2 more Chronicles

Over the weekend, I finished re-reading The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy. Both were enjoyable and easy reads, but I think I enjoyed Horse more this time thru. In it, Aravis and Shasta, two children from Calormen (a country south of Narnia) take an epic journey that includes escaping from a lion, navigating a big city, crossing a desert, and finding a passage thru the mountains. Through the journey, I like how Lewis weaves Aslan into the story in more unique ways than in some other books. In other books, we primarily know him as a lion, the son of the great emperor-across-the sea. In this edition, we not only find the familiar lion figure comforting, teaching, and correcting the children, but also that of a gentle cat keeping Shasta company among the foreboding-looking tombs, a fierce beast spurring the travelers onward, a creature with sharp claws punishing Aravis (when she deserved it). Though this volume doesn't really add a lot to the overall story-line (Shasta & Aravis aren't really mentioned in any other significant ways), but I think it serves the entire set well by developing Aslan's character a bit more.

I'm finishing up this re-reading presently with The Magician's Nephew. Reading the first few chapters, I was surprised by my reaction - I wanted to skip over the parts with the weird uncle Andrew. I guess I found him so annoying and evil (knowing how the story goes) that I just didn't want to think much about him - I don't know. Anyhow, a couple more nights of reading and I'll have to put these books back on the shelf (or really, give them to Matt, who's been reading them too) and find something else to read.

Matt suggested I read The Right Stuff after we enjoyed the first of the Discover Channel docu-mini-series When We Left Earth. Last night's first episode went thru the Mercury & Gemini NASA missions. So, I might just grab that from the bookshelves next.