Your First Experience with Narnia

[shastastwin]

Many of us have read the Narnia books so many times we know passages by heart. Others among us are still reading them for the first (few) time(s). This thread is here for reminiscing about your first experience with the books (a little film discussion is okay, too, but long discussions along those lines should be directed to the General Movie Discussion forum).

My first experience with Narnia is actually a bit convoluted. In the third grade, my Gifted teacher read the first few chapters of LWW to us, but we never got any further (this was the sad state of any book begun in Gifted). Later on in elementary school, the Scholastic boxed set of the Chronicles was available at a book fair, and my parents bought it for me. I'm not exactly sure when I first read them, but I know that it was before the end of the sixth grade. By that time, I had also been introduced to the BBC films in a similar manner. I saw the very end of one of the "episodes" of LWW and could not figure out what it was. Later, on a trip following the fifth grade, I saw all of LWW and loved it. Shortly thereafter, I had the VHS set of all four films. I'm not sure how many of the books I had read when I saw the BBC films, but I quickly knew the stories of those four (LWW, PC, VDT, and SC) very well. In fact, my familiarity with those books through the films actually contributed to my love of the other three, which I felt had been unjustly short-handed by the BBC, because they were always newer for me at that time. I did not reread the books* until several years later when Walden's LWW was coming out. That year, I found DVDs of the BBC films, joined NWeb, and reread the books along with a devotional called the Family Guide to Narnia. I've been rereading the books ever since, and I introduce people to them whenever I can.

So, what was your first experience with the Narnia books and how did it affect you?

*Incidentally, this is why my username is shastastwin. At the time I joined NWeb, I'd only read HHB once and I remembered that I liked Shasta very much and wanted to have his name in my username. The only other thing I could remember at the time was that he was a twin, and thus shastastwin.

[King_Erlian]

I learned to read before I started primary school, and by the time I did start school I had an insatiable hunger for books. (Reading them, I mean, not eating them.) My parents enrolled me in The Puffin Club, a mail-order children's book club run by Penguin Books' junior arm, Puffin. Puffin published the paperback editions of the Narnia books in the UK. One month, when I was 6, the Book Of The Month was The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, so that was the one I read first. I was hooked, although some of the references back to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian didn't make sense until I read those later. I can't remember what order I read them in but it was a strange one; I think I read Prince Caspian last. The Magician's Nephew was my favourite at that time as it was, to my mind, the most "science-fictiony". The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe was my least favourite as in that one, Lewis sometimes adopted a tone which to my seven- or eight-year-old self seemed a bit patronising: "...and other creatures whom I won't describe because if I did the grownups would probably not let you read this book". He didn't do that in any of the other books.

The first film version I saw was the cartoon of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe made in the late '70s. The first time I saw it, it was the version with all British voices (such as Arthur Lowe as Mr. Beaver). I liked it a lot. Every time I've seen it since (on TV) it's been the version with all American voices except for Aslan. Not meaning to be anti-American or anything, but I wish they'd show the British version again some time.

As an adult, I wished that one day, someone would make good-quality films of all the Narnia books. My hopes were dashed by the BBC series. I suspected the BBC had made them so bad on purpose in order to put people off the books (for quite a few years now, BBC Television has been significantly pro-atheist). Hopes were raised again when Walden started the series in 2005, but that's fizzled out again. Sigh...

Over the years I've read all the books numerous times, The Horse And His Boy being my favourite now. In 1999 I bought a large volume containing all seven stories, with Pauline Baynes' illustrations in colour. Now I re-read them on my Kindle.

[Louloudi the Centaur]

I'll admit my first experience with Narnia was the 2005 film, but my mom explained before hand that the movie was based off one of the books in the Narnia series. A few years later, I became interested in reading the books.

It helped that my English class was having a reading contest, but I enjoyed each of the books a lot. I read all of them in publishing order, and I'm glad I did.

