Book Review: Bringing Narnia Home

Bringing Narnia Home: Lessons from the Other Side of the Wardrobe. Devin Brown. 2015. Abingdon Press. 144 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Devin Brown has also written a biography of C.S. Lewis, A Life Observed A Spiritual Biography. I hope to read this soon. (I've got it checked out from the library. I hope to like it a little more than Bringing Narnia Home.)

Did I like Bringing Narnia Home? Yes and no. I liked the premise of it very much. Each chapter is a moral lesson lifted from the world of Narnia. All the chapters have unique, meant-to-be-memorable titles.

1. Of Mice and Minotaurs: Actions We See As Small and Insignificant Can Be Far More Important Than We Realize
2. Despite What White Witches, Tisrocs, and Other Petty Tyrants Think Being A Leader Means More Than Simply Being the Boss
3. Bad Can Be Beautiful (At Least On the Surface)
4. I Thought We Were Getting Real Soldiers: Sometimes Help Does Not Look Like Help Until Much Later
5. Live Like It's Always Christmas and Never Winter: Merriment and Celebration Are Not Just For Holidays and Birthdays
6. It Takes A Village to Make A Community (With Giants, Dwarfs, and Everything In-Between)
7. There Is A Way Back From Every Offense--Large and Small (And It Has Nothing To Do With Having a Good Defense)
8. Bury the Hatchet and Don't Put a Marker on the Site (Forgiveness Means Forgiving and Forgetting)
9. Only the Good Have Fun (The Self-Centered Life Turns Out to be Not Cool)
10. The Virtuous Life is a Real Adventure (Yes, One That Includes Real Hardship, but One You Don't Want To Miss)
11. Adventures Begin in the Most Unlikely Places (Something to Keep in Mind the Next Time You're in an Unlikely Place)
12. Of Course He's Not Safe (But He's Good)

I thought some of the chapters were very good. I loved the chapter "Bad Can Be Beautiful" and "There Is A Way Back From Every Offense." I loved, loved, LOVED the chapter "Of Course He's Not Safe (But He's Good)." Three or four chapters make this book worth reading, in my opinion. But not every chapter is equally great. Not all chapters are gush-worthy or have that much worth contemplating. (Every chapter has reflection questions, by the way.) What the book is rich in is quotes from the Narnia books. So if you absolutely love C.S. Lewis and Narnia and can't get enough, then this one is probably worth your time. (It would be a good gift for Narnia lovers.) If you're not obsessed with Narnia, however, the book isn't as much of a must-read. It can still be a fun treat though.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible