: : : : There are seven: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince
: : : : Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The
: : : : Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, and The Last Battle,
: : : : in that order.

: : : And they ain't cheap if you buy them all at once, even in paperback. :)

: : : But there are some really, really nice hardbound sets in the stores that I've been tempted to purchase from time to time, except I usually am looking for specific titles on those occasions and don't have the money to spare.

: : : I did buy the space trilogy in a boxed set (paperback) last year, but I haven't made time to look through it yet.

: : : For the curious, the space trilogy titles are OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET, PERELANDRA, and THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH. The first two books are pretty short. The third one is about the length of a LOTR book (1 of 3 volumes, that is).

: : I seem to remember that in answering a letter, CS Lewis said that it would be better to read them in a different order, I think the one following:

: : The Magicians Nephew
: : The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,
: : Prince Caspian,
: : The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
: : The Silver Chair
: : The Horse and his Boy
: : The Last Battle

: : It has to said that my personal favourite is The Horse and his Boy, but they are all quite excellent. I have also read the Perelandra trilogy, which had so many good ideas it was criminal. Some books to make you think!!!!

: : Telcontar.

: The first order is the standard, published order of the books. Telcontar gives us the chonological order of the action in the books.

: I must say though, that nothing C.S. Lewis wrote interests me very much now. All of it seems much too blunt. The Chronicles were wonderful when I was young, but even then, they seemed a bit too much like sitting in religion class (Catholic school). The symbology is so heavy that there is very little room for interpretation or imagination.

: This is even more true of the space trilogy, which in my mind almost qualifies as downright awful. Each book deals with a specific "sin" or spiritual concept (e.g., obedience vs. rebellion). And all of it is quite "unrealistic" (I mean that silly, physically impossible things happen), and it just left me flat and unmoved.

: Of all Lewis's works, the Great Divorce is the most interesting (to my mind), and even that gets tedious after a while. But at least the concept is thought-provoking.

: Dave C-Q

Lewis was writing Christian allegories, and as such, they are not open to varying interpretations. They are no less enjoyable to read for that. I don't hold the same low opinion you do about the space trilogy. I thought the first two were excellent, the first showing a world never touched by original sin and the second book showing a world where that decision is about to be made. The third book was inferior to the first two, though. I'd still take the Chronicles over the space trilogy. The Great Divorce is an excellent book. I particularly loved the exchange between the cleric and the apostate. A great rebuke to the "to travel hopefully is better than to arrive" crowd.