at the end I said:
I never want you to read to me again
and my younger sister said:
read it again Mum, read it again
Currently I am reading my boys The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S.Lewis. It is the 6th of the Narnia books and we have also read Prince Caspian and they have the audio books (abridged sadly) of The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
I adore the Narnia books. Every couple of years I read them through and I always get something new from them. They are so much more to me than just good yarns.
I find parts of them rather emotion inducing but I am committed to not having a Happy Prince moment! Tonight I read the following - with rather a lot of pauses and quavering.
"My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Alsan's country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise and Peepiceek will be head of the talking mice in Narnia."
I know it probably seems totally strange as a part to make me emotional, but it is Reepicheep's dedicated fervor to continue on with all of his might that I find so wonderful. It speaks to something deep in me - this determination and whole-heart quest. His heart is fixed with all his courage on his destination and he will go in that direction until he has nothing left in him and there go down still facing towards his dream. (For those unfamiliar with the Narnia books Reepicheep is a mouse with courage to turn an army - he's absolutely gorgeous).
Do you ever cry reading aloud? And which reaction would you have had as a child? Mine or my sisters?
love you more than a book that can be read 100 times xxxx
