Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction:
The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again
As a child, I was never a Tolkien fanatic. I was a fanatic about other books – all of Madeleine L’Engle’s “time” books, and I loved Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – and loved it so much that I didn’t even get into the other books in that series (a situation that I do want to rectify some day). I read The Hobbit in 4th grade, and adored it – but it didn’t propel me on to the level of fandom that some of my friends experienced – and I didn’t read The Ring Trilogy until much later, high school maybe? I re-read all of them when Peter Jackson’s movies came out, just to refresh – and I liked them better as an adult, but I feel like I missed that window – that tiny window that opens sometimes and creates a fanatic … as opposed to just a fan. Not sure if that makes sense. I explain all of this mainly because I know how passionately people feel about these books, and I totally respect that. I respect passion about anything, pretty much (unless you say to me, “I am totally passionate about killing puppies with no remorse!” or “I am totally passionate about engineering some sort of genocide!” I am not supportive of THAT kind of passion!) So even though I don’t share the passion for Tolkien’s books, I totally get it, if that makes sense. I just somehow missed that moment. And, for me, The Hobbit is superior to The Ring Trilogy. There was something about it that captivated me as a small child (especially that kick-ass first chapter. You would be hard pressed to find a better opening to a book!) and I still feel it now as I flip through the pages.
There is something about how Tolkien sets up Bilbo Baggins in that first chapter which is economical, poetic, and a perfect blend of the familiar and the strange. In not too many words, he paints a picture of the ultimate homebody. A cozy small creature who liked his fireplace and his meals and being cozy and warm inside. So to then picture him running and fleeing from monsters and such with huge scary wizards pushing him on is inconceivable. It’s a classic tale – of someone called to a task who is not quite ready or prepared. But it was the picture of domestic warmth and comfort in that first chapter that sucked me in. I wasn’t one of those little girls who really enjoyed “playing house” – but I DID like little small things … I liked things in miniature. The people who lived behind the bookcase at Captain Kangaroo’s house, for example. Or the entire “Borrowers” series – HEAVEN!! I loved Fisher Price … because I loved the fact that they were so teeny … I don’t know why that caught my imagination so much, but it did. I wondered at the perspective of someone who was so small that he could use a human-sized thimble as a laundry basket. What would the world look like? I had a series of fairy books, where beautiful drawings of little fairies were shown lying around in buttercups or violets – flowers I knew well, I knew how small they were! So there was something about Bilbo’s house, its perfect snugness, how he had everything he needed right there … AND that he was small – not Fisher Price small – but small enough! I just loved that. I was sad when he had to leave his cozy house, and kept yearning and hoping for him to get back there again, where all was cozy and perfect. Which, of course, is Tolkien’s point – not just in The Hobbit but in the Ring trilogy: the yearning for home … Yearning for home makes up much of the world’s great myths – it’s probably the most human of all yearnings. Some hairy cave dude in 10,000 B.C. on a glacier killing a woolly mammoth is hoping that he will make it back to his hole in the rock by nightfall, where he will be safe for a time. You know … we all have that. Tolkien was smart to make his heroes Hobbits, the most homebound of creatures – small, domestic, in love with comfort, not up for change … and the simplest of pleasures are the best. To throw these creatures into the war between good and evil in their entire land … Just perfect. Who else could save everything but a Hobbit??
And that’s why the first chapter of The Hobbit is so perfect. Out of nowhere – seriously, out of a clear blue sky – dwarves show up at Bilbo Baggins’ door, and breeze in, hanging up their many colored hats (I looooved as a kid that each dwarf had his own color hat … It really appealed to my OCD side, and I memorized each dwarf’s color, because it pleased me to do so. It gave order to the chaotic universe) and they all assume he is expecting them, but he not only has no idea what is going on, it takes Bilbo a while to really understand what is going to happen, and that he will not be able to say “no” to Gandalf.
