XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books, rec.arts.books.childrens   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message    
   Steve Hayes  spoke these staves:   
   >   
   > British librarians have compiled a list of 30 books to read before   
   > you die.   
      
   Interesting list.   
      
   The English-speaking bias is obvious -- I would, for instance, list   
   some of Astrid Lindgren's children's literature (e.g. /The Brothers   
   Lionheart/) above both Milne and Pullman. And of course any Danish   
   librarian's list would include some Hans Christian Andersen as well   
   as, probably, some Kierkegaard -- at least (I might come up with more   
   Danish authors that Danes ought to read before they die ).   
      
   In connection to that, it made me wonder to find no Shakespeare or   
   Chaucer on the list.   
      
   > It has some strange inclusions, and some strange omissions.   
   >   
   > One of the inclusions is "Lord of the Rings".   
   >   
   > Well, no surprise there.   
      
   -)   
      
   I wouldn't be surprised to find that also on a similar Danish list.   
      
      
      
   > None of C.S. Lewis's stories made the list,   
      
   I've only ever read the Narnia books, but I wasn't really impressed   
   by them. By all means, they're an enjoyable read and all that, but   
   that is, as you note, not a sufficient requirement to make a "must   
   read" list.   
      
   > perhaps because Pullman denounced them as "preachy", though   
   > "His dark materials" is just as preachy, if not more so.   
      
   Indeed.   
      
   I'm a bit curious about the word "preachy" here. It seems to carry a   
   strongly negative connotation that goes beyond simply the "agitating   
   for an obvious agenda" that the word itself implies, but often I get   
   the impression that the use of the word is very subjective: that it   
   really means "agitating for an obvious agenda, *which /I/ don't   
   like*."   
      
   One might ask whether the obvious agitation for some agenda is   
   necessarily bad for a book? But if it is not, in itself, bad, how,   
   then, do we distinguish between that which is bad and that which is   
   not? Both Lewis and Pullman, in my subjective view, at times allowed   
   their personal agenda to overrule literary concerns, and in both   
   cases the book suffered from it, but I wouldn't like to attempt to   
   put that into an objective metric.   
      
   > I wonder if the releace of the film "The golden compass" had   
   > anything to do with the librarians' choice.   
      
   Given that the Potter books, which finished this summer, hasn't made   
   it to the list, I don't really think that popularity has had that   
   much importance.   
      
   But if that is the case, one can only bemoan that Beowulf didn't make   
   it on the list as well (surely it is available in mordernised form in   
   English?)   
      
   > Actually, I'd rate the Harry Potter books above Pullman's ones,   
   > although I wouldn't say that they were ones you ought to read   
   > before you die.   
      
   I'd put the Potter books above Pullman's for simple entertainment and   
   excitement value and for scope of sub-creation, but technically (in   
   terms such as e.g. plot holes, internal consistency and use of   
   language) and in terms of importance[#] I would put His Dark   
   Materials above the Potter books.   
      
   [#] I'm lacking a better word to convey the sense of having an agenda   
   that ought to be important -- of raising a an important discussion,   
   even if the solution offered is wide off the mark.   
      
      
      
   > How many have you read, and can you think of better choices?   
      
   Meaning "read" as in really read, I don't think I've read more than a   
   handful besides LotR: the Bible, /A Clockwork Orange/, /Winnie the   
   Pooh/, /All Quiet on the Western Front/ and /The Wind in the Willows/   
   (except /A Clockwork Orange/, I've read them in Danish).   
      
   My own list would probably reflect that I'm Danish, including more   
   Danish authors than any non-Dane would ;-)   
      
   Apart from that my list would probably have a rather higher average   
   age -- a saga, some myths and legends (Norse, Greek, Roman, Indian,   
   Chinese, Finnish, Russian . . .  I don't know for sure) and some   
   other books with more than a couple of hundred years behind them.   
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer   
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
       The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head.   
    - /Hogfather/ (Terry Pratchett)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)