Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kailey_luminouslibro's Reviews (3.79k)
Oh my goodness, I'm in shock! I feel like I have been hit with a ton of spiritual bricks; not an uncommon feeling after reading any of Lewis' books. How wonderful! The best part is that no matter what the subject or plot, Lewis always turns the focus back to Christ.
This book reminds me a bit of his book, "Pilgrim's Regress", and John Bunyan's book too. It follows that sort of pattern- wandering in a strange land, meeting allegorical people, having philosophical conversations with angels and men that illustrate great truths in an easily digestible way.
This is a fantasy story of a man who is confronted with the choice between Heaven and Hell, as we all are, and as he watches others make the choice, he realizes that people who go to Hell WANT to be there. They chose it. "Hell is locked from the inside." He also quotes one of my favorite passages from Milton's Paradise Lost; that some think it is "better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." People choose to endure misery rather than submit to Joy. People choose to be proud and suffering rather than admit they were wrong and accept forgiveness.
The reason for the title is that the book proves there is no middle ground. You must choose one or the other. There is a complete and total division between Heaven and Hell. Sound theology, beautifully expressed!
When George MacDonald showed up as a character, I gave a little holler of happiness! And his dialogue is so delightfully Scotch. Just lovely writing!
There are some enchanting descriptions of Heaven, and imaginings of what it could be like there, that brought me some joyful thoughts and a holy longing to be in my True Home. It really lifts the focus onto the things of God!
As all of Lewis' writing does, this book gives me the uncomfortable feeling that I'm dealing with concepts way too deep and unknowable for me to even begin to think about; but as I read, I find that I understand his points very well. I can't always hold them in my mind later, but at the moment that I am reading, I can follow his logic perfectly. That is his genius! He speaks to the common man in common language, and unfolds eternity as something we can know because it lives inside us.
Maybe the thing I like best about Lewis' writings is that he doesn't let anybody hide behind their intellectualism or false humility or assumed religiosity. He demands complete honesty from the soul, because that is what God demands.
There is some shady theology with some stuff about purgatory that I'm not sure I understood, but hey, it's a dream fantasy. I'm not taking it too literally here! haha!
I really loved what he wrote near the end about seeing everything through a lens of Time. We can't truly understand the mysteries of God or of our own eternal souls, until we are taken outside of Time. Right now Time is distorting our understanding, although it is certainly useful to protect us for now. Eventually, we won't need it, because we will "see Him as He is." Wonderful thoughts!
This book reminds me a bit of his book, "Pilgrim's Regress", and John Bunyan's book too. It follows that sort of pattern- wandering in a strange land, meeting allegorical people, having philosophical conversations with angels and men that illustrate great truths in an easily digestible way.
This is a fantasy story of a man who is confronted with the choice between Heaven and Hell, as we all are, and as he watches others make the choice, he realizes that people who go to Hell WANT to be there. They chose it. "Hell is locked from the inside." He also quotes one of my favorite passages from Milton's Paradise Lost; that some think it is "better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." People choose to endure misery rather than submit to Joy. People choose to be proud and suffering rather than admit they were wrong and accept forgiveness.
The reason for the title is that the book proves there is no middle ground. You must choose one or the other. There is a complete and total division between Heaven and Hell. Sound theology, beautifully expressed!
When George MacDonald showed up as a character, I gave a little holler of happiness! And his dialogue is so delightfully Scotch. Just lovely writing!
There are some enchanting descriptions of Heaven, and imaginings of what it could be like there, that brought me some joyful thoughts and a holy longing to be in my True Home. It really lifts the focus onto the things of God!
As all of Lewis' writing does, this book gives me the uncomfortable feeling that I'm dealing with concepts way too deep and unknowable for me to even begin to think about; but as I read, I find that I understand his points very well. I can't always hold them in my mind later, but at the moment that I am reading, I can follow his logic perfectly. That is his genius! He speaks to the common man in common language, and unfolds eternity as something we can know because it lives inside us.
