Seasonal Plume

Today’s Booking Through Thursday:

Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live?

Or where you certainly would NOT want to live?

What about authors? If you were a character, who would you trust to write your life?

I’d always liked to live in either Narnia or Prydain. Those were the two fantasy worlds of my relative childhood, and they weigh roughly the same in my estimation. For Narnia particularly, I’m more interested in the first days, after the creation of Narnia, than the time of the Pevensies as kings and queens of the land. And for Prydain, certainly the time before the end of the series ;)

I would certainly not want to live in some of the worlds/places in Stephen King’s Dark Tower; End-World would be the worst *shudder*.

As for authors I’d trust to write about my life…that’s a tough one. I initially thought that I would trust all my favorite authors to write about myself but I realized that Jane Austen would find my horrible flaws and might give up on writing about me; Charlotte Bronte might turn off some readers with a long chapter about my feelings as a child; C.S. Lewis would turn everything into symbolism; Janet Fitch would add more grit and grime and un-beauty into my life than I’m prepared for!

I’m kidding, I would be honored if any of them would write about me; unfortunately, I have no idea who would be a good “fit”: one who have written something along the lines of my life, and the kind of style that I like.

After picking up Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia from a book sale a few months ago, I finally took it along on the way to Ikea last Sunday. And it affected me so much that I had to distract myself–I was in danger of crying right on the bus on the way home while reading.

I’m glad I finally picked up this book. Initially I was rather unsure about it–the start wasn’t entirely too good for me, although the writing style itself was interesting and kept me going. Sure enough, soon Jess, Leslie, and even May Belle gripped me and made me feel for them, and appreciate their simple adventures. You could feel the simple joys they had, mixed in with all those little “life and death” issues we always have as kids ;)

As a child who was (is!) interested in fantasy, and stories, and creating make-believe worlds and scenarios with various versions of myself, I could relate a lot to Leslie–or at least the Leslie that we are given a treat to see from Jess’s eyes. I could certainly relate to the two children, being a kind of wallflower when I was in grade school–a bit of a geek, but not even geeky enough to be notorious. How they interacted with the worlds mentioned in the book–Lewis’s Narnia, and Alexander’s Prydain–was similar in many ways to how the books affected me. Jess’s hunger for these worlds and Leslie’s transformation of her fantasy-enriched imagination to Terabithia struck familiar chords in me.

The next afternoon they called P.T. and headed for Terabithia. It had been more than a month since they had been there together, and as they neared the creek bed, they slowed down. Jass wasn’t sure he still remembered how to be a king.

“We’ve been away for many years,” Leslie was whispering. “How to you suppose the kingdom has fared in our absence?”

“Where’ve we been?”

“Conquering the hostile savages on our northern borders,” she answered. “But the lines of communication have been broken, and thus we do not have tidings of our beloved homeland for many a full moon.” How was that for regular queen talk? Jess wished he could match it. “You think anything bad has happened?”

“We must have courage, my king. It may indeed be so.”

I will have to find the movie to borrow somewhere and finally check it out–I’ve been wanting to watch for a while now, but have been holding off as I wanted to read the book first. :)

I watched Prince Caspian with friends last Thursday at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Like previously mentioned, I’m not a book purist, but there is that line that mustn’t be crossed when we’re talking above movie adaptations of well-loved books. While Prince Caspian was not unsalvagable, I didn’t care overmuch about a few of the glaring differences.

(Warning: spoilers ahead!)

I didn’t mind that they “hurried” the children’s arrival in Narnia, that certain events (well, almost all events) became rather jumbled, that they added fight scenes where there was none (a bit on the fence with that one, though). I liked how Susan was in the midst of the fighting. I don’t even mind how far they got the White Witch present in the movie, and I actually like that because I rather like how Edmund was the one to resolve that issue, and his quip “Yeah, I know. You had it sorted” was good and well delivered. Being the one who suffered under the White Witch’s “affections”, it felt apt to have him deal that blow.

(I shall have to watch Skandar Keynes, who played Edmund–seems to be shaping up to be a good actor.)

But I do mind that they added a Caspian/Susan twist, and topped it all off with a kiss. Yes, I notice the tension between them, and yes, I laughed when Lucy exclaimed, “‘You might need to call me again’?!” The tension is enough, thankyouverymuch. I didn’t need to see the kiss. I’m not a prude–I like a good kiss–but you know that feeling that it just isn’t right? That’s how I felt. Maybe it was not handled well enough by the actors and/or the scriptwriters, I don’t know; but all in all I had much rather they left the kiss off.

Peter and Caspian, as well, felt like two teenage boys with these oversized egos. I realize they’re teenage boys trying to find their place in the world, but it just felt like they were immature kids, and their “bickering” was annoying. Is it just that the acting wasn’t good enough? It’s good to have a bit of rivalry within the ranks, but if they did this to just add some grittiness to the story, then it was poorly written/done.

Thank goodness there was plenty to save this movie: Reepicheep is wonderful, and I knew something was up with Nikabrik–I only found out afterward that it was actually Warwick Davis, of Willow fame! I have to say it is odd to have him play a villain, but maybe that’s why they made him practically unrecognizable? (His eyes almost gave him away though; I just knew that I knew that actor.)

Lucy and Edmund are wonderful in this film, as is Georgie Henley and Skandar. Great acting, and I have to say my favorite lines are from the two of them, like Lucy’s aforementioned “You might need to call me again” outburst, and gems like this from Edmund:

King Miraz: Tell me, Prince Edmund…
Edmund Pevensie: King.
King Miraz: I beg your Pardon.
Edmund Pevensie: It’s King Edmund, actually. Just King though. Peter’s the High King. (Pause) I know, it’s confusing.

If you’re a Narnia fan, then it’s a given: you should watch this movie. Just don’t expect a lot from it.