George MacDonald and A Grief Observed (HarperOne)

Continuing my theme for this week, I will be reviewing two C.S. Lewis titles today. Recently, HarperOne has re-released nine of C.S. Lewis' classic works with all new covers, deckle-edged pages, and french flaps! The titles include The Abolition of Man, A Grief Observed, The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, Miracles, The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, George MacDonald, The Weight of Glory. I will be reviewing two of these works today and feature others throughout the coming months on my blog. Without further ado, let's get to the reviews!

I have been reading a lot of George MacDonald's works lately, due to his influence on Lewis, Tolkien, and other members of the Inklings. Therefore, when I found out about Lewis' work George MacDonald, I knew I had to read it. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was expecting a biography of sorts. Instead, it is a selection of 365 "pearls of wisdom" from MacDonald himself. In a way you could view it as a George MacDonald daily devotional. The book is well under 200 pages, so each quote is only a few lines to half a page at most. Thankfully there is an index which lists all the sources for each quote, so if you are so inclined to read the full work, you know exactly where to find it. This is a major plus. Here is one of the pearls, entitled "Spiritual Murder."

"It may be an infinitely less evil to murder a man than to refuse to forgive him. The former may be the act of a passion; the latter is the heart's choice. It is a spiritual murder, the worst, to hate, to brood over the feeling that excludes, that, in our microcosm, kills the image, the idea of the hated."

C.S. Lewis' preface provided a nice glimpse from an outsider and provided a biography recommendation on George MacDonald. Overall, this book is the perfect book to provide a glimpse of MacDonald and whet your appetite and encourage you to read more of his works. I read through this book very quickly, which you can do too, but with 365 readings, you can take about one minute a day and read through it in a year.

A Grief Observed was published in 1961, and I believe was the last book he published while he was alive, as he died in 1963. It is a collection of thoughts and reflections taken from his private notebooks, which were written during his grieving process over the death of his wife (Joy Davidman) in 1960. The Foreword was written by Madeline L'Engle, and the introduction was written by Joy's son and Lewis' step-son - Douglas Gresham. Gresham does a beautiful job of explaining the relationship between Lewis and Davidman and specifically recounting how they first met. This puts the relationship and the book in proper context. Gresham also points out that the key word in the title of this book is "A." He makes it well-known that this is Lewis' grief and not meant to be a universal experience of grief.

We see a wide range of emotions in this work. There is sadness, anger, confusion, There are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. At times, it feels very raw, which is not unexpected. He directs most of his anger at God, and you can tell that this loss was a real test of his faith. This was easily the most difficult Lewis work I have read, not for its depth of knowledge, but for its depth of emotion. If you know someone who has experienced the loss of a loved one, then I would recommend this work to them. Their grief won't be exactly the same as Lewis', as no two people's grief ever is, but it will give them a sense of knowing that others went through it and probably asked some of the same questions they did.

These books were provided to me for free by HarperOne in exchange for honest reviews. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Phantastes (Hendrickson Publishers)

I have been trying to expand my reading choices lately by dabbling into fiction more and more. I generally prefer to stick to nonfiction, but I know it will be good for me to broaden my horizons. Of the fiction I read, I try to stick with works that have stood the test of time. That puts me at a bias against recent works, but I just find so much more beauty in older works. One author I have recently been introduced to is George MacDonald. MacDonald was a Scottish minister, poet, novelist, and was dubbed the "grandfather" of the Inklings. Now, you see my interest in his work. Today, I am reviewing the book Phantastes, which is produced by Hendrickson Publishers.

For those unfamiliar with Phantastes, like I was, it is a fantasy novel about a 21 year old man named Anodos. On his birthday, he received a set of keys to his deceased father's desk. Within this desk a small woman who claims to be Anodos' grandmother. She grants his wish to send him to Fairy Land, but his reasons for going are not revealed to the reader until the end of the story. Through his travels in Fairy Land, Anodos encounters a lot of strange people and places. He meets a woman and her daughter who try and help him with advice, but of course he quickly forgets it when he leaves their company. He meets and frees the White Lady, whom he falls in love with, and a Knight, whom he befriends. He also encounters many battles and hardships. All of these are important in helping Anodos mature and stop acting like a child and more like an adult, because that is apparently the only way he will ever return home. So what was his reasoning for wanting to go to Fairy Land, and will he ever be able to leave this place and go home? Buy the book to find out!

