Black Friday Giveaway #3: Beedle the Bard, Take Two!

Hi,

I just finished reading a book on the H.L. Hunley. You can read my thoughts about it at: http://blog.teachthecivilwar.com

I am currently reading “1776″ by David McCullough. Despite it’s subject the story is very exciting, while also being well researched and historically correct. McCullough basically recounts every significant aspect of the American Revolution during the year 1776.

Being a Piscean, I have about 8 books going right now. I’m reading Morrigan’s Cross by Nora Roberts – color me happy when storytelling includes sorcerers, witches AND vampires. A crew of six must come together across time to stop Lilith, the big baddie vamp. Also reading Altars of Power and Grace by Robin and Michael Mastro. Lots of really cool ideas to create sacred space in your home and office.

And of course, since my job demands it, I’m reading The Gabriel Method by Jon Gabriel, a great book on how to obtain a wonderful body image without dieting or surgery; The 12-Step Buddhist by Darren Littlejohn, a book about how Buddhist practices can complement 12-step programs…I’m reading it to find ways to move through challenges of change without falling back on my own addictions to food, hermitage, and yes, even spirituality; and Mystic Cool by Don Goewey, a book about the neuroscience of success, and how we can transcend stress, achieve optimal brain function, and maximize our creative intelligence. I cannot WAIT to delve deeper into this book. I love it when the woo-woo comes together with science!

Reading A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre, and feeling heartsick at what he’s describing: it’s about the war on terror, torture and extraordinary rendition. Here’s a hint: the name of the central character, Issa, means Jesus in Arabic. Have two copies of PD James’ The Private Patient waiting. Also reading Joseph Ledoux’ The Emotional Brain, trying to figure out how the amygdala bypasses the frontal cortex and if there’s anything we can do about it. My comfort reading is Georgette Heyer’s Sprig Muslin

I’m reading Weighing the World by Edwin Danson. It’s about the quest in the west to map the earth, starting with the ancient Greeks and pushing forward through the 18th century.

Very interesting, even if I don’t necessarily grasp all the geometry involved.

I am at the tail end of the brand new book “Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?” and I am utterly stunned by it. They gave it an excellent review over at the Chesterton Society, which you can read here: http://americanchestertonsociety.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20Reviews and I thoroughly agree with the reviewer. Has anyone else read it yet? It could certainly start a new discussion of its own here about Harry and Rowling. This book really has put me inside J.K. Rowling’s head like no one else has done and it revealed tons of things that not even John Granger has ever noticed (and I’ve read all Granger’s books). How many people would have ever read Harry Potter if they understood they were reading Rowling’s blatant, intentionally Christian fiction and her real motives from the very start? The fact that we’re now eagerly awaiting the “moral fables” in “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” says a whole lot about the amazing accomplishment and counter-culture, moral victory that is Harry Potter. I got “Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?” from Amazon.com, but I see that Barnes and Noble.com now has it for 20% off if you happen to have a membership with them (which I don’t, anyway). I hope Michael O’Brien, all the Harry-book-burners in the deep south, and every Harry-accuser on the planet read this book! I’d love to see their shocked faces and help them pick their chins up off the floor as their mouths hang open in shock. Thanks to this book, all their arguments are now officially dead. I wonder: what will all the secular people think? (That will be very interesting.) On a scale of one-to-five stars, I would give “Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?” seven stars!

I just finished listening to “The Appeal” by Grisham and started “Anna Karenina” by Tolstoy. I’m reading “So You Want to Be A Wizard” by Diane Duane (my daughter picked it up at the library) and “The Scandal of Evangelical Politics” by Ronald Sider. My husband is reading “Brisingr” by Christopher Paolini out loud to the family. Yes, there’s a wide variety here!

I’m on a bit of a literary junk-food kick. I’ve been reading a translated Japanese manga called Hanazakari no Kimitachi He which translates as For You in Full Blossom and is written and illustrated by Hisaya Nakajo. US publisher is Viz Media. It’s quite a bit girlier than what I usually go for, rather like a graphic novelization of a soap opera. It’s about a Japanese-american girl who saw a broadcast of a high-school track and field tournament in Japan, and discovered that the jumping form of one particular athlete was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. So she tracked the athlete down and discovered that he went to an all-boys academy in Japan. With the help of her friend, she disguised her gender, enrolled in the academy, and moved to the other side of the world to be where he was. So the story follows her attempts to keep her gender a secret from the school, her friends and the athlete she grows to love (who by chance is her roomate!), to keep the truth about the school and her motivation for being there from her parents in California, and to keep her academic performance up in a world quite removed from the one she grew up in. Because of her sweet, innocent, yet driven personality, she secures a place in the hearts of several friends who find themselves taking great pains to aid her in her dream, often without her knowing it.

