Chronicles of Narnia Read along.

Whilst looking around for some challenges for 2011 I came across this one. I absolutely love the Narnia series and since they are fairly short books it should be quite achievable for me. And the best thing is that it only starts in February so I have a chance to settle in to the year first!
NB: This was published on 21/12/2010, however, it keeps getting moved when I edit it.

1. The Magicians Nephew
2. The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe
3. The Horse and his boy
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
6. The silver chair
7. The Last Battle

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S Lewis

I have to say that this is one of my favourites in the series. In a way it reminds me a bit of Gullivers Travels.
At the start of the book we find Edmund and Lucy Pevensey staying with their cousin, Eustace. Eustace is a particularly spoiled, annoying little brat. In fact there were times when if I was Edmund or Lucy, I think I would have slapped him. The three children are admiring a forgotten panting in the guest bedroom when they are sucked into Narnia. There they meet up with Caspian who is on a voyage to discover the fate of the seven Lost Lords of Narnia. What follows is an astonishing series of adventures where the children are repeatedly in danger but eventuallly once again it all works out. I liked the format of having lots of little stories throughout the book, and there was definitely enough adventure to keep me going.
Favourite parts:

• I loved Eustaces little comments, although he was very annoying in the beginning. I loved how he kept asking for the British Embassy
• Reepicheep the mouse makes an appearance again and is of course a favourite
• the scene where the governor of Lone Islands is replaced by Lord Bern
• Eustace waking up and discovering he is a dragon
• the Duffs Island
• the Island of the star with the sleeping Lords
• sailing over the merpeople

The ending is quite sad since we wont be seeing Lucy and Edmund again, but I know that there are still two books left in the series.
 

Prince Caspian

I am a little late for this review, just been really busy and I also battled to get hold of this book and actually ended up buying it. I know that I have a copy somewhere, but never managed to find it.
One thing I find a little bit annoying in C.S. Lewis books is that very often the main character actually has a supporting role if that makes sense. All the action sort of happens around them. In The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe the children were there, but didnt really cause anything to happen. Once again in this book, Prince Caspian although he appears to be the main character doesn't really do anything. He just waits for everyone else to sort his problems out. Also, in this story a lot of the action is told third hand rather than us seeing it happen. That said, I did enjoy the book, lol, although it may sound like I didnt. I like the way C.S Lewis writes as if he is telling you the story and the little side comments he puts in for the reader. I also think the books are fun, simple reads for children and adults.
Favourite parts

• the parts where they are wondering around Cair Paravel, but dont realise what it is
• rescuing the dwarf
• the parts where Lucy sees Aslan and the others dont
• the romp and feast with all the woodland creatures
• I loved the mouse Reepicheep
• the part where Aslan walks through Narnia picking people out to join him
• I also felt there was quit a lot of growth in the children, particularly Lucy

Favourite quote:
"That's the worst of girls," said Edmund to Peter and the Dwarf. "They never carry a map in their heads.""That's because our heads have something inside them," said Lucy

Read-a-thon - reading pile.

The read-a-thon starts tomorrow and I am really excited if a little apprehensive. I am still not entirely sure what happens, but I guess I will get into it as I go along. This afternoon I popped into the library and sorted out my reading pile. It includes the following books:

• Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - I would like to finish this book, but since I am only a quarter of the way through it is not likely
• The way we were by Marcia Willett
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte -on chapter 12 will go up to 23 for the read a long.
• The two towers by J.R.R Tolkien - chapters 1-7 for Read a long
• Sex and the city by Candace Bushnell (having a second try at this)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - will read volume 1
• The Messiah Code by Michael Cordy
• The voyage of the dawn treader by C.S Lewis

I do have a few more books lying around which I can turn to if I get bored of those, but I at least want to make sure I finish the read a long books.
Tomorrow morning I will stop off at the shop for some snacks and meals to keep me going and then I think that I am set.
See you tomorrow at 14:00 my time (12:00 GMT)

The Horse and His boy

A young boy is bought up by a man who found him in a boat. Although he is treated badly, he really knows no other life, and seems to accept this as normal. When he hears his "father" scheming to sell him to a passing nobleman he runs away on the noblemans horse. This is no ordinary horse, but actually, Bree, a talking horse from Narnia. They decide to run away to Narnia and so their adventure begins. On the way they meet Aravis and her talking horse, Hwin, also runaways. They eventually make it to Narnia via Tashbaan the capital city of Calormen. Calormen is across the desert from Archenland and Narnia.
This was the first book in the series that I was given as a child but I did not really remember much of it at all. I think in my head I had mixed it up a bit with Prince Caspian. I think that some people may feel that this book is a bit racist since the "bad guys" are darker than the good guys. However, once again it is a childs book and I think we shouldnt really look into it too deeply. In reading it I never really picked it up, but thought about it afterwards. There was also less of the Christian emphasis in this book, but there is a bit there.
Favourite parts: The first scene where Shasta meets Bree. I thought this was very funny.
The scene where they meet the lions and then Aravis
The scenes in Tashbaan, I just loved the descriptions. I also loved where Aravis was hiding behind the couch and her "Fiancee" (who she was running away from) was being beaten by the kings son.
The scene where Shasta is in the desert and protected by the cat.
The scene where Shasta is running through the mountains and the "breathing" is on his left. He later finds that this is Aslan who has been protecting him.
I just loved the outcome with Rabadash being turned into a donkey, thought it was very fitting.
I also loved the descriptions as well as the very beautiful, humourous pictures in the copy I read.


