.. will I just be talking to myself?
Forrest actually asked me what order I thought the Narnia books should be read in (see the Dragon Island post below). Not surprinsingly, I recommend that they be read in the order that I read them first using the Collier paper-back box set edition that had the covers of LWW, HB, VDT, and TMN on the sides. These were the American versions, so there are a few differences from the Macmillan set I picked up in college with the color illustrations - but they are still my favorite; and the ones that N borrowed to read them for herself.
So here is the order (along with the current publication order number)
The Order is:
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2)
Prince Caspian (4)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (5)
The Silver Chair (6)
The Horse and His Boy (3)
The Magician's Nephew (1)
The Last Battle (7)
I realize that this is a Sunday post, so I'm not counting on a many comments today. It would be neat though to see what favorite moments from the books stick out in your mind. Dragon Island is still my special passage, but there are so many more.
12 comments:
I agree with that order for the books. Lewis wrote the books with specific assumptions about what his readers would know, and I think to read them in chronological order kind of messes with those assumptions.
LW&W is actually among my least favorite stories, but the passage about Aslan's death actually brought a tear to my eye. I think that is the only fictional book that has ever caused me to cry. Most of the more stirring parallels, if that is what you are looking for, are in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The best stories are The Silver Chair and The Magician's Nephew.
NamelessNumberHeadman quotes one of my favorite passages from the series in one of their songs. It comes from the book The Silver Chair.
"Have they told you that if I am released from this chair I shall kill you and become a serpent? I see by your faces that they have. It is a lie. It is at this hour that I am in my right mind: it is the rest of the day that I am enchanted."
Dust has the same boxed set. I might start reading them after Blue Like Jazz is done.
I didn't really like The Silver Chair until I was in my 20s; it felt different than the other stories and was a big letdown after Dawn Treader. That moment with Prince Rillian is really good - so are the mudmen in the next part.
Did you ever see the BBC film of TSC? Tom Baker ('Dr. Who' with the big scarf) played Pudleglum - he made the whole movie.
Lucy, as she hide in the wardrobe for the first time.
The lamppost.
Understanding the 3 forms of the lions/cats during Shasta's journey in the Horse and his boy.
Peeling of Dragon skin.
The voyage to the end of the world.
The wood between the world.
Green and Yellow
.... rings and the guinea pig (with one tied around it's neck) that Digory found in the wood. It was so quiet that you could hear the trees growing.
The thought it read pretty well starting out with "Magician's Nephew"
To "comment deleted":
The nephew can be hard to get into... I know I had trouble with it at first. Let me know how the rest goes. By the way, The Chair and The Battle both suffer from the same problems.
Magrelo loves The Last Battle. It's one of his favorite books. I'm reading the series to my daughter. We tried to start out with Magician, but it was too slow and she was losing interest. She loves TLW&W. I've never read the series, so I'm having fun hearing it for the first time with her.
This is leading up to what looks like a cool movie rendition and I'm not going to be able to see it for sometime...not in English anyway. I never read all the books, is that a crime? I didn't get into L W W so I never read on. I'd like to see the film though, it might inspire me to give the books another shot.
My favorite part in Blue Like Jazz is when the guy goes to Church Camp as a Counselor right after living with some Hippies on a commune. The other camp counselors don't dig what his scene is...
If you post on Sunday...
then everyone knows when it has been more than a week since you posted. :)
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