A Walk Through Narnia

[Gypsy]

Is anyone interested in doing a jaunt through the wardrobe (or putting on a yellow ring, depending on the order you like to read the books) chapter by chapter and sharing thoughts and insight? There's dozens of books about Narnia now because of the upcoming movie, but I think it'd be fun to have our own little Narnian session. I find something new every time I read the books and I'm curious to see them through other CAA members' eyes.

[bigsleepj]

Sounds interesting. I'm willing to do. I'm for it. I doubt I'd add anything of particular value but I'm willing to partake.

[mitsuki lover]

It would be interesting.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I would be interested in contributing also. But I don't think I would be up to doing it by myself.

[TurkishMonky]

i could be a contributer as well

[Scribs]

sounds fun. I would do it, but I dont think I have time right now. Perhaps I will pop in occasionally when I do have time to read the current chapter. I have read them all multiple times, so I would be able to pop in and out and still know what is happening.

I would suggest reading them in the order they were written, I think that they make better sence that way.

[mitsuki lover]

I would disagree on the order of reading as I perfer a more chronolgical order starting with The Magician's Nephew(pre-history of Narnia)and ending with
The Last Battle(Final Days of Narnia).

[Gypsy]

Hmm, I suppose we should really figure out which book to start on soon, then. We have enough people to start anytime, and people dropping in once in a while would keep things interesting. Would a chapter a day work better, or a chapter every two? I know some people have school to deal with, and while a Narnian chapter usually isn't very long, it would add to the load. I'm fine with whatever everyone else wants in any case.

[Yeshua-Knight]

i'm up for it, i'll end up reading them in chronological order just 'cus that's the way i know of them in, when do we start?

[soul alive]

I'm so in, I haven't read them in a while, and have been planning on re-reading them (for at least the 10th time) before the movie comes out. I've always read them in chronological order because that's what my set is arranged in, but I'm totally up for reading them in publishing order. Whatever the concensus is, I'm pretty much fine with.

[mitsuki lover]

Basically they are all so short that it takes only a day to read through each one.

[Gypsy]

Yeah, they're short and you can burn through them like ... a hot thing through a very flimsy, flammable thing ...

But reading speed isn't the point - it's more like digesting each chapter and picking out the things Lewis left in between the lines. Also, people will be able to stop in and out of this thread as their schedule allows.

The movie comes out the 9th in the US ... there's 17 chapters in LWW, so if we do a chapter every weekday (starting this coming Monday, the 14th), we'll finish a few days before the movie comes out and have some breathing room (you know, Thanksgiving and such).

On the flip side, if everyone really wanted to read MN first, we'd have to start ... yesterday, and then double up on a few chapters to get through the first two books before the movie opens. And I'm basing this all on the 9th, because personally I'd like to give LWW a very fresh reviewing before seeing the movie. If this is no big deal to anyone else, then I'm fine with that too.

Thoughts?

[Yeshua-Knight]

since l/w/w is the first one being released, why not start there, if the movie ends up covering more than one book, we can go back and read the others as well if necessary

[TurkishMonky]

i've just read through CoN again, anywhere would be fine with me.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Published order is best. Its the most mysterious and interesting way to read it. I only ever read it in chronological order for many years and then in the last few years I tried the published order and it is so much better. Wish I'd read it first time that way.
I think we should start with LWW.

[bigsleepj]

I'm for the Published Order as well. But that's just me.

[Sparrowhawk]

I'm willing to contribute whenever I can. I'm afraid my internet at home is not working very well, but I'm a huge Narnia fan (read them many times). I think chronological is best and it was also C.S. Lewis's (or Jack, as some know him) preferred order according to his biography by George Sayer (the title is "Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis). But i have read them in both orders, and i think that they are fine.

However, we should be careful not over-analize. I have heard Jack wrote these stories for children in hopes of when they were older they would remember his stories as they heard the themes of the Bible, they could start seeing the parrellels. If that's the case, i don't want to try to make something appear that was not there. The stories i don't think were meant to be hard to figure out, so if we try to pull something out of minute details, we may be coming up with something he did not intend

[Gypsy]

I don't think that anyone is expecting a full-blown book report - it's just getting insight from other readers. Because of our different backgrounds and stuff, different themes are going to catch us different ways.

[mitsuki lover]

My copy is in my other bedroom in the country.I would have to go get it.
Seriously I DO have another bedroom.

[TurkishMonky]

enough discussing - when do we start on chapter one?

[Gypsy]

Tomorrow I guess, if that's ok with everyone.

[mitsuki lover]

Don't know when I will be able to get ahold of my copy though.

[Gypsy]

But we'll be going so slow through this, I'll bet you'll have a lot of time to catch up.

