this last year for probably the second time, Very good book on C, S. Lewis.
page: "It was Warnie, Jack was later to recall, who first opened his eyes to the beauty of nature, when he 'brought into the nursery the lid of a biscuit tin which he had covered with moss and garnished with twigs and flowers so as to make a toy garden.
. . That was the first beauty I ever knew, It made me aware of nature as something cool, dewy, fresh, exuberant, . . As long as I live my imagination of Paradise will retain something of my brother's toy garden,
Again and again in later years, Jack was to use the image of the garden in his writing, as a symbol of romance and mystery and life everlasting: "At the end of one long lake which looked as blue as turquoise, they saw a smooth green hill.
Its sides were as steep as the sides of a pyramid and round the very top of it ran a green wall: but above the wall rose the branches of trees whose leaves looked like silver and their fruit like gold.
. . "
Page: "Having learned from childhood 'to make a minor illness one of the pleasures of life,' he comforted himself with the satisfying thought that he had temporarily traded the trenches for a bed and the opportunity to do what he liked doing more than anything else read.
One of the books he read was a collection of essays by G, K. Chesterton, whose writings were later to have a powerful effect on Jack's thinking about Christianity,
'In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald,' he was to reflect, 'I did not know what I was letting myself in for, A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading, There are traps everywhere'Bibles laid open, Millions of surprises,' as Herbert says, 'fine nets and strategems, ' God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous, '" This is the first biography Ive read of C, S. Lewis. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him, his brother, Warnie, and Joy, How awesome it would have been to be a part of the Inklings and sit and listen to Lewis and Tolkien read their writings to one another, This was SUCH a weird book, If you love all things C, S. Lewisian and you are the kind of person who loved reading The Encyclopaedia Britannica for fun when you were a kid, you will like this book, I liked reading about all of his books in their historical context, especially their relationship to what was occurring in Lewis' life, I also like how the book is telling a story primarily through passages from Lewis', Joy Davidman's, and their contemporaries' writings, There were SO many interesting tidbits in here: C, S. Lewis went by "Jack" his entire life Tolkien was the first person to read Narnia and hated it, even discouraging Lewis to pursue publishing it and the story behind sitelinkA Grief Observed.
However, even though I fit both of the above categories i, e. , encyclopediareading, Lewisobsessed, I still had issues with this book, It might have been the obvious, blinding infatuation the author had with Lewis, Or it might have been the way the author viewed the relationship between Joy Davidman and Lewis: repeatedly describing her an unattractive American divorcee who relentlessly pursued and was lucky enough to land Lewis.
The author's apparent disregard for the women in Lewis' life is a theme throughout the book, The mysterious Mrs. Moore "a woman of very limited mind, and notably domineering and possessive by temperament" "traps" Lewis into a life of quiet desperation, The "American lady friend" who was, it seems, his most significant relationship at the end of his life, was never even named, though Lewis' intimate letters to her are substantially quoted.
However, all of his male friends, who mostly abandoned him at the end of his life, are named and described in detail, Mostly, this book just left me wanting to know the real story behind C, S. Lewis' life, absent the apparent prejudices of the author, While I have read a number of books by C, S. Lewis, I have never read one about him, I'm glad I picked this one up, This book is much more than just the love story between him and Joy, I've read a lot of book by C, S. Lewis, from his books on theology sitelinkMere Christianity, to his children's literature sitelinkThe Chronicles of Narnia, to his poetry, I've also read biographies and books that have profiled Lewis and have commented on his works and connections with other writers, like sitelinkJRR Tolkien, For readers who also fall under that category, this book will add more to what they already know, The chapter titles alone "The Magician's Nephew," "Surprised by Joy," "A Grief Observed" are effective Easter eggs,
Sibley spends the first three chapters on C, S Lewis and his life before meeting Joy Davidman, For those who already know his story, it may be a bit of repetition, From there, he shifts into a description of Davidman's early life and first marriage, and eventual meeting with Lewis, In many books about Lewis, Joy Davidman is a footnote or is referenced in passing, Perhaps it makes sense, since she was present for only a few years in his life, Sibley uses various texts to fill in the story: excerpts from letters, books and other published works, articles, and poems, Some of the quoted text is direct commentary in the form of letters and diaries, In other places, Sibley relies on books, such as Joy Davidman's sitelinkSmoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments, to show figures, their perspectives, and how those perspectives have woven their way into fiction and poetryit makes for interesting reading if you buy into this lens of criticism.
Sibley carefully addresses controversy in the figtures' lives, relying on facts and quotes to tell the bulk of the story, reserving his own judgment, As a result, Sibley presents an account that seems wellsupported and plausible, in places where he may be making inferences, For those who are fans of C, S. Lewis and would like to place books like sitelinkSurprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life and sitelinkA Grief Observed in their proper context, this book helps.
Who should read this book: fans of C, S. Lewis, those who have read multiple books by/about C, S. Lewis, biography readers. C. S. Lewis is one of ,y heroes amp his love affair with Joy Davidman captured my heart, What brilliant he was amp found love late in his life! Poignant for sure! I read this when I wasas a time passer in a foreign country where no one spoke english and it was the only literature that could be found in the house that was in English.
