by Tina Fey

   (Never watched 30 Rock but it seems like this is one of the most funny books out there).
   

    

What do you think? Have I picked a good list or should I retreat now?

“What are you reading?”

That might be what people say to you if you’re blushing and ‘ooohing’ with every turn of the page on your e-reader. Fifty Shades of Grey has become a runaway success sitting pretty atop of multiple best-seller lists, and women everywhere are talking about its protagonist, Anastasia Steele, and her troubled, controlling man, 27-year-old multi-millionaire Christian Grey.

The ingenuity and imagination with which the pseudonymous James — described in sketchy press materials as a West London TV executive and mother of two — has made steamy female-centric erotica out of what began as Twilight fan fiction is AMAZING.

If Bella Swan had more gumption and sexual curiosity, she might be Anastasia Steele, Fifty Shades‘ 21-year-old heroine, who quickly and decisively loses her virginity to an overpowering man but never relinquishes her fondness for the girlish, clod-kicking expression Holy crap!And if Edward Cullen weren’t, well, a vampire, he might be Christian Grey, the fiendishly rich and handsome sexual fetishist who plays Dominant to Ana’s Submissive.

As hardcore (and, per this lady, yowza! pleasurable) lady porn, Fifty Shades of Grey has a long literary tradition behind it, from The Story of O and the erotica of Anne Rice to Toni Bentley’s The Surrender and Catherine Millet’s The Sexual Life of Catherine M. But as a hot publishing phenomenon (Vintage Books has paid seven figures for the rights to a trilogy) that pours female-oriented erotica over a base of Twilightleavings and makes brilliant use of the discreet portability of e-books, Fifty Shades of Grey is in a class by itself. Holy crap! A reader might just miss her bus stop

Dear leaders, readers, classroom volunteers & folks looking for new ideas!

Leadership Philadelphia, an organization partnering with WePAC this school year, has delivered numerous boxes of great new books to the WePAC office, including titles, series and genres of books that are very popular with our students!

Please contact our staff about coming in to the office this week (afternoons are great!) to browse the collection and to take a bag or more of books for your school’s use!  We have books for teachers and classroom use, too.

Warm thanks to Leadership Philadelphia, and big thanks in advance to our volunteers for checking out the office collection!

]]> http://switchingreels.com/2012/03/25/the-hunger-games/ Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:19:09 +0000 switchingreels http://switchingreels.com/2012/03/25/the-hunger-games/ May the odds be ever in your favor.

My rating: 4 1/2 reels out of 5

I recently read the books in the last two months. So it was still fresh in my mind when I saw this movie. I tore through the books so quickly, all three in a week, so it’s a little hard to remember the fine details about the book but I do remember the major points of the book. After finishing the book, I thought the book was a pretty good read but nothing outstanding. I was excited more for the movie after finishing and just looking at the trailer, I thought it looked like it would be a good adaptation. It’s hard for a film maker to adapt a popular book to film, there’s going to be someone who did not like what you did. From a film maker’s perspective, I probably would’ve made almost all of the exact same choices.

The Hunger Games is about a dystopian society in the remnants of what used to be the United States. The Capital chooses one girl and one boy from each of the 12 districts and forces them into a death match as a sign of forgiveness and as a reminder to never rebel against the capital again. Katniss Everdeen, a young woman in District 12, does what she can to support her mother and younger sister. She illegally hunts in the woods with her friend, Gale, to provide food and to trade for other food or supplies. When Katniss’ younger sister is picked for the games, she volunteers to take her place.

Katniss is played by Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer Lawrence is probably best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men: First Class movie, but gained recognition at Sundance in the award-winning film, Winter’s Bone. A role that is somewhat similar to her role in Hunger Games. A girl who does what it takes to protect her family. Jennifer Lawrence is a very good actress and brings the character Katniss to life. The character of Peeta is played by Josh Hutcherson. A solid choice for the role of Peeta. Peeta is what you would call a nice guy. Other excellent choices for their roles, I thought: Donald Sutherland as President Snow; Stanley Tucci as show host, Ceasar Flickerman; Lenny Kravitz as stylist, Cinna; and even Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. On the opposite side of the coin, I’m not completely in love with Woody Harrelson as former Hunger Games winner, Haymitch Abernathy or Liam Hensworth as Gale. Woody Harrelson does a decent job, but it’s probably because I expected more out of the relationship between Haymitch and Katniss. It felt like there should’ve been more conflict between the two. Most of the time, the problem with adaptations is that their isn’t enough time to build relationships and you hope that you got your point across.

