The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has won the hearts of Canterbury readers and was last night named their favourite book.
C. S. Lewis’s classic children’s tale narrowly beat the Bible and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code in the What’s Your Favourite? competition run by Christchurch City Libraries, The Press and the Christchurch Book Festival Trust.
About 5000 people voted for the overall favourite from a list of 20 books decided by an earlier poll. The voting spread throughout Canterbury after libraries in the Waimakariri, Selwyn, Ashburton and Timaru districts joined in.
The only New Zealand book in the top 20, and the biggest surprise, was Billy Barnz’s the Goat Hunter, which tells of the author’s experiences as a gun-position officer with the Kiwi contingent in the Vietnam War. It finished 12th in the poll.
Historical novels, such as Cross Stitch, Pillars of the Earth and the Bronze Horseman, also featured, as did four of the Harry Potter books.
Christchurch libraries and information manager Carolyn Robertson said The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written in 1950, appealed to succeeding generations because of its universal themes.
“There is something about it which is really captivating,” she said. “That magic can happen in the most unlikely places.”
The book tells the story of four English children who stumble from a wardrobe into the magical land of Narnia.
It is often regarded as a biblical allegory as the children help the lion Aslan, a Christ-like figure, overcome the White Witch, who has cursed Narnia with eternal winter.
The 20 books, in order of voting, were:
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, The Bible, The Da Vinci Code, The Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, The Power of One, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cross Stitch, The Hobbit, The Goat Hunter, Angela’s Ashes, Pillars of the Earth, The Time Traveller’s Wife, Jane Eyre, The Bronze Horseman, Wuthering Heights, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Paul: Wow, The Bible was second to Narnia? The Lord of the Rings after DaVinci Code? Something just isn’t right, there. Granted, the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is very good, I would have ordered the top four as follows: The Bible, The Lord of the Rings, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Hobbit. The DaVinci Code, I think, is just a fad. The Bible has had far more reach than any other book in history. Not to mention that it’s author is the creator of the universe, C.S. Lewis included. The Lord of the Rings was written by Lewis’ friend J.R.R. Tolkien, and is a masterpiece among novels. The Silmarillion is similarly well written, but more difficult to get through (not for boredom, but for the shear level of detail and number of characters to follow).