Amazon.com, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways:

1.) The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams – This was perhaps the hardest fiction work by Williams I have read. It took all my imaginative power just to comprehend the story, but it was worth the effort. I’d like to see if I can comprehend it better the second time around. He is my all time favorite author, and I think this is the only novel of his I don’t already own. I’d try to tell you what it was about, but as I’d have to launch into a tangent explaining Platonic Forms in order to give you an idea of what this book is about, I’ll skip the summary.

2.) The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis – I read this years ago as an undergraduate in my pre-philosophy days. I don’t really remember much about it, and I’d like to reread it, especially since I know someone who liked it very much and with whom I’d love to discuss it. When I’ll find the time to read it (or any of these books), I do not know.

3.) The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin – This is the second book in the Earthsea cycle and my favorite Le Guin book. She is not a Christian, but this woman sees the truth more clearly than many Christians I’ve read, and it comes out so clearly in her writing. I didn’t really realize how great this book was until I listened to it as an audiobook. Her writing is very evocative and she touches on those great themes of friendship, love, good and evil. There is a passage in it that reminds me of what one would get if you mixed John Chapter 1 (the part about the light and the darkness not knowing the light) and Ecclesiastes (the verses about two getting a better return for their labors, and a cord of three not being easily broken). I’ll quote it to you some day. It’s a good passage.

4.) The Other Wind by Ursula Le Guin – This is the last book in the Earthsea cycle. I’m trying to round out my ownership of the series. I remember liking this book very much and I know it has some rather profound ideas about love and death, but I don’t remember it very well. I want to reread it.

I realized after I placed my order (I so love those amazon.com reward points), that all the books I’d purchased I have already read, but was longing to read again. Years ago I rarely reread books, but now I do quite frequently. There are some books out there whose images I need to fix in my head, whose ideas I need to learn by heart. I think the change in my reading pattern is simply because I’ve finally found the books I truly love and truly want to absorb.

One of these days I’ll post a proper book review on some of my favorite books, but that will take a long time to construct. So for now, I will have to be content with giving you a little hint of what treasures these are.