06 September 2008

Pullman :: Miyazaki

Some years ago, I read all three of the Philip Pullman books in the His Dark Materials trilogy. I love those books. It's a fascinating, erudite and entertaining world he creates, and I ought to re-read them because we finally watched The Golden Compass the other day.

For awhile now, the girl's been enamored of the Hayao Miyazaki movies. We have a pile of them: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. They are, in a word, wonderful. All of them have strong girl characters at the center of the story - and even when they are princesses, they aren't "princesses". They are feisty, independent, sturdy girls - great role models for my girl child. The Miyazaki movies also move gently between reality and fantasy, are set in an often vague time period, frequently invoke our need to protect the world from greed and destruction, and often feature whimsical flying machines and airships.

While watching The Golden Compass, I was struck by the similarities to Miyazaki. Strong girl as lead character? Check. Vague time period? Yup. Clash between good and evil? Certainly. Flying machines? Oh yes, fabulous zeppelin-like airships and other wild contraptions.


Have you read the Pullman trilogy? If not, I have a set to give away. I bought paperbacks when I read them originally. But they seemed to me to be the kind of books that you'd want to have around for a while, to be able to pass along to your kid, so I replaced all three with hardcover copies. The paperbacks came out of one of the boxes from the cellar, and they're next up on the great book giveaway of 2008. And they're in great shape, because I'm gentle on my books. So, tell me in the comments if you want the trilogy and I'll do a random select at day's end on Monday the 8th. And I'd rather send all three to one person, so don't ask for a particular one of the three, please.

15 comments:

lucidkim said...

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for the books. I have two daughters, Molly (who will be 9 next week!) and Jackie (who is six).

Marmite Breath said...

I'm sure I'm out of the running since I greedily snapped up one of your others, but OH MAN! I'd love these books!
Hadleigh would eat them up.

(No, I don't know why I associate books and food)

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

You've already graced me with Harry Potter, but . . . I'm still collecting books for my (hopefully) soon to be 5th grade classroom!

Anonymous said...

My kids just watched Torturo for the first time recently and loved it. I'm looking forward to seeing Spirited Away.

Kyla said...

I'd throw my hat in the ring, but being in school I have so little time for pleasurable reading. I'd rather them go to someone who has time to gobble them up properly.

miss muffet said...

Long time lurker here. Have been waiting for them at my library--would love to have them for my own, and to interest my son in them!

Chesh said...

These are great books. I love the series and would love to give them to my daughter.

Anonymous said...

I'll admit that I never read them and would love o throw my hat in the ring too. Now I don't have a little girl here that I can share them with but the are 4 little girl grands lurking in the family...then again, E's favorite color is "pink like Tickety" (did I even spell that correctly?) so he definitely has a feminine side ;)!

Nadine

flutter said...

off topic, but here is that recipe

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1819,144182-245197,00.html

Woman in a Window said...

Would love sharing them with the kids. Wondering what you thought of the Golden Compass. I thought it was missing so much. Anxious to read that one too.

lilypotter said...

I love those books. I think the story is excellent, and I even think they did a nice job on the movie (generally, I'm not a fan of movie adaptations, especially of good books). I took them out of the library and don't actually own them, so I'd like to enter the contest, if you please.

Jennifer (ponderosa) said...

I've never read any of his books. My hat's in the ring, too!

Janet said...

I haven't read Pullman, but I want to! And I ADORE Miyazaki's movies...Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies :-)

Gina said...

I love those books! I just read them this year. Don't enter me though - I have them and will probably re-read them soon.

Lady M said...

Love Miyazaki, especially Totoro!

The Pullman books are on my list to read.