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11-28-2005, 07:26 PM
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#1 |
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Master of Orchestration President Emeritus of Entmoot 2004-2008
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lost in the Opera House
Posts: 9,328
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Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction of C.S. Lewis
C.S Lewis is of course known for The Chronicles of Narnia, but anybody who says they are his most important life's work are either in the dark about his more adult works, or haven't read any of them.
The Four Loves Anybody else read it? I thought it was wonderful. The wit was warm (as always), the explanations seemed quite fully explained  . I think I'll read it again soon.The Screwtape Letters Unlike others, I didn't think much of it was funny. Amusing yes, but the advice sounded real enough if you were to give advice to a devil nephew of yours... A Grief Observed Like Madeleine L'Engle, for me it wasnt a tear jerker. It was sad, and truthful. Mere Christianity Often called the Ultimate christian apologetic book, and for good reason. It remains my favorite Lewis Non-fiction. It's a book I can't put down even after three go-throughs. Pending... The Problem of Pain Miracles The Great Divorce The Pilgrim's Regress
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ACALEWIA- President of Entmoot hectorberlioz- Vice President of Entmoot Acaly und Hektor fur Presidants fur EntMut fur life! Join the discussion at Entmoot Election 2010. "Stupidissimo!"~Toscanini The Da CINDY Code The Epic Poem Of The Balrog of Entmoot: Here ~NEW! ~ Thinking of summer vacation? AboutNewJersey.com - NJ Travel & Tourism Guide |
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11-28-2005, 07:31 PM
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#2 |
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Narnia
Posts: 1,656
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We read Screwtape for school. That's an impressive book.
You forgot the Abolition of Man (which my mom has a section marked for me to read...) about the modern education system teaching kids to see through everything and that all is relative to your own emotions and such... and the Space Trilogy. The best one from that is That Hideous Strength I believe.
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Mike nodded. A sombre nod. The nod Napoleon might have given if somebody had met him in 1812 and said, "So, you're back from Moscow, eh?". Interested in C.S. Lewis? Visit the forum dedicated to one of Tolkien's greatest contemporaries. |
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11-28-2005, 07:45 PM
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#3 |
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Hobbit in the Music
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Westmarch
Posts: 1,111
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I read the Pilgrim's Regress with my sister last summer. She's read almost everything by C.S. Lewis. I wish his works were more widely available in my area... Anyway, the allegory in this story is way over the top (and people say Narnia's allegory is oppressive!), and we had to laugh at a lot of the imagery. But it was certainly interesting at times, and makes several religious points very well.
In my Freshman English class at college we studied Till We Have Faces, a mythological fantasy, but very adult, I think. This is a fascinating book, and makes a lot of points about inner and outer beauty. Anyone could enjoy this one. |
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11-28-2005, 10:18 PM
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Elf Lord
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The Internet
Posts: 803
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I've read Mere Christianity, I thought it was really good. I've also read Letters to Children. Are you counting that one?
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Don't be hasty! Thanks so much to Last Child of Ungoliant, Twista, and BeardofPants for my avatar! |
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11-29-2005, 10:41 AM
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Advocatus Diaboli
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Reality
Posts: 3,767
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i read screwtape, which i thought was a pretty original idea and done well
i also read the out of the silent planet trilogy a few times... it was pretty well done... not top-ten material, but one of the better series in the scifi/fantasy genre mere christianity is interesting, i don't agree with all his conclusions, but i appreciate its noncombative stance... an it, along with many of his letters, show a degree of flexibility and openmindedness that is good to see among strong believers
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Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. |
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11-29-2005, 01:40 PM
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Lady of Letters
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Either Oxford or Kent, England
Posts: 2,476
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I've recently read The Discarded Image, one of his excellent books on medieval literature, where he explains the view of the universe in the Middle Ages and the dangers of imposing a modern mindset on it. It's been helpful to me in reading Chaucer.
