Lewis, C.S. - The Chronicles of Narnia

[Mark Bolerjack]

I did start on the Chronicles of Narnia today. So far, so good. Some parallels to the Harry Potter series.

Mark B.

[Brad Mercer]

Okay, Mark didn't actually offer a review, and I don't see it listed elsewhere in the book review forum, so I'll offer a quickie here.

The Chronicle of Narnia are a series of seven children's stories written by C.S. Lewis, who was an instructor (don't remember the title) at Oxford, and then a professor of Medieval and Rennaissance Literature at Cambridge. He converted from athiesm to Christianity after reading a Christian fantasy story entitled "Phantastes" by George MacDonald. Lewis said he didn't become a Christian at that time, or even recognize that he had started down that road, but the book "baptised my imagination" and opened his heart to what the Lord was leading him to.

So this series essentially offers others the same opening he found into the kingdom. The stories are about children who find magical entrances from our world into another world that features talking animals as well as people. They engage in various battles and adventures. Along the way, some of the children get to experience the creation of that other world, and other children get to experience the end of that world. Some of the children become kings and queens there.

The most important relationship they establish, or person they encounter, is a lion named Aslan, who is the son of the great emperor over the sea. He represents Christ, and his interaction with Narnia and the other countries in that other world, as well as his interaction with the children, reflects and examines and illustrates who God really is, who we really are, and how he relates to us.

The adventures are exciting, there's a surprising amount of really funny comedy in the stories, but there is so much spiritual power and beauty in them that I cried at points, every single time I read them to my elementary through junior high aged children.

If I had to list my 10 favorite books of all time, and was required to list the Chronicles of Narnia as seven books instead of one, they'd probably still all make that list.

I own and have read 33 books by C.S. Lewis at last count, and in nearly all of them this great writer and great Christian writes about his great God, but in none as accessibly and as beautifully and as memorably as in the Chronicles of Narnia.

In one of the stories, "The Horse and His Boy", a group of characters, confronted by Aslan, are afraid of the lion, but one finally finds her attraction greater than her fear, and goes to him with the words: "I would rather be eaten by him than fed by anyone else."

In my times of personal struggle, when I'm tempted to doubt God and surrender to despair, I say those words to myself and re-surrender instead to God, with no more certainty than she had, except the certainty that St. Peter voiced when he said "Lord, where would we go?"

And God apparently finds that response adequate, and it turns out that he does feed me, after all.

Harry Potter is a fun story, but it's not really particularly about anything. Lord of the Rings is a richer, deeper story, and written at an older reading level than Narnia, but I don't see God and myself nearly as clearly in that story.

Narnia is unique in my experience, and uniquely wonderful.

[Barbara Moulton]

I have expressed my own views of the Chronicles many times. They are wonderful stories which can be enjoyed by all.

However, without wishing to sound exclusive, there is a particular group of people who appreciate and love them more than others do. Those who read the books when they were children are part of this group. But even more so, those who read the books when they were children and "loved" Aslan, have a different approach then those who discover the books when they are older.

For myself, raised in a Christian home, the stories wove themselves into my heart and I was able to love the qualities of Christ that were displayed in Aslan. Jesus had always seen abstract to me. I had accepted Him as my Saviour but found it hard to "love" him the way I was told I should.

But Aslan exemplified everything wonderful as a Christ figure. These stories opened my heart to loving God and loving Jesus in a way all the Sunday School lessons could not. They were a pivotal part of my spiritual journey.

I don't think that an adult, reading them for the first time, can have that same experience (although I might be wrong) But I am still thrilled whenever I hear that someone else has decided to read them.

[Gina Stevenson]

I have expressed my own views of the Chronicles many times. They are wonderful stories which can be enjoyed by all.

However, without wishing to sound exclusive, there is a particular group of people who appreciate and love them more than others do. Those who read the books when they were children are part of this group. But even more so, those who read the books when they were children and "loved" Aslan, have a different approach then those who discover the books when they are older.

For myself, raised in a Christian home, the stories wove themselves into my heart and I was able to love the qualities of Christ that were displayed in Aslan. Jesus had always seen abstract to me. I had accepted Him as my Saviour but found it hard to "love" him the way I was told I should.

But Aslan exemplified everything wonderful as a Christ figure. These stories opened my heart to loving God and loving Jesus in a way all the Sunday School lessons could not. They were a pivotal part of my spiritual journey.

