Last night on my daily trip to Target (you think I'm kidding but I'm not), I picked up The Magician's Nephew, which is the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia. (Ed and Deb, there are seven books according to the list in the front of this one). I settled in to read last night and was immediately entranced. I love fantasy for young readers (even though I, with rare exception, can't stand it in grown-up books and I don't know why.) It's something about the tone. It's so simple, it's magical somehow. It makes me feel peaceful and protected (cause you know nothing too bad can happen) but also excited because there's an adventure afoot. Quirky, unbelievable things are about to happen and you can't wait to see what they're going to be. I feel this same way when I settle in with a new Harry Potter, though the peacefulness of that series is slowly wearing off as the books get gradually darker.
It's like there's this spark or joy in these stories that's so often missing from books for grown ups. One of my favorite writers when I was much younger was Roald Dahl. He wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Matilda and more. Most, if not all of these, have been turned into movies over the years. The books are filled with wild and wacky characters who somehow come across as believable because they are so odd.
As I think about this, it occurs to me that maybe the reason I like these books so well is because they do one of my very favorite things in story-telling. They combine the normal with the abnormal, the absurd with the ordinary. The Chronicles of Narnia is not just about another world, but another world reached by going through a closet, essentially. Harry Potter is not just about a boy wizard, but a boy wizard who has to deal with a crappy home life and school bullies. Yeah, I love that!
Just for fun, check out these sites:
Roald Dahl
Mugglenet. com (I highly recommend the "fun lists" section, specifically "103 ways to annoy Voldemort")
The Chronicles of Narnia
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5 comments:
I'm not saying this is a bad thing because I do it too but you so would walk into target and what you buy would be a book! lol
Susan
Just last night on the train I finished the Narnia series. Yes, there are indeed 7 books and yes they're all wonderful. :)
These books were so important to me as a child and continue to be so in my adulthood.... I'm always surprised to hear people I know (whose reading tastes overlap my own) say they are reading them for the first time as an adult! How have you lived without them?
Have you read any other C.S. Lewis?
Tora-
My dad gave me The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to read when I was young. But I don't remember any of it. I'm not sure I was old enough to appreciate it. I think I was a little more into Nancy Drew at the time!
But I'm really liking what I've read so far. I'd like to read more C.S. Lewis, particularly his writings on Christianity. Do you have any recommendations? I believe there are some essays where he writes about becoming a Christian, and I'd be very interested in reading those.
Stace,
I have all the books from the Chronicles of Narnia bound in one book...let me know if you want to borrow it : )
Stac
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