The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

This month I read The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis for book club.

I have loved everything I have read by Lewis so far so I had high expectations for this book. 

Then I was a bit disappointed.

As I read I had to keep re-reading passages because my mind would wander or I would forget what I was reading. Then out of nowhere I would come to a passage that said something to me and I would underline and annotate. 

I went through this pattern throughout the entire book. Lewis is so intelligent and sometimes his writing can feel daunting and overdone. I felt this way frequently.

In this book he discusses what he thinks are the four different types of love that we have the ability to feel: affection, friendship, eros, and charity.

My favorite chapter by far was friendship. I felt like he nailed what it is like to really be friends, not just acquaintances or companions. And also how distance and time won't change that friendship if it is a real one based on mutual interests and that, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one!" feeling.

So I came out of this book thinking... meh. Mostly good but not my favorite.

BUT... then I went to book club. 

I love my book club but we do have the tendency to talk about the book, go off on a tangent, go back to the book, then off again for the entire night. 

This was the first time we stayed on topic for the entire time once we got started. Also we talked for probably 2 hours or more. What I found was that things that didn't stand out to me while I was reading did stand out to the others and as we discussed them, all of a sudden I was passionate about that part of the book too. 

It was a really interesting thing to experience and I found that I actually got so much more out of this book than I thought I did. Because of how I felt talking about it I would really recommend this book. I think it is a great book to use in a book club or to buddy read with someone so that you have someone to bounce ideas around with.That way you will probably experience, as I did, a renewed appreciation and interest in it as you share with others.