Page 4 - St. Joseph Messenger November 2020

Books by Lewis and Tolkien

Good reads at any age!

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe The Fellowship of the Rings
by C.S. Lewis by J.R.R. Tolkien

This classic is Lewis’s first The Fellowship of the Ring
installment in the beloved relates the story of an alliance
Chronicles of Narnia series. among members of the Free
It is the tale of four children Peoples of Middle-earth. The
who enter a fantasy world members had a common pur-
that will change their lives pose - to take the One Ring to
forever. They join Aslan, a Mordor that it might be cast
magical beast in fighting into the fires of Mount Doom,
the evil of the white witch, to be destroyed and ultimately
Jadis. kill the Dark Lord Sauron.

The following is an excerpt from the book: The following are excerpts from the book:

“None of the children knew who Aslan was any “You can trust us to stick to you through thick and
more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had thin – to the bitter end. And you can trust us to
spoken these words everyone felt quite different. keep any secret of yours – closer than you yourself
Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a keep it. But you cannot trust us to let you face
dream that someone says something which you trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are
don't understand but in the dream it feels as if it your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know
had some enormous meaning—either a terrifying most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a
one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare good deal about the ring. We are horribly afraid–
or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into but we are coming with you; or following you like
words, which makes the dream so beautiful that hounds.”
you remember it all your life and are always wish-
ing you could get into that dream again. It was like “The others cast themselves down upon the fra-
that now. At the name of Aslan each one of the grant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in
children felt something jump in it's inside. Edmund wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped
felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt through a high window that looked on a vanished
suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if world. A light was upon it for which his language
some delicious smell or some delightful strain of had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the
music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had
feeling you have when you wake up in the morn- been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering
ing and realize that it is the beginning of the holi- of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for
days or the beginning of Summer.” ever.”

If you haven’t read these books yet, now is the time to read them;

if you have read them, why not read them again?

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