Off to Neverland!

I'm going to take a brief diversion from my planned route for this blog and talk a little books.

Yesterday, I started rereading J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. I haven't read this book since I was a kid, but the story of Peter and the Darling children has always been a part of my life. It was my dad's favorite book & favorite Disney movie; he always said he was going to be like Peter & never grow up, and he didn't. He always kept that spark of childhood in him, and I try to do the same.

Okay, back to the book. I'm really surprised by how different it is from the films, both the Disney animated film and the live-action one from a few years ago. I'm also really surprised by some of Barrie's phrasing. Part of my surprise is that this is supposed to be a book for kids, and it really doesn't read as one, and the rest of the surprise is at how odd some sentences read. Let me give an example. This takes place early in the book, after Mrs. Darling sees Peter for the first time. Peter leaps out the bedroom window, and Nana, the nursemaid dog, shuts the window, cutting off Peter's shadow.

But unfortunately Mrs. Darling could not leave it hanging out at the window, it looked so much like washing and lowered the whole tone of the house. She thought of showing it to Mr. Darling, but he was totting up winter great-coats for John and Michael with a wet towel round his head to keep his brain clear, and it seemed such a shame to trouble him; besides, she knew exactly what he would say: "It all comes of having a dog for a nurse."

That image of Mr. Darling with a towel round his head while he's doing bookwork just hits me so strangely. I'm really looking forward to seeing what else I've forgotten over the years since my last read, and I'm also interested in seeing how things like Tiger Lily and the Indians read to me now as an adult.

In other news, Episode 5 of World Peace Through Jackie Earle Haley is out, and you can find it on iTunes or wptjeh.com. We were all really upset at the news that Shutter Island has been moved back to February 19, 2010, and the episode is full of our thoughts, angry rants and theories for the pushback.

And I'm just gonna drop this here. I promise that a comic oriented post will be coming soon! It's been a crazy week, and I'm going to be out of town on Saturday all day, but I will get a comic post made before next week.