This movie is a pretty good adaptation of the book. It hits the most important points of the book. The movie runs 142 minutes and not a single second is wasted. Every scene sets up for the next scene and every scene is trimmed down to its bare essentials. Different from the book was the choice to show the view of the games from the control booth of the Game makers and from the capital and the outlying districts. A step that was necessary without the use of exposition to explain the mentality of the game makers and aspects of the arena such as what tracker jackers are. It’s hard to adapt a book to screen. The vision may not fit what a fan may have envisioned. And stuff that fans took from the book may have been left out. Now that I read the book, I’ll never know what it’s like without reading the book. It’s funny how your perspective a movie can change after you read the source material.

Cinematography. The camera is shaky, real shaky. But not like Doug Liman-Bourne Identity shaky. Through the camera movement and the look of the movie, added and supplemented the tone of the film. Music for the film did not overpower anything. In fact, it seemed like music was rarely used. The plus of doing it that way, is you let the audience choose how they feel before letting music dictate how they should feel. With little use of music, director Gary Ross let his actors take over the film. No music draws attention to performances and adds to the tone of the film that a film maker may be looking for.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. I watched the film with two friends who never read the books and they thought it was pretty good. It’s a movie that is accepted among the majority movie fans and fans of the book. As a film maker, I could related to this film a lot.

You’ll probably enjoy this film if:

1. You liked the books.

You’ll probably not like this film if:

1. You really, really loved the books.

There have been some comparisons to Twilight. Aside from the sharing some of the same demographic, I assure you that this movie is nothing like Twilight.
Why ‘Hunger Games’ is NOT the new ‘Twilight’

WePAC gets more Babysitter’s Club, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series books donated than we have kids who request them, and a few of us
started talking about what other series books exist in the publishing world that our kids might enjoy more.  Specifically, what series books include main characters of color and African Americans?

Here are some books and characters to check out — some series contain many volumes, whereas others may have just a couple titles currently out.  Hopefully there will be more great ones published soon!

Warmest thanks to writer and Longstreth Library volunteer, Becky Birtha, for researching this list and providing so many exciting, current recommendations!
You can check out her website, here: http://www.beckybirtha.net/

For more tips on getting our kids 10+ (and strong younger readers!) enjoying and devouring books — check out Reading Rockets articles by grade and by language — they come in 10 languages, as of today!

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/7837/

Urban Fiction, also known as Urban Lit, Street Lit, Gansta Lit, and by other names, is fiction that takes place in an urban setting, with urban characters, and with themes that typically effect those living in an urban region. Authors of this genre are primarily black, some writing while they are imprisoned. Sexual acts and violence are no stranger to this genre, nor to the lives of its authors and readers. Some of the highest population of Urban Fiction’s audience are those currently in prison. Urban Lit is a counter narrative (a (re)telling that offers a different perspective to what is usually published, collected, etc.) to many books.

Scholars have differing opinions on Urban Fiction. Some believe that it is low reading, like a trashy book, that is not of high quality. Those who believe that think that prisoners should be reading more elevated works. On the other hand are scholars who believe that prisoners have always favored books that appeal to the outlaw and therefore Urban Fiction is a newer genre with longstanding, appealing themes.

I just picked up a copy of my first piece of Urban Fiction, Donald Goines’s Dopefiend. Only reading will tell what I think about the genre beyond exploring research. From other volunteers I’ve heard that they find the genre poorly written and ‘low brow’, but I’m leery of that. I recently read that Urban Fiction is now becoming canonized through a Norton anthology (unfortunately I don’t remember where I read this at!). In a university literature class taught by Bruce Franklin, author of Can the Penitentiary Teach the Academy How to Read?, some of his students “went on to complain about Goines’s limited vocabulary, short sentences, lack of metaphors, and even errors in grammar. But someone else retorted that his descriptions are so vivid that ‘you not only see the scene, you can smell it’” (Franklin 647).  Renee Gladman adds an interesting perspective on the text: “I see the sentence as this thing you are moving through. You encounter words and punctuation the same way you would see a building or turn onto a street.”

In the future, I will explore two key figures (the father and queen of Urban Fiction) and why prisoners enjoy this genre & how it engages them as readers.

