If you have read anything by G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, George MacDonald, Charles Williams, or Owen Barfield, I need your help.
I have never read anything by any of them, and have resolved to read at least one work by each of them before returning to school.
I have some ideas as to which titles they will be - I'm interested in The Light Princess and The Princess and the Goblin, The Silver Trumpet, and Orthodoxy - but I would very much like to hear your thoughts and recommendations.
*cracks knuckles*
ReplyDeleteG.K. Chesterton - I think you would really enjoy Manalive, and Orthodoxy is great too.
George MacDonald - Phantastes is beautiful and strange. I also like The Light Princess, but it's awfully short.
Dorothy Sayers: Murder Must Advertise and Have His Carcase are my favorites, but Have His Carcase sort of has to be read after Strong Poison.
Haven't read anything by Williams or Barfield.
Thank you vair much, Delaney. :) I believe I've actually consulted you on a good first Sayers novel before...
ReplyDeleteThe Princess and the Goblin is good, but also make sure you read the sequel 'The Princess and Curdie'. I adored that book when I was younger. :)
ReplyDeleteThe only works by Chesterton that I have read are the Father Brown stories. I really like them because I can't figure out just what is going on until the last page - A very good trait in a mystery.
As for the other authors... I haven't read anything by them.
I haven't read any of theirs, but if I were to pick one based on tht tiel, I would pick The Light Princess.
ReplyDeleteI've read The Light Princess. I rather liked it. :)
ReplyDeleteGosh, I wish I'd read any of their books. I'd choose The Light Princess. It sounds cool.
ReplyDeleteChesterton - READ MANALIVE. Seriously. I haven't actually finished it yet, but....what I've read of it is so uber brilliant.
ReplyDeleteSayers - My dad would be the best person to ask about this, but I did enjoy Strong Poison, I think it was...
MacDonald - The Princess and the Goblin, I think.
Haven't even heard of the other two. *ducks*
If I was to choose a college, I would choose W, just because of those authors (which I presume is your reading motive). :)
ReplyDeleteBut to only have read two of the fantastic seven! Dear, dear, dear. :)
I'm dying to get over there sometime and visit the collection. But anyway:
Chesterton: Erin keeps gushing about Manalive, but she never finishes it. Can anyone figure that out? ;) But Orthodoxy is indeed worth the hours.
Sayers: Strong Poison. Hands down. (first in a trilogy)
MacDonald: At the Back of the North Wind is good. Shivery good at times. FOTF Radio Theatre's dramatized version made me cry.
Williams and Barfield, I've not read them yet, despite their being such influences on Lewis. And, I believe, Lewis got some of his Narnia ideas from ... one of them.
Happy reading!!
*is suitably cowed by cuileann's Stern Face*
ReplyDeleteChesterton--The Man Who Was Thursday is witty and thought-provoking, but sort of randomly chaotic at times. Someone likened the writing to "literary fudge" and I would be inclined to agree. ^^ The Club of Queer Trades is amusing though all the stories are sort of similar. I think I prefer his fiction but Orthodoxy is certainly worth reading. And some of his essays are hilarious.
(Currently Manalive is on my List of Books that the Library Has Not and I Must Buy or Die a Tortuous Death.)
Macdonald--Oh, At the Back of the North Wind, definitely! At least, I was enthralled with it at one point, but it's been a long while since I read it. I loved The Golden Key but my mum despised it, so I'm not sure what you'd think. :P It's a bit like The Light Princess.
Thank you so much, all!
ReplyDeleteQ and Maya - The Light Princess is quite short and available online: http://www.johannesen.com/LightPrincessComplete.htm
Erin - Williams and Barfield are definitely more obscure, so don't feel bad. :)
Noel - I know, it is a shameful state, especially considering that I work in the center's archives! Thank you vair much for the librarianly help!
Sorry if this comes through twice! Something strange happened...
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Chesterton, hands down, is The Man Who Was Thursday. Wonderfully odd.
Dorothy Sayers--a good introduction might be Murder Must Advertise. Strong Poison, the first in which is actually a quartet, and its immediate sequel, Have his Carcase, are not, I think, the best of her books, althought the two that come next, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, are brilliant.
Thanks for your thoughts and bookworm knowledge, Charlotte!
ReplyDeleteOwen Barfield is pretty heavy. I just stared reading/blog the Owen Barfield Reader, which has selected excerpts of some of his best stuff.
ReplyDeleteAs for Chesterton, Orthodoxy is very good.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Matt. Yeah, I've heard that -- someone recommended The Silver Trumpet as a light work of his to start with.
ReplyDelete