So with the writer's strike that happened this winter and TV being a "reality" wasteland, I have returned to an old favorite pastime of mine: reading. What a pleasure it has been to pick up a book and allow my imagination to go to work instead of having all the colors and shapes dictated to me by my television. Always being a "read the book before you see the movie" kind of person my first quest was to read the Chronicles of Narnia series by CS Lewis. I know that it is crazy that here I am 30 years old having never read these wonderful books. Thanks to the CLEVNET inter-library loan system I finished them all over the course of a month. I really enjoyed them, although I told my husband that I wished that I had not known about the allegory (Aslan = Jesus) before reading them. I would have loved to discover that for myself and pick it apart in my brain. I found the last book the most interesting as I think that it has the most parallels to the Bible and some of Lewis' statements really made me wrestle with my ideas of eschatology, mythology, and even theology.
Last week my husband and I watched the movie about the second book "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" that Disney made a few years ago. I found it to be pretty true to the book. The scene where Aslan is killed by the White Witch is well done and moved me like no human rendering of the crucifixion ever has. I am excited to see "Prince Caspian," which is based on book four, soon (we were unable to get a babysitter this weekend). Friends that have seen it have said that it is very good. I know that they are making book five, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," to be released in 2010. That should be good too. I hope that they will go on and make the rest of the series, but only if they stick to the books. "The Silver Chair " (book 6) is a really good story about the power of evil to enslave us and of course "The Last Battle" (book 7) is awesome and beautiful. It had me in tears more times that I can remember. What a thought-provoking experience it was. So thank you Hollywood writers for helping me rediscover the joy of a good book!
2 comments:
Yay! I can't wait to see the new movie!
Hi, Sarah... I am friends on FB with James after we went to Cedarville together... just an FYI; if you get a chance I would read the CON series in published order, not numerical order and see how they float your boat. I also have a "newer" numbered series but as a kid read them in published order and have since gone back to reading them in the original published order and enjoy them much better that way than the numerical order.
The order is (by number): 2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 1, 7 (if my son didn't move them around in our set). The title order is (and this I have on a list so I know it's fairly accurate but you could always check wikipedia to be sure). Lion Witch Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Dawn Treader, Silver Chair, Horse & His Boy, Magician's Nephew, and Last Battle.
They are making the movies in the original published order because of the ages of the Pevensie actors and the actors who will eventually play Eustace and Jill.
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