C S Lewis, Perelandra . The Bodley Head: London, 1943. [Available as a free ebook for those in countries where it is out of copyright and in the public domain (e.g. Canada and the UK).] Published in the midst of the Second World War, the second of the trilogy, this one has a slow start and, thinking about it, a pretty slow middle and end but it gets increasingly gripping as it plays out the temptation of an Eve figure in a pre-fall world. Just as Lewis brilliantly gets into the mind of a demon in the Srewtape Letters , here he gets into the minds both of a pre-fall person and an instrument of Satan. We see this interaction of a beautiful innocence which cannot imagine why anyone would not trust the Creator and a creature of undiluted evil. As the interaction goes on for page after page of Job-like dialogues it becomes excruciating. You want to cry out "Don't listen to him!" This book brought home to me the beauty of innocence and the defiling, disgusting, devious hor
C S Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet . The Bodley Head: London, 1938. [Available as a free ebook for those in countries where it is out of copyright and in the public domain (e.g. Canada and the UK).] Lewis' space trilogy is weird and no mistake. I've never read anything like it. A bizarre collision of different genres. It's not perfect but Lewis is great at making us look at familiar things in unfamiliar (and often much more biblical) ways. There are incredibly perceptive insights into human nature, psychological experience and cultural trends. There is a powerful biblical vision of reality in its most cosmic wide lens. The imaginative spaces it opens up are remarkable and sometimes breathtaking. So here are 8 quotes from book 1 (there are going to be a lot more for the next two books because this trilogy builds and gets better and better and increasingly explicitly theological): " he knew nothing yet well enough to see it: you cannot see things till you know rou