I know Narnia should really not be used as a Bible, but reading the books helped me understand a lot of things about Jesus and his love for us using biblical parallels. I understood some readings from the Bible better in church and could pay better attention to sermons.

[Varnafinde]

It was 1963 and I was 8 years old. One of the Christian magazines for children that my parents were subscribing to for me, started a new serial running - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Løven, heksa og klesskapet in Norwegian translation). Only one chapter, and then I had to wait two weeks for the next instalment. In December, a chapter ended with Edmund saying, "it's the holidays now," and it was the Christmas holidays for the magazine, making it even longer to wait to hear what happened with Edmund and the Witch.

Other than that, I don't remember my reactions from reading the story for the first time, though. But I loved it, and read it over and over again over the following years. I never got the book with that translation, but I kept those issues of the magazine to reread. I was well versed in Sunday School (my Dad was a Sunday School teacher, as well as being a primary school teacher by profession), so the parallell to Aslan's sacrifice wasn't lost on me. And Aslan's resurrection, and the scene where the stone statues are liberated, were great scenes to enjoy again and again.

Narnia was such a great place, with all the talking animals ... Those beavers! There were beavers where I lived, I saw their huts often, and sometimes the animals, too - a country where you could speak with them, must be a wonderful place. And the Pevensie children rooted out all evil, and then grew up and ruled a happy country, and lived happily ever after, until their time was up.

And at the end of the story there was a hint that this might not be the only book.

And that is the very end of the adventure of the wardrobe. But if the Professor was right it was only the beginning of the adventures of Narnia.

Perhaps there really had been written more books about Narnia? No such books had been translated into Norwegian, so I wasn't sure. After some years, my Mum told me that someone had mentioned on the radio that there was a series - but with no translation available, we couldn't even find out if they were right.

Only when I went into teacher training myself, in 1975, did I find out. The student bookshop had the set books for the third year students who were specializing in teaching English as a foreign language - and one of the books was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And there it was, near the end of the book - a list of the titles of The Chronicles of Narnia. The bookshop didn't have the books, but at least I had the assurance that they did exist.

In May 1976 the college offered a 10 days study trip to York, England. In York Minster (my favorite cathedral) I found the Puffin edition of the Chronicles in the cathedral bookshop.

I didn't trust anything else to be as good as LWW - it might be that the first book in the series was the best, mightn't it, and that the others were inferior? I only bought one, to try. Again, I don't remember the details, but I must have bought #1 in the set, The Magician's Nephew. I took it for my bedside reading that night.

I couldn't put it away. I finished it at some time a.m. ...
And I went back to the cathedral bookshop the next day and bought the five remaining books. I guess it only took me a couple of weeks to read them all

When we moved house a year later, I didn't keep the old magazine issues, now that I had the book. And at that time they started to translate the whole series, too, so now I have the books in Norwegain as well as in English. I've also bought most of them in Swedish, and LWW in Spanish (as an aid to learning Spanish, which I don't know) - and last year I got a one volume version of the Chronicles in French (which I studied back in High School). So I've got quite a library now.

But I regret now not keeping those old magazine issues. Just for the sake of nostalgia ...

[stargazer]

It's fun reading these stories!

I was older when first introduced to Narnia back in the early '80s. I'd just graduated university when an old high school friend returned from Idaho with tales of this great book he'd found. It was LWW - and unfortunately he gave not only a detailed summary of the plot but 'decoded' all the Christian elements he could find as well. So much for any self-discovery.

Still, I was impressed enough to find copies of the books for myself. I found the old Harper Collins US versions (numbered in publication order!) at a good price at a used bookstore. I devoured LWW and found little new since my friend had said way too much about it. But I moved on to PC and liked it despite its rather unusual narrative structure (or perhaps because of it). I quickly read all 7 books in short order and the rest, as they say, is history.

