Livre d'Or

There are definitely worse children's books to read as an adult, but I don't think even tLtW&tW really stands up if you're old enough to see the scaffolding. It is somewhat surprising that your mother as a librarian didn't offer you the books, but then she probably had access to much more modern stuff. I think a lot of our generation end up reading Narnia because our parents were nostalgic about it.