The 306 Greatest Books #37 - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. This book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists. 

Continuing on through my fantasy kick, I decided to hit up one of the hallmarks of children's literature, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However, I like to read stories in chronological order even if they were not originally written in that order, so I started with the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia series (chronologically), The Magician's Nephew. This gave me a different perspective on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe than I'm sure a lot of normally get by only reading that one novel, or reading them in release order. The Magician's Nephew gave me a  background on a lot of the features seen within the novel, not the least important being the lamppost. The story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe follows a group of kids who find themselves in another world by going though a magical wardrobe. Once in this magical land of Narnia, they are drawn into an all out war of good versus evil. Being a "kids book", means that the book is very easy to read (you can breeze right through it) but it is still enjoyable for all ages. My biggest peeve about the book, though is the overarching religious themes. In this original story they aren't as blatant, but as you get into the later Narnia books it becomes pretty oppressive. Definitely on my must read list though.  

The 306 Greatest Books #36 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists. 

Continuing on my "I'm going to read some "funner" books on this list" trend, I dove into my first outright humorous book. Prior to this I was not much accustomed to "British humor", having not watched much of British comedy shows or movies before. But afterwards I became a convert. I thought this book was absolutely hilarious, and I could not stop laughing through the whole thing. Just thinking about it now makes me want to dive back headlong into it. The plot follows one man, Arthur Dent, as he gets transported off Earth just as it is about to be destroyed. We follow along as he is shuffled around the galaxy just trying to figure out what is going on. I loved this book so much that I continued on through the next four books (making what Adams called "the longest trilogy in the world"). These books also continue the plot-line and are a great fun to read, although the final couple of books in the series start to get a bit bizarre (even more bizarre if you will) and deviate from the original plot-line of the story. This is definitely on my list of books to read, and if you have time, read the entire series. 

The 306 Greatest Books #35 - The Lord of the Rings

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This book can be found on the Observer, BBC, and My Book Lists. 

Following The Hobbit, I dove headfirst into the tome that was The Lord of the Rings. Although it is often listed as a trilogy of books, my book list treats it as a singular novel, and really that was what it was meant to be. Looking at the detail that Tolkien puts into this world, it is absolutely incredible. For a book that took ten years to write, you can tell. The story is so in depth and the languages that were created so complete that you can almost feel like this is an actual world. Word of advice, I recommend that you read it like I did. Read The Hobbit first, then expand into this book because The Hobbit flows into this book. Also, watching the movies after reading these books gave me so much more insight that upon first viewing I missed. The characterization in these novels is some of the best I have ever read. I love stories that tie back into a whole wider universe. This novel alone had urged me on to explore all of the Tolkien stories tied together, from The Silmarillion to the Lost Stories. If you don't like fantasy novels this might not be for you, but it is dead center of my alley. Overall, the book is fantastic, you just need to read it to appreciate it. Definitely on my must read list.

The 306 Greatest Books #34 - The Hobbit

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. This book can be found on the BBC Book List. 

Since books are notoriously better than their movie counterparts, I wanted to wait until all of the Lord of the Rings films finished up in theaters before starting this series. The third movie was released in December of 2003 and so I could get started on the books at any time. I also like to read books in the order that they were meant to be read, so that meant starting off this series with The Hobbit. Overall, I felt that this was a fantastic book, however it definitely was not as intricate as The Lord of the Rings. The one thing it does do fantastically though is it sets up the events of The Lord of the Rings. The story follows a hobbit names Bilbo Baggins, while he goes off on some adventures with the wizard Gandolf. It definitely feels like a kiddie version of the Lord of the Rings movie/book though and so may be a good stepping stone getting into the series, but for those already accustomed to the movies, this may end up not being what they expect.

The 306 Greatest Books #33 - A Christmas Carol

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This book can be found on the BBC Book List. 

A Christmas Carol tells the story of a miserly scrooge who eventually learns to feel the Christmas spirit after being threatened by three Christmas spirits. The story in the book is just like the story many people already know through its countless adaptations. However, anyone who is familiar with adaptations knows that the books can be very different from their adapted counterparts. After reading the story I discovered that, for one, this story is rather short and therefore many of the adapted versions actually follow the story fairly well, with each one leaving out one thing or another for the sake of flow and brevity. Overall, this is an enjoyable story which is a quick and easy read. A perfect read for the holiday season.