Submarinejun07

VOL. 2 NO. 2

JUNE 2007

1

Introduction

This years St Columbas World Book Day favourite book survey

re-

vealed our top book to be

Eragon

by Christopher Paolini, a young American au-thor from Paradise Valley, Mo

n

tana.

The survey is always an interesting exercisemany thanks to the Englishdepartment for facilitating us. 109 authors were mentioned, and 137 separate titles,

from a survey response of 178. Philip Pullmans

His Dark Materials

trilogy came

second, alongside Anthony Horowitzs

Alex Rider

series, followed by J.D. Sali

n-

gers

Catcher in the Rye

and Tolkiens

Lord of the Rings.

Our favourite a

u

thors

w

ere as follows: 1

st

Christopher Paolini and Anthony Horowitz; 2

nd

Philip Pull-man; 3

rd

JRR Tolkien; and 4

th

J.D. Salinger, Wi

l

liam Shakespeare and Meg Rosoff.

Its an eclectic mix, you will agree, and whats intriguing is that aside from Shak

e-

speare, Salinger and Meg Rosoffthe latter two write about teenage life and disaf-fectionall the other authors are writers of fantasy adve

nture (Im includingHorowitzs young super spy, Alex Rider in the fantasy genre). While it could be

argued that the recent release of the film

Eragon

pushed the vote in Paolinis f

a-

vour, our surve

y

ees were voting for their favourite

book

, and it was votes for thesecond book in his trilogy,

Eldest

, as yet u

n

filmed, which moved Paolini to the topauthor, as well as top book, spot. Film, visual and visceral though it is, cannot cap-ture the subtleties that books do, as Rowland Co

o

per discusses in his film andbook review of

Eragon

on page2.

Why does fantasy fiction fe

a

ture so strongly in our surveys? The Guardiannewsp

apers World Book Day most precious book poll placed

Lord of the Rings

at No 2,

Harry Potter

at No 4 and

His Dark Materials

at No 8 (

Pride and Preju-dice

was No 1, by the way, the B

ible No 6 and Shakespeares complete works at

No 14). Given the age profile of our reading community could it be that part of theappeal lies, for those for whom the full weight of the rules of life are just star

t

ingto bear down, in worlds where normal rules

dont

apply, at least not the physicalones? Riding dragons or broomsticks, breathing underwater, flying, chan

g

ingshape and talking to animals are all things that were possible in our childhoodimaginations, and reconnect us to childhood. Yet the quest aspect, as in all story-

te

lling, symbolises lifes reality: one leaves home (childhood and pa

rents) to con-

front and conquer demons (inner and outer), finding ones place in the world (si

g-

nif

icance) and rescuing ones prince or princess along the way (love). Thus oneachieves oneself, becoming a whole and unique adult, with the skills and ind

e-

pendence ne

c

essary for the adult world. (In case this sounds patronising I mightpoint out that many adults known to me personally

are

still on the way

). Impor-tantly, during the quest we di

s

cover hidden talents in ourselves, be we hobbits ordragon riders or children of Narnia. Most fantasy adventure has a strong moralcode, the acceptance of which tests the resolve of the protagonist, a code that r

e-

flects trusted h

u

man values

honour, integrity, respect, loyalty and courage.Perhaps we might put it this way thenthat in worlds out of our ownworld we continue to be the heroes we actually are. And by being so, thereby r

e-

fresh ourselves for our ev

e

ryday lives.Ah, books. Where would we be without them?

T. McC,

Libra

r

ian

The statue above theentrance to the Maste

r-

man Library.

--

photo courtesy Mr. P. Watts

VOL. 2 NO. 2

JUNE 2007

2

REVIEW

ERAGON BY CHRISTO

PHER PAOLINI ROLAND COOPER

Websites

Weve recently added over 1,500 websites to the li

brary catalogue, and we will continue to add relevant

high

-

quality websites as and when we find them. The Library catalogue is now available on the school net-

work: log on, go to favourites, click on St Columbas Library. From there you can go on-

line and accessthese sites d

i

rectly.

Some of you may remember the hype about Christ

o

pher Paolini,

the child author who took the world by storm by releasing his book E

r-agon, which he started writing

when he was just 17! What some of you

may not know is that he only finished it at the age of 21. Still, it makes fora very good read for the casual fantasy reader. Not only is there quite an

elab

orate and well-

thought out plot line, it is not badly written either. The

story fo

l

lows a young farmer/hunter called Eragon who was raised by hisuncle in a small and remote village in a land called Alagaesia. He stumbles

across a dragon egg whilst hunting one day (obviously totally igno

rant of

what it was) and too

k it home, where it hatched, and Eragon b

ecomes itsrider. As the dragon, which was named Saphira, grew he found it increa

s-ingly diff

i

cult to hide her. Then Brom, the village story

-

teller helps Eragon

and gets him and Saphira away from the village which is

attacked by the

Kings army. Galbatorix is the king of Alagaesia and has no desire for a

n-other Dragon

-

Rider to try and overthrow him and end his reign of te

r-ror.

