Author: Cary

A child of God. A disciple of Christ. A Forester. Introvert but loves to talk. A bookworm. SanPhleg

Prince Caspian

I remember the first time I learned about the Chronicles of Narnia was when one of my professors back in college asked us, as a bonus question in our exam, to enumerate the seven books of the series. During that time, I’ve only heard about TLTWTW so instead of feeling happy for the bonus points, I got disappointed for i’ve only one point for that bonus question.(Actually, the exam was so hard that I have to rely on the bonus questions to get a passing score.) Fortunately, I was able to pass the exam even without the bonus but that question remained in me forever that I became curious about the series so I made a promise to read those books someday.

It was only last year though that I’ve started fulfilling that promise by reading the first three books of the series and so far, Lewis has never failed to fascinate me with his works that i did not hesitate to buy the set when i saw it at the UP christmas bazzar.

Prince Caspian deserves Mr. Cute Bear bookmark

Okay, enough for that long introduction. Let me now give justice to that 5 stars.

This fourth book of the Narnia series is actually about the return of the pevensie siblings to narnia a year after their return to earth from that magical wardrobe. To their surprise, it seems that a year on earth is equivalent to a thousand years or so in narnia so what they found were only the remains of the kingdom that had once belong to them. They later found out that the reason why they were brought back to narnia was that a rightful heir of the throne is in danger of losing his crown. So once again, the children have to carry out their mission and restore the old narnian kingdom.

I have actually seen the movie prior to reading this book but I’m glad that the scenes from the movie seem so vague in my memory so I was able to appreciate Lewis’ account of the story. The movie is also different with the love angle between Caspian and Susan, which is actually absent in the book, so I think that was an added point.

Actually the reason why I love this book is the underlying theme of the story. More than the victory they’ve gained at the end of the story, I love how the hope of the real Narnians rise up upon knowing that Aslan is alive for he seems so distant for a long time. I also love how the author tied up lose ends and answer the question I have in mind in the beginning of the book – Where did those Telmarines came from?

I think the only distraction Ihad while reading this was that i cant help but interchangeably imagine the scenes from the lord of the rings movie with all those moving trees.

Title: Prince Caspian
Author: C.S. Lewis
Copy: Owned
Rating: ★★★★★

Black Beauty

   Black Beauty

I have no idea about this book except for the hint on the cover that this is a story of a horse. I always find a copy of this in the children’s section of booksale but I always end up ignoring it since it doesn’t have a Newberry seal in its cover and I am not really fond of pony books so I thought it will not fit me. It was only when I‘ve  finally found a Php10 copy in one of my bargain book-hunting sessions in booksale that I decided to buy it and give it a shot. When I started reading and found out that it is written from a first person point of view a horse in an autobiography form, I instantly changed my mind from thinking that it’s not interesting and as I go through the chapters, I find the shifting emotions I felt while reading truly remarkable and so my increasing love for it.

Living in a period when horses are no longer used for transportation and in a country where horses are not common farm animal, I can definitely count with my fingers the times when I was able to have a face to face experience with a horse, and one of those was when we had a “calesa ride” as we tour the historical streets of Vigan.

This is the sad truth about horses in our country. We can only see them usually in historical tourist destination areas like Intramuros and Vigan and you have to pay a large sum of money just to experience them.

Reading this book brought me to the panoramic view of 19th century England where horses are the most common means of transport, as Black Beauty narrates the experiences he had with his different owners and the other people and horses he met along the way. As the story develops, I learn a lot about horses and their work during that time and see the different kinds of treatment that they receive from humans.

Despite the hardships that he’d gone through with those cruel masters, he was able to keep his spirit and good temper up. It made me think though that it’s good for Beauty for he was able to meet good masters several times in his life, but for those who ended up with cruel masters, I can’t help but feel sorry for them. There are actually scenes from this book that really broke my heart which made me feel ashamed of myself because admittedly, I can be one of those cruel people sometimes. Not being an animal lover, (not for the domestic animals at least as I cared a lot about endangered animal species), I always feel some sort of distaste for dogs and cats that I would not hesitate to hit them once they made a wrong move to me. I think this book made me realized I have to stop doing that and try to be at least civil, if not more caring, to them. As what the author had said “we have no right to distress any of God’s creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

Today, Black Beauty is considered as a children’s classic but Mr. Wiki says that the author did not actually wrote this book for children. For the author Anna Sewell, horses are one of her most beloved animals that she wrote a book about them and hope that her work, as she explained in a letter to a friend before she died, “would induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment with horses” and I think she was able to effectively do that in this book. The message of this book is actually more than a story about a horse but also about us humans, and how we treat animals who cannot speak for themselves.

