Coicoy

  The Horse and His Boy is a unique entry in The Chronicles of Narnia , and every time I think of it or hear it mentioned I think of my mom sharing the story of one of her friends who - unknowingly and unfortunately - picked up this particular book first, and, having read and loved it, only then discovered that the characters who are at the foreground and center of this story are characters who scarcely make an appearance in the rest of the series. Edmund and Susan appear in crucial scenes in the middle, Edmund returns at the end, Lucy shows up and makes her presence felt at the end, and the High King Peter is only mentioned by name. The book instead focuses on Shasta, the Talking Horse Bree, the Tarkheena named Aravis, another Talking Horse Hwin, and the Southern Kingdoms of Archenland and Calormen and Tashbaan and their kings and princes.  So, my mom's friend became attached to all of these characters and then only then discovered that the rest of the Narnia series was quit...

The Silver Chair has always been a notable book to me, for a few reasons. For one, it is one of the darkest tonally in the whole series and it was the one I found somewhat scary as a growing child. For another, it was one of the books adapted by the BBC for their series of televised productions, which I remember watching with my best friend Chris O. And then there's my mother, whom I must mention again. I am fairly certain that my introduction to the book came after my mom called me Puddleglum , or said that I was talking like him, or something along those lines. She said it with a smirk and a wink, and it stuck with me. So, when I first read the book, I was a bit amused and slightly bemused. I mean, I was generally a positive and optimistic child, at least I thought so, and Puddlglum's repeatedly referred to by Eustace and Jill as a wet blanket, and he's constantly expecting the worst outcome. He's an aptly named character. And with his musings come a fair amount of w...