Bogormen

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Author: John Green & David Levithan
Genre: YA, LGBTQ+
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 308
Date read: April 2025

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers cross paths. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, culminating in heroic turns-of-heart and the most epic musical ever to grace the high-school stage.


A 3.5 star review. Rounded up, because most of the book was awesome, but the ending ... sigh ... the ending caused a huge eyeroll and definitely subtracted from my general enjoyment of the book.

That said, I'm glad that I knew going into the book that every second chapter was written from one Will Grayson's POV and every other second chapter was written from the other Will Grayson's POV, because I'm not gonna lie - that second POV took some getting used to. No caps, weird punctuation, short and jumping sentences. I get why it was written that way though, and it actually served a purpose, so after a few chapters I'd gotten so used to it that it stopped bothering me.

And unlike many other books that jump from viewpoint to viewpoint, I actually didn't prefer one over the other, once I got used to the writing style. The characters seemed realistic, and their issues believable. I'd love to see Tiny's musical!

Just a shame with the ending.

Title: The Magician's Nephew (Narnia #0)
Author: C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 221
Date read: August, 2018

Digory and Polly discover a secret passage that links their houses, and are tricked into vanishing out of this world and into the World of Charn, where they wake up the evil Queen Jadis. There, they witness the creation of the Land of Narnia, as it is sung into being by the Great Lion, Aslan.


I read this several times as a kid, but this is my first reread in 13 years! I still remembered most of it, obviously, but it was fun to reread and get the details straight. Not my favourite Narnia book, but not my least favourite either. I like this different way of getting to and from Narnia, and am extremely intrigued by all the other worlds accessible from the forest. Would be fun if somebody explored some of those in a fanfic.

Title: The Last Battle
Author: C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook (Patrick Stewart), 188 pages
Date read: April 2009, December 2018

The last battle is the greatest battle of all. Narnia... where lies breed fear... where loyalty is tested... where all hope seems lost. During the last days of Narnia, the land faces its fiercest challenge - not an invader from without but an enemy from within. Lies and treachery have taken root, and only the king and a small band of loyal followers can prevent the destruction of all they hold dear in this, the magnificent ending to the Chronicles of Narnia.


I love this book for the fact that it makes me feel so homesick for Heaven. The last two chapters moves me every time I read them - especially Aslan's final words to Lucy: "The term is over, the holidays have begun. The dream is ended. This is the morning." It gives me chills just to write them.

The plot is nothing special - probably the weakest of the 7 actually - and it always takes me awhile to get into it, as I don't consider the story as having "started properly" until the kids arrive in Narnia. I'm glad this book shows the return of the Pevensies (Lucy has always been my favourite character), but am always deeply troubled by "The Problem of Susan" - it is beyond me how she who was THERE at the stone table, could deny Narnia like that. It is a comfort to know that it was only Narnia that ended - not our world, and that she may still have another chance.

(If you want to read an excellent fanfic on that topic, I highly recommend The Queen's Return by honorh.)

Patrick Stewart was mostly a good narrator, but unfortunately he sometimes went overboard in doing voices which could make some of the characters a tad difficult to understand.

Title: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Author: C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 272 pages, Audiobook ~6hrs
Date read: April 2009, November 2018

The Dawn Treader is the first ship Narnia has seen in centuries. King Caspian has built it for his voyage to find the seven lords, good men whom his evil uncle Miraz banished when he usurped the throne. The journey takes Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace to the Eastern Islands, beyond the Silver Sea, toward Aslan's country at the End of the World.


Next to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, this is my favourite Narnia book. I really like Caspian, and while I miss Peter and Susan, I enjoy following the slow change in Eustace.

For the first time ever I found myself annoyed with the wizard though. It's pretty arrogant of him to leave the Dufflepuds as they are just because he thinks they look better that way. Can't remember ever having been bothered by that before.

The voyage over the eastern-most sea was beautifully described. Made me want to be right there with them.

Title: Prince Caspian Author: C.S. Lewis Genre: Fantasy, YA Rating: 9/10 # pages: 208 Date read: July 2008, September 2018

Summary: A prince fights for his crown. Narnia... where animals talk... where trees walk... here a battle is about to begin. A prince denied his rightful throne gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honor between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Review: After watching the movie, I wanted to reread the book, to see how much the adaption actually deviated from the book, and was left with the very unsettling sensation that the book for once wasn't as good as I remembered it. I found myself skimming a lot near the end, with the feeling that I was more 'comparing notes' than reading the book for its own sake. So now I know for another time that reading the book the very day after having watched the movie based on it, is not my best idea ever ;)

Title: Out of the Silent Planet
Author: C.S. Lewis
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~6.5hrs
Date read: June 2007, September 2013, May 2016, November 2018

This first book begins with our hero, Dr. Ransom, out for a walking tour in the countryside, dressed in that shabby way for which professors are renowned. His foes are his former schoolmates Devine and Weston. These men believe they need a human sacrifice, and by capturing Ransom they have their victim, for they have made a spaceship and are taking Ransom to Malacandra the red planet.

Once on Mars, Ransom escapes his captors, meets many species, and finds out that on Mars there has been no `Fall' and Ransom from Earth or the Silent Planet is a bit of an oddity. People from earth are considered to be `bent' in nature, from the original sin of the fall.

Follow Ransom as he treks across a strange world, and must find the courage to risk it all to save not only an alien race, but also, possibly his own soul.


I remember a long car ride as a child. It was too dark for us to read, so either Mum or Dad told us a story about a man from earth who was kidnapped and brought to a strange planet.

Several years later, Dad was looking for a book to read aloud to me, and picked it this one. I still pronounce all the Malechandrean terms in his voice, so the audiobook narrator got them all wrong ;-) Took me a few years to remember the car ride and realize it was the same story though.

But ever since then, I've been fascinated with the idea of not only life on other planets, but religion on other planets ever since. But then, why should the Earth be the only planet God ever revealed Himself to? If indeed there is life on other planets, wouldn't it make more sense that God revealed Himself there too, rather than that he didn't?

It's a brilliant book, and the descriptions of Malechandra wonderfully other-worldly. It's the first in a trilogy but can easily be read on its own.