I don't think that an adult, reading them for the first time, can have that same experience (although I might be wrong) But I am still thrilled whenever I hear that someone else has decided to read them.

'Know what you mean, Barbara ... I felt badly that I'd not been introduced to them as a child, once finding them as an adult, and did have that, "I missed something" feeling.

[Brad Mercer]

I don't think that an adult, reading them for the first time, can have that same experience (although I might be wrong) But I am still thrilled whenever I hear that someone else has decided to read them.

My experience is probably pretty unusual. When I was 13 or 14 my dad got a book called 'The Best of CS Lewis', that was a one-volume compilation of 'The Great Divorce', 'Mere Christianity', 'The Screwtape Letters' and 'Miracles'. I read them all at that age and thought they were great. Then at 17 my dad bought 'The Last Battle' after seeing it on a supermarket shelf. He figured since it was from CS Lewis and we'd read those earlier apologetic works that this one would be eschatological. He didn't finish the first page, which featured a talking ape and donkey, before deciding it was children's fiction (and he never read fiction) and tossing it to me. I devoured it and recognized the obvious symbolism, but didn't read the rest until I got to college. My roommate at SNU had only read 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', was a new Christian and didn't recognize the symbolism, and one or both of us hadn't realized it was a series. We went out as soon as the subject came up and bought the series. We read them through in a week, one a night, staying up late in the night to talk about them.

I started reading them to my kids when the oldest was almost 5, and continued re-reading them to them until the oldest was in 7th or 8th grade.

[Jamie Wayne]

I'm with you, Brad...if I had to chose 10 books, 7 of them would be the same as yours.

[Ryan Scott]

In one of the stories, "The Horse and His Boy", a group of characters, confronted by Aslan, are afraid of the lion, but one finally finds her attraction greater than her fear, and goes to him with the words: "I would rather be eaten by him than fed by anyone else."


It's interesting that you posted this quote now. This morning I was reading Acts 13 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2013&version=31), which details the first two conversions under Paul. The first is gained when Paul blinds a naysayer and the second when Paul presents the truth of freedom in Christ. I've been struggling with how to incorporate this idea of "fear of God" conversion with the "love of God" conversions. Obviously there is truth in both, that quote just seems to fit so well.

[Ian Gentles]

I love his space triology as well, much more for adults.

[Paula Karr]

Confession time.

I'm a Christian. I love to read. I've never read anything by C. S. Lewis.

About a year ago, I rented the dvd of LWW, but our player wasn't working well, so I never got to watch the whole movie. Last night it was on network TV, so I decided to start again to see if I could make it through to the end without falling asleep.

About halfway through the movie, knowing at least enough about it to know that it was allegorical (a concept my brain doesn't grasp easily), I pulled out a copy of "C. S. Lewis for Dummies" (yes, there is such a book) which I'd bought last year when I first committed myself to reading his works. For the rest of the movie, I spent the time during each commercial reading about what characters represented, and the overall themes of each of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Wow, wow, and triple wow. Loved the movie. I'm going to start reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" this week, and will then hope to branch out to more of his works after that. Wikipedia suggests reading the books in this order (chronological):

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

Any suggestions/feedback from those of you who have read the books would be most welcome.

[Ryan Scott]

Read them in the order they were written and published. It's the way the author intended:

Lion, Witch and Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle

[Marilyn Lawson]

I bought the scolastic boxed set back in 1995 when the kids were in school.

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

This is the order I they are boxed in - 7 different books.

Once you start reading, you will not stop. There is also a bit of a study package (as soon as I find where I have it, I will post a site address).

The books are amazing and the last book will blow your mind. I couldn't stop reading and have read them over 2 times now.

Have fun and go with the flow!!!!

[Jon Twitchell]

Even the publishing companies have gotten into the debate about which order they should be read in? The first set my family owned was boxed in the order they were written/published. That sat was horribly tattered and worn (I was the last of 4 boys). Someone had also taken a pen and numbered them in their "Narnian Chronological" order. The set I have now is boxed in that order as well.

The movies will be made in a pragmatic fashion, reflecting the age of the actors who play the primary characters.

For a discussion on the order, read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia#Reading_order

My personal recommendation is this:

If you have never read the books, and aren't sure if you will like them or not... read "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" first.

If you're going to read the entire series, but have never read any of the books, I'd still suggest reading LWW first.

