The 2456317 Club

[throughlkglass]

The hat reads "Read them the way Jack wanted"

I like it, and I always liked reading them in the originally published order best, but in one of his letters to children, Jack wrote that perhaps reading them chronologically was a good idea. (I think the child's mother thought the books should be read in chronological order, and the child wanted Lewis's opinion). Wish I had the quote here; I checked the book out from the library. Did Jack say we ought to read them the published way elsewhere?

[carol]

If you are looking for that quote:

I went to the FAQ, and also Andrew Rilstone's FAQ... which is where you will go with this link:
http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/narnia.htm
Happy reading!

[john]

I don't personally believe Jack made the suggestion to the little American boy named Laurence in 1957 because he firmly believed that it was a good idea to read his books in that order. I think he was just being his usual agreeable self, especially when it comes to children, and he wanted to empower the child by siding with him. In the end of his letter, Jack did say "So perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone read them" which, if taken literally, would mean that they should remove the numbers from the books entirely and heck with any order at all.

Honestly...I don't care one iota what order Jack thought they should be read in. I prefer the original published order for the first-time reading. Period.

[carol]

Absolutely with you, John! (I agreed elsewhere that he was being nice to a child who had written to him.)

[Stanley Anderson]

Absolutely with you, John! (I agreed elsewhere that he was being nice to a child who had written to him.)

You may remember my rationale of a preference for the original published order in terms of the progress of a typical Christian's spiritual development from first encounter with the Savior (LWW) to entry into Heaven (LB) with the various "stages" in between. The phrase "original published order" has always seemed a bit unwieldy to me, and it suddenly occurs to me that at least in connection with my reasoning, I could conveniently call it the "theological order". I like it!:-)

--Stanley

[Momtoast]

Yes, I probably made it misleading to have that on there. I don't really know what way he wanted them read. I just couldn't think of what else to put down there. Decently and in order is my favorite anyway.

[Momtoast]

Wow, people are actually buying them!

I'll have to get myself a mug, at least.

[john]

I've been wanting to have Into the Wardrobe stuff printed for years, but never have had the time, nor have I thought of a good design (I'm rather picky about that).

Some day...

[Carrie]

Well, if you ever do decide to get Wardrobe merchandise, I would probably buy one. Everyone thinks I'm crazy to spend as much time as I do on these forums, so I may as well have a t-shirt to emphasize my obsession.

[David]

Sign me up. On another Lewis list, we used to call it the OOOO. Oblates of the Original Orthodox Order. Different name, same purpose.

David

[Sven]

What the well-dressed Wardrobian will be wearing this season

[Áthas]

Wow, great idea to have that on the shirt. However, I'd probably like t have it on a black shirt in white or blue letters with some colorful picture, like a lion or a wardrobe with open doors and a glimpse of Narnia or something like that.

[queenbookworm]

Mmm I'd like the Tree Of Protection but as we are wardrobians the Wardrobe and Lucy seems better.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

That would be good, but you would have to be careful in not making it look like the Tree of Gondor from Lord of the Rings.

[john]

...or even one of the trees from The Wizard of Oz. I can see how somebody would easily get confused.