Resources On Urban Fiction:

• Franklin, H. Bruce. “Can the Penitentiary Teach the Academy How to Read?” PMLA. 123.3 (2008): 643-9.
• Honig, Megan. Urban Grit: A Guide to Street Lit. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2011. (This guide, while has a short introduction to the genre, is primarily chapters of sub-genre annotated bibliographies with further sub-sub-genres within each chapter. Sub-genres include crime, coming-of-age, erotica, prison, etc.  Books are rated with a key to indicated level of violence and sexual content.)
• Morris, Vanessa Irving. The Readers Advisory Guide to Street Literature. Chicago: American Library Association, 2012. (This guide is aimed towards libraries to further understand the genre of Street Lit/Urban Fiction. Morris covers the genre’s appeal, history, literary motif, collection development, and provides a list of the genre broken down into subgenres such as GLBTQ, Tween, Graphic Novel, etc.).
• Wikipedia’s Urban Fiction Page (What is nice about this Wiki article is not only do they provide a nice background, but also a list of authors and they also provides links to The Library Journal’s The Word on the Street book lists.)
• Small press author and publisher Renee Gladman, a Vassar alumna, to discuss urban fiction. Thursday, March 27, 2008

If you think writing a series of acclaimed supernatural thrillers, which get made into a successful television show and sell thousands of books, would be considered a job well done, think again.

My heart and mind were plunged into an epic battle between good and evil, the struggle to establish a new world order, the heartbreak of love fractured by political imperative, the tragedy of families torn apart.

Was I reading War and Peace? Hardly. I have given up flying with Great Literature.

The book was George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. When traveling, Browning tells us, her literary tastes veer towards Martin, Patricia Cornwell, P.D. James, and other scribes who write what many would call “genre fiction.” She loves the “narrative drive” of such authors and their ability to draw you into a story. No argument there. Martin, Cornwell, and James have all written fabulous books—and Browning openly discusses the joys of reading popular genres. What bothers me about the article is that she states several times that such books aren’t “Great Literature.” At one point, she writes:

I no longer take Great Literature on the road. It belongs nestled in my arms, deep in a comfortable chair by a crackling fire, where I can tend lovingly to every detail it whispers, where I can pay close attention to the dexterous play of intelligence and the lilting nuance of verbal agility.

There are those like Harold Bloom who believe only Shakespeare or Cormac McCarthy can write great literature (McCarthy’s refusal to use quotation marks drives me nuts, by the way), but that’s an idiotic stance. I’m not saying Browning is elitist, as Bloom would never admit to liking a fantasy novel, but I would argue a book that consumed her attention the way Game of Thrones did on that flight qualifies as great literature. When you get right down to it, a book’s main purpose is to entertain. A good book is a good book. It doesn’t matter who wrote it or when. Yes, we can be impressed with a writer’s vocabulary and the “nuance” of their “verbal agility”—but if the book ultimately bores us, is it still great? The definition, of course, is purely subjective. I love Steinbeck and John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra, but I also think Stephen King’s The Shining and Bag of Bones are examples of great literature.

Great literature draws you in, makes you forget your everyday worries and renders you oblivious to the passing of time. Going by this definition, I’d qualify the works of the late James Crumley—one of the most underrated crime novelists out there—as meeting such criteria. Consider the beauty of this passage from his book The Wrong Case:

A car full of drunks hissed over the Ripley Avenue bridge and down the ramp above us, fleeing through the night down black and wet streets, heading home or to another gaily lighted bar rife with music and dancing and sweaty women with bright eyes and lips like faded rose petals. As the driver down-shifted, the exhaust belched, the tires snickered across the slick pavement, a girl’s shrill laughter flew out, abandoned like an empty beer can in the skid. The colored lights from the discreet Riverfront sign reflected off the dark asphalt, wavering as the wind sifted the rain, glowing distantly like the lights of a city beneath a black sea.

It’s a wonderful piece of descriptive writing, typical of Crumley—a passage you’d want to enjoy in a comfortable chair by a glowing hearth, relishing the skill of an amazing writer. There is no shame in admitting that a popular author has created something of superior quality. Any writing that is able to remove us from the realities of everyday life is great literature.

Let the English majors shudder.

I’ll give my thoughts on the overall plot and what I take as the meaning in the books, from my own Christian perspective. I provide a brief look at things Christians can take from the books, as well as a discussion of the ethical theory one could see in the books.

