Today, before church I sat down in the living and read the newest Lutheran Witness. In the newest issue there is an article about The Chronicles of Narnia movie that was just released this past friday. Now, before I go to much further I have something to admit: I am 31 years old and I have never read the the Narnia Series. As a matter of fact I don't think I'd even heard of it until just a few short years ago. I wasn't as keenly aware of books as a kid as I am now (much to my detriment, I know. I hadn't read the Lord of the Rings series until about three years ago). I've digressed too far... let me get back on track...
I was reluctant to read the series mainly because there has been such a rumbling about it from the Christian "right" and the evangelicals that seem to be all powerful as of late. From what I could gather Narnia was a repackaged gospel with Christ as a Lion, a talking lion at that. I wasn't interested. Matter of fact, I was pretty much going out of my way NOT to read the series and I was NOT going to see the movie. It looked too much like the LOTR movies, but after reading the Lutheran Witness article I found myself changing my tune. I thought the article was a very well written and insightful piece. The article said that the series is a kid's story first and foremost and if you really want to find gospel-esque overtones you can find them, but they aren't busting you over the head.
Then in church Pastor Y took the opportunity to tie the movie release into his sermon. After church my parents and I went to Barnes & Noble because I wanted to pick up this DVD that I had had on hold for the last two weeks. While I was there I found and purchased a small box set of the mass market paperbacks of the Narnia series.
So, did I cave into popculture and hop on the band wagon? I don't know, maybe, but I think it is important to be able follow along with what's going on right now and Narnia is hot right now. When Mel Gibson's snuff film The Passion came out I saw it the only reason I saw it was I got a free ticket from somewhere-- I think my dad bought me the ticket... whatever-- that is three hours of life I'll never reclaim... dah! Me and digression tonight...
Anyway, I bought the set and I started reading the first book (The Magician's Nephew). I'm about 50 pages into it-- its not bad, I've found myself wondering where its going already and that's a good thing because I have six more books to go after that one!
5 comments:
At one point in time, the books were boxed in the order they were published, which is the order I recommend reading them. These days, they're sold in the order the story takes place chronologically. The Magician's Nephew is my least favorite of the series. I think it's more fun to read about how Narnia began if you're already familiar with the land itself.
I hope you enjoy the books. Personally, I love them. And the movie's good too....
What order were they published in?
Hmmm...if I can remember right, I think it was:
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse & His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle.
I think that's it....
thanks Sherrah. What would I do with out you?
i rather liked them when i was young although i was far more impassioned by the hobbit/lord of the rings and the wrinkle in time series... his writing's a bit flat here for my tastes. ... i'll still go see the film though, at some point ...
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