The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe - my favourite story!

Follow Mr Beaver deeper into the forest, he can't talk in the open even the trees have ears and some of them are her spies...

As a child I thought C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe' was simply amazing and awesome. I wanted to be Lucy and go and stay in a big house in the country (although of course not in times of war) and I wanted to discover a big, old, oak wardrobe that took me into the magical land of Narnia. 'Narnia' even now it conjours up images of magic, Christmas time, snowy days, cosy around the fire, hot buttered toast and sweet tea - a cosiness, even though elements of the story are anything but cosy! I love all the Chronicles but my favourite, which I return to time and time again, is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I have seen the Disney movie version which was very good, but I much prefer the 1980s BBC1 adaptation of the story. It was played of a Sunday early evening on the run up to Christmas and was so exciting because the culmination of the story came just before Christmas Day! Memories like that stay with you forever and I guess that is why Narnia and Christmas is one in the same for me.

I often wander what it is about stories like The LWW that even now as an adult I long for. I love fantasy stories, I love the thought of magical lands, of fairies, witches and enchanters. Of castles simply bursting with magic, so thick it drips off your fingers and sparkles on the wall. At the moment I am reading 'Spindles End' a rework on the Sleeping Beauty story which is excellent written by Robin McKinley. Check out her excellent website which details all about her, her books and check out her excellent blog, which I checked out myself earlier today, find all this at http://www.robinmckinley.com/.

I have to say that as an adult I think I appreciate these kind of fantasy books even more than I did when I was a child. Its like visiting Disneyland in Florida, little kids cannot really appreciate just how fantastic it is, and when Mickey Mouse and Goofy wave and pat you on the pack you can't help but smile from ear to ear.

I often wonder is this escapism into fantasy books my trying to escape the humdrumness of my reality, of the dullness of my job and the everydayness of my life, but so what if it is... we all have to go out there and earn our livings and if we can escape into these fantastic stories and be transported for just a short while each day - what's wrong with that! So I will carry on reading all the fantasy fiction I can and continue looking to find my entrance into my own 'Narnia' everyday...