This post focuses first on the reflections, and readers who don’t know the plot should read my summary before reading that section. Next, I briefly outline some content for parents. Third is my summary of the trilogy. Finally, I share a few interesting links, including one which I think will be very useful for Christian parents wondering if these are appropriate for their children.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS INCLUDED BELOW

I’ll first present my reflections, and follow it with a brief note for parents. Those who haven’t read the books and aren’t planning to do so can read 3. Summary for a broad summary of the plot. There are spoilers in the reflections section, so readers who don’t want to have anything spoiled should abstain from reading this post and perhaps just read the one linked above.

1. Reflections

[I have had the wonderful pleasure of interacting with many thoughtful Christian on this trilogy and found that there is so much more to the books than I could delve into here. Please see the links at the end for more reflections.] Initially, as I reflected on The Hunger Games Trilogy, I felt that the biggest issue was that there didn’t seem to be a major point to it beyond entertainment. I asked to be corrected, and I was. Many people commenting on this post have shared incredible insights. For the Christian reflecting on the Hunger Games, one can see it as a commentary on the horrors done to children in our time (Audra Franz below brings up this excellent point), a stunning condemnation of relativistic ethical theories (see A.T. Ross’s link), a narrative of Christian martyrdom, a critique of poor moral decisions, a horrible look at a nihilistic worldview, and more. In other words, there are any number of things Christians reflecting on the Hunger Games Trilogy can take away from the series. As such, I’ve lengthened this post a bit to take more of this into account.

I’ve been perplexed by Katniss’ decision to vote to hold a Hunger Games for the children of the leaders of the Capitol. Now, upon further consideration, I have to agree with the astute reader whose idea I put forward below, but I’ve left my original view untouched here [see the last few sentences two paragraphs down]. Consider the following passage in which they are voting on this very issue (p. 370 of Mockingjay):

Was it like this then? Seventy-five years ago? Did a group of people sit around and cast their votes on initiating the Hunger Games? Was there dissent? Did someone make a case for mercy that was beaten down by the calls for the deaths of the  districts’ children? …All those people I loved, dead, and we are discussing the next Hunger Games in an attempt to avoid wasting life. Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change now…. I say, “I vote yes… for Prim.”

I’m just honestly confused by this passage and Katniss’ decision. The vote was, according to her and Coin, a way to avoid losing more life. Some want to kill everyone in the Capitol, while others think they should just integrate with them in order to help stabilize the population. These last Hunger Games were proposed as a solution–a middle ground. But it seems to me they don’t serve a middle ground, just another atrocity. And Katniss seemed to realize that, but voted yes anyway. It is unclear that these Hunger Games ever take place, however, because shortly after making this decision, Coin is killed by Katniss and it’s uncertain as to whether an announcement is ever made. One reader gave me an interest comment on this–that it seems Katniss’ vote for the Hunger Games was, in fact, a ruse to lure Coin into the open so she could take her down. This gains credence when one considers that she says “for Prim”–even though she knew it was not Capitol people, but rather Coin, who killed Prim. On such a view, her utterance of “for Prim” is ironic, and indeed may have been intended to show Haymitch what Katkniss was planning. This makes more sense to me. My thanks to the astute reader!

The world in the Hunger games is stark. It is real, and one can’t help but be drawn into it while simultaneously feeling repulsed. Perhaps that was Suzanne Collins’ point, however. There isn’t always a triumph. Sometimes it’s just bitter reality. The trilogy ends on a happy note, but the overall scheme is one which forces the reader to reflect.

So what do I take from the Hunger Games trilogy? I readily admit my worldview does permeate my thought, and the main thing I took from the trilogy is the sinful condition of humanity. Katniss acknowledges it, noting that it could be better to allow some less sadistic species take over. As I already said, there is a fairly happy ending, but looking at the state of Panem and the world–there has been war after war, there’s no clear idea that the totalitarian government hasn’t just been replaced by another under the guise of democracy, children are killed, and a “compromise” to prevent more death is to send the Capitol’s children to fight to the death once more. The sinfulness of the human race, it seems, is at the forefront. And I think that’s why I long for more in the Hunger Games–I long for that comfort of the Redeemer. There seems to be no hope in the books that things will be made right, only that eventually, the nightmares may get better. Having the comfort of redemption and hope, I can’t help but wish for that in the world of Panem–a Redeemer to come and wash away the tears. And so, because there is no such Redeemer, I see the stories as a reflection of the brutal reality of a world without God. In such a world the best that can be hoped for is that the nightmares may one day end; that children may have a better life than their parents. But ultimately, it is a hard reality, one in which there is no true hope, no way to atone for past wrongs. Perhaps that is the central message of the books, or perhaps I am reading my own worldview onto it. Either way, I find this central message compelling.

