Has anybody read C.S. Lewis?

He's definitely worth the hype and wrote some amazing Christian pieces. Be sure to read Surprised by Joy, which is one of the best defenses and testaments of the Christian faith.

What Lewis books should you read? Any you can get your hands on; but at the top of my list would be The Screwtape Letters (in an edition that includes "Screwtape Proposes a Toast") and The Great Divorce.

BobW188 said:

What Lewis books should you read? Any you can get your hands on; but at the top of my list would be The Screwtape Letters (in an edition that includes "Screwtape Proposes a Toast") and The Great Divorce.

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Personally I very much enjoy Screwtape. But 2 cautions. First it is told from Satan's side of things. Some people have problems when God is Refered to as 'The Enemy'. But it is a great book, and applicable to any moral person, even the specifically Christian parts have applicability to others. Second caution is there is a 'translation' into 'American'. Avoid it like the plague. Funny how changing a few words without proper caution can change the entire meaning of a chapter. Also if seeing things from Satan's side might be confusing seeing them where God is called "The Enemy" and a WW II German soldier is called 'An enemy soldier' creates confusion worthy of Screwtape himself.

Other than Screwtape I prefer the Essays of Lewis. There are 3 or 4 books of collected essays/talks. Rather easy to figure out in you are in a book store, just open and check the table of contents.

I have most of his writing and I encourage you to buy and read all you can find. You can find many of them in collections so multiple books are in a single bound book, like The Complete Signature Series...or something like that.

go to fetchbook.info and you can search for the cheapest price.

Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce to name two, other than that work your way through!

I agree with all that has been said above. (Mere Christianity was the book that triggered my conversion to Christianity) One further book that I'd recommend is Yours, Jack. This is a collection of CS Lewis's letters on a huge range of Christian/moral subjects. It is absolutely superb. You can read it cover-to-cover or just delve into when you wish.

Happy reading! - Chris

"The Four Loves (C.S. Lewis 1960) is a very readable book examining the nature of the different kinds of love: affection, friendship, eros and charity - one of my favourites that he wrote. "Perelandra" (C.S. Lewis 1943) is also a very good fictional story he wrote and deals with issues the fall, evil and Paradise. It is the 2nd part of a trilogy including "Out of the silent planet" and "that hideous strength", although it can stand by itself, and to my mind Perelandra is the best one in the set.

As others have suggested, read all of them. The Chronicles of Narnia are probably the most beloved of all the books I have read and re-read. But yes, read anything of Lewis's you can get your hands on.

There is a book that puts all his works together. I bought it on Amazon. Mere Christianity is by far on of the most important pieces of literature of the twentieth century. Most of the Christian arguments on this site can be defended with a quote from this book.

The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics (Hardcover)

Screwtape Letters and the Chronicles of Narnia are great... The Space Trilogy was kind of boring IMO... well the first book was. I never made it past the first book. Part of the problem was the whole voyage to the planet, the planet itself, etc was inaccurate. Not surprising since it was written in the 40's. But it was very hard to even hold my suspension of disbelief cause it was just so wrong.

Skilletdude said:

Screwtape Letters and the Chronicles of Narnia are great... The Space Trilogy was kind of boring IMO... well the first book was. I never made it past the first book. Part of the problem was the whole voyage to the planet, the planet itself, etc was inaccurate. Not surprising since it was written in the 40's. But it was very hard to even hold my suspension of disbelief cause it was just so wrong.

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Judging the space trilogy as Science Fiction or thinking the 'inaccuracies' are because of a lack of understanding in the science of the time is simply wrong. They are more dark fantasy. Not unlike Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series in some ways. But still you have done some folks a service in pointing out that if you are put off by inaccuricies regarding Mars and Venus then these are not for them. Personally even viewed through what I see as the proper lense I see these as weak works. Still one of my favorite points of 'trivia' comes from 'That Hideous Strength'. There are soem bad guys that many thinnk are based on the Nazis. It turns out they are much closer to home for Lewis. They are based on the Black and Tans.

Yes, as a matter of fact, both my fiance and I have read all the books
We also got our son's name from the third book in the Narnia series

Shredded Darkness said:

Yes, as a matter of fact, both my fiance and I have read all the books
We also got our son's name from the third book in the Narnia series

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Caspian? That's great!

A couple that are apt to not be what most people here would like are:

English literature in the 17 century: Excluding drama (Or somethgin close to that) which is a College text book and Boxen which is a fantasy of sorts, but written by Lewis as a child.

C.S. Lewis is a favorite of mine as well... just read Mere Christianity again. So much down-to-Earth theology there. I'm a fan of progressive rock, and I frequently find Lewis references: My Dear Wormwood by echolyn, Narnia by Steve Hackett, Out of the Silent Planet by King's X, and the whole Perelandra album by Glass Hammer come to mind.

Just the Narnia ones. I will most likely read 'The Screwtape Letters'.

Just read 'em. Read 'em all.

I love Narnia and The Screwtape Letters. The space trilogy I have mixed feelings about. Out of the Silent Planet was poorly written and got off to a slow start. Perelandra was my favorite. That Hideous Strength was quite good, and in some ways I think it's the best, but personally I don't really care for conspiracy stories. I've also read a CS Lewis book called Til We Have Faces, which was okay, just not very memorable. Those are all of his books that I've read so far. I'd like to read Mere Christianity next.

Lewis is, overall, my favorite author evar.