If you think you will have time to read them through twice, I would read them first in the order they were written/published, and then read them again in the "Narnian Chronological" order that they seem to be published in today.

[Ryan Scott]

Yeah, the set we bought a couple years ago was in "chronological" order, but I have since rearranged them to the proper order.

They really were written the way they were meant to be read, even thought the Magician's Nephew is first in the timeline, it contains lots of references you won't get without having read the others first.

[Paula Karr]

Because the version I bought is all in ONE book (a very large paperback), I opted to start at the beginning with The Magician's Nephew. I'm glad I did.

Having seen the movie of LW&W, I loved reading how Narnia came into being, and finding out about the lamppost and the wood from the wardrobe before getting into that book. I plan to be doing quite a bit of reading this weekend, and am looking forward to it!

Thanks to all for your feedback.

Paula

[Susan Unger]

I have two memories of reading them when I was in 6th grade.

I had gotten the whole Little House on the Praire series in the summer and the whole Narnia series for Christmas break. My sixth grade reading teacher based a portion of our grade on how many books we read each quarter. We would have to report to her desk and give details about what we read so that she knew we had actually read it. So, I read all the little house books plus many others the first quarter. And then I read all but one of the Narnia books over christmas break during the second quarter. I was all excited when I came back from vacation cuz I was going to tell her all about my new Narnia books. :) I got up to her desk and said "I read 6 books over vacation!" Instead of asking me about them, she just gave me this funny look, said oooh..., wrote my name and the number of books and then went on to the next kid! Oh, how great was my disappointment :basic04 I wanted to tell her all about them. Eventually it dawned on me that she thought any kid who reads that many books can be trusted.

Then a few years later at church camp, the preacher spoke at length about Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia and how it compared to Christ. I had never noticed the allegory in the least when I read it so I thought the guy was taking some serious liberties and God was sure gonna get him for that. Since I didn't want to listen to some guy that God was gonna zap, I stopped listening. It wasn't until college that I discovered that CS Lewis was a christian when he wrote it and that the camp preacher was right after all! I felt a little silly then for thinking God was gonna zap the guy.

Some day when I have time and nothing to read, I should go back and read them and look for the allegory.

[Paula Karr]

Then a few years later at church camp, the preacher spoke at length about Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia and how it compared to Christ. I had never noticed the allegory in the least when I read it so I thought the guy was taking some serious liberties and God was sure gonna get him for that. Since I didn't want to listen to some guy that God was gonna zap, I stopped listening. It wasn't until college that I discovered that CS Lewis was a christian when he wrote it and that the camp preacher was right after all! I felt a little silly then for thinking God was gonna zap the guy.

Some day when I have time and nothing to read, I should go back and read them and look for the allegory.

Loved your story, Susan. When you do go back and read them, I really recommend getting the "For Dummies" companion I mentioned in an earlier post. What I've missed of the allegory on my own, the Dummies book has helped me to see.

Just finished LW&W, and am starting on The Horse and the Boy. I could kick myself for not reading this series 50 years ago so that I could have re-read it and enjoyed it many times since.

Paula

[Susan Unger]

Loved your story, Susan. When you do go back and read them, I really recommend getting the "For Dummies" companion I mentioned in an earlier post. What I've missed of the allegory on my own, the Dummies book has helped me to see.

Just finished LW&W, and am starting on The Horse and the Boy. I could kick myself for not reading this series 50 years ago so that I could have re-read it and enjoyed it many times since.

Paula

My favorite was Prince Caspian. I see that it is out in movie form now. I ought to read it this week just for fun :basic07

[Joanne Vergin]

Just finished LW&W, and am starting on The Horse and the Boy. I could kick myself for not reading this series 50 years ago so that I could have re-read it and enjoyed it many times since.

Paula

Wanna know why i didn't read them? Cuz a sooty kid at church loved them! What a dumb thing to do!

[Paula Karr]

Wanna know why i didn't read them? Cuz a sooty kid at church loved them! What a dumb thing to do!

It's never too late. Want me to send you my copy when I get done?

Paula

[Charles W Christian]

Confession time.

I'm a Christian. I love to read. I've never read anything by C. S. Lewis.

About a year ago, I rented the dvd of LWW, but our player wasn't working well, so I never got to watch the whole movie. Last night it was on network TV, so I decided to start again to see if I could make it through to the end without falling asleep.

