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kristinannie
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 2:41pm | IP Logged
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I want to purchase these to read for myself now (I read Narnia as a child, but not all the books). Can you recommend a good set? I can't really decide based on Amazon reviews which ones to buy. Thanks!
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juliana147
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 5:16pm | IP Logged
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I don't know if this is a set you were considering, but if you are looking for an illustrated version, I really like the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit illustrated by Alan Lee. I bought them on clearance a couple of years ago. My kids liked the paintings, and the books are printed on nice paper.
I read Tolkien for the first time when I was in grammar school, nabbing it off my parents' bookshelf.  I don't remember that version having any illustrations.
My kids have the one volume Narnia set, and have enjoyed it. I think the illustrator is Pauline Baynes.
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stellamaris
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| Posted: March 27 2012 at 7:45am | IP Logged
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Pauline Baynes is the original illustrator of the Narnia books and I prefer her illustrations. If you plan on having your children read the books to themselves later, I'd get the separate volumes rather than the single volume. We have both. The single volume is easiest for reading aloud and takes up a lot less room on the shelf, although it is kind of tall, really an oversized book. The individual paperbacks are larger print and less intimidating for younger readers. Reading the stories in this format gives the children the sense of accomplishment that comes with getting to the end of a book for each story and avoids giving them the feeling that there is SO much book to read that they will never get through it.
My personal favorites have always been the hardcover sets illustrated by Pauline Baynes, such as this one. This is, however, the most expensive option.
ETA: Please be aware that the HarperCollins set I linked above is not presented in the order the books were originally written in. Same thing with the one volume set. The original order was:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle
Personally, I prefer to read the stories in the original order. But there's a lot of difference of opinion on that topic!
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 27 2012 at 7:51am | IP Logged
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Of course, you didn't mention what order of the books. That's personal preference, but if you want the original order of how they were published, you have to go to out of print editions, I guess.
Original order:
Lion Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle
Reading in Chronological Order:
The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
I prefer the first order, and so I haven't even finished getting all my hardcovers. I find that with my siblings and now with my sons, these are reread over and over, so pick up paperback editions (used) whenever you see them. They will be well-loved.
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 27 2012 at 9:11am | IP Logged
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What a timely side note. I had just mentioned to a friend last week that my 8yo dd wants to start the series. We have all the books (the verision you mentioned linked to Caroline) and she brought up this whole issue of reading order. I had no idea and my oldest just read them in the Chronological order. Now I'm wondering if I should let her sister try them in the Publication order.
I hope you don't mind me asking Kristinannie, Can you share why you prefer the order that you do? Just curious 
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stellamaris
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| Posted: March 27 2012 at 9:43am | IP Logged
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Guess Jennifer and I cross-posted!
Jennifer, didn't we have this discussion a while ago on your blog? Jenny, you might want to mosey over to Jennifer's blog to read that for more insight. Can't link too easily here on my phone.
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keac
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| Posted: March 27 2012 at 10:15am | IP Logged
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Just thought I'd mention our favorite audio version , as well. It is so superbly done!
It is unabridged, not an audio drama, but a direct reading of the book, each story read by a different narrator such as Derek Jacobi, Lynn Redgrave, Kenneth Branagh, Michael York, Alex Jennings, Patrick Stewart and Jeremy Northam.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 27 2012 at 11:31am | IP Logged
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There's a free audio of Narina online which is nice. Here's the post about it.
Also if you have it I would be looking at getting these book on Kindle (or whatever other version). But the electronic books don't get worn out/torn up from heavy use 
Then I would also want a nice version of the books.
I find it interesting that the publisher's changed the order of the Narnia books. Even the movies follow the original order. For myself I prefer to read them in the original order just because I like following along with the author in that. But once I've read them. Then any order will do.. it can be fun to read in chronilogical order, or to just pick and choose etc. These books can be reread so much that in the end it probably doesn't matter which order you read them unless you're going to read them once and never touch them again. 
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Narnia and Lord of the Rings
