Sunday, December 20, 2009

giveaway: the magician's book

With Christmas approaching, I'm going to post a few giveaways this week. The first comes courtesy Hachette. It's three copies of the Magician's Book by Laura Miller.

Here's the review from Publishers Weekly:
"Jam-packed with critical insights and historical context, this discussion of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia from Miller's double perspectives--as the wide-eyed child who first read the books and an agnostic adult who revisits them--is intellectually inspiring but not always cohesive. Finding her distrust of Christianity undermined by her love of Lewis's indisputably Christian-themed world, Salon.com cofounder and staff writer Miller seeks to "recapture [Narnia's] old enchantment." She replaces lost innocence with understanding, visiting Lewis's home in England, reading his letters and books (which she quotes extensively) and interviewing readers and writers. Lengthy musings on Freudian analysis of sadomasochism, J.R.R. Tolkien's Anglo-Saxon nationalism and taxonomies of genre share space with incisive and unapologetic criticism of Lewis's treatment of race, gender and class. The heart of the book is in the first-person passages where Miller recalls longing to both be and befriend Lucy Pevensie and extols Narnia's "shining wonders." Her reluctant reconciliation with Lewis's and Narnia's imperfections never quite manages to be convincing, but anyone who has endured exile from Narnia will recognize and appreciate many aspects of her journey."

And here's the Reading Group Guide:
1. Laura Miller was introduced to the Chronicles of Narnia by her teacher and was immediately swept into their magical world. Describe your own discovery and reaction to them.

2. When Miller writes about her most powerful reading experiences while growing up, she cites Island of the Blue Dolphins, Five Children and It, and the Little House on the Prairie series. Name some of the formative books of your childhood and discuss why they were important to you. What about them has stayed with you into adulthood?

3. In the excerpt that opens The Magician’s Book, Lucy encounters the best story she has ever read. Afterward, she is unable to remember what happened in the story or to reread it. Have you ever lost yourself in a story as Lucy did? What were you reading? How old were you? Discuss why you think you were able to forget yourself so completely. How do our daily lives affect the way we read? What does this say about the role readers play in the creation of a story’s meaning?

4. Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Franzen note the importance of C. S. Lewis’s books in their own lives and work. Discuss the similarities and differences between their books and the Chronicles of Narnia. Have you noticed Lewis’s influence on other writers? If so, which writers? And why does their work remind you of the Pevensie children’s adventures?

5. Does Miller’s description of C. S. Lewis’s life and personality alter your view of his novels? In what ways? Have your opinions of other books changed after discovering personal details about the author? Why does biographical information affect our interpretation?

6. Laura Miller writes that she will not address the religious symbolism in the Chronicles, focusing instead on the stories and their creator. Do you agree with her decision? Are there other aspects of the books you would have liked Miller to address?

7. When Miller discovered Narnia’s Christian messages, her feeling of betrayal drove her away. Eventually, she returned and reexamined the books as an adult. Why was she upset by her new understanding? Discuss the role that the passage from innocence to understanding played in her reaction. Is one experience more valid than another?

8. Part memoir, part biography, and part literary criticism, The Magician’s Book touches on the many factors that shaped the author’s relationship with the novels. Discuss the extent to which each reader’s knowledge informs and shapes his or her interpretations of stories.

9. At its core, The Magician’s Book is the story of Laura Miller’s attempt to regain her childhood enchantment with the Chronicles. Have you reread the Chronicles of Narnia as an adult? If so, how has your enjoyment or understanding of them changed? Do you think it is possible to regain the childhood experience of reading? Why?

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on January 2. Winners will be selected at random. Since this is from Hachette the winners must have mailing addresses in the US or Canada; no PO Boxes.

20 comments:

  1. justpeachy36@yahoo.com

    i'd love to win this one...

    Please enter me in the giveaway

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd love to read this. Please enter me.
    ludeluh(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am also a follower.
    ludeluh(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I posted this giveaway on my blog here:
    http://giveawayroundup.blogspot.com/2009/12/more-to-win.html

    ludeluh(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Please count me in.

    simplystacieblog at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I follow.

    simplystacieblog at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am so interested n this book. Thank you for the giveaway.
    christinezeg(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please enter me for the draw. :D

    linna.hsu at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  9. follower

    linna.hsu at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sign me up please

    thanks

    chocolate and croissants at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  11. This looks great. Thanks for the giveaway.

    s.mickelson at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds exciting, please count me in.

    cenya2 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sounds like such an interesting book! I'm in!

    bagambo(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've heard so many good things about this book. Please count me in.
    polo-puppy-fluffy AT hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. This sounds like an interesting read please enter me to win this great book!

    danmarugg(at)yahoo(dot)ca

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am also a follower!

    danmarugg(at)yahoo(dot)ca

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am so eager to read this book.

    dorcontest at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  18. I now follow on google friend....dor

    dorcontest at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  19. This looks like a great read. cardshark42(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I follow through google friend. cardshark42(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete