somehow i haven't posted here in quite a while... i've been reading, but to be honest with you i think i did a lot of picking up and setting don books in the last few months... i did successfully complete the chronicles of narnia yesterday... mom bought it for me around the time the movie came out... suprisingly enough, in my 26 years, i'd never read these beloved books... i'm so glad i finally did. i love cs lewis... reading the great divorce in my early 20s helpe me come to peace with the ideas of heaven and hell... and well, i dunno, his work is just awesome. i loved these stories. i think the last one (the great battle, i don't know if it was the last one written, but it's the last in the preferred reading order) is my favorite. the picture he paints of heaven, well, it made me cry. i really like the discussion with the calormene soldier too, and the dwarf that was for the dwarf... that worrying about the details of heaven and how or why or whatever isn't anything we need to do. then i thought about the last book for a while, because the whole absence of susan disturbed me at first... but i started thinking about a great movie i saw with my folks the other night (the end of the spear) and a line from it: stevie boy asks his father if he will use his gun to defend himself if the Waodani attack... and his dad says, son, they're not ready for heaven yet, but we are... take this however you will, but something about it hit me, and in hearing that a few days before reading this last book, it just came to my thoughts, and they described the way susan was, but from the other books you know her heart, and i dunno, aslan is wise, and knew she wasn't ready for the true narnia, because she was still tied to a less perfect world... or something, maybe this makes no sense to anyone but me... i guess i love the description too because i think an important part of christianity is being in and loving the world we're in right now... not just looking ahead to the kingdom but seeing glimpses of the kingdom in our broken world... i thought that last book did a great job in displaying that... it was awesome! i think i could reread the last few chapters over and over again. if you are like i was and never took the time to read a children's series because you missed out on it as a child, cut yourself a break and pick up these books, you won't be sorry. SO GOOD!