Saturday, December 26, 2009

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

“This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began.” – Chapter 1, pg. 3

“You must understand that rules of that sort, however excellent they may be for little boys – and even people in general – can’t possibly be expected to apply to profound students and great thinkers and sages. Men like me, who possess hidden wisdom, are freed from common rules just as we are cut off from common pleasures. Ours, my boy, is a high and lonely destiny.” – Chapter 2, pg. 21

“Make your choice, adventurous stranger. Strike the bell and bide the danger. Or wonder, till it drives you mad. What would have followed if you had?”
– Chapter 4, pg. 54

“The lion was pacing to and fro about that empty land and singing his new song. It was softer and more lilting than the song by which he had called up the stars and the sun; a gentle, rippling music. And as he walked and sang, the valley grew green with grass. It spread out from the lion like a pool. It ran up the sides of the little hills like a wave.” – Chapter 9, pg. 112

“For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.” – Chapter 10, pg. 136

“When you were last here, that hollow was a pool, and when you jumped into it you came to the world where a dying sun shone over the ruins of Charn. There is no pool now. That world has ended, as if it had never been. Let the race of Adam and Eve take warning.” – Chapter 15, pg. 193

“There was a great storm all over the south of England which blew the tree down. He couldn’t bear to have it simply chopped up for firewood, so he had part of the timber made into a wardrobe, which he put in his big house in the country.”– Chapter 15, pg. 201

So those were some of my favorite book quotes from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the origins of the lamppost and the wardrobe (funny, it never seemed odd to me that Narnia should have a lamppost), and the back-story of the White Witch was pretty interesting

(I guess it also never seemed odd to me that Narnia should have a witch). I definitely agree the books should be read in the order they were published. Well, at least read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before this book. Otherwise the fun of learning about the origins of everything is lost. No doubt, Lewis is one gifted fantasy writer – the yellow and green rings, the Woods between the Worlds, Charn… it was all fine and dandy until the book turned into the freaking Bible. Son of Adam? A forbidden apple tree in the middle of a garden? I had been warned these books had Christian undertones, but I didn’t expect outright plagiarism! Try to annoy me more.

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