Harry

Finished early this morning. It's good.

Not buying it

In the new Time, Lev Grossman has a short commentary lamenting the fading of God in the Potter series. True, there's no "Aslan," as in Narnia. But Narnia is far more allegorical by intention. It's apparent that Rowling has no such intention, and probably wants to avoid the theology. That doesn't mean the Power isn't there and isn't essential to the story. You won't find God in LOTR, either. More to be said about this after reading number seven. Can't wait until Friday.

By the way, I didn't know that Louis L'Amour wrote a medieval-themed novel. Found it at the big upscale chain bookstore over the weekend. It's called The Walking Drum. Something else to do.

Rowling and Lewis

Partway through Prince Caspian. It's episode 4 of Narnia. Without having read secondary materials by people who study these things, it's completely obvious that J.K. Rowling has big time affinities with Lewis. Someday I'll have a life of leisure, and look into this; meanwhile, just delight. Have to finish the Chronicles before next Friday.

Fun with reading...

...now that I have a little time.

Just for pleasure, getting through The Chronicles of Narnia. Started the third last night, A Horse and his Boy.

Just for the challenge: War, Progress and the End of History by Vladimir Solovyov, a Russian philosopher who died around 1900. It's a short series of "platonic" dialogues, the last thing he wrote, subtitled "Three Conversations Including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ". All of today's issues--the morality of war, political realism vs. idealism, etc.--are here.

Preparation for the night class, a new (to me) text: Morality Matters: Race, Class and Gender in Applied Ethics, by Jeffrey R. DiLeo. It's an imposing collection of resources (and a big book) that marches into moral thinking from many perspectives. If I'm a student, I save this one on my shelf for future reference.