h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That would make sense, since The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is really the first book, whatever the numbers on the boxed sets say.

I couldn't really choose between them either as they are all very different for different age groups. I have to say though that any children I may have will receive box sets of all of these books .

I have to admit though that I didn't notice the Christian allegory in the Narnia books at all when I read them. I was pretty young at the time though and was brought up in a C of S household so it probably wouldn't have jumped out at me.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was always my favourite followed by the Last Battle. I hated Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I found it very dull. Perhaps I should revisit them as an adult and see how differently I might perceive them now.

I thought the BBC series was terrible. Especially Lucy for all the reasons that were mentioned previously and also because all the children in it were annoying stage school types. I always loved the cartoon version that they used to show every Christmas though.

There was a childrens book that I really loved and was quite scary, it had a character in it called Abner Ravenwood, can anyone tell me the title and the author, I have forgotten?

Are you sure it was Abner Ravenwood? That was the name of Indiana Jones's Teacher, the father of Marion Ravenwood, the heroine, in the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Isn't he something to do with Indiana Jones?

Roll up, roll up!

I got so excited by the upcoming release of LOTR that I've conjured up a Tolkein quiz.

Click on this link to see how deep your knowledge of Middle Earth and its inhabitants goes... http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A670529

... and yes, despite my in depth knowledge of the Silmarillion I have just been informed that I can't spell Tolkien.

The voting so far:
LOTR:9
HP: 2
Narnia: 6
Abstentions: 4

If you agonised but finished with 'I don't know' you were taken as an abstention. If you didn't mention any of the three in the Posting, you were ignored.
This is hard to do, though, when people post more than once and it's hard to work out who is new and who is just restating or emphasising their point.

So I found out myself once.

I did a Marmite poll here on ask h2g2 and it got so difficult to keep up with I had to create an entry to keep track in the end...

Having just caught up with 3 pages of backlog I'd like to say thanks for the warning that Dark Materials III is not as good as the others. I won't expect great things when I read it then.

And I'd also like to say that I have no problems with stories having mainly male characters, I just dislike it when the female characters they do have are either cardboard (LOTR, Dickens) or wimps. Or both.

Off to re-read HP-I later this afternoon.

Ben

Well, I just remembered that the book I was thinking of was Box of Delights. And you are right, it was Abner Brown.

Why did I think it was Ravenwood, strange. Obviously Indiana Jones sticks with you . Or maybe it was that they were both called Abner - only times I have ever heard that name.

It is really difficult to choose between such different books, but here is my two pence.

When I was approximately 8 years old, I was convinced that if I could only find the right moment to look, there would be Narnia through the back of my mum and dad's wardrobe. I went to a convent school so I got far more god-bothering nonsense from the nuns than from the books, and so didn't really notice the message in the books.

When I was about 10, I read The Hobbit and loved it (also spent hours playing it on our 24k speccie). Now for the controversial part - I then tried to read LOTR and didn't like it.

*ducks for cover*

I will try reading it again now that I am older but at the time I found it far too heavy going, descriptive and long-winded. Maybe now I am older I will enjoy the level of detail but I was really put off back then.

Harry Potter is great, and with each new book things get darker and more sinister. I think these are my favourite of the three but it is really hard trying to project myself back 20 years to being the 8-year-old and trying to imagine which I would have like best then.

If I ever have nippers of my own they will certainly get to read both lots and they can tell me which is best (has anyone in this thread asked an 8-year-old?), but as a grown-up (ish) HP is the best.

k

I always thought it was somewhat dissapointing that all the children in the Lewis books were children who were more at home in medieval tech. than modern Britain. I think that one could have an enormous amount of fun simply with a bit of charm, a modern, cynical sense of politics and a willingness to stray off the beaten path (not least morally). Can you imagine starting an arms race in Narnia?! We make enough trouble with just one species, imagine the factions which would develop between almost equal sides of humans, dwarves, nymphs and wraiths, fauns, wizards and witches, giants, etc.! Take an urbane, conniving modern political campaigner or top-level; businessman with a sense of humour and the possibilities are endless!

Awww wow, I loved the Box of Delights... it was fantastic and sooo scary - especially when I first saw the TV version with the wolves, I had to hide under the blankets

I really like the His Dark Materials Trilogy - but it's true the third book *isn't* is as good as the others, it felt rushed to me and I think that Pullman forgot how young Lyra and Will were meant to be. But they are fantastic, and very interesting.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by Tolkien...especially your first time through the fellowship. For any first-time readers, do yourselves a favor and push through the first book!! It is hard to appreciate the Fellowship until you've read the entire trilogy...and it also helps if you read The Silmarillion

I'm not voting, just responding. (I already voted)

>That would make sense, since The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is >really the first book, whatever the numbers on the boxed sets say.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was written first, but CS Lewis recommended that they be read in the order of Narnian history- so The Magicians Nephew is the first book, and the boxed sets have got it right.

Ah the 'right' sequence for reading a series of books.

I once read the Watch books by Terry Pratchett rapidly and in reverse order. It was fascinating to see how the characters were simpler, and more two-dimentional in the earlier books. I missed this the first time I read the books, because I read them in the 'right' order.

I think I would introduce children to the Narnia books in the order in which they were written.

Ben

1) in magicians nephew the world of narnia was created by aslan, therefore it must b 1st (also dig & polly r old nxt time we meet em)

2)silmarillion is waaay harder 2 read than LOTR, ive only managed 2 get thru it twice. its absolutly brilliant as u finially understand who the whole history of middle earth has come about & who/what every1 is! but it aint neccessary 4 the enjoyment/understandin of LOTR. tho i sgree u cant read FOTR without the rest of trilogy, u'd never know what happens 2 em all! (& if u stop @ the end of the second book its even worse! i feel sorry 4 those who go 2 c films nt readin the books who have 2 wait years 4 the end! hahaha!)

What you do find out by reading the SIlmarillion is that Sauron, all-powerful baddie bloke, was in fact nothing more than a bootlicker on a Divine scale, of a rank with Gandalf and the Balrog. It rather puts the whole conflict into perspective as to how much of the 'magic' has gone out of the world when LOTR starts.

Well, I'm going to see LOTR on the 20th so there!

Doesn't it come out on the 19th?

peace.