30 Day Book Challenge! Catching Up...

Well, this didn't quite shape up correctly toward the end, did it? I began so that my 30th day would be the last day of July...and by Jove I'll finish tomorrow. Meaning, of course, that I'm about to answer four of my daily questions right now, and an identical number tomorrow. Nothing like making deadlines by the skin of your teeth!

Day 23: What is a book you once hated, but now love? Why?

I have no answer for this question, and I blame it entirely upon the fact that I am terribly stubborn. I do not think I have ever, ever given a second chance to a book I disliked. There are a few that come to mind that I think I may like a bit better if they were given a another read-through...well, there is one, at least. But with so many good books in the world, I have never had the time to have my mind changed on the "bad" ones. Boring answer, I'm afraid.

Day 24: What is your favorite series?

As any self-respecting Lewis fan would answer: Narnia! Not only for the great imagination of the stories, or the heart-resonating analogies, or the way Lewis has of describing the indescribable, but also for the memories of all the years dad read the series to us - over and over until the paperbacks fell to pieces - at the dinner table, screeching for Lasaraleene's lines or pausing to allow us to contemplate a truth.

Day 25: What is the nerdiest book you've ever read?

I don't read science fiction (besides, of course, C.S.Lewis' space trilogy - but that was still not really in the "nerd" category), I've never read a "how-to" book, and even nerdy subjects in my sphere (analyzing chord progressions, music theory, etc) have always been learned verbally or kinesthetically, not by reading. 

Given these considerations, I would say, simply, that I've never read a nerdy book. 

...and then, I think about all the times I begin to describe almost any book I'm reading (barring fictional books) to someone who unsuspectingly asks, "What book is that?" Almost without fail (I can count the exceptions on one hand), the eyes glaze over, an impatient wiggle of hand or foot commences, and as my voice slowly fades away with their attention, they inform me, "that's a bit too deep for me," or "I can't really focus in books like that," or "I just read fiction."

Given these considerations, I would say, simply, that all I read is nerdy books.

Day 26: What is your favorite kind of nonfiction book?

Ahhh, what a fitting follow-up question. I love books that make you think...that analyze and identify ideologies, philosophies, and mentalities - where people stand, and how they arrived at their conclusions. Would you call that Christian philosophy? But I don't think it could be limited to just one genre like that...

Would love to hear your answers to any and all of these questions! :)

30 Day Book Challenge! Day 3: Favorite Series

"The tree which sprang from the core of the Apple that Digory planted in the back garden, lived and grew into a fine tree. Growing in the soil of our world, far out of the sound of Aslan's voice and far from the young air of Narnia, it did not bear apples that would revive a dying woman.... But inside itself, in the very sap of it, the tree (so to speak) never forgot that other tree in Narnia to which it belonged. Sometimes it would move mysteriously when there was no wind blowing...."

- The Magician's Nephew

Day 3: What is your favorite series?

"'Logic!' said the Professor half to himself. 'Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth.'"

- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

No matter how many series I have enjoyed over the years, no matter how many sequential books I have devoured in my days, there is only one series that deserves the title of "favorite".

"Who are you?" asked Shasta.

"Myself," said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again, "Myself," loud and clear and gay: and then the third time "Myself," whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with it.

- The Horse and His Boy

"The first tree she looked at seemed at first glance to be not a tree at all but a huge man with a shaggy beard and great bushes of hair.... The same thing happened with every tree she looked at. At one moment they seemed to be the friendly, lovely giant and giantess forms which the tree-people put on when some good magic has called them into full life: next moment they all looked like trees again....and all the time that strange lilting, rustling, cool, merry noise."

- Prince Caspian

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series I've been listening to, reading, and discussing for as long as I can remember. For years, daddy would read the books aloud to us at the dinner table each night. Hanging on every word, we would beg for "one more chapter" and sit spellbound for over an hour after the evening meal was finished. We read our dear paperback books until the disintegrating spines absolutely could not be held together by tape any longer. Then we got a hardback version that held all seven books at once. The front and back cover are missing now

"'Oh, Aslan,' said Lucy. 'Will you tell us how to get into your country from our world?'

'I shall be telling you all the time,' said Aslan. 'But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear that, for I am the great Bridge Builder.'"

- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

We memorized and re-enacted lines from the old animated film, critiqued the cast of the BBC version, and attended the midnight showing of each new movie in full Narnian garb.

"'I was wondering - I mean - could there be some mistake? Because nobody called me and Scrubb, you know. It was we who asked to come here. Scrubb said we were to call to - to Somebody - it was a name I wouldn't know - and perhaps the Somebody would let us in. And we did, and then we found the door open.'

'You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,' said the Lion."

- The Silver Chair

Our wireless network is called "Narnia" and each computer in the house possesses the name of a Narnian hero or heroine (my dear pink laptop is the none other than the revered Lady Polly). Yes, we are a bit obsessed - but we love Narnia in this house. I love the story, the characters, the adventures - but most of all, I love the insights, and the way C.S. Lewis has of knowing precisely how to explain those deep feelings for which there are no words. Of course, by words no one can exactly explain them, but he alludes to them so perfectly that you know just what he is talking about.

"'Have you not guessed?' [Aslan said]

.... 'all of you are - as you used to call it in the Shadowlands - dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.'

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

- The Last Battle