The Narnia Chronicles

[ramtops]

I've bought two boxed sets of C S Lewis' Narnia Chronicles in my life and (I think) had one bought for me... I certainly had all the books when I was a child, but I have no idea what happened to them. And, indeed, they may not have been in a box. But I digress ... The first set I bought was for my daughter kalunina when she was small, and the second a few years ago, from Amazon, for myself.

that last set sat on the bookshelves, unopened, until we catalogued all the books last year, when I did at least rip the cellophane off them. I hadn't read them myself for over about 35 years, probably, and I decided to do so over the recent late December holiday period.

I'm sure I bought them from Amazon UK, and was somewhat irritated to find that it is a US printing - odd typefaces, spelling USAnianised in places, and very badly proofread / typeset, with paragraphs repeating themselves in places.

I had remembered the the stories with much fondness - religious allegory and all - after all, I'm a convent girl, and I can brush religious allegory aside when need be. I was really looking forward to them, but oh *dear*. The Xian stuff reads to me now as though it's been shovelled on with a JCB, and the whole middle class mores jarred horribly. And the stories themselves are really quite light in most respects. I was actually pleased to finish the last one this morning - I was determined to get through them, but it was tough work.

I doubt I'll read them again, and I'll wait for LWW on DVD, I think.

next up: Alan Bennett's Untold Stories - looking forward to that.

Comments

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

I loathed Narnia as a kid, and loathed Lewis' "Cosmic Trilogy" even more as a teenager. I think I have an allegory allergy - or perhaps just an intolerance for apologetics.

Untold Stories is wonderful: you can hear Alan Bennett reading it all. It is however a very different book in tone to Writing Home - much of the first part of the book tells of some of the darker aspects of the Bennett family history and the account of his treatment for cancer is also rather sobering. There is, as always, much of the characteristic Bennett wit and economy with words, but the book leaves a slightly more sombre aftertaste.

[ramtops.livejournal.com]

I love his work, and have most of it.