A Lenten Discovery

Dear friends,

I am slowly working through as many of C.S. Lewis' works as I can, and right now am on The Problem of Pain.  It's amazing, and every other page or so, I find myself thinking 'What a genius!'  It seems he can answer just about everything...although sometimes his answers go over my head a bit...but with a dictionary nearby, I think I can comprehend a good amount of his philosophizing.  Anyway, although Lent is about to end (hooray for Palm Sunday coming up), I found that reading this book in combination with the Bible has been exactly what I needed during this season of reflection. 

Just in case some of you don't get a chance to read it, here are a few of my favorite lines:

"The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home." - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

"The problem is not simply that of a God who consigns some of his creatures to final ruin...Christianity, true, as always, to the complexity of the real, presents us with something knottier and more ambiguous--a God so full of mercy that He becomes man and dies of torture to avert that final ruin from His creatures, and who yet, where that heroic remedy fails, seems unwilling, or even unable, to arrest the ruin by an act of mere power.  I said glibly a moment ago that I would pay "any price" to remove this doctrine.  I lied.  I could not pay one-thousandth part of the price that God has already paid to remove the fact.  And here is the real problem: so much mercy, yet there is still Hell." - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

"One caution, and I have done.  In order to rouse modern minds to an understanding of the issues, I ventured to introduce in this chapter a picture of the sort of bad man whom we most easily perceive to be truly bad.  But when the picture has done that work, the sooner it is forgotten the better.  In all discussions of hell we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies nor our friends (since both these disturb the reason) but of ourselves.  This chapter is not about your wife or son, nor about Nero or Judas Iscariot; it is about you and me." - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

I would also highly recommend The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Of Bees and Mist

So I'm reading a book that I found in Good Will.  I was drawn to it because of its bright orange cover and attached placeholder ribbon.  It's a magical realist novel about a woman and her relationships with her mother and mother-in-law.  Although I bet no one has ever read or even heard of this book, it's pretty intriguing and well-written.  I like it a lot, and recommend it to you ladies. :) 

Heaven is for Real

Hey ladies,

Just read a really cute book called Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent.  It's a 4-yr old boy's account of heaven as told by his father.  Very interesting read.  For an adult heaven account, I recommend Return from Tomorrow by George Ritchie.

Patricia Cornwell's Port Mortuary

I almost forgot!  I also got my pre-ordered copy of Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell while I was at home this Christmas.  It is the latest book in the Kay Scarpetta series (countless books at this point), which first stoked my interest in reading.  It was wonderful.  Patricia Cornwell is certainly back to the style of writing that made her books impossible-to-put-down in the beginning.  She does tend to repeat certain adjectives throughout the series, which makes me giggle.  In her earlier works, duct tape was often "Blaze Orange"...and in this book, she described the Medical Examiner coveralls as "Blaze Yellow."  She loves that blaze.  And honestly, so do I.  I mean, I know exactly what color she's talking about.

But anyway, back to the book.  Here's the lovely cover. :)

The Great Divorce & 1984

Finished Watership Down while I was in Michigan, and LOVED it.  The end is so exciting.  I also have a strange affinity for rabbits and other rodents now.

In the spirit of reading old classics, I just finished The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis and am now reading 1984 by George Orwell.  They both show the world through a dreary lens, which makes for interesting train commutes.  When I stop reading and step out onto the concrete, underground platform, I wonder if this is what they envisioned when they depicted Hell or Hell-like scenery.

The Great Divorce made me want to change my life for the better, as all C.S. Lewis books do!  I highly recommend if you're feeling undisciplined in your Christian life.  I sometimes feel that I let myself go in that respect...especially when I travel.  These books bring me back.

1984 is great, although draining.  I'll let you know how it goes when I finish it.

Watership Down

Hey friends!

I read Fall of Giants, and it was great.  Now I'm on to Watership Down by Richard Adams.  It's all about rabbits, which may be why I love it so.  I'm almost finished, and have found it really exciting.  Really, combining rabbits and adventure was quite ingenious.  Try it out.  I think you'll enjoy it, too.  :)

After I'm done reading it, I plan to Netflix the movie, too. 

New book to read

Hey ladies!  I rarely read the books on time because I usually have a list of 4-5 when we are all good about posting, and then when there's a dry spell I am always looking for a book.  Aaaaanyway, I have found a really good set of books I'd like to recommend.  I'm currently reading Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants" and it's amazing.  If you haven't read them, I highly recommend Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End".  Pillars is in Oprah's Book Club (if my word isn't good enough for the likes of you), and they are just really fun to read.  So!  If you're looking for addictive books, try these.

Next up on my list to read:
1.  Watership Down (I was supposed to read this classic in middle school, but I was a terrible student and didn't.)
2. 1984 (I can't believe I've never read this.)
3. The Art of Racing in the Rain (because the lovely T$ left it on my coffee table after her visit)

I welcome any comments on the above books.  :)  Love and miss you ladies!