Footnotes to the story might include my introduction to the BBC versions through a friend's family (Ryadian on here), and how her father (whom I met in university) read the books to the kids as bedtime stories when they were young. I caught things listening to them in this way that eluded me when reading...most memorably, the absolutely hilarious slapstick comedy in HHB when Aravis and Shasta overhear the Tisroc and Rabadash making plans.

[Meltintalle]

I first read LWW when I needed a 'new book' to read during Sunday quiet time. I was eight or nine at the time. I think I got through most of it that afternoon, and I was pretty excited to find out that our church library had not only that one but a boxed set of others! So I must have gone through all of them more or less at once.

I think there was one summer where I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader at least once a month.

Then Focus on the Family came along with their Radio Theatre productions of the series...

[De_De]

Like Louloudi the Centaur my Narnia experice started with the 2005 film. Before that I had no idea that Narnia existed. We watched the movie for my brother's birthday; I was 9 years old. Wow, Narnia just swept me off my feet. I was in love with it. Of course wild and Narnian_Archer were crazy about it too. Our brother said that it was actually a book series, and he started reading it to us. Narnia was a whole experience for me. My brother is very active and when he would read, he would make voices and sometimes stand up and wave his arms around. He would read it to us at bed time, so I had alot of Narnia-themed dreams during that time . When we got the news that PC was going to be made into film, we were more than excited. My brother would give us tid-bits when he would come home, and we wondered where he got all his news. And soon the mystery was solved. There was this amazing site that had all the latest information about Narnia, and guess what it was??? NarniaWeb! So after a looong time of just stalking NarniWeb, wild took the plunge and registered. Then after a month or so, seeing that it wasn't so scary as I thought I registerd too. So it was all thanks to my brother that I discovered Narnia and NarniaWeb.

[johobbit]

Oh, how I love reading all your 'Narnia testimonies'. So special.

I was privileged in that my parents began reading the Chronicles to us (publication order ) when I was a preschooler, so I can hardly recall a time of my life without Narnia. Over the years, I have read the books frequently, and each time glean something new and precious from them. And when our children were young, the Chronicles were a priority for us to read aloud. I have great memories of sitting outside in the cool of a summer evening with the three of them gathered 'round, usually sucking on popsicles , listening intently. Then we would invariably end up discussing afterwards. I am quite sure that, in turn, they will introduce their own children to beloved Narnia.

As for adaptations: I always enjoy the BBC movies, so faithful to the books, overall; the recent movies I am not thrilled about, particularly the latter two; however, a dear treasure are the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre productions, which I love very dearly.

As with Louloudi, I recognize that these seven books cannot be as the Bible in my life, yet the way CSL writes, so simply, yet profoundly, represents some of the most glorious truths from God's word that mean the world to me. And they're so ... magical, yet utterly relevant. As a child, I just loved the stories so much, but as an adult, there are deeper layers and meaning that I never saw as a youngster. Amazing stuff!

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

My first experience with Narnia happened when I was in 3rd grade. My third grade teacher was a miserable, mean, and almost verbally abusive person. . . but she introduced me to Narnia for the first time, so I guess some good came out of that classroom.

The teachers at the school I attended at that time would take about a half hour of class time every day, just to read to us. One day, she started reading LWW to us, and I was hooked from the very first chapter. When she finished reading us the book a few weeks later, I felt (probably for the first time) that cold, shallow, empty feeling one gets when one finishes a really good book. I thought that LWW was it.

I remember watching the animated LWW at our class Christmas party (right before going on Christmas break), and loved that as well. Over Christmas break, I checked out LWW from my local library and read it again, just to be close to the characters. . . to walk through the woods, and hear the faint hush of the snowflakes whispering through my head.

My parents found out about my newly discovered obsession with Narnia, and purchased me a copy of The Magician's Nephew for Christmas that year. I started reading it, but it started out so differently from the rest of the Narnia books. . . it didn't have the same characters, the same places, or anything, so I didn't read more than the first chapter.

