Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

6/10

I read this several years ago. It was alright but one of my least favorite of the Narnia books. I just now decided that I will reveal the order of my favorite Narnia books when I make my final post about the last book in the Narnia series, so stay tuned.

The Pevensies are brought back to Narnia after a short absence as they are waiting at a train station. They don't recognize it as Narnia at first and think they are in a completely different land. But they soon realize that they are in Narnia but that it has been many many years that have passed in Narnia since they last were there. Much had been corrupted and they work with the Narnians to restore the proper order. Caspian is a Prince who is the rightful King of Narnia and a good dude who joins forces with the Narnians. There's a cool face-off duel at the end between Peter and the main bad guy who had usurped the throne.

So, the fun part is locating the Christian symbolism. This is where Aslan usually comes into play. There is a part where they are journeying through the wilderness and Lucy is the only one who can see Aslan and wants to follow him but no one else can see him and they don't listen to her. They choose to follow their own path and end up getting lost. Eventually they listen to Lucy and start to believe and eventually see him as well and find their way. So the symbolism there is clear. The cooler symbolism is that the whole book can be viewed as representing the falling away from true Christianity and its restoration.

A quote:

"Have you pen and ink, Master Doctor?" "A scholar is never without them, your Majesty."

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

7/10

I read this some 6 or 7 years ago. It was my first H.G. Wells book that I ever read (I've only read two but will certainly read more). I actually liked it quite a bit. Wells was kind of one of the first science fiction writers (this book was written in 1898) and still one of the best.

This meteor-like cylinder object lands on earth. It sits there for a while and then, eventually, the aliens come out in these tripods and wreak some serious havoc. They pretty much wipe the floor with the human race for the entire book. The main character and his comrades sure were on the ropes. So much so that I couldn't see how they would pull it out. They were always on the run with fewer and fewer places to actually run to. Things continued to look very bleak even up until the very last chapter. I kept wondering how so much could be overcome with so few pages left. I obviously won't give it away but it was a sweet twist ending, or at least I thought so. It was such a practical and legitimate way to reasonably end a story about alien invaders.

The Tom Cruise movie version was a "it didn't suck but coulda done without it" type of a movie. Surprisingly the book wins again (I continue to reveal myself as the annoying "it wasn't as good as the book" guy).

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

5/10

I read this about 7 or 8 years ago. It's a fun little book, not as good as Mere Christianity or The Screwtape Letters, but it's alright nonetheless.

The book is about a bus ride that a bunch of people take from the "grey town" (hell) toward the mountains (heaven). (I actually read this story about a bus ride while I rode the bus between Orem and Draper). Eventually everyone is given the choice of whether they want to return to the grey town or continue on to the sunrise (a place they got to partially experience and recognize as a better place). Yet most people chose to return to the grey town. And we do the same thing, choose the things of the world in the face of the way better and more obvious choice.

His quote in the preface sums it up well: "If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell. I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) was precisely nothing: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in 'the High Countries.'" And later: "I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself."

More quotes:

"That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory."

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'

"There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him. And the higher and mightier it is in the natural order, the more demoniac it will be if it rebels. It's not out of bad mice or bad fleas you make demons, but out of bad archangels."

"Good beats upon the damned incessantly as sound waves beat on the ears of the deaf, but they cannot receive it. Their fists are clenched, their teeth are clenched, their eyes fast shut. First they will not, in the end they cannot, open their hands for gifts, or their mouths for food, or their eyes to see."

Letters from a Nut by Ted L. Nancy

10/10

I read this some 9 years ago-ish. It is absolutely hilarious. Laugh out loud ("LOL") hilarious. Almost as hilarious as my LOL joke I just did.

So I read this and the intro to the book by Jerry Seinfeld and sort of always assumed that Ted L. Nancy was Seinfeld. But, alas, Ted L. Nancy is the pseudonym for Barry Marder as this link will tell you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_L._Nancy Either way, it just doesn't get much funnier than this book.

I guess I should tell you what the book is all about. It is just a series of letters written by this guy to hotels, companies, etc. with crazy requests or ideas. On the left side of the page is his letter and on the right side of the page is the usually serious yet confused response from the company or hotel. It is awesome.

A few of my favorite letters include:

A letter to a hotel asking if the lost and found department has found his missing tooth. "It is a small hard whitish object. The size of a piece of corn. It has a rippled top; speck of silver embedded in the top."

His hilarious response to that hotels response informing him that they had searched for the tooth but to no avail. The letter included a "Certificate of Excellence" that has a picture of a 1st place badge, a birthday cake with candles, and a crowd cheering. Ha ha, oh man.