I guess what I’m saying is I related to Bilbo. The picture Tolkien paints of the coziness of his house was so captivating to me that I never wanted to leave it myself. It was like the Beaver’s house in Lion Witch Wardrobe (excerpt here) – a vision of coziness which is just made more poignant by the cold dangerous world just outside the warm yellow windows. Bilbo’s house is like that. He has a moment in the first chapter when he gets sucked into the wizards’ singing – and suddenly finds himself imagining unheard of things – dragons, jewels, being far far away from his home, caves, adventures – and it’s terrifying to him.
Little does he know!
Here’s an excerpt. I chose it because it has my favorite passage in the book, and maybe my second favorite thing Tolkien ever wrote (this has to be my first).
EXCERPT FROM The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again
So they laughed and sang in the trees; and pretty fair nonsense I daresay you think it. Not that they would care; they would only laugh all the more if you told them so. They were elves of course. Soon Bilbo caught glimpses of them as the darkness deepened. He loved elves, though he seldom met them; but he was a little frightened of them too. Dwarves don’t get on well with them. Even decent enough dwarves like Thorin and his friends think them foolish (which is a very foolish thing to think), or get annoyed with them. For some elves tease them and laugh at them, and most of all at their beards.
“Well, well!” said a voice. “Just look! Bilbo the hobbit on a pony, my dear! Isn’t it delicious!”
Then off they went into another song as ridiculous as the one I have written down in full. At last one, a tall young fellow, came out from the trees and bowed to Gandalf and to Thorin.
“Welcome to the valley!” he said.
“Thank you!: said Thorin a bit gruffly; but Gandalf was already off his horse and among the elves, talking merrily with them.
“You are a little out of your way,” said the elf: “that is, if you are making for the only path across the water and to the house beyond. We will set you right, but you had best get on foot, until you are over the bridge. Are you going to stay a bit and sing with us, or will you go straight on? Supper is preparing over there,” he said. “I can smell the wood-fires for the cooking.”
Tired as he was, Bilbo would have liked to stay a while. Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things. Also he would have liked to have a few private words with these people that seemed to know his names and all about him, although he had never seen them before. He thought their opinion of his adventure might be interesting. Elves know a lot and are wondrous folks for news, and know what is going on among the peoples of the land, as quick as water flows, or quicker.
But the dwarves were all for supper as soon as possible just then, and would not stay. On they all went, leading their ponies, till they were brought to a good path and so at last to the very brink of the river. It was flowing fast and noisily, as mountain-streams do of a summer evening, when sun has been all day on the snow far up above. There was only a narrow bridge of stone without a parapet, as narrow as a pony could well walk on; and over that they had to go, slow and careful, one by one, each leading his pony by the bridle. The elves had brought bright lanterns to the shore, and they sang a merry song as the party went across.
“Don’t dip your beard in the foam, father!” they cried to Thorin, who was bent almost on to his hands and knees. “It is long enough without watering it.”
“Mind Bilbo doesn’t eat all the cakes!” they called. “He is too fat to get through key-holes yet!”
“Hush, hush! Good People! and good night!” said Gandalf, who came last. “Valleys have ears, and some elves have over merry tongues. Good night!”
And so at last they all came to the Last Homely House, and found its doors flung wide.
Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they found it hard to leave. Bilbo would gladly have stopped there for ever and ever – even supposing a wish would have taken him right back to his hobbit-hole without trouble. Yet there is little to tell about their stay.
The master of the house was an elf-friend – one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief.
He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer. He comes into many tales, but his part in the story of Bilbo’s great adventure is only a small one, though important, as you will see, if we ever get to the end of it. His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley.
I wish I had time to tell you even a few of the tales or one or two of the songs that they heard in that house. All of them, the ponies as well, grey refreshed and strong in a few days there. Their clothes were mended as well as their bruises, their tempers and their hopes. Their bags were filled with food and provisions light to carry but strong to bring them over the mountain passes. Their plans were improved with the best advice. So the time came to midsummer eve, and they were to go on again with the early sun on midsummer morning.
