Elijah David

I'm picking this tag up from Paper Fury , who picked it up from other blogs. Chocolate Chip: Classic Book That You Love Dracula, Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice, The Hunchback of Notre Dame Thin Mints: A Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read The Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak, the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of C. S. Lewis, Jim Butcher, J. R. R. Tolkien, Naomi Novik, Megan Whalen Turner  Samoas: An Emotional Rollercoaster A Monster Calls  by Patrick Ness, Changes by Jim Butcher, I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells Oreos: A Book Whose Cover Was Better Than The Story The Golden Compass  by Phillip Pullman Gingerbread Cookies: Where The Story Was Better Than Its Cover Till We Have Faces  by C. S. Lewis, The Secret of NIMH/Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH  by Robert C. O'Brien (I have the movie tie-in edition and it's not...

I finally had a chance to sit down and watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  this weekend (thanks to the home video release). I also read the print version of the screenplay. I'd been looking forward to this for a while now, and I was not disappointed. Here's a quick run-down of my thoughts on the story (in both formats): Newt is not only a Hufflepuff hero, but an introvert hero. And glory be, he is still an introvert by the story's end. He has made connections, to be sure, but he is still the same lovable people-avoiding magizoologist that we met in the opening sequence. The Obscurial mythology is intriguing and deep, and I hope it becomes a key point for the franchise as a whole rather than being a one-off idea. (I'm okay with it being utilized in as simple a way as explaining Ariana Dumbledore's tragedy, as long as it is used to good effect.) Jacob and Queenie are wonderful, but some of their best moments are stuck in the deleted scenes. Speaking...

Once again, it's time to see what my Top 10 favorites in a category are. This time it's (big surprise) fantasy novels! As usual, these are in no particular order and may be subject to change at any given moment. (Favorites are rarely forever, and change as we do.) The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis I'm going to do my best to limit myself to one book per series.  The Horse and His Boy  has been my favorite book in the Narnia series since I first read them in middle school. For some reason, I have always felt drawn to Shasta's story, his journey and adventures, and especially his encounter with Aslan. I think that Aslan's words in this book, more than any other, have been the ones that resonate with my soul. While my favorite Narnia books may change order from time to time, this one always rises to the top. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien I'd put all of Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium on here, but as I said I'm trying...

Currently Writing:  Merlin Book 2 Currently Reading: Dune by Frank Herbert                                 The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (reread)                                 The Woodcutter by Kate Danley (Kindle) I've been wanting to do another Top 10 post since the first one. I can't do a Top 10 Books general post because there are just too many I love, so I decided that Top 10 rereads was the best way to go. So here, in no particular order, are my Top 10 Books to Reread: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis I'm counting this whole series as one book, not only because I have an omnibus edition, but because I love to read all of them again and again. All told, I've probably read the whole series five or six times, and individual books anywhere from that number to ten or so. I never come out of rea...

My friend Mirriam  recently blogged about her top ten on-screen characters, and I was inspired by it despite not having seen most of them in action. Here, in no particular order, are my current* top 10 on-screen characters. Captain America/Steve Rogers (Marvel Cinematic Universe) – Steve Rogers is the man I wish I could be – so devoted to his ideals that nothing (not HYDRA, best-friends-turned-assassins, or even bullies on the streets of New York) can stop him from defending and realizing those ideals. He isn't perfect, but he strives to hold himself to his code of truth and freedom, seeking to punish bad guys and save good guys – and maybe even redeem a few of those bad guys along the way. He's not afraid to confront those he disagrees with, but he never quite crosses the line into showing disrespect (unless he's dealing with Tony Stark, in which case that's the only way to be heard). Merlin (various works, including Disney, Hallmark, BBC) – Merlin is my absol...

Sorry for the long empty space there. School, while being inspirational, doesn't always leave me with enough time to type out these musings. My subject for today could take up several posts, but I'm going to keep it brief. This semester, I read John Granger's How Harry Cast His Spell , a book on the alchemical and Christian imagery and symbolism in the Harry Potter books. In the last few weeks, I've been reading Michael Ward's book Planet Narnia , in which he examines the use of medieval cosmology (specifically the seven planets) in the Narniad. Both of these books have sparked my imagination and introduced me to systems of symbols and images that I hadn't encountered in such detail, if at all, before. One of Ward's sentences particularly grabbed my attention: "Imaginative writers are allowed—indeed, expected— to adopt symbol systems..."* By symbol system Ward seems to mean an overarching groups of symbols which pervade an author's works, rem...