I did find the BBC films a short time later, and watched them all so frequently that I practically "owned" the library copies for a while . But somehow. . . it never clicked that the rest of the movies outside of LWW were also books in the Narnia series. I have no idea why this didn't happen. . . I must have been thick or something .

Several years later, probably when I was 13, I came across a complete set of the books at a Christian bookstore in my hometown. I was stunned and thrilled to find out that there were 7 books in this Narnia series! I hastily purchased the five books that I didn't own, and gobbled them up.

After reading the books (several times) I stumbled across NarniaWeb one day at the library's computer centre. We didn't have internet at home, so I wasn't saavy about what a forum was. I only thought that the site was the front page, and that it was some sort of news outlet. This was about the time that Adamson signed on to direct. I followed the front page for a while, but then lost interest.

Then, on March 29th, 2005 came the day that changed my life. I found this site, where I found friends that became families. I found adventures like I'd only read about. I never looked back. . . because this is home. . .

[A True Narnian]

When I was ten I got the whole set for Christmas. I read them all in three days and have been reading them usually once a year ever since. It is directly because of The Chronicles of Narnia and later the Lord of the Rings that I became a writer.

[narnialover101]

I was first introduced to Narnia through the BBC films. Our good friends used to own them on VHS and we'd always want to watch them whenever we went to their house. Eventually we discovered that we could rent them at our local library, so we did that FREQUENTLY. I still remember that The Silver Chair, for some reason, was in a set of three VHS tapes instead of just two, like LWW and PC/VDT were. That made it my favorite, though I'm not really sure why. I guess at that age bigger is better.

One day I discovered that there were more Narnia stories. My grandmother had bought my mother a set of the Narnia books when she was young and no doubt my mother was the one who informed us that there were further Narnia stories that weren't movies. I found my mom's old copies of the books which weren't made by the BBC (MN, HHB, LB) and I used to just stare at the covers of them and wonder what other stories happened in them. I'm not sure if I was too young to read them at the time, or whether it just didn't occur to me to do so, but I didn't read them for quite awhile. I used to think it was such a pity that they hadn't made all them into films and I'd dream of having more films to be able to watch; I think I wanted that more than anything. Eventually I did end up reading the books, starting with MN, then HHB and lastly LB. Obviously, seeing as I've been on this website for 8 years now, I loved them. I especially enjoyed the extra details that added onto things or people I already knew about from previous stories (the lamppost in MN, Susan's fate in LB, etc.) I'm not exactly sure when I read the other four, but it was later as I already felt very familiar with them from seeing the films so many times. One other thing I do remember is picking up a copy of LWW randomly and reading about Lucy meeting Mr. Tumnus. I remember being struck by how word-for-word is was from the film and running to my mom to show her.

Since reading them initially I've reread them many, many times. It seems they mean more to me each time I pick them up. They've made me smile and cry and have left me in awe. The way Lewis can paint such beautiful pictures in your mind with such simplicity is mind-blowing. Truly I think there a few authors who can do that as effectively as Lewis did.

Narnia is beautiful, and simple, and deep, and wondrous and that's why
I'll always be a,
NL101

[narnia fan 7]

My first Experience with Narnia was when I was 4 or 5 I remember my oldest sister reading me The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe one night the only thing I remember is the scene wear Lucy meets Tumnus I don't read the book for my self until I was 10 after I saw LWW in theaters.

[Lilygloves]

When I was little, probably about 5, my mom got the Focus on the Family discs for LWW and I listened to that sometimes. My mom continued to get us Narnia FotF discs for Christmas, one book each year. I listened to them every night to help me fall asleep (and I still do in college!). I have the fondest memories of listening to the books LWW, SC, HHB, and PC. Those were the only books we had for a while until my mom bought me all 7 book discs. That was really how I fell in love with Narnia. I've listened to the discs so many times I can easily quote paragraphs because I've been listening to them almost every night for over ten years. Since then, I've read the books many times, although I obviously couldn't when I first became a fan at about 5 years old. I'm really grateful for NarniaWeb for helping me develop my love for Narnia and C.S. Lewis in general.