Title: Black Beauty
Author: Anna Sewell
Copy: Owned
Rating: ★★★★★

The Magician’s Nephew

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Honestly, I thought I would find this book boring and uninteresting unlike the first book of the series. I have to stop at the end of first chapter because I find the story very slow and flat so I decided to try the Lion, the Witch and the Wizard first, and have a glimpse of Narnia through the adventures of the Pevensie siblings. I enjoyed the book as much as I enjoyed the movie that I decided to go back to the first book of the series and see the creation of Narnia.

My second attempt to read this book was indeed a success that I can’t help but admire C.S. Lewis for creating this timeless piece of literature. I love how C.S. Lewis translated the story of Creation and the Fall of Man into a children’s tale, though according to wikipedia, the author did not intend his books to be allegorical.

This is indeed a timeless classic book that I would certainly love to read to my children when the right time comes, as a tool for introducing Jesus Christ to their very young mind.

Title:     Magician’s Nephew
Author: C.S. Lewis
Copy:    Owned
Rating: ★★★★★

The Little Prince

I first learned about the Little Prince in one of the my values education lesson back in high school. Our lesson then was about friendship and the excerpt of story of the Little Prince and the fox was used as an example of how friendship is formed among individuals. I didn’t know about the beauty of the book then until a college friend of mine told me how she loved this book.

When I first read this, I honestly didn’t like it that much,except for the illustrations of the boa constrictor and the baobabs. I guess I just didn’t get the message of the story. It was only last year that I decided to read it again and pay more attention to it that I was able to appreciate and see its beauty. I love how the author wrote the story in a simple and innocent way yet full of wisdom as he narrates the story of the little prince, the rose, and the fox through the pilot. I love how the author creatively discussed the flaws of the grown-ups as compared to children in seeing the most important and pleasurable things in life and with that, this book deserves to be included in my list of books that I will read for so many times.

Title:     The Little Prince
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Copy:    Kindle
Rating: ★★★★★

Screwtape Letters

This is my first book of C.S. Lewis outside the Chronicles of Narnia Series. I want to balance my reading list with good, wholesome and inspiring Christian books so I tried the works of Lewis and look for an e-book. Fortunately, I found one online, so I started with Screwtape Letters.

The Screwtape Letters is a series of letters written by Screwtape, a senior demon, to his nephew and a neophyte tempter, Wormwood, about the different ways to tempt a newly converted Christian they referred to as “Patient”. Their aim is to secure the “Patient’s” eternal damnation in hell. In this book, C.S. Lewis tried to describe the spiritual battles between Christians and the forces of evil in a different point of view.

At first, I felt uncomfortable reading the parts where Lewis referred God as “the Enemy” and Satan as the “Father” because being a child of God, I know it’s the other way around. But looking at it as a literary piece, this is actually the spice of the story and this what makes the book special to me, that I really can’t help but admire Lewis for his wisdom and creativity.

After reading the book, I was enlightened and reminded of the truths we humans should believe about God:

  1. God loves us and He wants no one of us to perish but He wants us to have eternal life with Him and so He his Son to die for us and pay for our sins (John 3:16). To have eternal life, we have to accept Jesus in our life and believe He is our Lord and Savior. By dying on the cross, he redeemed us and provided the forgiveness of our sins–past, present and future.

  2. God promised that for us who receive Jesus, He gave the right to be called His Children. No one can separate us from His love thus, our salvation through Jesus is assured and no one can take it away from us, not even Satan.

  3. What Satan only wants from every human is to steal, kill and destroy. He is like a lion who is always looking around for prey, ready to devour anytime thus we should always be on guard. He will try all possible means for us to turn away from God.

  4. God promised us victory. What Jesus did on the cross is already complete. Because of that, we are victorious in Christ so we have the power to win any battle including spiritual battle with the real Enemy. Therefore, we must not lose hope and stand firm on our faith that God has already given us the holy life through Jesus and all we have to do is to live it and stop doing the things that are not pleasing to Him. This book provided some examples of the unpleasant things that may seem insignificant but can eventually lead to our own destruction because the devil knows how to manipulate our thoughts so we really need to be careful.

  5. Of course, the best way to defeat the Enemy is to lay down all our battles to God by praying and petition. The Bible said, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:10-18). This is actually the passage that keeps on popping out of my mind the entire time I was reading the book.

This book only wants to point out that we need to recognize that just like Heaven, Hell is also real and Satan also exists. He is continuously looking for possible “recruits” and deceiving people by suggesting different lies in our minds to keep us from turning to God. But God is loving and gracious. He will never let His children fall if we will only remain in Him. God wants all His children to be reunited with Him in eternity, but sadly, not everyone can go to heaven because not everyone has accepted the Truth. He gave us free will to choose how are we going to live our life here on earth. So in every moment and every action of our lives, we are given two different options: to do His will or to follow our own will? And we need to choose well because one may be the highway to hell.

If you are looking for a book about living a Christian life, then I highly recommend this one but of course living a holy life according to God’s standard can only be achieved if we continuously seek to know Our Creator more through reading his written Word.

Rating: 5/5