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. 

Read-a-Thon Wrap Up!

I loved doing the Scones and Crackers read-a-thon last week. I hope that any of you that joined in enjoyed it as well. 

I plan on trying to do another one around the beginning of 2017. 

So keep that in mind and I will announce that sometime in December or January. 

I was able to get a lot of reading done last week! I picked quite a few shorter books that only took a couple hours to read so I was able to get done even more than I thought I could. 

I will briefly share what I read but I will go into more detail about each book in individual reviews to come! I will link each one to the reviews as they are posted.

I was able to mark off each of the challenges: 

1) A book by one of your favorite British authors: 

 

 

For this one I read Stancliffe's Hotel by Charlotte Bronte. 

 

2) A non-fiction book:

 

 

For my non-fiction category I read C. S. Lewis' autobiography, Surprised by Joy.

 

3) A book of poetry: 

I read The Golden Store, an illustrated selection of poetry by William Wordsworth. 

4) A play:

 

 

I read Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. 

 

5) A book that takes place in your favorite British location: 

 

 Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge takes place in Oxford which was one of my very favorite places we visited in England. 

 

6) Extras:  

 

I still had a couple of days left and so I was able to read two more books. 

 

First I read Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher. It was a bit longer but it was a really easy read so only took a couple of days. 

 

I had one more C.S. Lewis book and another Jane Austen book that I was hoping to get to but we ended up having a really busy weekend where I didn't get very much reading done. 

I had a little time on Saturday and Sunday so I grabbed Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen adapted into a graphic novel by Nancy Butler and Sunny Liew. 

Because it as a graphic novel it only took a couple of hours. 

 

  

Overall it was a great reading week. There weren't any that I hated and only two that I didn't love. 

More to come!

What did you read?