All in all, I think this has been my favourite in the series so far. Maybe because I knew much less of the story, also there was so much action, it kept me on my toes.

The Lion, the withch and The Wardrobe by C.S Lewis

The Narnia Read a long continues. I only finished this one yesterday, so actually timed it better.
I think this is the most famous book of the series, and definitely the one that I remember the most from childhood. Before I start I will just say that I am finding it a little hard to review this book. I have read it twice at least and watched the movie twice. However, we also have the Playstation game, which my daughter plays continuously. So, I think that all the impressions are a bit jumbled up in my brain, lol and proving hard to seperate.
The story starts with four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy being evacuated from war torn London and sent to live with an old professor in the country. While there they discover a whole another land which they enter through a wardrobe in the spare room. Every childs dream, lol. Of course, their is evil lurking in this world and they discover that it is actually their job to attempt to drive this evil out and save the world. Of course they do this with the assistance of a whole heap of characters including Father Christmas, Mr & Mrs Beaver and of course Aslan, the God-like Lion.
I really enjoyed reading this book and just find the whole concept so magical. It got some quite withering reports on  Goodreads and a few other places which surprised me. There were some things which I agreed with but all in all I enjoyed the book. After thinking about it though I think that it depends on how you look at it. This is a book written for youngish children and therefore perhaps we shouldnt look too deeply into the writing faults. These would not be so obvious to a young child, and perhaps it is necessary to have them understand it. If you compare it to "great literature" it probably will fall short. The story itself is lovely, but the characters are not really developed and there is not too much "fleshing out" of the plot if that makes sense. It is quick, it is easy to read and the story is simple, and I guess that is what appeals to kids. I think it is hard to compare it to books like Harry Potter because those were written for a slightly older audience. I would say this was geared more for the under 10s.
Some people also criticised it saying it was racist and how the original inhabitants couldnt solve their own problems they had to be sorted out by a bunch of British schoolchildren. Once again you have to look at who it was probably written for - British schoolchildren. And I dont necessarily think a child would pick up on this aspect either.
Lastly, the whole Christianity thing, which has got quite scathing remarks all around, and seems to have really offended some people. As I said with The Magicians Nephew, I really picked this up a lot more now than I did as a child. Yes, there are signs of Christianity, with Aslan coming to save the world etc. However, the way I saw it was more of the fight of good against evil. Once again, it is written for children and I personally dont think that a young child who is not Christian would recognise any of the obvious similarities. Having said that C.S Lewis was a very devout Christian and why shouldn't he be able to write Christian "themed" books. If you dont like it, dont read them. I just don't see why we critisize Christian writers for saying Christian things if we don't critisize Hindus/Muslims/Buddhists for writing books about their religion. I hope I haven't offended anybody with that it certainly was not my intention.
Anyway, off my soapbox and back to the book:
Favourite scenes:
Lucy first entering Narnia and meeting Mr. Tumnus
The scene where Edmund meets the Witch, I love the whole Turkish Delight bit
The scene where Mrs Beaver keeps making them pack things for their journey and asks if she should bring the sewing machine
Aslan bringing the statues to life
The last scene in Narnia where they discuss the lamp-post.

Now I have to go and find my copy of The Prince and his boy.

The Magicians Nephew

I read this entire series when I was a child and since then read this book an The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe at the time that TLTWTW came out at the cinemas. The picture on this is the same as the one on my copy but it is a different edition. I still have the copy that I was given as a child, in fact it has my name written on the inside cover in very childish writing in pencil and also in slightly more mature writing in pen!

I never realised that there was any controversy over the order of the books. I do remember that when I read the books the first time it was a bit of a lightbulb moment when I realised that that was the start of Narnia and that the book actually had anything to do with TLTWTW. (I may have been a bit dim lol)

I really enjoy these books so much, since even though some scary and reasonably thought provoking stuff happens they are still so innocent and easily read. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series since their are a few that I dont really remember much. 

As far as this book goes, I think it is a really good introduction to the series. I love the relationship between Polly and Diggory they are like two old souls in childrens bodies. Even though he is not really a hero I like Uncle Andrew. It always seems to me like he is trying to be the big, clever, powerful magician but is actually quite happy that he isn't. But when it does work it really shocks him. This is the first time that I have picked out that he is actually a bit of an alchoholic, I never really noticed it much in my previous reads. 

What was also much more obvious to me this time was the strong similarities to Christianity in the book, the whole Good vs evil thing. It may also be though that I am more aware now of what a devout Christian C.S Lewis was.

Favourite scenes: There are many!

• Polly and Diggory meeting each other
• their first meeting in the wood between the worlds
• the charn scenes especially once Jadis comes on the scene
• the scenes where we see the aftermath of Jadis roaming about London
• the scenes with Uncle Andrew and the animals. I love the idea of him being planted and watered
• Not really a scene, but I also picked up a lot more of the humour in this book than I have the last times and I just loved how he kept talking about the housemaid's good day with all the comings and goings.

My original plan with this book was to spread it out over the entire two weeks, however I forgot that 14 chapters in 2 weeks was 1 chapter per day not 2, as a result I read it much quicker, so have been desperate to start the next one, which I will do tonight. (I know that there is no law to say I cant read it before the correct dates,  but want to stay with the program!)