Thursday, August 05, 2010

I Miss Them Already

Just a few days ago, I finished listening to the Chronicles of Narnia which had been dramatised for radio by Paul McCusker of Focus on the Family.
These are simply spectacular.  The cast is great, the sound effects and music are spot on. 

My only quibble is that they present them in the revised order (chronological within Narnia) rather than the original order (in which they were written & published).
That was easily overcome by simply listening in the order I prefer, rather than in the order in which the CDs were labeled.

With Paul Scofield as the storyteller (narrator) and David Suchet as Aslan (no, he doesn't mention his moustaches, nor does he sound at all like Hercule Poirot), there is a real sense of authenticity, and a real sense of the stories as being really real.  (I know, I just used real thrice in that sentence, but I don't care.)

As I said in the title, I miss them already.  My first trip to work and back after I had finished the series meant I was back to the radio or music CDs or whatever, and while that's what I had always done on these drives, it wasn't right, somehow. 
"Oh bother," I thought, "I miss Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, Jill, Digory, Polly, Puddleglum, Reepicheep, Aslan, oh, all of those friends one makes in Narnia."

I don't think I can recommend these highly enough - they really are wonderful in all the senses of that word.  Please, find them and listen!  Of course, nothing can replace the books, so you ought to read them as well, but this is a great way to get your Narnia fix on the go.