Some have expressed concern that the Hunger Games express moral relativism. A.T. Ross has an excellent discussion of this on his site. The books themselves never present a moral theory–obviously that is not their intent–but they certainly do not seem to espouse moral relativism. It is clear throughout that the government’s actions are quite evil and that killing, sexual exploitation, and the like are all wrong. Ross notes that some have complained that it seems all the actions are up to chance. The phrase used in Panem is “May the odds be ever in your favor.” But Ross has astutely pointed out that no fictional character ever survives by chance. There is an Author who guides and directs their destinies. As Ross says, “The world operates on grace whether we like it or not; what we see as luck is nothing more than a tiny slice of divine grace offered in the form of survival and the tensions of the story resolving.”

But the Hunger Games, as noted below in the comments, can also be seen as a critique of our own world and our abuse of our children. In our world, children are sold for sex, they are forced to fight, they are fearful for their next meal, just as they are in the Hunger Games. Collins has poignantly potrayed the reality of our own world in the fictional realm of Panem.

A final thought is that Christians can definitely see parallels between the Hunger Games and the plight of the first Christians as they were forced to battle wild animals in Rome. There are a great many parallels here, and I can’t help but think some of this may be intentional. I’m not suggesting Collins is Christian–indeed, I don’t know what faith (if any) she professes. But I do think that the Hunger Games trilogy brings in many concepts from Christianity–the hopelessness of life without God, the objective wrongness of certain actions (and one’s requirements to act against them [provided the alternative reading of Katkniss' vote]), and even an allusion to the Christian’s martyrdom in the arena. These all provide significant talking points for Christians throughout the series. The books are not overtly Christian, but they can open up conversations about these topics, and that, in itself, makes them worth reading in my opinion.

Thus, it can be seen that even though the Hunger Games Trilogy is not explicitly Christian, Christians who are interested can take all kinds of talking points away from it. Parents will find much to discuss with their children, and readers who are simply interested in the series will be unable to keep themselves from earnestly reflecting on the series afterwards. My own thoughts have been wonderfully shaped by readers who have shared their comments, so please keep them coming. It is clear that the Hunger Games can captivate Christians and have us look at the world through the eyes of faith–observing what is wrong and praying for God’s aid as we turn to those problems highlighted in the series. Most of all, we have the message of redemption, which is notably absent in the series–a message which is necessary to avoid the nihilistic collapse of Panem.

2. Brief note for Parents

Parents interested in the Hunger Games should know the series is very violent and depicts the death of children in sometimes graphic detail. While not explicit, there is some sexual exploitation involved as well (again, it is never explicit, but it can easily be drawn out from the text that is there). These are not books for young children. Please see 3. Summary for more details about the plot itself to hopefully help decide whether it is for your children.

3. Summary

Katniss Everdeen narrates the series from a first-person perspective. The Hunger Games is an annual tournament in which the Capitol collects 2 children from the 12 districts of Panem–the mini-country that has risen from the dust of several wars–and makes them battle to the death. Only one of the 24 children will survive. Why does the Capitol do this? Because about 74 years ago, the districts revolted against the Capitol. The Capitol won and the Hunger Games serve as an annual reminder of the Capitol’s might. The Hunger Games are aired on national television and everyone in Panem is required to watch their children die. There are interviews and extensive coverage of the event.

In the first book, The Hunger Games, Primrose, Katniss’ sister, is selected to compete in the Hunger Games. Katkniss almost immediately volunteers to take her place–she can’t watch her sister die. Gale, her friend and hunting partner for years, agrees to take care of her family. Peeta, a boy who had saved Katkniss’ life by giving her food some years ago, is the male selected from District 12, their home. They get shipped to the Capitol, where they begin to gain popularity due to their stylist, Cinna, and their story of hopeless lovers. Peeta told everyone at an interview that he loved Katniss and she plays that up in order to get gifts from “sponsors”–people who like certain children and pay to send food, weapons, medicine, and the like to them while they’re in the Hunger Games arena. As children die and are killed (including Katniss’ ally, Rue), it becomes apparent that Peeta and Katniss may be among the last few. The Capitol changes the rules to allow two to survive if they are the last ones and from the same district. Katniss finds Peeta and nurses him back to health, pretending to love him the whole time (and occasionally feeling very real about it). They end up barely surviving, but then the Capitol decides to change the rules back so they must fight to the death. They are about to kill themselves when the Capitol stops them and allows them both to win.

