Відео

Kyle, Thank you so much for your comments - they came at a particularly good time and made my day. I lost my beautiful son in 2020 to brain cancer. Of course, nobody ever promised us a "fair" life, but this felt particularly unfair. He was a beloved man who lived 25 wonderful years. In 2018 he graduated college, then obtained his most desired job (editor at the local NBC affiliate), married his college sweetheart, and bought a house. He was only 18 months into his newlywed bliss when the first symptoms occurred. He lived 8 months after having surgery (resulting in one side paralysis), radiation, chemo, and experimental drugs. I took him to 3 cancer centers, but ended up at the NIH (National Institutes of Health) in Bethesda, MD. There, he became only the second person to receive a brand new (but highly experimental) drug. I prayed like I never prayed before that he would respond to this treatment. But on Christmas Eve of 2020, he was imaged at Bethesda and they reported no change, so he was released from the trial and flown home by air ambulance. Five days later, my beautiful boy was gone. He was the perfect son, highly devout to God (he was conducting Bible studies at his home the month before he died), immediately loved by anyone he met, honest to a fault, very athletic and the definition of chick-bait. It took me two years to learn that there was one question I could not ask... "why?". Aslan would say this was someone else's story and I'm not meant to know it until I meet Him myself. Now, every day that passes is not just one more day older, but one day closer to my son. He was ten times the man I am, and I learned more from him than he ever learned from me. I was feeling a bit melancholy earlier today, not at all uncommon for a parent still grieving the loss of a child. But your kind note put a bit more spring in my step. And for that, I am grateful. Warmest Regards. Brian

You are SO right! In a way, THAHB could be a standalone novel by itself. It's probably my favorite to read, especially chapter 8, "In the House of the Tisroc". Great fun with the language. But yes, it is far removed from the other stories. But what a great story! I can only hope that I did it some justice. Thanks for the comment, my friend.

Just FYI - the Narnia series is now in the public domain and you can find PDFs of each book through Project Gutenberg. Just Google "gutenberg <book title>" and you'll find all seven books plus 150,000 others. If only I had time to read them all!

@ thanks for that tip! That will certainly be useful for the future!

It was my pleasure. Thanks for your comment.

Thank you! If you haven’t yet listened to “A Horse and his Boy”, I recommend it - it’s one of my favorites, vocally.

Linda - you are SO right! Thanks for the correction! Although I’m no mariner, I’ve heard the word “fokesall” a hundred times and never guessed it was spelled “forecastle”. My southeastern American noggin just never figured it out! As for fluency, my paternal grandmother was British (from Hayward’s Heath, south of London. She came to the U.S. in 1931 and moved near my family on Dec 8th, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor. She was the most gracious lady I’ve ever known. For many years I mowed her lawn and took her to church (Episcopal, the closest we had to the Church of England). She never gave up her British citizenship. Over the years I picked up some of the nuances of her accent, but “fluent”? Hardly. She passed away in 1976, when I was 18. I did a little acting and singing over the years, but time has taken its toll on my voice. Still, if I can summon what little voice remains, I’ll re-record “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” with proper pronunciation. Please accept my gratitude for your correction, and know that I would never willingly mispronounce a syllable of C.S.Lewis, but for my own ignorance. Regards, Brian

Thank you so much! It makes my heart happy to hear that. Personally, my favorites are The Horse and His Boy and The Silver Chair, but I love them all! Thanks again for your comment.

Brenda, Thanks for your comments! I’m currently re-reading “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” to my 19-year-old daughter while she’s home from college. She’ll never be too old for a bedtime story! Regards, Brian

You are quite welcome! Reading “The Last Battle” is vocally demanding, but gosh, what a story! Only C.S. Lewis could have written that last chapter. As with the other books, it’s chock-full of moral lessons and obvious allegory of Christianity. But regardless of your beliefs, this chapter can plant seeds of hope in any human being. It’s just a brilliant and beautiful ending, tying all 7 books together, as only Lewis could have done. I only hope that my narration did justice to the story. Thanks very much for your comments. You’re very kind. Regards, Brian

You are correct that “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” was written first. But “The Magician’s Nephew” was as prequel. So (to me), it makes more sense to read it second. But yes, you are correct in the order of writing. Thanks for the comment! Brian

No it's not

Agreed

Thank you so much! I recorded these over the course of about a year, starting in the summer of 2022. I had read the entire 7-book series several times over, as bedtime stories for my kids. My daughter, only 19 and now in college, still wants a bedtime story when she comes home from school. Last night, we read chapter 13 of "The Silver Chair". My voice has suffered a bit since I made these recordings, mostly from laziness, but also just natural aging. The low range is very difficult now, but I can still fake my way through it and my daughter doesn't complain. Anyway, thanks very much for your kind comment. I'm glad that someone else is enjoying listening to Narnia as much as I enjoyed narrating it. Warmest Regards, Brian

It's just Brian :). Thanks for your comment. I hope you enjoy the whole series!

Thank you, Mr./Mrs. Murry! I enjoy doing it, and I've done the Narnia series so many times that I sometimes dream in Narnian. Wow, I'm getting old!

I know what you mean. I formed a "mental image" of all the scenes in the Narnia series after reading through them a few times. Believe it or not, these mental images actually improve the narration. At least, that's been my experience. Thanks for your comment. It's comments like this that make my day. Lately, since I'm semi-retired, my "project" has been to digitize a dozen or so stage plays that I did back in the mid-80s to mid-90s. However, my "acting" career (quotes intentional) came to a screeching halt when I got married. Each play meant about 6 weeks of rehearsal, plus 12-15 performances. That's a big investment of time, and as a newlywed (married in 1991), I didn't think it fair that I should leave my wife home every night for 2 months. Of all the plays I did, my favorite was "Lend Me a Tenor", and I've spent the last month or so putting in sub-titles since the audio on the 40+ year old tape wasn't very good. I'll be posting these once I'm done with the final editing. Thanks again. Brian

Thanks. It's one of my favorites, too! Brian

Brianna, Thanks so much for your note! You are very kind. About 25 years ago, I purchased a complete set of audiobooks of the 7-book series of Narnia. These readings were just impeccable. They used a different actor for each book, including such stars as Kenneth Branagh, Patrick Stewart, Lynn Redgrave, and several other notables. These readings were GREAT, far better than mine. But after all, they are professionals and I’m just an ameteur. The only thing that makes mine somewhat unique is that I read the books one chapter at a time, recorded on my iPhone (no “professional” mic or soundboard), with my daughter about 5 feet away. There are about 16-17 chapters per book roughly 120 chapters in total, but I managed to slog through it. It pleases me very much to receive a note such as your. It makes the effort feel worthwhile. Thanks again! Brian

@@brianfox4987 I think you sound like you were made to read these!

Okay, you got me. As a rapidly aging Boomer, I'm not well versed in the shorthand that people use today, like "LOL". Pardon my ignorance, but what does "owsm" mean? Thanks! Brian

@brianfox4987 oh! I ment Awesome 🔥