I was also thrilled to discover the latest release in the Halo series at my local Borders today. These follow the characters and events in the universe created for the popular video game series of the same name. This book is entitled The Cole Protocol in reference to the requirement for all Human space-faring vessels to take all necessary precautions to safeguard the location of Earth from the enemy species in the alien alliance, the Covenant. These precautions includes the destruction of navigational data, at the risk of stranding oneself in space.

I don’t know the story for this one yet as I haven’t cracked it open. but I have read the rest of the series and found them to be thoroughly engrossing (enough for one read, at least), so I expect as much from this as well.

As far as heavier material goes, I’m in the middle of listening to the Librivox audiobook for The City of God by St. Augustine of Hippo. As my background in Greek and Roman culture and history is restricted to a quickly fading (from memory) section of World History in high school, I could have been better prepared going into this work. Still, it is rewarding. I am often surprised at how well concepts, sentiments, and even terms of speech from back then translate so well to today. Even so, them man could have done with an editor.

Travis, fear not! The Solon Villaluz book is definitely not reading in things that aren’t there. Absolutely not. I will try to give some small examples to help clarify things. In addition to being a long-time haunter of your website, I, myself, am a fan and great respecter of John Granger and I both own, and have thoroughly read, every one of John’s Potter-related books including “The Deathly Hallows Lectures.” No one is doubting John’s expertise; but one mortal person can’t possibly notice everything; not even – with all due respect – John Granger. Here’s one example of something new about Rowling’s alchemy: while Granger’s eye-imagery is also a valid interpretation, on page 243 of “Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?” Mrs. Villaluz points out that the symbol of the Deathly Hallows represents false-holy-grail like images as the Holy Trinity; with the Elder Wand as the all-powerful God the Father, The Resurrection Stone as Jesus the Resurrection and the Stone the Builder’s Rejected and the triangle as the Holy Spirit: describing that in medieval alchemy the upward pointing triangle always represents flame, and in Christianity, the Holy Spirit is often represented by fire/flame, and all three (the circle, the line and triangle) are all within the triangle which, in the medieval church, symbolized the trinity. (She explains it better than I just did.) This alchemical-flame, triangular representation of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with this symbol has not been covered by John Granger, to my recollection, which is surprising since he’s such an alchemy expert. (That is intended as a complement to Mr. Granger.) For another, at the beginning of “How Harry Cast His Spell,” Granger says that none of Rowling’s characters ever practice real witchcraft, but Mr. Granger was apparently mistaken; Ms. Villaluz proves Rowling’s apparent intention that her evil characters (but not her good ones) actually do practice real witchcraft – and how that fact actually makes Potterverse more compatible with Christianity because “evil is truly evil.” Also, we all remember Mr. Granger hypothesizing that “ ‘Arry Potter” was Christ allegory as an “Heir-y Potter”; Mrs. Villaluz gives a better explanation of Harry’s name using Ms. Rowling’s own patterns/words/Canon/interviews. For another, Mr. Granger said that Snape’s doe Patronus was only “sort of” Goudge’s Little White Horse, but this compelling new analysis proves otherwise. Mr. Granger also said something to the effect that; if being Pilgrims Progress/Christianity is what started the Harry Potter firestorm, he’ll eat his hat: but the excellently-organized massive wealth of information in this new book proves that he just may have to do that. Certainly this isn’t a competition. Obviously, Mrs. Villaluz and Mr. Granger are playing on the same team! But a team needs a variety of different players with a variety of different skills. Mrs. Villaluz obviously has great respect for John Granger because she gives his “The Hidden Key to Harry Potter” one of the only other-author nods in her entire book and paints that particular book in a positive light as doing battle against the Harry-haters. (Though she does make a quick, valid point that Mr. Granger used to have one “Hidden Key” about Harry’s Christianity and now has branched out to “many keys” that are more secular… which I have also noticed, too, as Mr. Granger’s focus is much less on Harry’s Christianity than at first and is now moreso into Dickens, Dante, etc., even Mr. Granger’s upcoming book – announced on your recent podcast and in one of his recent books – sounds very literary-professor, not so much Christian.) So Travis, it is not in alchemy and “transformed vision eye-imagery” that Mrs. Villaluz’ wonderful new book goes deeper, it is specifically in Harry’s intentionally-written-by-Rowling Christianity… an area where Granger focuses less and less with each of his books. (Though I still very much enjoy his books.) Undoubtedly, Mr. Granger, himself, would find this new book and all of its new information… tons of new information and insights… very exciting! So I say, hooray for another excellent pro-Harry Christian author in our midst: Dumbledore would be pleased and encourage unity among us. (Though I have no proof that Mrs. Villaluz is Christian, but her writing and extensive knowledge very,very strongly suggest that she is.) Mr. Prinzi, I can only imagine how busy you are, but as a Harry Potter expert yourself, you should really bump this book to the very top of your reading list… and hopefully John Granger will, too. Then, we can all celebrate! Hope this helps. Best wishes, Maria.