I wasnt expecting much being young and silly, but I was pleasantly surprised, I couldnt put the book down, C. S. Lewis' Life was so interesting and amazing, and Sad, I read through the night till I was finished, Amazing Man, one of my favourite author's, Reading this gave me such insights into his life, helped me understand how he became such an Awesome writer, To be fair I havent read it since, so these are all my memories of the book from when I read it, the ideas of ayear old, Hmm Need to read it again YeSh! I took this book slow.
I wanted to wrap my head around the human and his persona, An amazing author of so many books, under went a lot of personal tragedy, the loss of his mother in his early years, the military duties, caring for a demanding surrogate mother, many years working at Oxford and demands on his time that wasnt his own.
This book focuses on his personal life and how he meets and later married a divorced woman, whom embraced Judaism, Atheism and Communism before turning to Christianity, first in secret, for her to obtain a visa to stay in the country and later talks a young priest into going against his church to marry them.
He cares for her until her death, Many of his closest peers refused to go to the wedding and later to her funeral because they felt they had gone against his own principles to do so,
So much to ponder, Sibley puts together the basic story of Lewis and Joys relationship, He gives biographies for each, though admittedly focuses more on Lewis, and talks about their growing love for each other, He inserts lots of quotes and pieces from their writings, which I think added a good dimension to the biographies, But sometimes his commentary got a little too, . . saccharine, or emotional.
Nothing groundbreaking, and definitely not exhaustive, But overall a good addition to the cannon of booksonLewis, especially considering its time, Originally published in.
Other books in a similar topic that I want to read:
sitelinkJoy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C, S. Lewis
sitelinkBecoming Mrs, Lewis
sitelinkA Love Observed
sitelinkWomen and C, S. Lewis: What His Life and Literature Reveal for Today's Culture A quick read about two incredible minds! I am always amazed at the depth and resilience of C, S. Lewis, and it was a pleasure to learn that Joy Davidman was just as brilliant, What I wouldn't give to sit in a pub and talk with them! Misery, Joy. Poetry. Very worth the read. Well organized with poignant poetry by the subjects of the biography, In time for therelease of The Chronicles of Narnia movie, Sibley provides the full story behind the movie Shadowlands, Simply one of the best books I have ever read, I knew if I sat down to read it I would devour it within an hour or two, Instead this became what I picked up as I waited for the kettle to boil, the microwave to ping or the pasta to cook, I didn't want it to end, though I knew it would and in what manner,
Absolutely wonderful. Still so inspired every time I read about this amazing author and his life of discovery,
It comes through so clearly how, even though he was a gigantically gifted person, he was very much a human,
The way he grapples with his faith after losing his wife is an encouragement to anyone who walks through "deep waters",
A quote that struck me from this book: "He always knew my temple was a house of cards, The only way he could get me to recognise this fact was to knock it down",
Also made me excited again about reading and made a list of authors from the book that Lewis enjoyed a whole new trail for me to follow!
Onwards and upwards! This was absolutely, catastrophically boring.
The first pages about CS Lewis's early life were incredibly dry, When we are introduced to Joy Davidman a few chapters in, things perk up, She was interesting and complicated and her early life and first marriage was engaging enough to read about,
Then she meets CS Lewis and the book goes back downhill,
It reads like a Coles Notes of a larger, more interesting biography, with quotes heavily utilized and little else to engage the reader,
On top of that, Sibley goes out of his way to talk about how unattractive Joy is, She's constantly at her most unattractive, according to him, Lewis, on the other hand, only gets commentary on his clothing for the most part,
Last night, withpages left, I almost DNFed because there was "too much left", Withpages.
I should have DNFed this when I originally wanted to and just gotten on with my life, but didn't because the book is so short I thought I would bang it out quickly enough, but instead it followed me around for two weeks and made me dread returning to it.
A book that isnt always easy to read, It has depth, truth and deep emotion, It is about a wonderful love, a struggle of health, death and CS Lewiss crisis of faith, It is much more than I remembered from my first swift read years ago, Worth taking slow. Your faith will deepen and grow, Watch the movie.
I found
the book interesting, and learned things I never knew about CS Lewis, The book was just poorly executed, What a lovely insight into the life of a man whose childrens books have delighted millions, For parents and children alike, they enchant with stories of good triumphing over evil in magical worlds with magical creatures,
Many of his theological thoughts have uplifted and edified me as well as so many others, His quotes finding themselves interwoven in many talks and sermons, It was so poignant to read how his faith developed, I had no idea that his mother died and his father was so distant, That he lost his faith completely before finding it again in adulthood, And then it was tested again at the loss of his beloved wife Joy,
What a charming man he was, I'm a huge C. S. Lewis fan and I have a long interest in Christian apologetics, This book, however, is a love story of a sworn Oxford Don bachelor and the woman he met, late in their lives, where they developed a deep, intense love for each other.
I needed tissues. I thoroughly enjoyed this biography of CS Lewis, especially David Suchet's brilliant reading of it, I don't very often give out twostar reviews, but I just didn't enjoy this book, I did finish it because I have always loved the movie "Shadowlands", I know that it is a movie based on a true love story, and also that it probably took some license with the actual story, I expected to read a book about two people who loved each other deeply and dearly and their short time together, This book, however, I found to be dry and boring, A lot of quotes from the writings of CS Lewis and Joy Davidman and a long introduction chronicling the early life of CS Lewis, I had a hard time getting to the end, even of its shortpages, I guess it doesn't help that I haven't read any of his or her writings and so was not prepared for so much quoting of them, It did help me to fill in details of their lives that were not covered by the movie, For that I am grateful, .