I don't really like the Space Trilogy that much, but that's probably because I don't like sci-fi and I'm not going to like it just because it's by Lewis. The Pilgrim's Regress makes more sense if you've read Surprised by Joy. IIRC it's one of his earlier works, and covers the same ground as SBJ but not as well. ETA: Surprised by Joy hasn't been mentioned yet? I think it might be my favourite of Lewis' non-fiction works. It's very interesting and, of course, extremely well-written.
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. Last edited by sun-star : 11-29-2005 at 01:42 PM. |
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11-29-2005, 07:25 PM
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#7 |
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Master of Orchestration President Emeritus of Entmoot 2004-2008
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lost in the Opera House
Posts: 9,328
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Well, there are two Lewis books mentioned that I didnt know about...
(and I was listing the ones I had read in the first post  )So... The Screwtape Letters The Space Trilogy (which counts as three) Till We Have faces (which I have been meaning to get) The Chronicles of Narnia The Pilgrim's Regress The Abolition of Man Miracles The Great Divorce The Problem of Pain The Discarded Image Surprised by Joy Mere Christianity The Four Loves A Grief Observed Letters to Children any more?
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ACALEWIA- President of Entmoot hectorberlioz- Vice President of Entmoot Acaly und Hektor fur Presidants fur EntMut fur life! Join the discussion at Entmoot Election 2010. "Stupidissimo!"~Toscanini The Da CINDY Code The Epic Poem Of The Balrog of Entmoot: Here ~NEW! ~ Thinking of summer vacation? AboutNewJersey.com - NJ Travel & Tourism Guide |
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11-30-2005, 08:30 PM
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#8 |
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Elf Lord
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: sikeston, MO, usa, earth, sol
Posts: 3,114
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several.
The Oxford History of English Literature in the 16th Century, excluding Drama (usually referred to as the OHEL for short) Preface to Paradise Lost Words Medieval and Renaissance Literature essay collections: God in the Dock The Psalms The Personal Heresy An Experiment in Criticism Letters to Arthur Greeves, to his Brother, Collected 
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Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941 |
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12-01-2005, 02:15 PM
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#9 |
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Lady of Letters
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Either Oxford or Kent, England
Posts: 2,476
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The Allegory of Love and Letters to Malcolm, plus collections of his diaries, narrative poems, lectures, essays etc.
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
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12-02-2005, 04:34 PM
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Friendly Neigborhood Sith Lord
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 2,080
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wow i haven't read half of these, didn't know half of em existed, all i've read is the space trilogy, screwtape, and the pilgrims regress. all excellent.
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I was Press Secretary for the Berlioz administration and also, but not limited to, owner and co operator of fully armed and operational battle station EDDIE Quote:
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12-03-2005, 04:21 PM
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of the House of Bëor
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Eastwards.
Posts: 979
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Hmm, what our library here has...
The Screwtape Letters The Four Loves Mere Christianity Surprised by Joy Miracles The problem of Pain Of Other Worlds - Essays and Stories (edited by... *goes to library database* Walter Hooper.) And that's all. I borrowed Four Loves, Surprised by Joy and Miracles - I had to ask for them to be brought out from the library storage... I've just started reading Four Loves.
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I'm good in bed - I can sleep for days |
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12-07-2005, 07:10 PM
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Master of Orchestration President Emeritus of Entmoot 2004-2008
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lost in the Opera House
Posts: 9,328
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Wow! I read recently he wrote more than 30 works! (I'm sure they werent counting individual letters
) Some are short of course...Quote:
On sunday I'm going to buy Till We Have Faces. I'm interested in reading more of his fiction...
