The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is a classic children's fantasy story set during World War II.  Four siblings (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) are sent to the country to escape the bombing of London, and the house where they are to be living is owned by an old and eccentric professor.  There are many rooms to explore, all full of fascinating and mysterious things.  While exploring the house, the children come across a room that is empty except for a large, wooden wardrobe.  Lucy soon discovers that this wardrobe is a kind of doorway into another world:  Narnia.

She meets a faun not long after entering, and after becoming friends with him, she finds that if she doesn't leave quickly, she will become the prisoner of the White Witch, the dictator-queen.  Of course, when she gets back through the wardrobe and tells her siblings about the wood she found through the wardrobe, none of them believe her; it's not until later, when they all find themselves forced to hide in the wardrobe together from the professor's housekeeper, that they see for themselves that she was telling the truth (although Edmund had actually got into Narnia once as well, and met Lucy on his way out, but he's kind of a dick, so he lied to Peter and Susan about it).

The real adventure starts when they all go to visit Lucy's friend, the faun, only to find that he has been arrested for not turning Lucy in to the witch.  They agree (Edmund not really so much) that it's only right to try and help Mr Tumnus if they can, since it was because of Lucy that he was arrested in the first place.  

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I can't even count how many times I've read this book.  The entire series is great, and I never get tired of reading each of the books.  Because of the movie that came out back in 2005, this is probably the most well-known of the series.  I like the Pevensie children (except Edmund not so much at first, since he's kind of a little d-bag); they aren't exactly the most complex characters you will ever come across, but that doesn't make them awful or too boring.  Sometimes I get a little annoyed with how goody-goody they seem, because that just does not feel very real, but they are children living during one of the worst times in modern history, so maybe they're just trying to make the best of things as well as they can.

The Magician's Nephew

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis is actually not the first book that was published of The Chronicles of Narnia - it was the second to last to be published.  It's usually presented as the first book in the series, however, because it is first chronologically.  Since "Book 1" is printed on the spine of the copy I have, and the omnibus I have has this one first, I can't bring myself to read them in order of publication.

Probably The Magician's Nephew is one of the least known of all seven books, since most people only really know of the books which feature the Pevensie children.  The children in this book are Digory and Polly, a young boy and girl who live next door to each other in London.  Digory's mother is very ill, and his father is in India for work, so he and his mother have come to London to live with her brother and sister in their home.  Digory thinks his Uncle Andrew is straight crazy, and is a little wary of him, and he finds he had good reason to feel this way when one day, he and Polly accidentally get into his upstairs study while exploring a tunnel which runs the length of all the houses.

Uncle Andrew, as it turns out, is a magician.  He is convinced he's unlocked the secret to moving between their world and other worlds, but rather than go himself (he's quite old, you see, this sort of thing is really only fit for someone still young), he tricks Polly into being sent from their world, leaving Digory no choice but to go after her (well, really he does have a choice, but he's not a douche, so he goes).

Narnia Reading Project 2012

Okay.  So I may be overdoing it a little with signing up for so many challenges, but I came across The Narnia Reading Project this morning, and thought "what the heck."  This is the series that introduced me to fantasy fiction, and having recently revisited the genre in a big way, I've fallen in love all over again.  Why not re-read the series that began it all for me?

This "challenge" is hosted by Rikki at Rikki's Teleidoscope, and it's not really a challenge in the strict sense of the word, which is why I guess it's really the Narnia Reading Project.  There's no set deadline or anything like that - just read the books, and head to the Narnia Reading Project post to discuss!

Do you want to find your way back to Narnia (or visit for the first time) in 2012?  Lucky for you, you don't need rings or a wardrobe or any kind of magic, really...just head over to the main post linked above and sign up for the Reading Project!

1.  The Magician's Nephew
2.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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