It turns out Peeta wasn’t pretending about his love, but Katniss was. The Capitol is furious that they were outwitted by the attempted suicide, and Peeta and Katniss are in danger. The book ends with Katniss in confusion about her interests in Peeta, and Peeta totally disappointed.

Catching Fire picks up a few months later and highlights the political drama playing out as President Snow and the Capitol are still furious that Peeta and Katniss both survived. The year is the 75th Hunger Games and in it, they select victors. Peeta and Katniss once more go to the Games. There is more to the Games than meets the eye, however, and Katniss and Peeta are part of a bigger scheme now to overthrow the Capitol. Katniss is confused about her feelings for Peeta and Gale. During the Games, Katniss is rescued and transported to the previously thought-destroyed District 13. District 12, her home, has been bombed to rubble. There are revolts happening across Panem.

In Mockingjay, Katniss must decide whether to help District 13 unite the Districts against the Capitol. Eventually she does and the revolution begins to take over district-by-district. District 13′s own motivations are unclear and it’s not certain they are any better than the Capitol in some ways. Their leader, Coin, is particularly unforgiving. Peeta has been tortured and tries to kill Katniss due to brainwashing, but through the course of the book he is rehabilitated and begins sorting his false memories from his true ones. It becomes apparent Coin doesn’t like the political clout Katkniss has as the “Mockingjay”–honorary leader of the rebellion. Katniss continues to go after President Snow, determined to kill him for his atrocities. Eventually, she reaches his estate and witnesses the killing of dozens of children with a secret weapon that only the Rebellion knows about. Snow is captured.

Katniss votes to put the Capitol’s leaders’ children in one final Hunger Games as retribution[? see more on this in my reflection] for their crimes. She and Coin had agreed to allow Katniss to kill Snow, and she is about to when she shoots Coin instead, due to Coin’s involvement in murdering other children. Katniss is pardoned for temporary insanity, and goes home to District 12. Eventually she and Peeta get together and the book ends with them having children despite Katniss’ fear that some great evil will come upon them.

4. Links

Please check out my other writings on movies and books. For starters, if you liked The Hunger Games you may want to check out John Carter.

Christian Children’s Book Review- Check out this review of the series to get more specific information parents may want to consider as they think about getting these books for their children.

The Hunger Games, Ethics, and Christianity- A very interesting look at moral relativism and realism in The Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games: Focus on the Family- Essentially a book review of the first book, The Hunger Games, with an emphasis on issues Christian parents might have with it. I don’t agree withe everything here, but I think the talking points they’ve provided for parents are pretty interesting.

Hungering for Satisfaction- a poignant look into the Hunger games. “Real or unreal?”

Deeper Hungers and Darker Games- The Hunger Games reflects a world without God. What does it mean?

The Hunger Games: The Atheist’s Utopia- No God: Utopia?

SDG.

——

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My next giveaway is coming on February 7th as a part of Follower Love Giveaway hop. I was just thinking of which book to give away, when I thought why not ask it from you, after all it is the FOLLOWER LOVE Giveaway.

So tell me which book(s) you have been wanting to see on your shelf (or Kindle in this case) for so long? Which is the one you want? You can also tell if there is some book you have read and loved and want the world to read it.

I will try to pick up the most popular books from the feedback received and give those away.

Just fill the form. Write down as many books as you can think of and you can fill the form as many times you want to, in case you remember a book later on.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - On today’s APP-tastic and outta SITE – Harry Potter Film Wizardry.

Muggles who can’t get enough of the boy wizard will have plenty to explore in this behind the scenes look at the Harry Potter Film Franchise.

You’ll hear stories from the stars and see plenty of unpublished photos from all eight movies. It’s a huge app – and not a cheap one – but it will keep you busy until the Pottermore website opens for everyone.