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ACALEWIA- President of Entmoot hectorberlioz- Vice President of Entmoot Acaly und Hektor fur Presidants fur EntMut fur life! Join the discussion at Entmoot Election 2010. "Stupidissimo!"~Toscanini The Da CINDY Code The Epic Poem Of The Balrog of Entmoot: Here ~NEW! ~ Thinking of summer vacation? AboutNewJersey.com - NJ Travel & Tourism Guide Last edited by hectorberlioz : 12-09-2005 at 04:51 PM. |
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12-07-2005, 07:24 PM
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Hobbit in the Music
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Westmarch
Posts: 1,111
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Cool. Tell us what you think of Faces. I wonder if I still have the essay I wrote on it...
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12-07-2005, 07:29 PM
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Master of Orchestration President Emeritus of Entmoot 2004-2008
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lost in the Opera House
Posts: 9,328
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Quote:
. Btw, you're nearing 1000
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ACALEWIA- President of Entmoot hectorberlioz- Vice President of Entmoot Acaly und Hektor fur Presidants fur EntMut fur life! Join the discussion at Entmoot Election 2010. "Stupidissimo!"~Toscanini The Da CINDY Code The Epic Poem Of The Balrog of Entmoot: Here ~NEW! ~ Thinking of summer vacation? AboutNewJersey.com - NJ Travel & Tourism Guide |
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12-12-2005, 02:08 PM
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#15 |
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Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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There's a brilliant short story about some space explorers who fly to Mars, IIRC, then say one sentence, then all transmission is cut off. This happens several times, and then there's going to be one more try... the guy lands, and decides to not talk until he's scouted things out for awhile ... then ...
Anyone read that one? I'm looking for it, but I think I loaned it out. There's also a short story called something like "The man born blind" - how a man who is blind since birth gets his sight through a new operation, and how difficult it is to adjust.
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç å ™ æ ♪ ?*"How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
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12-12-2005, 02:10 PM
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Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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"Faces" is brilliant - one of my favorite books of all time.
Quote:
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç å ™ æ ♪ ?*"How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
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12-12-2005, 03:08 PM
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#17 | |
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Hobbit in the Music
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Westmarch
Posts: 1,111
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Quote:
C.S. Lewis is awesome. I especially love this quote: “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan Co., 1960, p. 160). And this one: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. … Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” (The Weight of Glory, New York: Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1980, pp. 18–19.) |
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12-12-2005, 05:13 PM
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Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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yes, I like that WoG quote. I bought a sandwich for one of those immortals last night who said he didn't have money for food ... he was so courteous, he said he didn't want to be greedy so should he order the small sandwich? I told him to please order the large one because he was hungry. Then he gave me the change back. I wasn't sure if I should take it or not, but I thought it gave him a dignity (which is all too often stripped from people) to give to me after I gave to him, so I took it, since I had to get back to the kids in the car, so I just made a quick decision. As I thought about it, I wish I would have told him to keep it for breakfast, but I did the best I could with what I had at the time.
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç å ™ æ ♪ ?*"How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! Last edited by Rían : 12-12-2005 at 05:16 PM. |
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12-14-2005, 08:59 PM
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#19 | |
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Master of Orchestration President Emeritus of Entmoot 2004-2008
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lost in the Opera House
Posts: 9,328
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Quote:
Anyways Elanor, Weight of Glory is definitely on my must Lewis list. Have I said already? I bought The Pilgrim's Regress, which I won't read until I finish Miracles.
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ACALEWIA- President of Entmoot hectorberlioz- Vice President of Entmoot Acaly und Hektor fur Presidants fur EntMut fur life! Join the discussion at Entmoot Election 2010. "Stupidissimo!"~Toscanini The Da CINDY Code The Epic Poem Of The Balrog of Entmoot: Here ~NEW! ~ Thinking of summer vacation? AboutNewJersey.com - NJ Travel & Tourism Guide |
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12-14-2005, 10:50 PM
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#20 |
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Hobbit in the Music
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Westmarch
Posts: 1,111
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I've been trying to get the Space Trilogy, but it's checked out of the library and I haven't seen it in my local bookstore.
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