Elrond knew all about runes of every kind. That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the trolls’ lair, and he said: “These are not troll-make. They are old swords, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon’s hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many years ago. This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foehammer that the king of Gondolin once wore. Keep them well!”
“Whence did the trolls get them, I wonder?” said Thorin looking at his sword with new interest.
“I could not say,” said Elrond, “but one may guess that your trolls had plundered other plunderers, or come on the remnants of old robberies in some hold in the mountains. I have heard that there are still forgotten treasures of old to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war.”
Thorin pondered these words. “I will keep this sword in honour,” he said. “May it soon cleave goblins once again!”
“A wish that is likely to be granted soon enough in the mountains!” said Elrond. “But show me now your map!”
He took it and gazed long at it, and he shook his head; for if he did not altogether approve of dwarves and their love of gold, he hated dragons and their cruel wickedness, and he grieved to remember the ruin of the town of Dale and its merry bells, and the burned banks of the bright River Running. The moon was shining in a broad silver crescent. He held up the map and the white light shone through it. “What is this?” he said. “There are moon-letters here, beside the plain runes which say ‘five feet high the door and three may walk abreast.'”
“What are moon-letters?” asked the hobbit full of excitement. He loved maps, as I have told you before; and he also liked runes and letters and cunning handwriting, though when he wrote himself it was a bit thin and spidery.
“Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them,” said Elrond, “not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, and what is more, with the more cunning sort it must be a moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written. The dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens, as your friends could tell you. These must have been written on a midsummer’s eve in a crescent moon, a long while ago.”
“What do they say?” asked Gandalf and Thorin together, a bit vexed perhaps that even Elrond should have found this out first, though really there had not been a chance before, and there would not have been another until goodness knows when.
“Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks,” read Elrond, “and the setting sun with the last light of Durin’s Day will shine upon the key-hole.”
“Durin, Durin!” said Thorin. “He was the father or the fathers of the eldest race of Dwarves, the Longbeards, and my first ancestor: I am his heir.”
“Then what is Durin’s Day?” asked Elrond.
“The first day of the dwarves’ New Year,” said Thorin, “is as all should know the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin’s Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together. But this will not help us much, I fear, for it passes our skill in these days to guess when such a time will come again.”
“That remains to be seen,” said Gandalf. “Is there any more writing?”
“None to be seen by this moon,” said Elrond, and he gave the map back to Thorin; and then they went down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer’s eve.
The Books: “The Hobbit” (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Next book on my adult fiction bookshelf for the Daily Book Excerpt: The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien As a child, I was never a Tolkien fanatic. I was a fanatic about other books – all of Madeleine L’Engle’s “time” books,…
I love this, Sheila! Your observations are spot on. Hobbits, Bilbo, everything. Part of what was so identifying for me in this book and the trilogy was these poor little hobbits thrown into something larger they shouldn’t have had to deal with; when I was a kid, we were being dragged all over the place, moving to some weird state or country every beeping year. I had a right to stability as a child, dammit. I should have been able to feel comfortable and have some place to call home. I never did.
Sorry for the over-indulgence, but I have to tell you the story about reading The Hobbit and LOTR as a kid. My dad was like yours – HUGE library. Books everywhere. And he didn’t hide the adult stuff. The Joy of Sex was right there next to the digest of medieval art. I used to sneak the LOTR books off his shelf — for some reason, I thought they were grown-up books that were a no-no that I would get in trouble for reading. I used to sneak them when my parents weren’t home, thinking I was being naughty. Oh gawd, I must have been about twelve. You remember the stupid, paranoid delusions you have at that age? I was even so afraid that I didn’t bookmark the pages when I’d slip them back on the shelves — I had a little piece of paper where I’d write down the page number I left off at and lock it away. After all, my dad may be compelled to pick up The Return of the King at random among all those books and notice that there was a bookmark in it and then I’d be in trouble. It’s so stupid in hindsight. When the movies came out, I told my dad about that. How I’d read all those books from his shelf as a kid thinking he’d kill me if he caught me doing it. He was like “What?!?!? Why in the world would I do that?!! Punish you for reading? Never!”