This is where the book and the film differ. In the film Saphira grows to

full size almost ins

tantly after hatching, rather than growing as any normalcreature. This I thought was rather cheaply done and took the film toomuch on its own little escapade. Another point where it fails to hold t

o-

gether is that Eragon and Saphira ma

n

age to kill the two

RaZac that are

following them, but they are a main feature in the other half of the storywhich is left out completely by the film.

In the film, Roran (Eragons cousin and adopted brother) joins the

Imperial Army, but in reality, the entire countryis being strangled by Ga

l-

batorix, and, as a result, no villagers enlist, so they fight with the Kings

Army with Roran as head of the village militia. The villa

g

ers leave their

village and head south to seek sanctuary and are pursued by the RaZac

who know

that the egg landed up in their town and Galbatorix is despe

r-ate to get his hands on the egg b

e

fore it hatches and a new Rider joins the

field Little does he know it is too late, until Durza (a possessed magicianand the Kings henchman) almost kills Er

agon, then holds him prisoner.The end of the film finishes with the end of the book, and the great battle is

done in quite a lot of detail with bits added in but this is at the expense

of the rest of the story. The main complaint I would have with the film isthat it focuses too much on the start and finish of the book whilst leavingmuch of the important mi

ddle part out.

In so many words, the film is too flawed to e

n

joy it properly if you

have read the book. Read the book; give the film a miss

Th

e first book in the

Inheritance trilogy,

r

ecently made into

a film.

VOL. 2 NO. 2

JUNE 2007

3

Whats Read

ing Me?

Winter in Madrid by C.J. Samson

Mr Coldrick

This was a very moving and enga

g

ing novel set in Spain just after the Civil War. This book wasa departure for the author (an historian) whose other novels are set in 16

th

century En

g

land. What

I particularly liked about the book was the authors ability to pre

sent characters which were welldeveloped and believable and his skill in conveying the horrors of the p

e

riod without the need tobe overly graphic.

The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Ms Ki

l

feather

This is a gripping tale of the smugness of the haves and the absolute misery of the have

-

nots. Setin Southern California we are introduced to one Mexican couple who have ill

e

gally crossed theborder and who desperately search for the American dream. The other couple live in close prox-imity in an exclusive development and seek to pr

otect the same dre

am. A serious car accident setsthe scene in the opening pages. A great novel of social inequality and the tragedy that it brings. Aterrific novel and a real page

-

turner for me. I highly recommend it.

Harold Shipman: prescription for murder by Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie

Mr McCarthy

I highly recommend this book

it tells the story of Britains worst mass murder. Shipman was a

doctor in the Greater Manchester area who killed at least 284 of his own p

a

tients, most of whom

were elderly women. His weapons were morphine, a kindly smile and the fact that his p

a

tients

trusted him. The book outlines the very ordinary nature of Shipmans life and it is his casual att

i-tude to murder that is most striking. Some warning signs, such as his own drug addi

c

tion, wereignored and he was allowed to continue in his medical practice. Suspicions were only arousedwhen he carelessly altered the will of one of his victims to name himself as the ben

e

ficiary. But itseems that his main motive over many years was the pleasure of having the power of life anddeath. Found guilty, he committed suicide in prison in 2004 taking many una

n

swered questionswith him. The book is suitable for non

-

medical persons like myself, as it does not dwell on thetoxicological aspects of the cases, but rather on the very many human trag

e

dies caused by thismuch

-loved and trusted mans activities. Perhaps people in in positions of immense trust are most

deserving of suspicion?

Cave medicum:

b

eware of the doctor. What a sad world that would be

Holy Fools by Joanne Harris

Mrs Heffernan

This book is set in 17

th

century France. It includes witch trials, sorcery and rel

i

gious frenzy andmurder! The main character is Juliette who is a rope dancer in a trave

l

ling show and is forced bycircumstances to seek re

f

uge in a convent. I thought this book was a great read, full of intrigue.The story was very strong throughout and the ending was crescendo

-

like with fires and fast es-

capes!

Sustainable Energy Ireland www.sei.ie

Al-

Bab

(excellent gateway site to

the Arab world)

www.al

-

bab.com

Martin Dwyer

(cookery blog)

www.martindwyer.com

Metacritic

(film and music reviews)

www.metacritic.com

Irish Whale and Dolphin Group www.iwdg.ie

Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.ie

The European Union

(Homepage of the EU)

www.europa.eu.int

The Darwin Pr

o

ject

(fabulous Darwin website)

www.darwinproject.ac.uk

Some we

b- sites recently added to thelibrary cata-logue

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