Narnia

The DHM first read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the Equuschick and me when we were very young. Because of that, I now have wonderful memories of snuggling under the blanket and hearing about the adventures of the Pevensie children. Since that time, I have read the Narnia books repeatedly. Our family has gone through 2 1/2 sets of them, they are used (and abused) so frequently. Any hardcover copies found at library booksales are snatched up. Come to think of it, paperback copies get picked up too. Jane Austen's books, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Narnia books are all ones that we are pleased to have extra copies of floating about. You never know when you might want to read one, it needs to be easily accessible, and you want to be sure that you have a copy for the sister that will (of course) decide she also wants to re-read it at the same time you do. Some of the girls here do not play fair -- rather than letting you finish the book before starting on it, which is only cricket, they begin reading it at moments when you are cleaning the kitchen and refuse to hand it over when you're finished.
Not that I'm bitter about it. Oh, no.

Before our vacation to DC, The DHM picked up something quite exciting, really. She got The Horse and His Boy, unabridged, read aloud on cassette tape by Alex Jennings. Jennings is a fine British actor, and any Narnia production worth its salt must be unabridged, so we were all very happy.

We were even happier when JennyAnyDots found The Magician's Nephew, from the same "set" as the Jennings one, narrated by Kenneth Branagh. We are great fans of Branagh, and this recording increased our admiration. His vocal abilities, only mildly apparent in films like Much Ado about Nothing, were strong for this book. Aslan was majestic, the elephant was petty, the bears slow...everything was perfect. :-)

We are on a roll now. I have checked out Michael York's recording of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It has been amusing to listen to this on tape, as I know many parts of it so well I just end up speaking along with York. "jollification for weeks on end..." is a phrase that sticks in my mind. Maybe that was the first time I'd heard the word "jollification," or maybe it just paints such a delightful word picture you can't help but remember it.

Our next treat? We can only hope the library has Jeremy Northam's recording of The Silver Chair. We are also fans of Jeremy Northam (do you detect a trend here? British actor, we are fans) and can't imagine anyone more suitable for this book.