Emily – that is so so cute picturing you sneaking Tolkien’s books off the shelf!! And the little piece of paper with the page number on it – beautiful!!
They really are books that can transport people into another world – it’s kind of extraordinary.
You know, I’ve always been able to read ANYTHING. Any genre, any medium, anything. (My brother and I are notorious for not being able to sit at the table to eat and just. . . converse. We have to read something — the paper, a book, a cereal box — or it’s like our arms have been cut off.)
But I never could get into these books, even though my brother was a HUGE fan, and I think I know why. All the other sci-fi/fantasy books I’ve enjoyed in the past, like A Wrinkle in Time and the CS Lewis books, have had their basis in “our” world. I mean, there’s at least some point in the book where the characters are HERE. They’re anchored in MY reality, so it makes their flights into ANOTHER reality all the more interesting to me, I guess. I don’t know if I’m explaining it right.
I’ve tried and tried to read Tolkien, especially when the movies came out because my boys LOOOOOVVVVED them, but I couldn’t do it. It’s like my mind has to have some sort of reference point in this world. Am I weird? I’m weird.
(It’s the same reason that for all my love of crime/mystery novels, I could never get into Scott Turow’s books. He sets them in some fiction city, which is based on Chicago, and it is TOTALLY distracting to me, this non-place. Like, dude, JUST SAY CHICAGO! God.)
The cover of that book brought huge sense memories to me.
David – I know!! I have a more recent copy and I miss that old cover!
Lisa – I know what you mean about having one foot in “our” reality. That was always one of the reasons that Lion, Witch and Wardrobe “did more” for me as a little kid than the Tolkien books (not that it has to be either/or – but there does seem to be a lining up on either side thing that happens – Lewis fans HERE and Tolkien fans THERE).
I appreciate the Ring trilogy (even more so after I read Tolkien’s collected letters as an adult, and I realized just how much he put into creating that other world) – but it just wasn’t the key to a magic land for me like it was for some other kids.
Oh, and Alice in Wonderland – that was one of my all-time favorite books as a kid … which had that same blend of our world/other world that you mention.
I’m sorry Sheila- all I can do is imagine you, Ceileidh and Conor GUFFAWING at the bed/pillow scene, along with the inserted dialogue.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
My dad read this book to me. Twice, actually. When I read it, I still hear his voice in my head.
I couldn’t get into the LOTR books proper until I was an adult. I could never SEE the world, which made it hard to get into for me. I tried many times (because I read a LOT of fantasy, and my favorites are described as Tolkienesk, it seemed like I should love these books). I didn’t finish the first book until after the first movie came out, and then devoured the other two.
They just had never lived up to The Hobbit in my head…
When I was maybe 8, I asked to read The Hobbit. My parents at first demurred, thinking maybe it would be “too scary” for me (that is what they said). Finally they relented and let me. I did not find it scary at all; it did not give me nightmares. Of course Bilbo would survive just fine, he would come out of the danger with no problems.
I got caught up in the “adventure” aspect of the book. Bilbo was having An Adventure. (I wished *I* could have An Adventure).
(And yet – I also loved what you described – the cozy safe lovely hobbit-hole with the green and gold and the different rooms devoted to eating).
When I re-read the book for the first time as an adult, I realized – wow, there’s a lot of scary stuff in here! Bilbo goes deep underground (setting off all of my claustrophobia). He meets up with Gollum, who becomes even more scary and horrifying when you figure out his origins. As an adult, I can see why my parents worried at first that the book might be “too scary” for me as a child. (I think they first read it as college students…).