About halfway through the movie, knowing at least enough about it to know that it was allegorical (a concept my brain doesn't grasp easily), I pulled out a copy of "C. S. Lewis for Dummies" (yes, there is such a book) which I'd bought last year when I first committed myself to reading his works. For the rest of the movie, I spent the time during each commercial reading about what characters represented, and the overall themes of each of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Wow, wow, and triple wow. Loved the movie. I'm going to start reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" this week, and will then hope to branch out to more of his works after that. Wikipedia suggests reading the books in this order (chronological):

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

Any suggestions/feedback from those of you who have read the books would be most welcome.

I'm not working through the Chronicles with my two boys (my wife and I do bedtime reading with them -- it's a family thing). It's at least my fourth time through all the Chronicles, and there are some many passages that still bring chills and even tears.....

Great stuff....

Charles

[Susan Unger]

If y'all are interested, you can take the "which Narnia character are you? Quiz" from http://www.beliefnet.com/section/quiz/index.asp?sectionID=5020006&surveyID=454 I am Lucy.

[Joanne Vergin]

You are Prince Caspian, who became the rightful heir of Narnia. You have a sharp eye for injustice and a humble heart to improve the world around you. You never quite rely on yourself to make changes; instead, you believe only teamwork can achieve them. As you grow in wisdom, you will learn to trust yourself.

[Paula Karr]

I just finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a few minutes ago -- bawling my eyes out.

I read in my C. S. Lewis for Dummies companion book that Reepicheep isn't an allegorical character who represents any particular Biblical character. But he is thought to represent what it's like to be a true disciple of Aslan.

Then I read about his entry into Aslan's country -- which he had looked forward to for so long. When I read, "Then he bade them goodbye, trying to be sad for their sakes; but he was quivering with happiness," I thought of Brad. Knowing how much he loved The Chronicles of Narnia, I just felt that perhaps Brad's moment of entry into Glory would have been a lot like that.

Wow, I miss that guy. I committed to reading The Chronicles of Narnia in Brad's honor -- and I'm so glad that I'm doing it.

[Barbara Moulton]

When I was in Grade 9 I wrote an essay on the religious elements in the fairy tales of C.S. Lewis. I got an "A" and the teacher commended me on my meticulous research.

I felt it wasn't quite justifed as I had read the books over at least a dozen times in the years before I wrote the essay :)

But I didn't correct her.

[Barbara Moulton]

I just finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a few minutes ago -- bawling my eyes out.

I read in my C. S. Lewis for Dummies companion book that Reepicheep isn't an allegorical character who represents any particular Biblical character. But he is thought to represent what it's like to be a true disciple of Aslan.

Then I read about his entry into Aslan's country -- which he had looked forward to for so long. When I read, "Then he bade them goodbye, trying to be sad for their sakes; but he was quivering with happiness," I thought of Brad. Knowing how much he loved The Chronicles of Narnia, I just felt that perhaps Brad's moment of entry into Glory would have been a lot like that.

Wow, I miss that guy. I committed to reading The Chronicles of Narnia in Brad's honor -- and I'm so glad that I'm doing it.

You'll love the ending of The Last Battle!

[Paula Karr]

You'll love the ending of The Last Battle!

Just finished "The Last Battle." You were absolutely right -- I loved it! It was breathtaking.

Further up and further in.

Paula

[Susan Unger]

Loved your story, Susan. When you do go back and read them, I really recommend getting the "For Dummies" companion I mentioned in an earlier post. What I've missed of the allegory on my own, the Dummies book has helped me to see.

Just finished LW&W, and am starting on The Horse and the Boy. I could kick myself for not reading this series 50 years ago so that I could have re-read it and enjoyed it many times since.

Paula

I read most of Prince Caspian last night in under an hour all the while thoroughly taking in the spiritual aspects for the first time. Wow...that was good stuff. And I did find a particular line that I heard that preacher speak on at camp when I was a kid - how lucy thought aslan was bigger than the last time she saw him. But, it was cuz she was bigger, not aslan. I remember the preacher saying that like Lucy seeing Aslan bigger cuz she was bigger, we will see God as bigger than before as we grow "bigger" as christians [meaning, grow in maturity as christians].

[Susan Unger]

You'll love the ending of The Last Battle!

You know, after reading Prince Caspian for the first time in decades last night, I kept having dreams about reepicheep. I think it was cuz I had seen your pic of reepicheep so much on your signature! :laughing