Coming off a literary high - please help

[CoteDAzur]

I just read Cloud Atlas and This Thing Of Darkness in quick succession, both epic, fantastic books of great scope and vision.

Now I don't now what to do with myself. Read another book, but what? What can I read now that won't be a huge disappointment after these two wonderful books that I have just finished?

I read HDM when it was first published. I even waited for years from him writing the second book to publishing the third and devoured it in one setting. I was in my teens then, I'm in my late 20s now and I still love HDM trilogy.

I think it does have layers of meaning to it - I find something new every time I read it and it never gets old for me.

I love Lee Scoresby and Hester! Did anyone read that little teaser book he brought out a few years ago? I heard rumours there was going to be a book about the back story of Lee, but it hasn't appeared yet. I want it!!

I have heard HDM has a lot of similarities with Paradise Lost. I've not read that, but a friend of mine studied it at uni and said it added a whole new dimension for her.

Remus Have you read the Garth Nix Sabriel trilogy? Much more of a children's book than HDM, but I think if you like children's lit, you might enjoy it.

The point is that all of those books are ones that can be read on several different levels - a 12 year old will get one thing out of it, a teen another, an adult another - to dismiss HDM as a 'children's book' whilst saying that Curious Incident is 'not a children's book' is to grossly (and inaccurately imho) over-simplify. I know loads of children who read and enjoyed Curious Incident - are we to deny their enjoyment just because they might have read it on a different level of meaning than we did?

Thanks Hobs - can't stand Garth Nix though!

Ah well! Worth a try!

OK, maybe we don't mean the same age group when we talk about "children".

I was talking about pre-pubescents, aged 9 or so at the most. Not "children" in the legal sense of "everyone under 16", for example.

Sure, they can read Curious Incident but what would they understand from it? Would they understand that his mum had an affair and left, for example?

Yes, its vocabulary is simple so children can read it, but if they can't be expected to get some major events in the plot, can you consider that book a "children's book"?

"Hallucinating Foucault" by Patricia Duncker is a wonderful "little" book, much under appreciated, all about the passion of reading.

I know I'm interrupting a conversation about the relative merits of books that are technically for children but I am popping up with a recommendation.

Always worth a try and do shout if you think there's anything else I might like. Just to warn you that Cote and I are probably equally fussy and hard to please! :)

Again, I haven't "dismissed" His Dark Materials, just said I didn't get much out of the first book as a 41 year old and asked if it gets any more mature in the following two books.

I will definitely be giving it to DD in a few years.

Yes, Curious Incident was very much marketed as a children's book (as well as an adult one). A superb read.

I didn't think much of 'Lyra's Oxford' but loved the Lee and Hester one. Don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers but oh my gosh 'that' scene in the main trilogy with those two is so, so moving. I can't remember which book it's in.

... still interrupting ...

but I'd also recommend "Being in Time" by Genevieve Lloyd. It's not literature, it's a meditation - personal and emotional - about ... being and time. Beautifully written, and exploring literature. You'll want to go back and re-read Woolf's "Jacob's Room" afterwards.

london - I think you will find that it has been marketed as a "young adult" (i.e. teenager) book, not a children's book.

animula - I didn't understand what that book is about. What does "a personal & emotional meditation about being in time" mean?

Ooooh, I haven't read 'Once Upon A Time In The North' I simply have to read it asap. Thanks jajas

I'm not sure I think HDM is entirely a children's book. I get a lot out of it as an adult, but then again, I'm not in my 40s so I can't say whether I would get as much out of it then. I certainly think it's worth persisting with the other two though.

I think the Lee and Hester scene is in the last book? It's not in the first and I think the second doesn't cross into their world. Gawd, it breaks my heart it does.

Remus if I think of any I will shout up. I assume you've already read Pullman's other books? I loved The Tin Princess, but the others were a bit hit or miss for me really.

On a slightly lighter note, am I the only one in the world who can't help but think of cat piss when I see Katniss?

As you say, I think by 'children's books' we are meaning different things. I mean 'non-adult' when I say that. A quick Google reveals that it appears to be aimed at an 11-14 age group. I don't regard that as an adult book, but to be honest how many children's books aimed at lower age groups can be classed as 'crossover fiction'? And please no-one mention Harry Potter...

I don't think "non-adult" exists as a literary classification. 11-14 age group is by definition teenager rather than child, and is the "young adult" reader group. For example, The Book Thief was written for this age group. I had the impression that HDM was written for an even younger demographic, judging by vocabulary and themes, after reading only the first book.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you with any of this, just trying to clarify what I meant by "children's book".

Never read any Harry Potter and never felt the need to after watching the first film.

Cote - The book is a non-fiction look at representations of the human self, considered as atemporal phenomenon, in works of literature and philosophy. It's not literary criticism, it's not philosophy: I would say that it's a kind of "musing" but that would make it sound woolly and rambling - which it isn't. "Meditation" is the best I can come up with, which I think puts it with its correct literary and philosophical antecedents.

It's a beautiful read: it unashamedly exerts an emotional pull as it leads the reader through concepts of the self in time: concentrating on memory, loss and collecting together and representing self (and others).

The author makes clear that it was written in the wake of her daughter's death, which possibly explains why it was undertaken in the form it appears. But it is, I think, unusually brilliant at catching the emotional dimension of what is often handed in a very dry way. I think of this book as one of the great unfound resources for would-be writers and poets, actually. It really is a little gem of a book.

Actually, thinking about it more, the GL book has a sub-theme about how mortal humans cope with losing the things we love, ie. to death, rather than down the back of the sofa.

I'm not offended, but I don't really understand what it matters. From looking at Amazon, both HDM and Curious Incident seem to be primarily aimed at the 12-16 age group when looking under Children's Fiction. I would agree with you that the general tone of HDM (particularly the first book) might be more suitable for a younger audience, but this does feel a bit like splitting hairs. If you don't like HDM, you don't like it. But I don't think you can write it off because it's a children's book and distance Curious Incident from being a children's book because that one you actually enjoyed.