I think it’s funny that I didn’t find all the stuff Bilbo went through scary at all as a child, and yet, as an adult, even though I knew the outcome of the story, I still found parts of it scary.
As a child, and even into my twenties, I remember trying to imagine how small a space I could make a comfortable home. It always ended up looking like Blair Brown’s cabin in Continental Divide, though I was already 19 or 20 when it came out.
I didn’t read The Hobbit until I was in ninth grade, I think. I remember reading a brief excerpt:
“‘Excellent,’ said Gandalf, as he stepped from behind a tree, and helped Bilbo climb out of a thorn-bush….” (it came just after “Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!”)
used as a chapter header in my freshman geometry textbook. No, I don’t know why either. But it got me curious enough to hit the library. I read Lord of the Rings in high school…and about once every other year since.
/loved Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – and loved it so much that I didn’t even get into the other books in that series (a situation that I do not want to rectify some day)/
Was is just too singular an experience and you can’t see yourself enjoying or getting into the rest of them in the same way?
“Was IT” — sheesh.
Tracey – I’m honestly not sure! I think I remember starting the second one and just having to put it down because, basically, it wasn’t Lion, Witch and Wardrobe. Ha! I do want to read the rest, though!!
I really think you’d enjoy them! I do have one in the series that is just not a favorite, but I love how Lewis magically combines simple wonder and high adventure. Some parts and characters will stick with me forever. I’ve read them in the order they were published and in chronological order — in terms of Narnia time — and I can never decide which way I prefer.
ricki – yes, the “Gollum incident” in The Hobbit didn’t really scare me all that much when I first read it as a kid – it seemed rather random, and of course I didn’t know how Gollum would figure in the trilogy. But now? That whole awful underground lake scene and Gollum himself gives me the total creeps and I want to shout RUN to Bilbo!!
And yes, I so want to hang out in Bilbo’s little house with the thick mugs of tea and the crackling fire and all his yummy food!
Can I just say how much I love everyone’s memories of reading these books as kids? Especially Melissa’s – saying she still hears the voice of her dad reading The Hobbit to her in her head. It’s so much fun.
As a boy I had books 1, 5, and 6 from Narnia (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; and the Magician’s Nephew). They were gifts. These three books work very well together, so if you can’t quite pick up with Prince Caspian, it may help to skip out to Five and Six and then fill in.
AND by the WAY – I hate that new boxed sets of the Narnia stories renumber them so the books come in chronological order! HATE. There’s nothing wrong, in a series of tales, to have the narrator say, “Now, I’m going to go back in time to tell you a story that happened back in the days when….” That is MAGIC and some literalist editor had best STEP AWAY and let the magic work.
Whew, thanks. Had to be said.
When I got to be an adult, I gave a hardcopy cover of the Hobbit to a younger cousin for a birthday gift. I figured he’d like it, and it would be a diversion from all the Dragon Ball Z he was watching at the time. [Q – how many Saiyens does it take to change a lightbulb? A – Only one; but it takes him seven episodes.] Someone overheard me telling him that the Hobbit was a good introduction to literature and sniffed, “That’s not literature.”
Can you believe THAT nonsense?
PS – Lewis and Tolkien were great friends, so I’m not sure why some people line up in camps that have their work opposed. Lewis himself loved LOTR; in his own space trilogy he based the character of Ransom on Tolkien.
Nightfly –
I love the letters between Tolkien and Lewis about their respective books. It’s so cool.
I don’t put the books side by side at all – they don’t even seem on the same plane to me. I’m not sure why that comparison goes on – books from same era, two Oxford don authors who were friends? No idea! I think Lion Witch Wardrobe is a far better book, but you know, that’s just a preference.
Tracey and Nightfly:
So what book should I read next of the narnia books? Or is this a hugely controversial question??? Is it NOT Prince Caspian?
Please advise.