A letter to the California Institute of Technology's Physics Department. "Doesn't it make sense to you, that if you weighed 150 pounds, and you could lift 300 pounds, you should be able to fly by sitting on a chair and lifting it up?" And he closes the letter with: "I hope to excel in Physics some day like you. I think I'm doing 'ok' now."

A letter to the Topps Baseball Card Company informing them that he has in his possession "Nine and some shavings but a full set" of Micky Mantle's toenails and would like to donate it to them. "He had trouble with the last nail but eventually his diligence paid off."

A letter to Hanes Underwear with his idea for "Six Day Underwear" that has "three leg hole openings."

A letter to a hotel and casino asking if it is ok if he wore his lucky clothes to gamble in which is a shrimp costume, "a reddish veiny body outfit with a brittle curved fintail. The top of my head will be hardish and crunchy and have tarter sauce on it."

A letter to a hotel requesting certain accommodations because he looks exactly like Abraham Lincoln and does not want to be bothered by people. "People love Lincoln! One guy tried to give me his Lincoln car once, that's how impressed he was. I did not take it, of course. But I have been in the tunnel."

A letter to the Minnesota Twins asking if he could be the new mascot - The Minnesota Twin. A mechanical twin duplicates his movements. "I dance around, move about, run, stop, start, tumble."

A letter to Highlights magazine to see if they could publish pictures of his freckle that looks like Anthony Quinn and his "mole that when bunched together kinda looks like Richard Gere. When not bunched, Andy Griffith."

Maybe my favorite letter is one to Al Gore telling him how great of a Vice President he is. "I hope that you are Vice President forever! You're more than a V.P. - you're an MVP - Most Valuable Vice President." And later, "You look like Sylvestor Stallone. Same hair."

A letter to a hotel informing them that he is "a level 4 bed wetter. Although in six months I will be reclassified a level 3." He tells them that "I like to let the hotel know so that I don't damage anything. (Plants, dresser, etc.)."

An awesome letter to Shasta soda about how he thinks it is a huge mistake that they are "changing your name to Laarksvard's Hot Cream." Ha ha.

A letter to Kal Can Cat Food Co. telling them about his 36 year old cat and how all his cat eats is their cat food. "We used to watch Chuck Berry together. But now his eyesight is bad."

I guess I will stop there, although there are many, many more amazing gems. So classic.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

7/10

I read this book as a youngster (or had it read to me, I don't recall) but revisited it and read it probably about 8 years ago or so. Also, this book cover is sweet.

This is the first book in the Narnia series (I will have none of this chronological order nonsense that has 'The Magician's Nephew' first, such talk is blasphemous). This is a fun little children's fantasy adventure story of the Pevensie children and their journey to Narnia where they meet a lion named Aslan (Christ figure in the book). Edmund and his sweettooth for Turkish Delight nearly ruin everything. Some scary White Witch turning-people-to-stone-figures action takes place, but the gang eventually pulls through. An Aslan sacrifice where he gives his life for Edmund's is the most emphatic Christian allegory and the heart of the story.

It is mostly a fun read for kids and I am actually pretty stoked for the time when I can read this to my youngens. And it is a decent read for adults who like to look for some Christian allegories. In the end, we all know that I am a big C.S. Lewis guy but I think I am a bigger fan of his straight Christian doctrinal books more than his Narnia Christian symbolism books (even though I like Narnia books just fine). The End.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

5/10

I read this book about 8 years ago. It is one of three Hemingway books that I have read and it ranks 2nd of those three (my favorite has been discussed in a previous post, so go find it if you care).

I didn't love this book but didn't hate it. It is typical Hemingway. Not much is going on on the surface but much more once you peel the ol' layers. On the surface it looks like a bunch of drunk writers and friends who just sit around cafes in Europe getting drunk and watching bull-fighting. But more at the heart of the matter it is about a guy who got injured in the war and the injury caused his impotence (this isn't spelled out super obviously but is hinted at here and there) and his relationship with a woman that he loves but cannot have because of his injury. The woman he loves uses him for emotional support but always abandons him to pursue other men.

Like I said, I wasn't crazy for it but there is enough in here to keep yourself interested and this may just be the book to read if you want to read a Hemingway novel.

A quote:

"There are people to whom you could not say insulting things. They give you the feeling that the world would be destroyed, would actually be destroyed before your eyes, if you said certain things." I think this is how people feel about me, ha ha.