Sometimes the best vacations are taken right in your own living room or sitting out on your deck. I have been completely carried away to another land recently, listening to the audio book version of The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis. It’s a 31-disc adventure to listen to all seven books (I can’t believe I’d never read them before!), but I’m enjoying them very much (and am getting a lot of knitting done, too.) There is a different narrator for each book — a wonderful group of the best actors/voices/talent possible! If you and your family are heading out for a road trip before the end of summer, (are road trips things of the past now?), these wonderful adventures will keep you all entertained for miles and miles.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: narrated by Michael York.
Prince Caspian: narrated by Lynn Redgrave
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: narrated by Derek Jacobi
The Silver Chair: narrated by Jeremy Northam
The Horse and His Boy: narrated by Alex Jennings
The Magician’s Nephew: narrated by Kenneth Branagh
The Last Battle: narrated by Patrick Stewart
A Fondness For Reading 
What a lovely line up of narrators. I would love to listen to them on our upcoming trip, but alas, all the copies are checked out of the library. Next time… 🙂
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Melissa, I’m sorry they were already checked out from your library. They must be very popular, especially during the summer, because I’ve been checking them out from my library, too, and have had to wait for each audiobook to be returned. They’re worth the wait, though.
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My husband reads through the Narnia series to the family about every 4 years. We are currently on our 4th pass right now, just finishing up with The Horse and His Boy. It’s a wonderful family tradition that we all enjoy, even the teenager.
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It’d be worth listening to them just to hear those delightful voices!
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Petunia, that’s a wonderful family tradition!
Caitlin, so true! They each do such a great job, and it makes it so much fun to listen to them. I particularly loved Lynn Redgrave’s narration.
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What a wonderful, wonderful thing to do. And what great narrators! I enjoy going through a whole series, one book right after another. I’ve done it with quite a few over the years.
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I love to go through series, too, Nan! It’s really been fun to listen to these incredibly talented actors reading the books. A wonderful summer break for me!
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Oh, wow, those are some terrific actors; I can imagine the narration is fabulous. I’ll have to look for those and find some hand work to do. I haven’t figured out how to cast on, yet. I need a real live person to show me because the books just aren’t doing the trick.
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Oh this sounds like fun. And what a fabulous selection of narrators!
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Nancy, it’s really fun to listen to them. I’m enjoying the knitting-while-listening, but if there’s a part of the pattern that really needs my focus, I have to turn the book off! Also, I’m the same way about needing someone to show me how to do different steps with my knitting. I’ve discovered there are quite a few web sites that show little video clips of the different knitting steps (like how to cast on or how to increase). They’ve helped me a lot.
Tanabata, it has been a lot of fun — and very relaxing! It’s definitely like being on “vacation.”
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Robin, I forgot to ask you if you did the cute little painting of the beach reader?
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Hi Caitlin. No, I didn’t paint the beach reader, I just loved the painting when I ran into it online. It was a graphic done by an artist named Theresa Schiffer, and I found it in an online article on summer reading that was in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. Here’s the link so you can also see what books they recommended::
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=329079
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