Sheila – in some ways I prefer the Narnia books because they are much easier to read ALOUD, say to one’s kid brother. You can hear them in your head in a kindly uncle’s voice. LOTR, for all its genius, requires something more Homeric… you can’t imagine anyone’s uncle reading them unless one’s uncle is the King’s Bard reciting in the feasting hall. They’re just so vast!
I think you’d love books five and six in the Narnia stories.
…”Begging your majesty’s pardon, but you are not to be in the battle. Shalt be allowed to see it, which is treat enough for your majesty’s tender years.”
“Of course I’m going to be in the battle,” said Corin. “Why the Queen Lucy’s going to be with the archers!”
“The Queen’s Grace may do as she pleases,” said Thornbut, “but unless you give your solemn word to keep your pony’s head right next to mine – it it the King’s word – I am to tie them together.”
“I’ll knock you down if you try to bind me,” said Corin.
“I’d like to see your Majesty try it.”
That was enough for a boy like Corin, and soon he and the dwarf were at it hammer and tongs. It would have been an even match, because though Corin was the taller and had more reach, Thornbut was older and tougher. But it was never fought out (that’s the shame of fights on rocky hillsides) because Thornbut tripped over a loose stone and hurt his nose. Then, when he tried to get up, he’d found that he’d twisted his ankle; a real bad sprain that would prevent him from walking or riding for at least a fortnight. …
Tough to quote from memory, but you never forget a boy like Prince Corin.
“Someone in the street made a beastly joke about Queen Susan, so I knocked him down. He ran into his house and got his big brother, so I knocked the big brother down. Then three old men with spears who are called the Watch chased me. I fought with the Watch and they knocked me down. Then they took me someplace to lock me up, but I asked them if they wouldn’t mind a stoup of brandy instead, and they said they didn’t. So I bought them brandy and they drank until they fell asleep and I snuck off.”
Hahahahahaha!
Do I need to read them in any order? Is there any one that comes next?
I believe my 4th grade teacher read chapters of The Hobbit outloud to our class – and that book works very well as an outloud story … and I think that’s why I didn’t move on to LOTR. I just couldn’t get into it. I appreciate the books, but that’s as far as I go. My favorite of the books is The Hobbit, hands down.
I’m not a big fantasy fan anyway, just as a genre. Not my thing, never really was.
But I still love that opening chapter of The Hobbit and think it is sheer perfection.
Oh, that was book five – the Horse and His Boy. I read LWW, then Horse and His Boy, and then the Magician’s Nephew. Later I filled in the others, of which I think book four (The Silver Chair) was my favorite. You will heart Puddleglum.
I LOVED the Madeleine L’Engle books as a kid. I simply ached to be a part of that world. I still have the books somewhere, although I haven’t read them in a good 5-10 years. Thanks for bringing them up :) I’m going to go home and look for them tonight so I can re-read them again.
Nightfly – so basically it’s NOT like the Master & Commander series where you really do need to read them in chronological order? I can just read them in whatever order and it will be okay?(Forgive my OCD – I can’t help it)
Tina – Oh, I know!!
I have read them all countless times – I just never ever get tired of them. I want to live in that world, too. She’s one of my favorite writers ever.
Heheheheheh. Your OCD and my OCD must be cousins. Yes, it’s fine to read them any old way. I found them all to be rewarding and didn’t find that my enjoyment had been spoiled by reading them the way I did. The only exception – I think you should probably save “The Last Battle” for, well, last. =D
Well, Nightfly seems adamant in his anti-chronological stance! Hahaha! I first read them in the order they were published:
LWW
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair ( I LOVE PUDDLEGLUM! GOOD LORD!)
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician’s Nephew
The Last Battle
I think that’s right. But if Prince Caspian didn’t blow your dress up — though I have to say, it has one of my favorite small scenes in Narnia ever — I’d go with …. hm. Well, I’d agree with NF and go with The Magician’s Nephew (Book 6 in the order of publication scenario). I absolutely LOVE this one. I love all of them except one — which shall remain nameless at this point — and I don’t HATE that one; I just think I may need to reread it.
