I finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (I bought the *Narnia* book containing all the Narnia novels and saw the movie a few days ago: 2005-12-17 Movies). I liked the book. Here, the plot, the manner of speech, the simple characterizations really work well. It reminded me of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Maybe I should read up on their common beginnings in the “Inklings” and the differences they later had on the subject of story telling.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
That reminds me, I should order the follow-up to *Singularity Sky* which I finished a few days ago (2005-12-13 Books) – Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross. (I need to repeat the name of the author so that my wiki will automatically link the book to a search...)
Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross
So, what did I think of *The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe*? Well, the most important thing is what I remember from my ancient childhood. I read the book or watched the movie at such an early age that I did not really remember the story when I watched the movie or read the book. But there where some images that had totally left their impression on me. For example, the Lion sacrificing itself, and the stone table with ancient magic from the dawn of time, and there being even older magic from before the dawn of time. That intrigued me to end.
And of course the possibility of finding another world inside everyday objects such as wardrobes. That was something I remembered very well.
The ice queen petrifying her enemies was also something I remembered very well. I didn’t have nightmares or anything. But it was something I remembered. There was an ice queen, and she could turn people to stone. Even after I had forgotten the plot, the children, the endless winter, and Santa Clause, I remembered the white witch.
What did the story mean to me? I wasn’t too impressed with the moral values of the story (sacrifice, betrayal, forgiveness), nor was I as impressed as I was back then with the fantastic creatures in the book (centaurs, fauns, dwarves). I think it was a kind of simplifity that enchanted me. Simple sentences. The author talking to me directly. The text reduced to the bare essentials. In a way, it’s like Ernest Hemingway: On the surface, the text is reduced to the max.
I think that’s what I liked about it as I reread the story at age 32. 😄
#Books
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Yay!
I have The Hobbit, Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise... It’s just that I am reading Calvin and Hobbes first.
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– V 2005-12-21 05:41 UTC
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Oh, that reminds me... In one of the bookstores I saw a big book with absolutely *all* the Calvin and Hobbes strips – The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Watterson.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Watterson
It feels as if they had been ripping everybody off all these years, because clearly everybody needs *all* of them!!
– Alex Schroeder 2005-12-21 10:40 UTC
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I am planning to buy that pack soon.
– V 2005-12-22 10:18 UTC
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Thanks for the review. 😄
– LionKimbro 2005-12-28 07:17 UTC
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der film war wirklich übel (abgesehen von der animation und den efects). hätten rabea und ich unseren gemeinsamen abend doch lieber mit oliver twist (oder king kong?) verbracht... ;)
– zeno 2006-01-03 10:52 UTC