50 Books - Books 7,8 and 9

[siercia]

The first three books of The Chronicles of Narnia - The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Horse and his Boy.

I'm really enjoying these. I can't believe I didn't read these as a kid. It almost feels like cheating to include them here, but despite being kid's books, they're still long, and a good read, so I'm counting them anyway.

Next up are the next four books in this series, and somewhere in there I still need to finish 100 Years of Solitude, which I am really struggling through.

Comments

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

Aren't they great? :)

[siercia]

They really are. I can't wait to give them to Widget =)

[rawrin.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you like those!! They're among my favorites, and I still reread them from time to time.

[siercia]

Yeah, these are definitely going towards the top of my favorites list. I'm really enjoying them.

[dietbubba.livejournal.com]

Those are some of my absolute favorite books. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite out of the bunch. I need to break down and get a new set because mine is quite old and is falling apart.

[yesthatjill.livejournal.com]

The newer printings in the US use the 'chronological' order rather than the printing order, which I don't agree with for the first time 'round reading the books. I think The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe is the best introduction to the series and The Magician's Nephew should wait 'til later. That's just me though.

I love the books. I read 'em over and over as a kid and bought a set as an adult to read again.

[siercia]

Woo boy, there were a WHOLE bunch of people who started hopping up and down when I posted this same thing over in 50bookchallenge. It's too late for me, but I'll probably give them to Widget in their printing order, at least for her first time through.

[yesthatjill.livejournal.com]

There was a huge fuss when the printer numbered them in the 'chronological' order, but it's the order CS Lewis wanted them read... once he'd made some changes. However, I still believe that the introduction should be through the Wardrobe, for then the magic of Narnia is unexplained until the sixth book.

But, above all, I just think they should be read.

[dietbubba.livejournal.com]

The set that I have has LW&W as the first book and I also think this is how they should be read. For some reason I have a hard time getting through every book after the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Don't really know why.

[siercia]

Yay! I'm glad to hear there's more goodness to look forward to. I'm already almost halfway through Prince Caspian, and hoping to read the rest of them on this weekend's road trip.

[asmodel.livejournal.com]

It almost feels like cheating to include them here

Just because they're aimed at kids doesn't mean that they're not complex books. The LW&W goes into christian philosophy, and for that reason we studied it in yr 12 religious ed.

[siercia]

Did you really? That's awesome. My Catholic school background never had us studying anything nearly so cool. I'm sure they would have considered it sacrilege or something.

[asmodel.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, Aslan was written as a direct alegory (right word?) of Christ, which was why we studied it. Everyone in the class loved it until we got to that connection, which had to be made because we were a methodist school. Then the groans came out. It had been much more fun in my secular school Primary school when we just drew pictures of aslan and dressed up as the children as our book activities, or whatever it was you did when you studied books in primary school.

[magnummom.livejournal.com]

Agreed with the above, that just because they're kid's books doesn't mean that they're not complex, or intellectually engaging reading.

They're also on the list of "Books I Should Have Read But Didn't". I have been starting to delve into C.S. Lewis' theological writings.

A silly aside: my husband has commented for years that it's possible to sing the titles of Marquez books to the tune of "To All The Girls I've Loved Before". Try it:

*croons*
One hundred years of solitude...
The general in his labyrinth...
Love in the time of cholera...

OK, I'll stop now.

[siercia]

Man, now I will NEVER get that out of my head. It's going to bounce around in there, echoing and echoing then ENTIRE time I'm trying to slog my way through the accursed book.

[magnummom.livejournal.com]

Terribly sorry. :) Maybe it will make the going a little more entertaining, no? OK, "no" it is then.

I promise not to mention all the tunes you can sing Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" to.

[kaasirpent]

These are seven of my favorite books of all time. I have three complete sets in various stages of repair, including the set I got when I was about 12 or 13 and read in one sitting while suffering through chicken pox.

Narnia is one of the places I'd like to just crawl into, sometimes, and lose myself in permanently.