Why, are there no Dutch fantasy novels? =) Or just no fandom to talk about them?
Hahahahahaha. Narnia is really, really wonderful; I love it a lot. It's, um, fairly transparently a giant allegory, but I'm fairly nonreligious and I nonetheless don't mind it at all; in fact I adore the Jesus figure. (I think, as far as religious books go, it's quite tame.) I would definitely recommend you try it! Start with LWW, though, not Magician's Nephew, even though it's chronologically the first book. I think the order of publication is the better order to read them in. <3 And bear with it; the style might be a little unfamiliar if you haven't read a lot of older books. But I have faith; my seven-year-old Little Sister (not my real sister; it's a mentoring program) really enjoyed it when we started it. Oh, and it's actually similar to HP in terms of "kids go through a wall to another world" kind of thing. Also, hey, are the Christians happier now? Because I gotta tell you, the HP books, at the end, have some pretty Jesusy stuff going on, too...
Hahahahaha, I tend to get by with adaptations by accepting they're sometimes like a different story, and appreciating them if they are good enough in their own way and faithful to the spirit of the book. It's really, really hard to faithfully adapt long books. Some movies are good! But no, I understand, it's annoying. Especially with the books I know super-well, or the less good movies, I'm like, "................WRONG."
Not a lot, no. Besides, I'm so used to English fantasy that everything fantasy-related sounds strange in Dutch. I can't really explain it if you don't have experience with it yourself. But mostly it's just because there isn't a lot of Dutch fantasy. It's a really, really small genre here.
I prefer seeing the world as I created it in my head, you know? No matter how true the adaptation tries to be to the storyline, the characters are always all wrong and the world just looks... too different from the world I had imagined.
Yeah, it really frustrates me too when I'm like, "WHAT? You're not blonde!!!!!" ugh, especially when it SAYS SO in the text...
well, never mind.
Hey, telling my friend on videochat about this convo, right now, and we're talking about how some of our favorite children's books (Narnia, Little Women) are very pro-Christianity, and we never realized when we were younger, and she said this, which I like, as a recommendation, "It's a story first and about religion second," which is sooo not true about some other religious books. <333333333333 And, in general, like I said, I'm agnostic at best, but I really, really, really love those books, and I don't even particularly mind seeing the Christianity when I go back and read them, because, in general, I approve of most of the basic ideas of "being a good Christian" (and those books are fairly positive in that regard); just not of how a lot of those principles wind up applied, or of taking the Bible as the literal word of God when it was written, you know, however long ago when people thought all sorts of things that I consider normal and healthy would get you smited (smote?).
Also, it's pretty funny sometimes to read even from a modern perspective and giggle at their idea of like ZOMGGGG experimental schools!!!! and things.
It's not so much the Christianity thing that bugs me, as it is the fact that they tried to force me to put it above Harry Potter? I can't really explain it better. (I have the same with really, really popular franchises. I tend to shy away from them)
No, I totally understand your initial revulsion. I am contrary, too.
Although, um, it cracks me up that you say this in the same sentence as about Harry Potter, for two reasons: 1. I love it, but it is the most oversaturated franchise ever. XD And currently WAY better known than Narnia, depressingly enough. x_x Not because Narnia are better - HP is more enjoyable in a number of ways/they're different - just because they're classics in the UK/US canon, and once I was in some class where Narnia was mentioned and a girl, a British girl no less, was like, "...Oh, I've never seen them." MY HEART = A MILLION PIECES ON THE FLOOR. 2. When HP first was big, I was like so too cool for it for a while. XD /contrarychild
Oh, believe me, I'm totally aware of how ridiculous it is to not want to read a book, just because it's popular (just as ridiculous as it is to want to read a book, just because it's popular). I just have trouble letting go of my initial anti-reaction xD
I've only read the second part of Twilight, and I liked it okay, actually.
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Date: 2011-02-09 06:45 pm (UTC)Hahahahahaha. Narnia is really, really wonderful; I love it a lot. It's, um, fairly transparently a giant allegory, but I'm fairly nonreligious and I nonetheless don't mind it at all; in fact I adore the Jesus figure. (I think, as far as religious books go, it's quite tame.) I would definitely recommend you try it! Start with LWW, though, not Magician's Nephew, even though it's chronologically the first book. I think the order of publication is the better order to read them in. <3 And bear with it; the style might be a little unfamiliar if you haven't read a lot of older books. But I have faith; my seven-year-old Little Sister (not my real sister; it's a mentoring program) really enjoyed it when we started it. Oh, and it's actually similar to HP in terms of "kids go through a wall to another world" kind of thing. Also, hey, are the Christians happier now? Because I gotta tell you, the HP books, at the end, have some pretty Jesusy stuff going on, too...
Hahahahaha, I tend to get by with adaptations by accepting they're sometimes like a different story, and appreciating them if they are good enough in their own way and faithful to the spirit of the book. It's really, really hard to faithfully adapt long books. Some movies are good! But no, I understand, it's annoying. Especially with the books I know super-well, or the less good movies, I'm like, "................WRONG."
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Date: 2011-02-09 06:49 pm (UTC)I prefer seeing the world as I created it in my head, you know? No matter how true the adaptation tries to be to the storyline, the characters are always all wrong and the world just looks... too different from the world I had imagined.
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Date: 2011-02-09 06:54 pm (UTC)well, never mind.
Hey, telling my friend on videochat about this convo, right now, and we're talking about how some of our favorite children's books (Narnia, Little Women) are very pro-Christianity, and we never realized when we were younger, and she said this, which I like, as a recommendation, "It's a story first and about religion second," which is sooo not true about some other religious books. <333333333333 And, in general, like I said, I'm agnostic at best, but I really, really, really love those books, and I don't even particularly mind seeing the Christianity when I go back and read them, because, in general, I approve of most of the basic ideas of "being a good Christian" (and those books are fairly positive in that regard); just not of how a lot of those principles wind up applied, or of taking the Bible as the literal word of God when it was written, you know, however long ago when people thought all sorts of things that I consider normal and healthy would get you smited (smote?).
Also, it's pretty funny sometimes to read even from a modern perspective and giggle at their idea of like ZOMGGGG experimental schools!!!! and things.
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Date: 2011-02-09 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 07:03 pm (UTC)Although, um, it cracks me up that you say this in the same sentence as about Harry Potter, for two reasons: 1. I love it, but it is the most oversaturated franchise ever. XD And currently WAY better known than Narnia, depressingly enough. x_x Not because Narnia are better - HP is more enjoyable in a number of ways/they're different - just because they're classics in the UK/US canon, and once I was in some class where Narnia was mentioned and a girl, a British girl no less, was like, "...Oh, I've never seen them." MY HEART = A MILLION PIECES ON THE FLOOR. 2. When HP first was big, I was like so too cool for it for a while. XD /contrarychild
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Date: 2011-02-09 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 07:06 pm (UTC)Narnia's not really hyped, it's just sort of a classic stepping stone. Like LotR, but much shorter and less dense.
**Except Twilight, brb, vomiting forever.
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Date: 2011-02-09 07:09 pm (UTC)I've only read the second part of Twilight, and I liked it okay, actually.
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Date: 2011-02-09 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 07:07 pm (UTC)