Book Club
I love reading and perhaps more-so hearing peoples thoughts and interpretations of what they are reading. I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread where people can comment on books they are reading, that way we can all share in the joy of good writing and perhaps discuss the topics of some.
gb,
April 29th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I’ll start,
I picked up C.S.Lewis’ Mere Christianity the other day. I have already read some of his other works “Surprised by Joy” and “The Screwtape Letters”, I really love his writing.
Clive Staples Lewis is a fascinating man - “Surprised by Joy” is a type of autobiography tracing his childhood to his conversion to Christianity. A man not unfamiliar with suffering - living through the world wars, his wife dying 4 years after they were married - still finds such well thought out reasons for God’s existence and his goodness.
Mere Christianity - was originally a series of radio-talks aired during the second world war - which is very interesting in itself. Imagine soldiers resting after a week of battle to sit down and listen to this man discussing the roots of morality, issues like forgiveness, hope and faith.
I can imagine them being a source of great comfort to a distressed bunch of young men in a place where there is so much unreason.
The book itself cuts through the division of denomination and religious practice and presents Christianity in a refreshing and exiting way - it’s like hearing the story for the first time - it’s not often told as eloquently, a breath of fresh air.
April 29th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I have also read ‘Surprised by Joy’. C.S. Lewis truly is an amzing writer, I got so much from this book. Especially his ponderings on joy - almost scientific contemplation.
‘Joy’ is really such a complex thing, I’ve never heard it broken down before - nor seriously examined it. There is so much in my life that I would have labelled real joy, but now I’m not so sure. Lewis talks about his experiences in life and how he continued to explore things thinking the feelings they provided were true joy. I jotted some of his points down that I liked:
“All that such watching and waiting ever could find would be either an image…or a quiver in the diaphragm. I should never have to bother again about these images or sensations. I knew now that they were merely the mental track left by the passage of joy - not the wave but the wave’s imprint on the sand.”
“The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.”
“This is how many men come to believe that thought is only unspoken words or the appreciation of poetry only a collection of mental pictures, when these in reality are only what the thought or appreciation, when interrupted, leave behind - like the swell at sea, working after the wind has dropped.”
“He was honey-tongued. Every verse he read turned into music on his lips. Something midway between speech and song.” (I just thought the imagery in this was cool!)
I have yet to read any of his other books (other than Narnia
which is also one of the greatest stories I have read).
May 10th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
I read an interesting book called “The five people you will meet in heaven”. It was theologically unsound but an interesting concept.
The pretext is that when you die and go to heaven you will encounter five people that you influenced while on earth. you may not even know them, you might have just influenced them by them hearing you speak, or even observing you interact with someone. It kind of makes you think “am I influencing people positively or not.”
I also think the Da Vinci code is amazing fiction (Boo hiss I hear you say). But I like things that challenge me to think about what I believe and this book was just that. And I never left my beliefs for one moment while reading it.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I haven’t read the Da Vinchi code, but I heard an intereseting analysis.. it may have even been on this site. This person was saying that the story starts from when you open the cover. So Dan Brown’s little disclaimer along the lines of ‘all allegations in this book are truth’ is a part of the story which starts from when you open the book.
This seems to be where a lot of the controversy came from is that he claimed it was a true and factual documentation of Christ, but perhaps this little statement was a part of the story itself. Having not read it myself, what do you reckon sweetums?
May 14th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
That’s how i read it Audrey. I took it all to be a nice little fictional book. And even if Dan Brown does claim it to be fact, does not mean I have to take it as fact. That’s what i loved about our creation debate. Just because something is delivered as fact doesn’t mean anyone has to take it that way.