Lewis, Wodehouse, Doyle, and the like
I should have known I couldn’t dislike a book by C.S. Lewis. But this country girl has never picked up a sci-fi. So I never would have read Out of the Silent Planet if my man hadn’t discovered the trilogy in my favorite used book store.
This book store is the kind owned by someone who loves books. (Such is not always the case.) The growing piles of books around the counter plainly state that he can’t say no to a book. There will never be enough room on his shelves for all the books he has there. Some of the sets have graced the shelves for years. I don’t think he minds if he never parts with some of them. But the treasure trove is that very mountain of books surrounding the counter. They are not sorted or priced, and you have to dig deep to even see a fraction of them. Therein lie the treasures like an old hardback mystery by A.A. Milne (I honestly didn’t know he wrote anything besides Winnie the Pooh!), an undated, unedited hardback of The Marquis of Lossie by George MacDonald, and the C.S. Lewis space trilogy.
When my man heard I hadn’t read them, he decided we should add them to our book collection. So he bought them and left them for me to read.
The night before I left for a friend’s I suddenly realized I had (once again) failed to pack reading material for my three-and-a-half hour flight. (Last time I didn’t realize it until nearly too late. I bought a paperback copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle at the airport bookstore, and devoured the entire thing on the flight. I bought a suitcase full of books at GoodWill before I flew home, just in case.) I grabbed the trilogy off the shelf, thinking maybe they would serve to keep my attention in an airport better than Wodehouse (I’m a people watcher).
Now I find myself reading about characters rather similar to Wooster and his pals, only displaced from the pubs of London. It’s a fascinating experience. A far cry from the enchanting land of Narnia. But a delightful read all the same.
I should have known you can’t go wrong with a C.S. Lewis book.
Sarah: I am smart enough to realize sci-fi stands for Science Fiction and I also knew it was a type of book. hehe 😉
“Alternate futures, space travel, aliens, unusual situations, etc. It is the genre of people who love to ask, “What if?” ” Uh, I don’t know if I’d like it or not, I’ll have to see if my resevoir of books to read runs out and I am desperate enough to try sci-fi. 🙂
Thanks for advice.
CS Lewis is good. All the Inklings are good. I haven’t finished the trilogy yet, but enjoyed the first two.
Oh dear, Sarah’s correcting my grammar. 😉 You must go to the same college as my brother. 😉
To you who asked, I found my purse at Burlington Coat Factory.
As to where I store my books, the ones I bought at Natalie’s are still in a suitcase, but the rest are in various places throughout the house, soon to be packed up and moved to my new home. 🙂 Book sales and stores are always tempting for me and my man, but even when we are being very very good we lose all our resolve in the children’s books. Who can resist Winnie the Pooh?
First of all, sci-fi is a genre, not a thing. You can’t “pick up a sci-fi.” heheh 😉 You pick up sci-fi books, and you read them. For anyone else who does not know, “sci-fi” means “science fiction.” It involves alternate futures, space travel, aliens, unusual situations, etc. It is the genre of people who love to ask, “What if?” Personally, I love it.
Note: There is a lot of truly dreadful science fiction. That is true of almost every genre, however. So don’t dismiss SF entirely, just because you may have encountered a bad example. Much of the 50s and 60s SF, in particular, is highly enjoyable. There is nothing like it for stimulating the imagination.
This country girl still hasn’t picked up a sci-fi and I am completely oblivious as to what they are.
A lurker speaks! I’ve been lurking around YLCF for 2 years or so, but I never commented. However, seeing that you are just now reading Lewis’ space-trilogy made me excited. I discovered the trilogy last year and loved it! I actually read them out of order (Perelandra first, then Out of the Silent Planet, then That Hideous Strength), but I like the series!
gretchen, i love your purse. where did you get it?
and i could get lost in a place like that, and not mind a bit!!!!
Library sales are a dangerous place for me to go if I’m short of money (usually) or space (always). I feel tempted beyond hope.
Gretchen, I thought for a moment those were your books. Where do you find to put all of the books you find? Like you, I’m an avid book worm unfortunately I don’t have access to a great used book store so I usually have to pay full price, however whenever I travel I take advantage of every bargain I can find.
Bernadine