Children's books
Apr. 22nd, 2003 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarielStars, memory, dreams, and untimely death were much on my mind over the weekend.
This is what I ended up writing about them.
In between all this and the rest, I spent a fair bit of the weekend reading and rereading children's books. I read Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer for the first time, and liked it, although it was uneven. The successes were in the minor details of the Great War noticed but not understood by the young protagonist.
Then I reread When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson, which I had liked as a child, and which moved me this time too. Again - memory, dreams, untimely death.
And then I started on the pile of Alan Garner novels which I bought a while back. I'm content now to dismiss The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath as derivative rubbish (no wonder I didn't read any more Garner as a child!), but The Owl Service and Red Shift are something else. I'm going to need more time to process them, but stars, memory, dreams, and untimely death seem all to signify.
And then I watched The American President, which turned out to be some kind of prototype for The West Wing - it was written by Aaron Sorkin. Martin Sheen was even in it, although it was disconcerting for him not to be playing the President.
This is what I ended up writing about them.
In between all this and the rest, I spent a fair bit of the weekend reading and rereading children's books. I read Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer for the first time, and liked it, although it was uneven. The successes were in the minor details of the Great War noticed but not understood by the young protagonist.
Then I reread When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson, which I had liked as a child, and which moved me this time too. Again - memory, dreams, untimely death.
And then I started on the pile of Alan Garner novels which I bought a while back. I'm content now to dismiss The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath as derivative rubbish (no wonder I didn't read any more Garner as a child!), but The Owl Service and Red Shift are something else. I'm going to need more time to process them, but stars, memory, dreams, and untimely death seem all to signify.
And then I watched The American President, which turned out to be some kind of prototype for The West Wing - it was written by Aaron Sorkin. Martin Sheen was even in it, although it was disconcerting for him not to be playing the President.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-22 08:19 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-22 08:21 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-22 08:29 am (UTC)Plus, there are a ton of actor crossovers. One actor is in all three, Martin Sheen's in two, a blonde woman is in two, Nancy McNally is an aide in American President, etc. etc.
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Date: 2003-04-22 08:45 am (UTC)'Sports Night' hasn't made it over here or, if it did, it wasn't heavily advertised and I haven't seen it.
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Date: 2003-04-22 08:58 am (UTC)*falls down dead*
Worst. Character. Ever. Except for maybe Mandy. Why is it that all his *good* love interests (Joey, Donna) are the ones he never gets with?
no subject
Date: 2003-04-22 09:10 am (UTC)Joey and Donna were/are loads better characters. Still, Josh and Donna are married in all but name, so I guess I can just try to ignore the Amy Factor and continue enjoying their exchanges.
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Date: 2003-04-22 08:25 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-22 08:31 am (UTC)*cowers*
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Date: 2003-04-22 08:43 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-22 08:45 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-22 09:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-22 02:22 pm (UTC)They're all British authors, so it's no surprise that you've not heard of them. Alan Garner has a particularly good reputation - the first two books that I mentioned I found too derivative of Tolkien, even when I was reading them as a child, and they are very episodic. 'The Owl Service' and 'Red Shift' are much, *much* better - genuinely accomplished books. He's more focused in his use of the legends that he draws on, his prose has acquired a distinctive style, and I like the device of stories being re-enacted across time.
Good luck with your papers. I have a fairly biggish piece of work due in tomorrow evening - er, which is why I spent the weekend reading children's books, of course!