What book should I read next?

[olde_fashioned]

I am almost finished with Hard Times, and I'm not sure what I should start next. What do you all think I should read?

I've never read Lady Susan, since I'd be sad to have no JA left to read, and I would like to read Cranford before the movie comes out and spoils the plot for me. I own a used copy of Villette, but then I've always wanted to read 1776! I really liked the movie of Lorna Doone, so I thought I'd read that, too! So you see my dilemma. ;-P

ETA: Thanks for your votes! I've finished Hard Times and I'll post a review soon, and I've already started reading Lorna Doone. :-D

[Poll #1026861]

Comments

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Okay Lori, here's my reply...sorry it took so long! I shall try to be as polite as I can without being my usual blunt self...;-)

If Tolkien calls one of his characters a wizard, then how can we say "he's not really a wizard" if Tolkien wrote him that way? And even if his job was to knit socks for the hobbits (a grueling task, I'm sure) he still uses magic. ;-P

I *am* trying to take into consideration how things are portrayed. My problem is that the "good" are defeating the "evil" on their own level with their own weapons -- supernatural magical powers without evoking the name of Christ or God. In order to win these battles I don't see anyone praying or reading from the Bible. Rather spellcast rings and wizards of light are sources of power.

If it helps any, I do think, that HP is worse than LotR and Narnia, especially. I am not lumping them as "equal" but I am saying I object to witchcraft, sorcery, or whatever you want to call it, and it happens to be present in all three series.

I did a little reading on Tolkien and Lewis, Lori, like you asked me, and here's some of what I found: (quoting Lewis)

I had some ado to prevent Joy and myself from relapsing into Paganism in Attica! At Daphni it was hard not to pray to Appolo the Healer. But somehow one didn’t feel it would have been very wrong — would have only been addressing Christ sub specie Apollinius. (Roger Lancelyn Green quoting C.S. Lewis in the biography C.S. Lewis: A Biography)

Also, the Narnian character of Bacchus,

Lewis presents him [Bacchus] as a cute, rollicking Narnian. Lewis draws from the specifics of Greek myth when describing the entourage of Bacchus (maenads, Silenus, etc.). The point I would make seems painfully obvious — Bacchus is a pagan deity who (like Baal) represents all that Christianity despises and seeks to overthrow. There is nothing even remotely Christian about favorably including such a figure in a book or series of books which hopes to present an analogy for Christianity.
The following scholarly overview of the worship ritual of the god of wine can be found here:
The core ritual associated with the worship of Dionysus [Bacchus] was orgiastic, meaning that it involved states of trance-like ecstasy, “outside-of-oneselfness,” merging with and possession by the god. It was celebrated every two years, at mid-winter near the time of the solstice, on barren mountain tops, especially Mt. Parnassus overlooking Delphi. There were three parts to this ritual:
Oreibasia (mountain dancing): To the accompaniment of flutes, drums, and cymbals, the worshippers, particularly women, danced themselves into ecstatic trances.
Sparagmos (tearing to pieces): In these trances they caught snakes and small animals and dismembered them with their bare hands.
Omophagia (eating raw flesh): By eating the bloody flesh of these animals, the worshippers became one with the god and with the wild natural forces that he represented.
These facets of Dionysian ritual are woven into many myths. For example, the poet Orpheus angered some maenads by rejecting all women, so these women dismembered him.

To be brutally honest things like this make me even more concerned about the content and spirituality of these books. It seems any Christian themes are being "overshadowed" by pagan ones.

One thing I want to make crystal clear is that I am *not* condemning you or anyone else who reads these. There are probably things I like/read/watch that you would disaprove of, and that I myself know to be wrong (like Alias, for example). I am not, however, trying to justify my interest and say it's a good Christian allegory and has good moral values, therefore it's okay to like it and it shouldn't be condemned by Biblical standards. If people want to read/like/approve of LotR and Narnia -- and even HP -- that's all fine and it's their decision, just please don't try to tell me it's "good" and Christian and harmless.

Don't even get me started on Star Wars...one debate thread is enough, frankly! And I hope you don't think *I'm* being rude with you, Lori, because that isn't my intent at all. :-)