Maybe the thing I like best about Lewis' writings is that he doesn't let anybody hide behind their intellectualism or false humility or assumed religiosity. He demands complete honesty from the soul, because that is what God demands.
There is some shady theology with some stuff about purgatory that I'm not sure I understood, but hey, it's a dream fantasy. I'm not taking it too literally here! haha!
I really loved what he wrote near the end about seeing everything through a lens of Time. We can't truly understand the mysteries of God or of our own eternal souls, until we are taken outside of Time. Right now Time is distorting our understanding, although it is certainly useful to protect us for now. Eventually, we won't need it, because we will "see Him as He is." Wonderful thoughts!
This is a 'Romeo and Juliet' type story of a wealthy corrupt financier, Ryder, whose son falls in love with the daughter of an honest judge. When Ryder frames the judge for accepting a bribe, it's up to the young star-crossed lovers to clear the judge's name. But can they ever melt Ryder's cold heart and overcome the enmity between their families?
I loved this story! I really cared about Jefferson and Shirley from the beginning, and I loved seeing their relationship develop. Shirley is a fantastic heroine- brave, generous, intelligent, calculating, elegantly dignified, and beautifully loyal. She's really uses her wit against the men, and holds her own in a society that didn't give women the respect they deserved. She had some wonderful dialogue. By the end of the book, I was cheering for her!
This book started out extra slow, but gained momentum as it went along. The author is extremely long-winded, so I learned to entirely skip the lengthy descriptive passages, and only read the dialogue and action. I also skipped all the socialist philosophizing.
Overall, a delightful story! I love these old-fashioned tales.
I loved this story! I really cared about Jefferson and Shirley from the beginning, and I loved seeing their relationship develop. Shirley is a fantastic heroine- brave, generous, intelligent, calculating, elegantly dignified, and beautifully loyal. She's really uses her wit against the men, and holds her own in a society that didn't give women the respect they deserved. She had some wonderful dialogue. By the end of the book, I was cheering for her!
This book started out extra slow, but gained momentum as it went along. The author is extremely long-winded, so I learned to entirely skip the lengthy descriptive passages, and only read the dialogue and action. I also skipped all the socialist philosophizing.
Overall, a delightful story! I love these old-fashioned tales.
One of my favorite of Dahl's books, mostly because our main character, Matilda, is a lover of books. I adore the library scenes where Matilda reads entire sections of books with the help of the elderly librarian! Dahl writes with such vivid words, terrific villains, and outrageous plot lines, but always with a sweet nugget of goodness in the middle. I love this book more each time I re-read it!
Laura and Almanzo work hard at farming through their first four years of marriage. They can never seem to get ahead with their debts for farming equipment. Just when they think they will have a good crop of wheat, the weather turns nasty and ruins all their hopes. Their daughter Rose is born and brings them a lot joy, but they also have heartaches and disaster strikes their little farm. Still, they are unified in their love and in their determination to triumph over nature and make their farm a success.
I love how Laura uses Almanzo's nickname "Manly" in this book. So adorable! It's so sweet to see how they care for each other and work hard to support each other through illness and pain, through happy times of celebration, and through everything in between.
Almanzo is doing his best, but he's not very smart with money. I think he is used to having a prosperous farm like his parents did, and he wants to provide those riches for his new family. But Laura is used to living in squalid conditions on the prairie and being content with very little, so she is more careful with money. The debt seems to weigh more heavily on her mind than it does for Almanzo.
This book is my least favorite in the series, because it has so many disasters and heartaches one after another. The happy times seem to be few and far between. They are sick and people die and they lose part of their claim. There are fires and tornadoes and blizzards and drought. It's just so depressing.
This book is also different from the other books in the series because the author never finished revising and editing it. These are just her preliminary notes for the book, and so the book is not complete. The writing doesn't flow like the other books, and it's much shorter than the other books too.
