The Stories of C.S. Lewis
Every 6 weeks (with a break in July), we’ll read and discuss two C.S. Lewis books, one fiction, one non-fiction. The books will be thematically related. The casual book club attendee may read just one of the two and still benefit from and contribute to the discussion. The rabid attendee can immerse himself in the topic and all that C.S. Lewis has to say on the matter at hand. Each meeting will take place at Landmark Booksellers at 7pm on the date noted below.
Keep Me Updated: Date changes, future year lists, and reminders.
January 21: Beginning
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” –C.S. Lewis
Nonfiction: Mere Christianity
This book began as a series of BBC radio broadcasts during World War II, offering an overview of Lewis’s core beliefs.
Fiction: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The first published book in The Chronicles of Narnia series, this classic fantasy novel is a low-key way to begin a study of Lewis’s work. Its themes of sacrifice, redemption, and a world under enchantment mirror the philosophical concepts explained in Mere Christianity.
March 4: Love
“The more you love, the less you fear.” –C.S. Lewis
Nonfiction: The Four Loves
This book examines the four Greek words for love: affection (storge), friendship (philia), romance (eros), and divine love (agape). Lewis analyzes both the human and divine aspects of each love.
Fiction: Till We Have Faces
This mature-content novel explores the deeper themes of love and human devotion. A mythological retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth, the story’s themes parallel the ideas Lewis examines in The Four Loves.
April 15: Suffering
“The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world….” –C.S. Lewis
Nonfiction: The Problem of Pain
In this apologetic work, Lewis addresses the classic theological question of why a loving God allows suffering. He examines concepts of evil and fallen humanity, and how pain fits into God’s plan.
Fiction: The Screwtape Letters
A satirical novel told through the correspondence of a senior demon, Screwtape, who advises his young nephew, Wormwood, on how to tempt a human. This creative story illustrates the concepts of sin and spiritual warfare that Lewis explores more formally in The Problem of Pain.
May 27: Afterlife
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” –C.S. Lewis
Nonfiction: A Grief Observed
Lewis wrote this memoir after the death of his wife. It is an honest look at faith in the face of profound loss while laying bare his struggle to understand the nature of heaven and the afterlife.
Fiction: The Great Divorce
An allegorical novella, this book depicts a bus trip from hell to the outskirts of heaven. Lewis offers an imaginative journey into the nature of sin, redemption, and the choices that define our eternal destinations. The book’s meditations on life, death, and choice make it a fitting fictional companion to the heartfelt reflections in A Grief Observed.
August 19: Humanity
“Human life has always been lived on the edge of precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself.” –C.S. Lewis
Nonfiction: The Abolition of Man
In this work, Lewis critiques modern education and philosophy, arguing against moral relativism and for the existence of objective, universal values, which he calls the “Tao”.
Fiction: That Hideous Strength
The final book in Lewis’s Space Trilogy, this novel directly dramatizes the themes of The Abolition of Man. A scientific think tank becomes a front for demonic forces aiming to dismantle humanity and dominate the earth through its twisted ideology.
September 30: Joy
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us….” –C.S. Lewis
Nonfiction: Surprised by Joy
An autobiographical telling of Lewis’ conversion experience. The book explores Lewis’ journey from atheism to ultimate reality.
Fiction: The Pilgrim’s Regress
A fictional, allegorical account where the protagonist, John, travels to find the source of a childhood vision of an island, representing the experience of “Joy”.
November 11: Supernatural
“What one must not do is to rule out the supernatural as the one impossible explanation.” –C.S. Lewis
Nonfiction: Miracles
This is a philosophical book arguing for the logical possibility of miracles by challenging naturalism and demonstrating that a supernatural world, from which miracles could originate, is plausible.
Fiction: The Last Battle
This is the final book in The Chronicles of Narnia, and it brings together many of the themes about faith and reality that are also present in Miracles.
Hosted by Wendy Pfeiffer
A Franklin local, at age 8, Wendy read the entirety of “The Chronicles of Narnia” by flashlight, situated behind the coats at the back of the hall closet. Like Lucy Pevensie, she has continued to return to the magic of reading throughout her life, and hopes readers young and old will venture from the bright city of War Drobe and meet her at Landmark Booksellers throughout the year for an epic adventure in reading!