I always have such a hard time deciding which one of the Narnian books are my favourites; it’s usually a toss up between this one, The Last Battle, and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I think it has partly to do with Eustace Scrubb, who, after Edmund Pevensie, is my favourite of the Narnian kids. (I shall avoid my spiel about how I positively adore the bratty kids in books for today.) So when I decided I wanted to read about Eustace Scrubb, I must’ve sat at my bookshelf for a good half hour before deciding that I wanted some Jill Pole and Puddleglum as well.
In this installment (the sixth in the series), Scrubb and Pole have been called to Narnia to go on a quest to find the King’s son who disappeared some 10 years previous. With Puddleglum as their guide, they head north into giant country, where they almost get eaten by giants, find their way into the Underland (a kingdom ruled by an evil sorceress many miles underground), and have to free the Prince from evil enchantment.
I was having a conversation the other day with someone about why I re-read books. They said they couldn’t do it because they know how the story’s going to end. As for me, I love re-reading books – though I haven’t done much of that as of late – too many other books that need to be read! There’s always something new that you find when you read a book again, some small little thing that you missed the previous time (times?) you’ve read the book. Or there’s something that you completely forgot about that touches you in a new way.
For example, this bit jumped out at me more this time than it ever has before. I had completely forgotten how amusing Puddleglum could be, with his depressing and sometimes morbid view on life. The kids and Puddleglum had just met a lady accompanied by a man who never said a word or make a sound, dressed all in a black suit of armour, with the visor of his helmet down.
“I was wondering,” remarked Puddleglum, “what you’d really see if you lifted up that visor and looked inside.”
“Hang it all,” said Scrubb. “Think of the shape of the armour! What could be inside it except a man?”
“How about a skeleton?” asked the Marsh-wiggle with ghastly cheerfulness.
melrose plant December 2nd, 2006 at 11:00 pm
How could you not re-read books? That’s like telling me my life has to end now.
Do you own ( or have you read ) Inkheart?
That’s by Cornelia Funke, right? I neither own nor have read it. –C
Carl V. December 6th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
I agree, how could anyone pass up on the opportunity to re-read favorites? You really do notice different things each time and the comfort and warmth you get from re-reading books you love gives reading a depth that it just doesn’t have if all of your reading is one-time-only.