This edition I had has a fairly cheesy cover (it has since been updated to a more pleasing design), so I could just kick myself that it sat on my shelThis edition I had has a fairly cheesy cover (it has since been updated to a more pleasing design), so I could just kick myself that it sat on my shelves unread for so many years. I picked it up as a bargain book, no doubt at Lifeway, perhaps around the time the movies began coming out, and had read several good, but not all that engaging, books on the spiritual allalogies in the Chronicles of Narnia.
This was unlike almost anything else I've read on the subject. Academic but readable, this was a literary approach down to almost every detail Lewis included. Brown drew connections I had never seen, referred to connections with other literature, and deepened my enjoyment and respect for Lewis' intelligence.
Excellent volume, and I immediately ordered Brown's other "Inside" the Chronicles. I hope he publishes the rest of the series....more
I heard Joe Rigney on a podcast about parenting and he was brilliant. I've read and reread the Narnia books, so while I expected to enjoy this, I didnI heard Joe Rigney on a podcast about parenting and he was brilliant. I've read and reread the Narnia books, so while I expected to enjoy this, I didn't really expect to gain any new insight. I was quite wrong as this felt like a wonderful guide for citizenship into the Land of Narnia. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and now can't wait to read anything else he's written....more
Whenever I read any book by Lewis I always ask myself why I read anything else until I've read everything he has ever written. He puts everything in sWhenever I read any book by Lewis I always ask myself why I read anything else until I've read everything he has ever written. He puts everything in such a way that is so complex yet so simple. Only a true genius can write something that you feel exactly the same way yourself, but could never have the eloquence to state it like Lewis can.
Highly recommend The Four Loves to anyone who has ever loved anything. I live with a beautiful example of these loves in my own home in my husband, and I kept looking up from my reading the whole time and asking him questions about affection, friendship, Eros, and charity.
This would be wonderful for any young teenagers who are just coming into dating or adulthood and wonderful for a discussion group of all ages. There's so much to think about and talk through about how these loves look practically in daily life....more
For pete's sake, whenever I read anything by Lewis, I wonder why I bother to read anything else until I've read everything he ever wrote. Lewis has suFor pete's sake, whenever I read anything by Lewis, I wonder why I bother to read anything else until I've read everything he ever wrote. Lewis has such a concise clarity that is both brilliant and simple, the mark of a great thinker and writer.
I, am somewhat hesitant and humbled to say, have never lost anyone profoundly close to me. I lost by grandfather when I was 14. We were close, and I loved him, but being only 14, I hadn't the time I wish to know him even better than I did. It's also always sad to lose anyone, but a grandparent is an "expected" loss. He was older, and went quickly and didn't suffer, so it is about the easiest way possible to lose a loved one, if there ever is an easy way. I mourn the most for my own father, but even there, there is comfort, since they are both believers, and will see each other again in heaven. It is rare to be in ones early 30s and still have three grandparents, all parents, all siblings, and even every close friend still on this earth. This mercy is not lost on me.
But I am absolutely filing this book away for when the day comes that I will lose someone. Because I know that is inevitable in this life. And the clarity and sympathy apparent in this book, will be a great comfort to me on that day. Even now, I could recognize truth in what he said, even if it's not yet firsthand. I pray I am spared the type of loss Lewis experienced, but it is a great comfort, even know, to know that one's faith can continue, even in such a severe mercy as his "grief, observed."...more
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