Check out the HarryPotterFilmWizardry app.

http://wepac.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/in-service-training-on-reading-aloud/

WePAC has some of these titles in our office — feel free to come by and pick up a few books to add to the read-aloud shelf in your library!  These include:

• The Lion and the Mouse
• Pink and Say
• Anansi the Spider
• Dyamonde Daniel books
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid books
• Flat Stanley books
• Beezus and Ramona & other books by Beverly Cleary
• Books by David Wiesner
• Books by Jan Brett (i.e. The Mitten)
• Books by Dan Gutman (i.e. Mr. Tony is full of baloney!)
• Books by Roald Dahl
• Books by Shel Silverstein

We also have other popular easy reader books including Magic School Bus series, Magic Treehouse books, Junie B. Jones books, and more.

Please invite your teammates to stop by and add to the school collections!

First, it was a complete sensation.  Everyone who was anyone read it.  Reason enough for me not to read it, since I was at the time at the height of my Intellectual Snobbery Period (feel free to enclose the word “intellectual” with your own air quotes).

I was, at the time, not a reader of popular fiction at all.  I would not read anything written before about 1940.  It was like, I didn’t want to waste my time on a book that might be just a flash in the pan.  I wanted it to have been “vetted”, to have withstood the test of time, to be declared good literature by people before me.  I felt a greater kinship with them than with people of my own age.  My, how things change. 

The other thing was that I didn’t have time.  I remember thinking around that time that I was losing my ability to read, something that had always defined me.  I was a year away from graduating from college, and everything seemed to sort of narrow to a tiny little dot.  I did not have any other focus beyond the dot.  When I did have the time to read, summers for example, I still couldn’t get beyond the dot.  If I read something, it had to teach me something.  The concept of reading for pleasure never even crossed my mind. 

But it never had.  When I was a teenager, we lived next door to the library, which is a little like a fat kid living next door to the candy store.  I read so much fiction that I was about to run out of books.  I picked books by their titles.  Which is a similar method to the one Fakesister and I used when we attended our one and only horse race.  Let’s put $2 on this horse–it has a great name.

But my method began to get old, so then I decided I would read everything by any writer whose last name began with “A”.  Next week’s plan:  Read everything by any writer whose last name begins with “B”.  This system turned out to be a disaster, since I read a lot of very bad books.  Finally I was driven to the non-fiction section, a territory that previously was Terra Incognita.  I started by reading biographies, and became just as obsessed with them as I had ever been with fiction.  These days, I’d say my ratio of fiction to non-fiction is about 70-3o.  An improvement. 

Now let’s get back to All Creatures Great and Small.  I’m glad I’ve waited until now to read it.  One of the other reasons I wouldn’t read it when it came out is that I was suspicious of it, because the title comes from a hymn, to wit: 

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.  I was not about to be preached to.  “James Herriot” is a pseudonym–oh wait.  That makes it a fake name.  I’m in good company.  If only I could write as well as he did, and be half so evocative of his time and place. 

I’m really glad I got over myself, because this is a truly great book.  I’m now on chapter 25, and it’s horse-castrating season.    Which he hates with a passion, because he’s scared of horses.  It may surprise you to learn that a vet is scared of a particular animal, but it shouldn’t.  I recall a story Fakesister tells about her once-upon-a-time vet, who was scared of Scottish Terriers.  Because he had once been bitten by one.  This is a similar situation:  Herriot has seen plenty of horse disasters and does not care to become a victim. 

So his boss assigns him to remove a tumor from a horse’s belly.  Herriot has imagined that it will be a sweet little colt with big brown eyes, but when he gets there it turns out to be a stallion who is huge and is over six years old.  The stallion is crashing around the walls of his stall, and on sight of Herriot, he lays his ears back and rolls his eyes back into his head.  Gulp, says Herriot.  It turns out he’s spared that day, because there is no one there to help him by holding the horse.  He does get a good look at the tumor, which is really not a big deal.  It appears to be benign and very common, and it’s hanging by a sort of string of tissue.  All Herriot has to do is inject the little “string” with anesthetic and snip off the tumor.  So the procedure itself is not problematic.  The problem is that the horse is in the way. 

He leaves the farm with great relief, but knowing he will still have to do it eventually, he starts to dream about it.  Normally he says he has removed that tumor about 20 times before breakfast.  The horse also begins to loom larger and larger, and more dangerous, in his memory. 

I’m sure that it turns out well (since Herriot lived to tell about it), but I haven’t yet gotten to the end of that story.

