Entries in Life

I've been reading Terry Pratchett recently. I suppose you could say this is like reading through John Grisham's œuvre, but he writes funny, entertaining books that are hard to put down. And he doesn't divide them into chapters. So I have a hard time stopping.

I also discovered that much of Akira Kurosawa's work in film is in the public domain and available from the Internet Archive. I just finished Ikiru (To Live) and he really got me in the end. Thought he was going for easy, but he didn't.

Anytime a popular fantasy book is published, the critics come out of the woodwork.  The Harry Potter series is a one such target.  They're mediocre books:  Easy (for me) to read, but not very compelling.

Still, some people get worked up about them because they contain "magic".  Now, the magic in these books is little more than some sort of special technology.  "Wave your wand if you want your toast buttered."  There are magical creatures, but they seem incidental.

In any case there is absolutly no spiritual aspect to the books at all.  Some people look at this and say "Oh no! I can't find God!  These are evil books!"   Others (me) look at this and say "So?"

In any case my favorite review of the Harry Potter series is from (retired) Bishop Seraphim: Harry Potter books can't suck enough!