[Impending Doom]

I can't remember the first time I encountered Narnia... Narnia has always been apart of my everyday life, my very first memery of Narnia would be listening to the Focus On The Family Radio Theater productions on long road trips and I can remember just totally falling in love with them, and wanting to listen to them over and over again!

[Ryadian]

Footnotes to the story might include my introduction to the BBC versions through a friend's family (Ryadian on here), and how her father (whom I met in university) read the books to the kids as bedtime stories when they were young.

As stargazer already mentioned, I was introduce from my dad reading the stories to us as a bedtime story, as well as the BBC tapes my parents bought for us. We watched the BBC versions many times throughout our childhood, though we didn't read the books as often. It wasn't until I was at least 9-10 years old that I heard The Magician's Nephew, The Horse and His Boy, and The Last Battle and actually understood them. I loved TMN and HHB even more than some of the first four, though The Last Battle frustrated me a lot, given how long it took to get to the happy ending!

However, growing up with the Narnia books, I got rather used to them, and didn't realize just how incredible they were until I was about 13. It was around that time that stargazer had joined NarniaWeb, and was telling me both about the website and the new movie that was coming out. Meanwhile, my mom had discovered the Focus on the Family tapes, and started buying them for us. I joined NarniaWeb, and started listening to the tapes and getting back into Narnia. That's when I realized just how special these books are. I'm still finding new things to explore in the books!

[PhelanVelvel]

I can't remember exactly how old I was, perhaps eight or nine, and I used to wander our school library and pick out books to read. Fantasy books always seemed to intrigue me. In our library I found the 1970 edition of LWW by Collier Books. I would say I stumbled upon Narnia much in the way Lucy did...by accident. If I remember correctly, the whole series wasn't present, so I couldn't sate my hunger for more Narnia right away. But I could tell that there were more books because it said "Book 1 in the Chronicles of Narnia"! I have to say I was instantly hooked, and it only took one reading for me to realise, on some level, that Narnia would be a lifelong fascination. Unfortunately, I cannot remember exactly when I read the rest of the series, or in what order. I know I read them approximately in publication order, but because I came upon them in different libraries, and in different editions that had the books numbered differently, I may have read The Horse and His Boy before Silver Chair, or something silly like that.

My first reading of The Magician's Nephew is unforgettable and I thank publication order for delivering me that experience. Much of the magic of that reading would have been spoiled if I had read MN before LWW, and I shudder to think that people nowadays are being robbed of that experience by chronological order.

I had to go along with my family to some game that my little brother was playing with a sports team he was on at the time, and that particular arena or whatever you want to call it was outdoors and all the benches were made of stone. So I wandered off to the other end where it was quiet and read The Magician's Nephew. I was the only person around. The lonely atmosphere, the tiered seats of stone, the very slight mist in the air, the cloudy sky, and the whistling wind all made me feel closer than I ever have to being in a book. My child's imagination running wild, I felt like I was in Charn that day.

It was like it all really happened, from exploring the attic, to finding Uncle Andrew and his rings, to the Wood Between the Worlds, to Charn, and even to Narnia. As a kid, most of my friends were animals (at least outside of school), I spent most of my time reading books, and I had the tendency to obsess over things and become lost in my own thoughts. As you might imagine, seeing the birth of the world I had become so attached to was absolutely mind-blowing. It was like a spiritual experience, rofl. It's so funny to talk about it now, but I'm serious about the impact it had on me as a child.

I still re-read them from time to time, but I'm afraid that after too many readings, I won't be able to feel the dream-like quality of the experience anymore because I will be too familiar with them. I'm afraid they'll be reduced to something simple and predictable. I hope that does not happen, but I'm afraid to re-read them too often because of it. So far, I've never felt that way, and they've been just as wonderful every time, but I do wonder how many times you can really read something before that happens! :[