Reading Memories: A Favorite Object

Image via here.

Title: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

First published in 1950, received both in 1989 and 1996

Material: Paper

Creator: C. S. Lewis

This object is the perennially classic children’s book, written by Oxford don Clive Staples Lewis.

I have a reverence and need for books. I take books traveling not only to pass the time, but also so that I have their physical comfort wherever I go, whether it be a hostel in Paris, a stopped train on the Czech and Polish border, or a chicken-filled bus in Morocco. Often I will bring this book from the Chronicles of Narnia, a series that I read more times than I can count when growing up.

During my childhood, this book endlessly fed my imagination, and inspired my fascination for lions, Turkish delight, and all things English.  As an adult, it is even more precious to me. It is a reminder of my mother reading to me before I could by myself, of my father telling stories about his own childhood, and of the stuffed lion that I named “Aslan,” given to me on the occasion of becoming a big sister at my brother’s birth. In other words, it has a deeply familial value to it now.

I originally inherited my dad’s 1973 copies of the chronicles, which I read until the binding fell apart. When I was fourteen, my parents gave me a new set. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was my introduction to the series.

This book is no more on display than any of the others on my bookshelf. I do not need to make a presentation of it; the knowledge that it is there, ready to be picked out, held, and read at any time is enough for me.

Many of its literary neighbors also have sentimental meaning outside of their actual stories, but they are books that I have read twice, or even three times. By looking at these shelves of books, an observer may correctly guess that I enjoy traveling and learning about new cultures, that I prefer 19^th century romanticism to 17^th century satire and cleverly self-aware post modernism, and that I not only like reading books, but also reading books about books.

Some people did not have a favorite or important book as a child, and it may be hard for them to relate to my experience with this one. Others may never have been a fan of any type of fantasy, seeing the genre as silly.

I believe that one could engage viewers with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by first, telling them more about the writer (who was pretty fascinating), and second, engage them by asking their favorite story (book, comic, movie, etc) as a child.