Oh, dear. Once again, I am practically alone here. I love these books, and have from the age of 6. Our whole family loves them! A couple of corrections, if you don’t mind, Xiamenese:
Tolkien was Catholic, but did not convert Lewis to Catholicism. Lewis was an Ulster protestant by birth who became an atheist as a teenager and then converted to Christianity and joined the Anglican church as an adult. Tolkien was one of several friends who influenced him.
And the reason many people prefer to read LWW before the others is that this was the original order - the order of publication. According to internal Narnian Chronology, it’s second, and “Magician’s Nephew” which is the first story in the Narnian Chronology, was written sixth. Keith, I’d give that one a try before giving up on the series entirely. It and “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” have some of the loveliest imagery and most interesting ideas of the series. “Dawn Treader” is perhaps the best straight adventure story, and my favorite of the books. My sister likes “Horse and his Boy” best. Oh, well-
Oh, just one more correction, Keith. The girl who wears makeup is the only one who is not killed in a train crash.Lewis kills everyone else. I suppose her survival might still be seen as a pretty harsh punishment, though.
Oh, sorry. Just one more. LOTR is not, and never has been, a children’s story. It was not written or intended for children, but for adults. That children can and do read it with pleasure just points out what a strong story it is, IMHO.
And now I’ll stop ranting! Btu I really get upset by LOTR being lumped in with the Narnia books, which are children’s stories. Apples and oranges, IMO. (And, though I love them both, there is no question in my mind that LOTR is by far the greater work.)
I have never, as child or adult been able to get through the unwadeable stodge that is Lord of the RIngs and nor have I ever got through the Hobbit. There is something about the huge wads of exposition and landscape, combined with the fact that all the characters seemed liked cyphers following the dictates of a plot.
Although as a child I really enjoyed Narnia and read the whole series in a row. I would agree the characters (with the exception of Reepicheep) are largely flat and the plots slight, but I loved the whole escapist element of the whole thing. I was entranced with the notion that I could go through a cabinet or a picture and find myself some where grand and strange where animals talked and I was special.
I’d also agree that Voyage of the Dawntreader is the best of the books and it full of seasalt and curiosity.