My aunt gave me this set of books when I was pretty young and all they did was collect dust on my bookshelves.  I just never had the inclination to read them even though they were there.  I wasn’t big into fantasy until within the last year or so, so that might explain why Narnia never really drew my interest.

Then, when I did get into fantasy, it became one of those series that “you just have to read” because it’s the epitome of fantasy reading and writing.  Terry Pratchett was in there but he was knocked off my list pretty quickly.  I just wasn’t all that impressed with his work and found his books kind of redundant.  Door stoppers scare me so I’ve never touched Lord of the Rings and even now, the story doesn’t interest me.  I couldn’t even sit through the first movie.  How am I supposed to get through those books?  I wasn’t too impressed with Neil Gaimsn’s Stardust but Anansi Boys made me see just why he’s a god among fantasy enthusiasts.

But who could mention fantasy without mentioning The Chrnoicles of Narnia?  I found The Last Battle first, on the bargain bookshelves at Barnes and Noble and picked it up.  Then someone so aptly put it, I can rightly read the last book of the series without reading the other six.  Duh.  So during one of my many visits to B&N, I snagged the first in the series which I always thought to be The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  The emphasis is always on that book so for someone not familiar with the series, it’s the natural thought to think.

But no.  So The Magician’s Nephew it was.  I honestly had no idea what to expect.  I’d never seen reviews of Narnia and it’s written qualities, just come across people that rave about how amazing they are and how the movie doesn’t do it justice.  Ironically enough, I do own the movie thanks to my mom.  I’ve never watched it.

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