The Catholic Book Club discussion

1. Use this thread to discuss points not covered in other threads or other thoughts that occur while reading.

I read this book one year ago. This is my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Manuel wrote: "I read this book one year ago. This is my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

just liked your review. I'll try not to read it so I can read it for myself. Once I've read it, I'll also post a review on Goodreads and my other social media accounts. I'll also post a review on my YouTube channel, El Rincón del Bibliofilo: www.youtube.com/@ElRincondelBibliofilo. (I'm sharing it in case anyone wants to subscribe, which would be a huge favor.) Unfortunately, the reviews are all in Spanish :-()

One topic I find interesting is the symbolism of dragons in fiction. Catholic novelist Michael D. O'Brien is known for his opinion that dragons should always be a sign of evil or a representation of the devil. I'm still at the beginning of the book, but I see Serapia has a dragon-like companion.

Thoughts about this?

Emmanuel wrote: "One topic I find interesting is the symbolism of dragons in fiction. Catholic novelist Michael D. O'Brien is known for his opinion that dragons should always be a sign of evil or a representation o..."

Chinese dragons are not evil. And there are many Western stories where they aren't, or can be used for good. One example: Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Manuel wrote: "Emmanuel wrote: "One topic I find interesting is the symbolism of dragons in fiction. Catholic novelist Michael D. O'Brien is known for his opinion that dragons should always be a sign of evil or a..."

I think it would also be fine to depict dragons as natural beings, as it happens, for example, in "How to Train Your Dragon". In which case, they would be creatures of God. But I agree with O'Brien when he says they can easily be turned into demons in disguise by authors with malicious intent.

A while ago, Fonch and I were talking about Michael Ende and how his work was inspired by Oriental thought. After that, I read "The Neverending Story" and found Fuchur to be very likable, even a sort of virtuous figure.

Speaking of which, Emmanuel, I ordered that book by Michael D. O'Brien. He wrote it to critique Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. I discussed this topic with Krisi Keley: If it was an animal, it wasn't evil. I think the dragon in "Gile's Farmer" was evil, or at least malicious. It's just that he was so pathetic he inspired pity. Among the dragons, there's Vern by my beloved Karina Fabian, and Falkor from "The Neverending Story," or the dragons in Brave Story.

Partly for that reason, Michael Ende was so highly regarded in Japan, and Ende's second wife was Japanese. There's a very peculiar Japanese author named Noriko Ogiwara, who isn't Christian but is deeply influenced by the stories of C.S. Lewis.

I actually made a video about Michael Ende on my channel, "The Jail of Freedom." It was a relative success. It got over 100 views, 125 to be exact. Not bad for 168 subscribers.

I had a hard time imagining such a life as Serapia's as an urchin, the intrinsic powers belonging to jewels, her dagger, etc. At times I also had a hard time following the plot, and I hate the ruse of switching back and forth between present and memories, though the italics help.

I found fascinating the treatment of male/female roles in elfin society: deliberately having a queen, property being owned by the she-elf, and how that affects the way Ystevan treats human women or thinks they should be treated with respect/guarded against.

This is a real page-turner! I seldom finish one of our books in the first week!

This is not the only case, there is a novel called "Jonathan Starage and Mr. Norrell" by Susanah Clarke set in the Napoleonic Wars where there is a human king and then there is a different king for the magical world and there is a very curious figure, that of the Raven King.