Which order do you think the books should be read in?

What order?

  • Written (LWW, PC, VoDT...)

    Votes: 87 46.0%

  • Chronological (MN, LWW, HHB...)

    Votes: 89 47.1%

  • Other (Please specify)

    Votes: 13 6.9%
  • Total voters
    189
I read them chronologically, beginning with Magician's Nephew. I enjoyed them wonderfully as such, but you can read them either of the two most common ways and still enjoy them just about as much.
 
The Order

Me, I would read them chronological way, because you understand the story so much better. Reading them the way they were made would make the plot and timeline seem too.... complicated.
 
Except that the books written later assume you have read the others first - especially The Magician's Nephew, which introduces itself as explaining how all the comings and goings between our world and Narnia began, and has so many things in that you wouldn't understand if you hadn't read LWW first.

Peeps
 
Chronological. It makes far more sense in the long run as the early books explain later things, and I still feel the early books are the best.:)
 
I know that many people disagree with this, but I like to read them starting with MN (chronologically) because that's the order they were in when I first read them. I read LWW first because that book was assigned to me in school, but the box set started with MN, and I just like to read it that way because it's the way it happened in Narnia.
 
Page number order. Definitely. And if you don't want to look dorky, be sure not to hold the books upside down....

ALL JOKING ASIDE....

There is a charm in reading the books in publication order. It's a participation in the experience of the original readers, much like someone would want to ride a steam locomotive or take a balloon ride when there are diesels and jets out there. The little in jokes of The Magician's Nephew only make sense when it's done this way. You also get to know the characters in the order that the author got to know them.

BUT

You should also, later on, read the books in chronological order so that you get Narnia's history in perspective.

My final answer: Best to read it BOTH ORDERS. Yeah. I did.
 
ES said:
There is a charm in reading the books in publication order. It's a participation in the experience of the original readers, much like someone would want to ride a steam locomotive or take a balloon ride when there are diesels and jets out there. The little in jokes of The Magician's Nephew only make sense when it's done this way. You also get to know the characters in the order that the author got to know them.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with this. This is the correct way to read them for the first time. After that, you can read them any which way and they are all good.
 
This comes to the problem of the effort to make MN the next movie in the Narnia franchise. MN was the second to the last book published and the last book written. I always saw it as a prequel to the chronicles and not the fist book of the chronicles. Prequels always seem wired when read first just because they are written latter. :)
 
My sister owned Lion and Prince Caspian so I read them first (so I started written order, at least). Forgotten which one I read next; however my mum got me a box set of all the books, and from then on I have read them in chronological order each time.
 
I think it dose not matter what order you read them, like the bible you can read any chapter and the message is still the same. You can read the books in any order you like but it helps to read them if you want to follow Peter and co and a time line in the chronolegial order. :)
 
Once you have read all the books, it doesn't matter in which order you re-read them, I agree. However, if you have never read them (nor seen the movies), I think it is critical to start with LWW so that you encounter Aslan in the same way that the children did, with no idea who he is -- if you read MN first, then you already know who Aslan is, and you don't get the delicious feeling of hearing his name for the first time and wondering why it makes you feel so good, as the children did ... It's a wonderful beginning for all the adventures.
 
It's interesting to me just how many times this site has probably had this discussion.
I was curious about the "other" answers here and found that somebody suggested this order:
-LWW
-Prince Caspian
-Silver Chair
-Dawn Treader
-The Last Battle
-The Horse and His Boy
-Magicians Nephew
This would be quite the way to read it to me.
 
ShastaoftheNineRealms said:
It's interesting to me just how many times this site has probably had this discussion.
I was curious about the "other" answers here and found that somebody suggested this order:
-LWW
-Prince Caspian
-Silver Chair
-Dawn Treader
-The Last Battle
-The Horse and His Boy
-Magicians Nephew
This would be quite the way to read it to me.
Click to expand...
Shasta

I'm curious as to your reasoning here. It seems very odd that you would read TSC before VDT, since TSC has many things that are based on VDT. I'm also curious why you would but TLB anywhere other than last.

Peeps
 
Reading for the first time I would go with publication release. After that, and what I do is chronologically. As I was shopping for books online I came across a Narnia book selling (well out of my price range) with a signed letter from Lewis. He would reply to fans and children who wrote in, so there are a number of letters out there from their correspondences. This is one I found and enjoy reading the interaction. The child obviously had the same question, well at least in terms of where The Magicians Nephew should be for reading. CS Lewis letter.png
 
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