Not Exactly a Review: The Chronicles of Narnia

Chronicles of Narnia. Another great set of classic English books. And I finished two sets of classical reading in one month including set of Lord of the Rings. Yeah, take a bet for my boredom level. It’s either higher than the heaven or deeper than the ocean. Nah, honestly, that is just hyperbole. My boredom is on danger level but not so bad. When I started reading great book I just couldn’t, wouldn’t stop.  And it costs me my sleeping time. Oh well, some things are worth the trouble, after all.

Tosh aside (in case you don’t know, tosh is British polite way to say crap, bullshit or trash), it’s kind of mixed bag. The style of the writing many similarities with Lord of the Rings; and considering the same time frame of the writing of this two books, it’s nothing unusual. And of course, it means the strength and weaknesses of those two is quite similar. And that is why I’m not going to repeat the same thing. You can read my short impression of Lord of the Rings here.

But, if there is one thing that is one uniqueness that completely stands out, it is the parallels of Chronicles of Narnia. If you ever read or watch “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, the Lion in the title is called Aslan and he symbolized the Christ, the Lion from Judah who sacrificed Himself for us. And throughout the 7 series of the books, there is so many things that talks or symbolizes about Christ.

See this quote and you will get what I mean:

“‘You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,'” said the Lion.”
–The Silver Chair

“‘Yes,’ said Queen Lucy. ‘In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.'”
–The Last Battle

Wikipedia have the full explanation of the stories, the parallels. To summarize it in one sentence subjectively: It’s a great classical children book that symbolizes much about Christ. But, I can not stress this enough: Just read the books!

I think, life is….

Sometimes, I think, life is just like a dream. I hold on to it, live it, just to open my eyes and realize it’s just a mere dream. A figment of my subconscious imagination. Sometimes, it’s a nightmare, a bad dream. Sometimes, it’s too good to be true. Sometimes, it’s just plain weird, queer and seems impossible.

Sometimes, I think, life is just like an adventure journey. I set out without understanding where is my destination, and I only get the glimpse of it through the journey. Sometimes, I just get stranded when the storm comes, and set out  when the sea calms down. Sometimes, it’s my decision to stay in an island. To learn, rest, or just fool around. Sometimes, the crews and the passengers change without I having the opportunity to say hi and know them more. Sometimes, I met a complete stranger and just clicked, and we become good friend. And then comes the parting.

Sometimes, I think, life is just like a computer game. A must-play even I’m unwilling, annoying, without ability to ‘save’ the game, no replay option when game over, hard but rewarding game. And when I am stuck, all I can do is walk around and do some trivial things, hoping to unlock the next scene to move on. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes, life is just… life. I never sure that I know what life is all about. Sometimes I thought I get it, only to be hit by realization that I don’t. Sometimes, what must I do, what decision must I make, what step should I take is as crystal-clear water. But sometimes, it’s just as clear as the sewer water. Sometimes, I thought I find my life purpose and realize: while some things are worth it, some just don’t. I don’t know. Even until now, all I hope is: someday, all I have done, all I fight for is not completely useless.

Notes:

I don’t know why when I think about adventure journey, sailing comes to my mind. Effect of watching movies, reading comics and novels? Maybe.

Subjective View: Lord of The Rings

Finally finished reading all the series of Lord of the Rings. It’s kind of late, I know, but as the saying goes; better be late than none at all, right?

Actually that kind of book is not my type, it illustrates much about the surrounding with many unique vocabularies I never heard of and thus, needs strong power of imagination. I don’t really mind about the illustrating part, but the plot of the story can be slow.

Why read it if I don’t really like it? Honestly, first I read it just because many great developing writers recommend it. Which kind of makes sense since such creative writers must have a great imagination and admiration to the usage of the beautiful words. Not me, though. I need full concentration just to read it.

So, everyday I just read it to pass waiting time, or to make my eyes tired enough to sleep. But as I read on, I found that I fell in love with it. In love with the words, the development of the story and curious how things will end. 

It takes long time to finish it and the ending part is quite sad (for me), although not many main characters died. No, not the death thingy sad ending, but more on the parting of friends that cross the roads together once. I guess it reminds me much about my friends.

All in all, I can say it is a great must-read series of book. Especially if you are a writer of any kind. Read it, enjoy it and learn from it. It will be worth it.

Writing :Passion and Necessity

The thing  I am currently in love with (or has it been like this for my whole life?) is reading. It opens completely strange, alien, new world. It satisfies my thirst of knowledge and curiosity. It gives power, direction, and certainty. All of those may sounds too good to be true, but it is true. That is why I am really thankful being born in an age when internet is mainstream. I can read practically anything I ever want to read. Not even sky is the limit.

But sometimes after reading so much, I cannot help but feel the information floating on (or should be in?) my brain. As long as my brain is active, it always search for more information. That is why I write. Just to let it out. Try to tidy up my mental information repository into something more structural, more making sense and maybe, more accessible if someday I ever need it. 

I’ve always been an introverted person. And based on my Enneagram personality, I am a true loner. Sure, I enjoy going out, but solitary time always have a special place in my heart. And being an introverted person, I cannot just express my feelings and thought anytime to anybody. Not that I think anyone will ever bothered by some rants that hardly makes sense, anyway.

Writing gives me the freedom to let my feeling out. I can express myself as much as I like. While I truly love to read, writing is some mixture of passion and necessity. As much as I enjoy writing, sometimes I do it just because I have to. It doesn’t really matter if nobody read it because I think I mostly do it for my sanity. Of course, if somebody reads it and enjoys it, it is big bonus. Kind of like food if seen by this perspective.

Another thing, writing can be done in my own pace. I mean I can plan, type, edit or even delete paragraphs that doesn’t fit in easily; while if I talk, I need to do all of it at once. And I always enjoy everything that can be done in my own pace. It is good and bad at the same  time, like many things are.

So, this post may sounds pointless to you, and I believe it is mostly true. But like I said, I do it mostly for myself. Well, I just hope that someday I could write interesting and useful posts or anything. Someday..

P.S:

I never write post in paper. Mostly in my phone and then I will edit it with my laptop (two of my beloved possession :D). So, that picture just to make it looks good. 🙂