I guess I have just been in a juvenile book rut, but if that is the case, I am enjoying it immensely! Part of it is that taking the kids to more than one section of our library is a real challenge! So it is easier to pick up something I skipped as a kid.
I may have read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when I was younger, but I'm not sure. When I watched the Disney version of the movie, it seemed familiar. The thing that inspired me to read the whole series was the movie - because I got this weird, unbelievable feeling from the movie. It just didn't seem to have the aura you'd think a timeless classic would have. So I thought I'd check out the book...and couldn't put them down until I got to The Last Battle. The actual writings of C.S. Lewis had that quality that engaged your "willing suspension of disbelief" - animals that talk? how enchanting! But also, being familiar with his theological book Mere Christianity, I saw a lot more metaphor in the books than the movie was able to convey.
Rethinking the movie after reading the books, I began to be very impressed with how they had captured the characters and retold the story. We also rented the Disney version of Prince Caspian and although I know I annoyed Rob by continually exclaiming, "They didn't do it THAT way in the book!", they did do a very good job with most of the characters - my favorite was Reepicheep, but he was a favorite of mine in the books too.
In reading the books, I most enjoyed The Horse and His Boy and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I heard that there is a movie in the works for Dawn Treader, but The Horse and His Boy is sort of a story within a story - it recounts something that happened during the reign the Pevensie kids during their first trip to Narnia.
