"Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis - November 20

[paul]

We've decided to run two books this November. We wanted to read and discuss CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, a movie version of which is due in theaters by the end of the month.

We're grouping all the books in the series into this one topic, so when creating a new post, please use the following convention:

[Book <book number>] <Post title>

For example, if you want to discuss Aslan's role in book 1, you would use the following notation in your post title:

[Book 1] Aslan's Role

This notation will help us keep the books straight, and will serve as a spoiler warning to those who haven't read all the books yet. Thank you in advance for following these guidelines.

As you may or may not be aware, there are seven books in the Narnia series. They were not published in chronological order, but it was C.S. Lewis's wish that the books be renumbered into chronological order.

FYI, I'll list here the books in their publication order, and I'll preface each one with the book number (chronological order) that we'll be using in the book club.

[Book 2] The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
[Book 4] Prince Caspian
[Book 5] The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
[Book 6] The Silver Chair
[Book 3] The Horse and His Boy
[Book 1] The Magician's Nephew
[Book 7] The Last Battle

You can read them in whichever order you want. My first reading I did in chronological order; this time I'll probably read them in publication order.

It should be noted, however, that the movie being released in November seems to be only based on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I hope that you'll have time to read and comment on both books this month. I hope that having a second book doesn't cause a huge distraction.

[Bex]

Jeez! What planet have I been on? I just now saw this post.

To be honest, I've never had the desire to read any of these books. Fantasy isn't one of my top 10 favorites. But, I will stretch my wings and broaden my horizons and start reading them. I think I will read them in chronological order....because that's how my brain works and I'll probably be too confused otherwise. LOL!

I'm finishing up another book right now (The Broker...okay, I like Grisham books) and will start on Narnia next. Guess I'd better hurry if I'm gonna also read A Christmas Carole before Christmas....AH!.....25 more days!!!

Bex

[christina]

Bex, I admire your broadening of horizons. Which one are you reading first? I will post some of my thoughts on whichever one you are starting with.

[Bex]

Almost done with Magician's Nephew. I found that I have to adjust my thinking when reading this book. I should have finished it this weekend. Bought the whole set at Costco since I could find only #5 and #7 at the library.

I'll write more later.....

Bex

[paul]

So you read Magician's Nephew first?

It is interesting, because that is not the order they were written in. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was published first. I don't remember the order off hand, but the only book that was published in order was the last one; It was written last and it comes last chronologically.

However, after all the books were published, they were reordered to be read chronologically instead of how they were written. Apparently that was Lewis's wish.

[christina]

So Bex, why do you have to adjust your thinking? just curious...

christina

[Bex]

Well Christina, I'm not sure if this will make sense but......I almost put it down because it seemed so "silly" to me. Like I stated before, I'm not a big fantasy reader. So I have to adjust my brain to allow "illogical" events and characters to exist and develop....and allow my creative brain to let lose. This probably only makes sense to right-brain thinkers like me...accountants, engineers, etc. I put silly in quotes because it has to make sense to my brain or I lose interest.

Does that make sense? I probably is just me.......humph.....

[Katrina]

Definitely not just you, Bex. I have to adjust myself as well. The funny thing is, I enjoy certain fantasy books (such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia series), but not others (like most of what Robin McKinley and Terry Pratchett have written). I'm not sure what it is that makes certain fantasy acceptable and other fantasy unacceptable to my warped little brain.

On another note, I wanted to just quickly mention the magnificent movie version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I think this is the first time, ever, for me when i have liked a movie version better than the book it was based on.