Book #33 of 2021: The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #7) What a depressing and offensive conclusion to a generally solid children’s fantasy heptalogy. Author C. S. Lewis has always had his share of mid-twentieth-century hangups, but they are seldom so blatantly awful as here, where traditional feminine interests like …
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Book #21 of 2021: The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #1) I always think that I like this prequel more than I actually do, because in my memory, only the strong parts stand out. The devious uncle, the rings that take you to the Wood Between the Worlds from which …
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Book #8 of 2021: The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #3) This is one of my favorite Narnia installments, in part because it’s an odd misfit even for such a haphazard and eclectic series. The fifth volume to be written, it’s also the first time author C. S. …
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Book #299 of 2020: The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #6) I’m not a big fan of the first half of this novel, in which the three protagonists — a returning Eustace, his classmate Jill, and a rather miserable creature named Puddleglum — are very nasty toward one another as …
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Book #287 of 2020: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #5) This was always my favorite Narnia volume growing up, and it turns out I actually like it even better as an adult. The nautical adventure is episodic but fun, and the way the children travel from …
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Book #271 of 2020: Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #4) Although perhaps not as enchanting as the original Narnia story, this first sequel (in writing / publication order) does much more to flesh out the worldbuilding, providing a sense of history, geography, and culture to the setting that had been …
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Book #259 of 2020: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #2) I’m approaching this reread of the Narnia series in publication order rather than internal chronology, which I don’t believe I’ve actually ever done before. So that means starting here, with young Lucy Pevensie stumbling into …
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Book #180 of 2017: Perelandra by C. S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy #2) This was a much more overtly religious book than Out of the Silent Planet, but I liked how the core of the story was essentially just a human arguing with a demon in the Venusian Garden of Eden. Lewis is skilled at …
Book #136 of 2017: Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy #1) While not as instantly endearing as his Narnia books, there’s still a lot to enjoy in this first volume of C. S. Lewis’s space trilogy, which could have easily been titled A Linguist of Mars. For although Lewis …
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