Blogcritics: Comments on From Narnia To Mitford For Christmas

Comment by Abraham Aamidor

Thu, 1 Dec 2005 10:01:42 EST

This is a note from reporter Abe Aamidor of The Indianapolis Star, the daily newspaper in Indianapolis. The URL listed is my personal blog, not the newspaper's. The Star is doing a little feature on best books to give for the Christsmas holiday season and we'll be including C.S. Lewis' books, currently being reissued, and I was impressed by your statements about the original order of publication. I'm looking for a quick quote for publication (we'll be listing several books very rapid-fire, with not much room for commentary). Will the owner of this blog call me, toll-free, at [phone number removed]? Thanks.

Comment by Phillip Winn

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:42:46 EST

Definitely switch! It's not too late! LW&W plunges you right into the story, with four great human characters. MN came much, much later, and is basically the "back-story" for LW&W, detailing the creation of the world, basically. Since it was written so late, it assumes — though Lewis is clearly trying not to — that you already know all about Narnia. Please, please, please, even if you read all of the rest in the current published order, start with LW&W and then Prince Caspian, which features the same four human characters from LW&W.

Comment by bhw

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:18:03 EST

Recent editions, including this one, have rearranged the books to match the chronological order of the stories as they take place in the mythical land of Narnia. ARGH! Thank you for pointing this out. My husband came home with The Lion/Witch/Wardrobe two nights ago for our son, only to open the book and see it labeled on the title page as Book 2. So they had to wait until last night for my husband to go back to the store and get The Magician's Nephew so they could start with the alleged Book 1. We had no idea that publishers are resequencing the books and that my hubby and son could have just started with Lion. I'm going to show the hubby this article and see if they want to switch back, since they're only a handful of pages into Magician. Thanks!

Comment by Phillip Winn

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:38:22 EST

I aim to please, Captain EO! I love these particular books intensely, and it seems to be easy to wax positive when that's the case.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:35:59 EST

very nice picaresque and cullinary journey, PW, thanks!