The Magician’s Nephew, I’d say. But if you want to go straight for Puddleglum, The Silver Chair is amazing.
Nightfly is right. The Last Battle is absolutely last.
The Silver Chair has one of my favorite opening sentences in the series. When I read it as a kid, I instantly said, “Why?? What’s wrong?? Oh, dear!” etc.
Oh, that, and Dawn Treader. The first sentence of Dawn Treader will make you laugh out loud. You HAVE to keep reading.
Also, Sheila, I don’t think any of these books is over 300 pages. You could pound them out in no time at all. They’re such quick, enjoyable reads.
I definitely read them in the order they were originally published, and I too was horrified when they were re-numbered in chron order. My dad read these to my brother and I as kids (hell, we made him keep re-reading them to us until I was about 16! no shame :) ) and I could never read them in any different order.
The Dawn Treader has to be my fav after LWW. Possibly has the broadest imaginatory sweep (if that makes sense), I think because the concept of sailing to discover new worlds gives the author a lot more leeway to create some really fanciful events, than he has in the Narnia world already set up.
I would read Prince Caspian right after LWW. In fact, I think in order is a good idea (contrary to NF and Tracey, I might skip the Magician’s Nephew. But, I hated it so much as a child that it colors my impression of it to this day. Now – I like it, because I _love_ backstory, but then… no, not so much.)
But, the only reason to read it in order is the main character progression – 4 Pevensies to 4 Pevensies to 2 Pevensies + Eustace to Eustace and (??? I forget), onward.
But, Dawn Treader is my favorite (the whole Eustace story is fun). Followed by the Silver Chair. (with everyone on loving Puddleglum)
Just another comment about Dawn Treader, for those who have read it . . . was not the chapter about the Island of Dreams the most terrifying concept ever? I still think about that one sailor’s “giant scissors” dream for no reason from time to time.
Tracey – hahahahahah! I’d forgotten poor Eustace.
You know Rickman’s getting the Puddleglum casting, unless he takes a vacation on Saturn or something. (And I wanted that role! Seriously, I’m not an actor and probably never will be, but I still WANT IT.)
I literally have no idea what you people all are talking about, but I adore it.
Rickman as Puddleglum!!! He’d be PERFECT!
Sheila, don’t mind us…we’re just hijacking your blog comments.
Tina – I had forgotten about the Island of Dreams!
Which reminds me of the Monopods…
Alan Rickman as Puddleglum! Oh happy day!! I could totally see it!!
See? That’s just one of the reasons I heart you, Nightfly.
But we’re leaving Sheila out of her own party here! Read them all, is my advice. Don’t skip any of them. Ultimately, the order of publication wins my heart because that’s Lewis’ order of inspiration, so to speak. That’s how they came out of him, so I love that.
For me the “orders” boil down to this: The order of publication shows Lewis’ progression of inspiration, whatever, as I, uhm, just said. The chronological order shows Narnia’s progression.
Chronological order was Douglas Gresham’s idea (Lewis’ stepson) who is basically some kind of intellectual dairy-farming hottie.
I love his face:
http://www.mrrena.com/images/Gresham.jpg
(Okay. How do you make that work??)
I will definitely read them! it’s one of those blanks in my childhood that i’ve always meant to rectify.
My dream in life is to find a dairy-farming hottie.
Oh, and here is the link.
Oh, and ricki – if you come back to visit this thread – speaking of scary – I believe that the whole forest of giant “s”s they come across may have contributed to my life-long phobia. HORRIBLE!!!!
//but I feel like I missed that window – that tiny window that opens sometimes and creates a fanatic … as opposed to just a fan. Not sure if that makes sense.//
Makes perfect sense. Kinda like how I feel about the Replacements, like if you didn’t get into them at at certain age or time or point in your life, when the music spoke to YOU, you just don’t ‘get it.’ You may like ’em but maybe you’re not crazy about them.