So I suppose whoever is interested, read the first chapter at some point today and post your thoughts. ^^

[TurkishMonky]

I think the thing that gets me every time i read the first chapter is how in such a huge house Lucy "stumbles" on just the right room, in just the right wardrobe. I think it is an allusion to how God works through providence to guide us in our lives.

(kind of OOC: Also, the wardrobe in the movie does't have a looking glass in its door, does it?)

[soul alive]

Arg. I so wanted to do this, but a bunch of stuff has come up, and I just don't have the time. T_T All I have time for for a while is school and homework, I will barely have time to eat and sleep let alone do extra reading. Big bummer. I'll pop in once in a while and see if I can contribute from memory, though, I have read the series at least 10 or so times. *cries* Sometimes I hate college.

[Gypsy]

Wow .. things came up and ... well, tale as old as time, I guess. But let's try to keep this spinning, shall we?

Just some trivia to start off with:

The Lucy that LWW was dedicated to died in 2003.

Originally, the children's names were Ann, Martin, Rose, and Peter. Peter was to be the youngest and main character.

And now it's late ... I guess I'll finish my post tomorrow. We should be on ... chapter 4 (?) tomorrow, I think.

[Gypsy]

Double post, yeehaw.

Chapter 1 - TurkishMonkey, I saw that too - the fact that nothing happens by accident with God. He'll make things happen when we least expect it. It's also neat to think about big God is, and that just like Narnia exists side-by-side with our world, Heaven, the spiritual realm, is also happening right now in some other place this very moment.

I never caught on that a blue-bottle is a bug before ... I always thought there was an actual blue bottle on the window sill. I also wonder if the room all hung in green with the harp in the corner might have been a seed for a certain green lady with a harp later on.

Chapter 2 - The first time I read LWW, I thought that Mr. Tumnus was a cry-baby wuss. I think differently now. You know how sometimes we'll knowingly be going along with something we know is wrong, and other people will follow because we're "nice"? We all know about the whole evil cloaked as good part, but sometimes good people will lead us to dangerous places, whether they mean us harm or not. It's also really hard to stop mistakes and cover-ups when you're knee deep in them, but Mr. Tumnus did the right and brave thing by calling it to a hault. It was putting him at great personal risk, but in the end, he did the right thing and let Lucy go - even making sure she got back safely. And even though Lucy was almost delievered right into the enemy's palm, she did the right thing by offering ready forgiveness.

And my word, they do like their toast, don't they?

Chapter 3 - I really don't have much to say other than Lewis did a good job making you want to kick Edmund in the shins. Oh, and I've noticed on book covers and movie previews that the White Witch does not have minature reindeer and a dwarf leading her sleigh - she's got three freaking polar bears!

Chapter 4 (today, caught up!) - I think the ties here concerning the White Witch and the Turkish Delight are pretty obvious, but a strong reminder never hurts. Sin comes in many forms and will offer us "good" things. Sin will be fun - we wouldn't do it otherwise. I read a prayer in a book the other day, and someone honestly prayed something like this: "Lord, help me to deny the sins I enjoy." But just like the Turkish Delight, it's never going to satisfy, and it'll hook us so strong and fast we'll never know what hit us.

I tried Turkish Delight the other day - it was really good and I can understand why Edmund scarfed it. ^^;

[TurkishMonky]

great insights, Gypsy! however, do you think we should slow it to a chapter every 2 days, so others don't get too behind? anywho...

Chapter 2: the frst thing that gets me is that Mr. Tumnus is wearing no shirt, but has a scarf on? Probably, from the other CoN books, Mr. Tumnus's views on man stem from the savage calormen in the south, so his surprise we he sees Lucy is understandable.

Chapters 3-4: One thing i seem to think the movie doesn't do very well is portray the white witch as "tall and beautiful" (from what i've seen), instead, she is easily seen as a bad guy at first glance. from my pov, she should instead should portray the "angel of light" scheme. Evil/Satan/Sin is often difficult to discern at first glance, and so should it's representaition.
anyway, back to the book, i think one of the more interestig points about the turkish delight was that Edmund was craving it so badly even while being sick to his stomach from it. The first time i read that i was like, "Sin doesn't make you sick to your stomach while your sinning, it's afterwards that you hurt, isn't it?" However, at further glance, i agreed with the book. Sincan hurt you even while you're craving for more.

(hope i'm making sense, i had 1 hour between classes to think it through. cant wait for next chapter postings!)

[TurkishMonky]

*cough, cough, double post?*
Chapter five is one of my favorite chapters, but it doesn't really take place in Narnia. I like the part where the professor gives a classic christian defense for the defense of Lucy's sanity. I dunno, i just think the professor is an awesome character, and it would be sweet if he was able to go back to Narnia to command some narnian army with his intelligece.. ah well.

[Gypsy]

Yeah, I always loved the logic he presented to the two older kids about Lucy. Sometimes stuff is just so simple that it can't possibly make sense.