The book is a classic coming of age story with Anodos going on the somewhat epic tale to adulthood. There are times when the story drags and is bogged down with details, and I wouldn't consider this George MacDonald's best work. That privilege, in my mind, belongs to "The Princess and the Goblin." As for the quality of this particular edition, it is breathtaking. The book looks to be an average sized hardcover, but when you pick it up, it feels heavy in a good way. I attribute this to the quality of paper used. The book contains scanned and digitally colored versions of the original illustrations, which MacDonald's son approved of. This gives the book that old time feel it so desperately deserves. So if you are a MacDonald fan, or want to see some of the inspiration for the Inklings and their writings, I'd recommend this book to you.

This book was provided to me for free by Hendrickson Publishers in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie (Tantor Media)

When you ask Catholics about their favorite fantasy writers two names immediately jump to their minds, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. With the epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings and the children's series The Chronicles of Narnia, these two authors would cement their place in history, even if they had never written another word. Most people know that Tolkien and Lewis were colleagues and friends, but few people know of one man who inspired them and their writings. His name was George MacDonald. MacDonald was a Scottish author/poet as well as a Christian minister. In addition to inspiring Tolkien and Lewis, he also inspired Inkling members W.H. Auden and Charles Williams. Therefore, MacDonald was dubbed the grandfather of the Inklings. Most people know of MacDonald through his works Phantastes or Lilith. I know of him through The Princess and the Goblin and the lesser known sequel The Princess and Curdie. Today, I will be reviewing the audiobook version of both these books.

The Princess and the Goblin involves three main characters, Princess Irene, her great-great grandmother, and a young boy named Curdie. One day while Irene is bored and exploring the castle, she finds her great-great grandmother, but nobody believes her when she tells them that she found her. The following day, Irene and her nursemaid are out for a walk, but stay out til dark when goblins come out. Enter the hero, Curdie. Curdie manages to save the two from the goblins and tells them that goblins hate music, so he sings to keep them at bay. Curdie is a very honorable and noble hero. He refuses a kiss from Irene, but plans to claim one later. He is also an unlikely hero. He is a poor boy who works in the mines.

One day while staying late to earn more money, Curdie discovers another way to harm goblins and also discovers the goblins' plan to get even with the humans who chased them underground. Curdie is ultimately captured, but he ends up being saved by Irene's great-great grandmother. He is able to foil the plot of the goblins and as his reward he merely asks for a new coat for his mother (not riches or power) for that is the reason he was working so hard in the mines in the first place. A truly remarkable story of bravery and honor.

The Princess and Curdie is a bit more grown up as it takes place two years after the first story. Curdie seems to doubt the magic that happened previously and like others, he also doubts the existence of Irene's great-great grandmother. One day Curdie callously wounds a pigeon, and he remembers what Irene told him about her great-great grandmother and pigeons. Remorse sets in, and this leads Curdie to the great-great grandmother who blesses Curdie with the power to tell good men from evil men. Unfortunately, Curdie is still a doubter and has to get over his doubts before he can harness his powers.

The story definitely feels a bit like a coming of age book mixed with a hero's quest. We see more depth in Curdie in this book than in the first. We also see more growth in Curdie the character and Curdie the man. Curdie once again proves the hero, but in addition to overcoming the enemy (who is trying to kill Irene's father, the King), he must also overcome himself and his own weaknesses.

The audiobooks were very enjoyable. Both were approximately six hours and are the perfect length for a vacation car trip. Ian Whitcomb is an excellent narrator. His voice had an excellent timbre and pace, and he had the right level of emotion and range that it felt like MacDonald himself was reading it to you. I also really appreciate the fact that he was narrator for both books. It is always an annoyance of mine when you get into a story with one narrator and then a different narrator provides different voices to familiar characters. The audio downloads are also very affordable from Tantor Media at $6.99 each. That's $13.98 for two audiobooks, and is cheaper than one month of Audible, which is $14.95 for one book. You also get an ebook with each audiobook, and the fact that is MP3 format means you can listen to it anywhere, and not just when you're connected to the cloud. I am very impressed with Tantor Media's library, especially their selection of classic titles, and I plan to use them again in the future.

These audiobooks were provided to me for free by Tantor Media in exchange for an honest review.