Just finished the short stories in his essay collection and I'm like WOW, haha this guy can write! He's got me hooked and then..! Most of them aren't complete! I really loved the After Ten Years, brilliant take on Troy, I've always loved the Greek tales and ahh, how he goes into the story is so amazing. And some stories are unexpectedly dark! The first one on light and the last one on the disappearing men on the moon left me shocked and speechless. Some are seriously just dark, The Dark Tower oh man that one was creepy and as a general rule I hate horror as a genre but this, I couldn't take my eyes off and its UNFINISHED and I'm just ... AHHH WHY WHAT HAPPENED! In a way I'm glad that some parts of the manuscript is missing because those are scary parts hahaha!
Liking what he has to say on Writing, and his author reviews. Haha I think he'd be glad to know that Animal Farm is now quite a lot more well known than 1984 but hmm that really made me want to re-read Animal Farm because I remember none of it! Except the famous line of course.
And all his talk about Rider Haggard makes me want to read him too. Chesterton as well, and some other authors he mentioned sounds interesting. Funny, I never pictured the author of Narnia going into science fiction you know? But I do enjoy his writing a lot more now than I did as a (not so young) kid reading Narnia. (oh yes somehow I never loved loved Narnia.)
/endedit
"The literary man re-reads, other men simply read." -C.S. Lewis, Different Tastes in Literature.
Ergo I am literary! Hoho. And another quote from the same:
"The point is that no one cares about bad art in the same way as some care about good."
"The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity ('mere Christianity' as Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can be acquired only from the old books. It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones."
From his Letters to Children, to his Goddaughter:
"I am getting to be quite friends with an old Rabbit who lives in the Wood at Magdelen College. I pick leaves off the trees for him because he can't reach up to the branches and he eats them out of my hand. One day he stood up on his hind legs and put his front paws against me, he was so greedy. I wrote this about it;
A funny old man had a habit
of giving a leaf to a rabbit.
At first it was shy
But then, by and by,
It got rude and would stand up to grab it."
The letters to her and the tone he affects is reminiscent somewhat of how Dick writes to me. Wonder what's going on over there! Hope he writes soon.
In general I like the kindness he has in answering letters and concerns of children, the grandfatherly tone he has is delightful.
But then again, letters in general are a delight! (maybe I belong in the 18th century after all). 84 Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff) and Anne of Windy Poplars (L.M. Montgomery) come to mind - they strike me as very fire-place-y books, nice to curl up to when you're sleepy and to re-read millions of times. Only, I can't find my copy of Windy Poplars! And its by far my favourite Anne book, which makes me all the more sad. I can honestly say I've read it cover to cover so many times but have never gotten tired of it or bored at the stories.
Need to write some more myself, I'm finding it harder to find the right words to use now.
The girl bounces on the sidewalk, her hand not leaving the old man's. As they turn into the pavement leading to the apartments, the girl stops just before a crack. Her grandfather watches her, large spectacles perched on his nose, waiting. She's about to jump - but then she points to his feet, so he grins and obligingly steps back so they are on the same side of the crack. And holding hands, they hop over the menacing divide.
0 comments:
Post a Comment