As I said, I’m just glad I got over myself.  Reading the book makes me wonder what else I deprived myself of during my Intellectual Superiority Period.  But, you know, that’s fruitless. Back in the ISP days, I also didn’t have much of a sense of humor, if any.  Everything was deadly serious and life or death.  How completely tiresome I was.  But I did get over it.  This book is hilarious, and only now can I really appreciate it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 released on Blu-Ray and DVD today. I was at the midnight showing with my wife (then fiancee) when the movie came out in theaters. The best description I can give of our feelings when it ended is this: bittersweet. The series is over. The books and movies are no longer coming. This is the end! Or is it?

THERE ARE MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS BELOW

That is the feeling I got throughout the movie. Is death the end? The movie takes little time to get going. Soon, viewers are thrust into the epic final conflict in which Harry Potter rushes to destroy all the horcruxes (pieces of the evil Lord Voldemort’s soul) in order to finally defeat his enemy. Things get going fairly well. Harry shows up at Hogwarts again with resounding support. He quickly uses his allies to take back the school and set it up for a final showdown with evil. As his friends battle the forces of darkness closing in around them, Harry searches frantically for another horcrux while Hermione and Ron locate a basilisk fang–one of the only things capable of destroying these pieces of soul.

But once both Harry and Hermione/Ron have achieved their missions, the goal is still only close at hand. They must destroy Nagini, Voldemort’s snake (and another horcrux). They immediately set off to find the snake and witness the murder of Professor Snape–who turns out to be a double-agent after all. The fact that he killed Dumbledore turns out to not show his final betrayal, but the depth of his loyalty. But from Snape’s dying memories, Harry gleans the truth: Harry himself is an unintentional horcrux. When Voldemort killed Harry’s parents, he sealed part of his soul inside Harry. So Harry must die if evil is to be defeated.

Harry goes willingly to his death. He meets Voldemort among his followers, and allows himself to be killed. But it turns out that this is not the end. Dumbledore had sealed the Resurrection Stone inside a gift to Harry. This stone allows Harry to speak with his dead friends and family. Harry, once dead, is made alive once more after a discussion with Dumbledore. Harry awakens in a pivotal scene in which Voldemort is announcing his victory over all wizards, and he and Voldemort battle in a final, epic showdown in which Harry overcomes evil once and for all.

Christians reading this should be sensing some interesting underlying themes here. Harry Potter is innocent–he’s thrust into the events upon him. He willingly goes to his death, knowing it is literally the only way to defeat evil. And, once he’s died, he is resurrected, back to finally bring about his victory over Voldemort. Yeah, it seems Rowling might have borrowed a bit from the story of Jesus.

What explains the astounding popularity of the Harry Potter series? J.K. Rowling has weaved a series of books which tie together in sometimes amazing ways. What seem like random details and “fluff” in one book turn out to be of immense importance later in the series. Each book, mostly self-contained, features a different thrust. Yet they are all tied through broad overarching themes. But could it be that there is another theme, oft-ignored in discussions of Harry Potter? It seems so. The climax of the series occurs in the death and resurrection of Potter. The Christian story culminates in the same. Potter is fiction, but his tale, so wonderfully complex, leads us to the story of Christ. He had to die for the sake of all–Voldemort would have overcome. Jesus, similarly, had to die for the sake of all–lest sin and the devil overcome.

This parallelism with Christianity was not revealed until the final book, yet perhaps it can explain how Rowling was able to make the conclusion to her epic so satisfying. She was telling a story we all knew. She was telling us, in a very different way, what must happen for evil to be overcome. Her story is fiction, Christianity’s story is real. What we want to believe in (Harry Potter) is what many of us do believe (Christianity). Whether intentional or not (and I think it was intentional), Rowling wrote a story which resonates deeply with Christianity’s own. And her fiction points us towards the greater reality.

Christians, I encourage you to read and watch Harry Potter. The books and movies are just phenomenal pieces of literature and filmography. Think of the themes that are woven throughout the books. Think of the final showdown between good and evil. And think of Jesus while you do so. You’ll find that within Potter, we discover hidden truths of our own faith.

But hey, you don’t really have to think of all these themes. And it’s highly questionable whether these parallels are intentional or not. It’s okay to just enjoy the movies anyway. My point is that, as a Christian, I saw these themes. And I found it thrilling.

Links

I discuss a number of other popular movies and books. If you liked Harry Potter, check out The Hunger Games and John Carter.

SDG.

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