Authors of Yesteryear, Part I of VI

This isn't quite expansive enough to be a special feature; it's more like a featurette. This week I'll be posting some brief memories of young adult authors I read as a kid. C.S. Lewis will be the first author covered, since everyone is probably familiar with his most famous series, The Narnia Chronicles. This series was made up of five chronological books detailing the magic adventures of plain English children in the fantasy land of Narnia: Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. Between the final two books, Lewis also wrote a prequel and a side-tale, Magician's Nephew, and Horse and His Boy, respectively.

Of all the books, I think Dawn Treader is my favourite, being the first ever "road-trip" story set in a fantasy land. The side tales were interesting in the way Back to the Future Part II was interesting (seeing how events that you're already familiar with came to pass, or could be woven into a new tale) but apart from their nostalgia value, they really weren't good on their own.

It's amazing after the fact just how overtly religious the entire series was. I never noticed it as a kid, but rereading them last summer brought all the good versus evil parables right to the fore. If you have the time, reread the entire series, but replace Aslan the lion with God. Many of the lion's speeches would sound more natural coming from a preacher.

The Narnia series was also turned into a fairly dreadful television adaptation by Wonderworks, each one several hours long and telling the stories in their entirety. I remember watching the first four (a few of which are still on the shelf at home) and wondering why Reepicheep the mouse was obviously a midget in a low-budget mouse suit.

Do you have any anecdotes you'd like to share about Narnia? Feel free to send me an e-mail.

Tomorrow: John Bellairs

This weekend I watched the movie A Simple Plan, which was like Fargo with less downtime. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth your time. This is the first DVD I've rented that had no special features or bonus tracks on it -- rent the VHS if it's any cheaper.

It's been years since I added anything new to the Potpourri page, so to breathe a little new life into it, I've posted the article, Survey Says... from the latest edition of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. It's simply a collection of stupid things said during the Fast Money round of the gameshow, Family Feud.

Q: "Name a bird with a long neck."
A: "Naomi Campbell."