Quote of the day:
“My dream in life is to find a dairy-farming hottie.”
Hahahahahahahahahaha
Sheila – Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favourite books when I was a child. At the time I was reading it our dog was in labour and we all had to take turns to sit with her. And I read aloud to her because, you know, it would help her relax! When we took her to the vet I read the whole way there despite my growing nauseau from motion sickness. And the whole time we were there I was like “Puppies? Whatever, it’s all about Mrs Whatsit, you know”
Oh and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the only of the Narnia Chronicles that I read too. My dad was so excited for me when the movie came out because he could remember how much I loved it. I let him down very gently that I didn’t care about the movie I just couldn’t imagine loving it as much as the book.
Alan Rickman as Puddleglum. That is so PERFECT that I am almost having a hard time breathing. I will so have to see The Silver Chair when it comes out.
(Puddleglum was probably my favorite character, with Reepicheep a close second)
I love all the discussion of the “order” of reading the Narnia books. I read them in the published (“Lewis’ inspiration”) order – they were given to me by an older relative (he actually gave me the set he had as a teenager, one book at a time – when I had “proved” in my letter to him that I’d finished the previous book, then he’d send me the next one. So I couldn’t “cheat” and read ahead, ha ha).
I don’t know if it was his intention that I’d then pass them on to another younger family member (I wonder if it was). He’s gone now, so I can’t ask him, and frankly, I’m a little selfish and want to keep the books for myself.
Because every now and then, when I’ve had a really horrible week and I feel like I’m losing myself, losing touch with what’s important about me that makes me ME, I have to re-read Prince Caspian or Voyage of the Dawn Treader or something to bring me back to myself.
So I guess what I’m saying is that I recommend the published order, but I do think it doesn’t matter too much, except it may help to know that The Silver Chair is set near the end of the Narnian world. And that you should absolutely positively read “The Last Battle” last of all.
And now that I think of it, there were a lot of scary things in Dawn Treader. (The island with the water…where one of them might have dipped in a toe or a tail without realizing it…those who’ve read it will know what I mean – that’s just one total “Don’t do it!” moment when you’re re-reading the book.)
I love Wrinkle in Time also… and Wind in the Door. Meg is one of my favorite, favorite people in literature – the bespectacled, awkward, intellegent one. (I quite identify with her, actually)
The Books: “Anna Karenina” (Leo Tolstoy)
Next book on my adult fiction bookshelf for the Daily Book Excerpt: Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy There was a time in Chicago when my entire group of friends read this book. It spread like a virus. One person started…
Hi Sheila – love your blog.
I LOVED all these books (Tolkien, Madeleine L’Engle, and C.S. Lewis… with L.M. Montgomery, Mary Stewart and Dorothy Sayers, these are some of my very favorite authors). My mom read “The Hobbit” to us as kids, and did the creepiest, scariest voice for Gollum – I can still hear her Gollum voice wispering “my preciousssss” and remember sitting in my pajamas with wet hair from my bath and wrinkling my toes in delighted terror. I don’t think I got into the LOTR ones until later, and re-read them all before the movies came out too.
If it’s lining up on the Lewis or Tolkien side, though, I’m Lewis all the way. Those books are magical – and you have to read them all! They are all very different, and TLWW will always hold a special place in my heart, too, but the other books let you get to know Narnia itself in a way you couldn’t with just LTWW. I’d say to definitely read them in the order they were first published. You should be introduced to certain characters at their first appearance, rather than meeting them in another book and then going back to the first appearance later. (Not sure if that made sense at all.) And I’d absolutely agree – “The Last Battle” MUST be read last. Enjoy! I’ll look forward to reading your thoughts when you do get through them.
I’m going on vacation in a week or so – I think I’ll bring some of the books with me. Excited!
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