On the Self

After the J R R Tolkien trilogy, his longtime friend C S Lewis’s Narnia series is now being brought to the big screen. After being transported to the other side in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, after racing through the other six books, here’s what else you may want to catch.

His Dark Materials
Trilogy
By Philip Pullman
Pullman is a sharp critic of the religious allegory in the Narnia books, of the rendition of an all-knowing God. But his brilliant books — Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Skyglass — have very curious throwbacks to Lewis’s stories. They open with a girl hiding in a wardrobe. The Oxford dons congregating for a chat also recall the gatherings of the Inklings, the discussion group where Tolkien and Lewis would discuss their works.

The Penultimate Peril
By Lemony Snicket
Away from the worlds meticulously constructed by Lewis and Pullman, Snicket’s 12-part Series of Unfortunate Events is coming to a close. Be sure that in this last but one book, the Baudelaire orphans will not be left wanting for nastiness and misfortune.