Of Lions, Witches, and the Wardrobes they live in….

Here’s an embarrassing admission for me, an avowed lover of the fantasy genre: I have never read The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I’ve only read the first one, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and until today, I didn’t even realize that in the seven-book series, Lion… is usually billed as the first book, but is in story-terms the second book in the series. Wow.

Since there’s a movie coming out of Lion…, maybe it’s time I tracked the series down and read it. I recall reading Lion… in a single day, while my family was moving from Portland, OR to our eventual home in Western New York. My mother, who always kept some book around in case I got into trouble (at which point she’d intercede and tell me I could do nothing else until I read said book), happened to keep a copy unpacked from all of the other books in the boxes in the Ryder truck. Funny thing, that.

Now as to why I never continued with the series, I don’t know. I seem to recall starting Prince Caspian several times and never finishing it, much less any of the other volumes.

Here’s a page on the Narnia reading order, and here’s Jason Streed’s post on the subject to which this post is a response of sorts. Although not really, since I still haven’t read the books.

“Hey, did you read that book?”

“Nope.”

“Me either.” (beat) “Looks like rain later, eh?”

“Yup.”