10 Books A Day: #65

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe...C. S. Lewis...Collier Books

Prince Caspian...C. S. Lewis...Collier Books

The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader...C. S. Lewis...Collier Books

The Silver Chair...C. S. Lewis...Collier Books

The Horse And His Boy...C. S. Lewis...Collier Books

The Magician's Nephew...C. S. Lewis...Collier Books

The Last Battle...C. S. Lewis...Collier Books

A Book Of Narnians...C. S. Lewis, Pauline Baynes...Harper Trophy

The Land Of Narnia...Brian Sibley...Harper & Row

Companion To Narnia...Paul F. Ford...Collier Books

Tales Before Narnia...ed. Douglas A. Anderson...Ballantine Books/Del Rey


The Secret Country Of C. S. Lewis...Anne Arnott...Eerdmans

The Magical Worlds Of Narnia...David Colbert...Berkley

Past Watchful Dragons...Walter Hooper...Wipf & Stock

The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures In Narnia...Laura Miller...Little, Brown


Now begins a healthy run of books by and about C. S. Lewis and his works. These are all related to the Narnia Chronicles. A Book of Narnians is made up of quotations from the books accompanied by new paintings by Pauline Baynes, fleshing out and adding to her original illustrations from the series. Companion to Narnia is a handy dandy little encyclopedia of all names and terms in and associated with the Chronicles. Tales Before Narnia is a collection of stories that influenced Lewis. The Magical Worlds Of Narnia is a rather slapdash "look behind" the Narnia stories; it's one of a series (along with ones about Harry Potter and Middle-Earth) that seem to have been produced to ride on the coat-tails of the movies' popularity. Walter Hooper's and Laura Miller's books seem to rather nicely balance each other out. What Hooper's reverence and theological insight might miss, Miller's literary and "skeptical" enthusiasm can supply. Laura Miller loves Narnia; what baffles her is how Narnia can have anything to do with a religion that she finds repugnant, how Lewis could sneak "past watchful dragons" in her own mind. She comes up with good arguments why anyone (not just Christians) can read and profitably enjoy the Chronicles, and it seems unlikely, once having taken this stance, that she will change it. But like Susan at the end of The Last Battle we can still hope for her future; after all, anyone who is a Friend of Narnia has something going for them.

Book Count: 828.