Thoughts on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

This is not going to be a formal review of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  If you want that, you can read what I had to say on Epinions by following this link.  Instead, I'm just going to share some thoughts about the book.

One thing that really struck me was how funny the book really was.  Oh, don't worry, I was still tearing up when Aslan dies and the girls are spending the night near him.  But some of the lines are pretty funny.  All the talk about shutting oneself in a wardrobe, for example, cracked me up.  And the professor and his "What do they teach them in schools these days" is always a hoot.

I had also forgotten just how quickly the book moved.  I'm used to books that take a chapter or two to set up the characters and the situation.  This book did that in pages.  Lucy was in Narnia by page 7 in my edition.  And the book kept moving forward just as quickly the entire way through.

There's a reason this is still my favorite of the Narnia stories.  It's just absolutely magical and filled with a sense of wonder that some of the other books are lacking.  In fact, they often feel much more grounded, while in this book, you almost feel as if anything can and will happen.