Thanks, Maria. I just ordered the book last night. I’m sure it’ll be interesting. Does Ms. Villaluz posit then that JKR is writing specifically in a Christian fashion & towards a Christian audience or is she doing so because of the milieu from which she gathers her background?

Revgeorge: no she does not posit that it’s Christian for Christians. Mrs. Villaluz doesn’t posit anything. The whole book is written more like a very thorough, entertaining court case. Solid evidence is presented, not the author’s opinions. She presents evidence whereby Ms. Rowling herself posits that she was writing in a Christian fashion for all seekers, most especially Rowling for herself.

Mr. Prinzi: I’m so glad to hear you say this isn’t a “John vs. other authors.” Sorry if I misunderstood. I also think it’s important to note that, on the dust jacket, Mrs. Villaluz says she worked on this book long before DH, for a total of five years. I’d say that her ability to resists jumping on the “what will happen in book seven” and “try to make money on HP” bandwagons all these years bodes well for her character. It really shows in the quality of her exceptional work, too.

Mr. Granger: what an honor that you’ve joined in! It’s funny that I only posted this to try to win the free copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and it’s led here. I, in fact, am up on all your books, and – again with all due respect – I don’t think the Chesterton reviewer was off base in any of her comments which covered a broad range. You and Mrs. Villaluz just have different gifts in different areas and she has tackled a lot of information that no one else has ever done so thoroughly. (Again, her five years of patient research and writing shine through and makes her book very unique.) As you said, it is wise for you to refrain from this conversation for now, but you also said that your new book “include chapters” on this type of thing; “Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?” is entirely an exploration of these types of things: ergo, you can see why a whole book necessarily goes deeper than a few chapters in your upcoming books or even your previous books. When you read it someday, you will see. “Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?” is more focused in certain areas than your books are, but really that shouldn’t have been taken as an insult in any way. It’s too bad you took offense and approached a reviewer to change their statement that many of us who have read “Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?” and your books found very accurate just because the reviewer has read/is familiar with your work (which could be many of your published books) but not the most recent. Since you yourself haven’t read Mrs. Villaluz’ book and can’t make an accurate comparison between her work and yours, that seems hypocritical. (Sorry, but I have to call a spade a spade.) Perhaps you owe the Chesterton reviewer an apology as well. Nonetheless, do keep writing, Mr. Granger: I am greatly looking forward to your new book. Good luck with your writing deadlines, too. (I plan to go back to being a mere observer now.)

So, this is a departure from the somewhat tense conversation that cropped up in the last few comments, but I wanted to reply to revgeorge about Charles Williams. He IS tough. I had the privilege of reading him first under the instruction of Dr. Rolland Hein and Dr. Chris Mitchell at Wheaton College, which greatly increased my confidence in tackling his works. I was heartened last night, when I consulted some commentary about _The Place of the Lion_ because C.S. Lewis wrote to his friend of it, “I have just read what I think a really great book…Do get it, and don’t mind if you don’t understand everything the first time. It deserves reading over and over again. It isn’t often now-a-days you get a CHRISTIAN fantasy.” I’m almost done with it, and it’s pretty interesting. I understand a bit what he’s getting at now…