{"id":2569,"date":"2014-06-25T13:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T18:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?p=2569"},"modified":"2014-06-24T07:03:05","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T12:03:05","slug":"great-summer-reads-the-screwtape-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/06\/great-summer-reads-the-screwtape-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Summer Reads: The Screwtape Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Though I don\u2019t exclusively read fiction in the summer, I always\u00a0want<\/em> to.<\/p>\n

This summer\u2019s no different, so I thought I would examine some of my favorite fiction reads and share them periodically throughout the summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

First up:\u00a0The Screwtape Letters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ah,\u00a0here<\/em>\u2018s an old friend. My battered old copy of\u00a0Screwtape<\/em>\u00a0was marked and dog-eared and loved. It wasn\u2019t mine at first, so it wasn\u2019t \\my name written in maroon marker inside the front cover. I loved it so much after reading it (via audio) the first time that\u00a0I reread it within months\u00a0while leading a summer study with a group of women.<\/p>\n

I now have a less battered copy, because I lent that copy to someone (I couldn\u2019t help it! It\u2019s one of my favorite books\u2026to read and to share!).<\/p>\n

For me,\u00a0<\/em>this book\u00a0is an examination of conscience. It\u2019s also a good reminder that there are forces of evil working against us all.the.time.<\/p>\n

In the summer,\u00a0I love having a book that makes me think differently about the world around me. (Ignore the fact, for the moment, that this is a selling point, for me, in\u00a0any<\/em>\u00a0book.) This book has the advantage of also inspiring a number of other works, and I am a sucker for reading source material. Besides that, C.S. Lewis is just fabulous. Need I say more?<\/p>\n

The premise of The Screwtape Letters<\/em>\u00a0is that a senior devil\/tempter, Screwtape, is writing to his nephew, Wormwood, about Wormwood\u2019s \u201cpatient.\u201d Everything is backwards \u2013 what\u2019s good to Screwtape is NOT good to us. When he refers to Our Father Down Below, he\u2019s talking about Satan, and the Enemy is God. This alone is enough to delight me as a reader.<\/p>\n

The Screwtape Letters<\/em> struck me, the first time through, as though it was one of the best examinations of conscience I have yet found. It made me consider sin in a whole new way. It made me think about angels and demons \u2013 especially demons \u2013 as workers with a stake, and as forces that I can beat, but not alone. It made me see the need for God in my life ever more, ever more.<\/p>\n

Many years later, I still consider it one of the best examinations of conscience I\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n

The second time through, I was reading more carefully. Since I had listened to the audio version the first time, different things leapt out at me when I went back through it with the book study. I was again struck by the fact that this was, in effect, a description of ME, and it was a starting place for an examination of conscience.<\/p>\n

Be sure to make time to read this book. It\u2019s relatively short, available even at my small town library, and the audio version is quite stunning.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though I don\u2019t exclusively read fiction in the summer, I always\u00a0want to. This summer\u2019s no different, so I thought I would examine some of my favorite fiction reads and share them periodically throughout the summer. First up:\u00a0The Screwtape Letters. Ah,\u00a0here\u2018s an old friend. My battered old copy of\u00a0Screwtape\u00a0was marked and dog-eared and loved. It wasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1133,"featured_media":2571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[112],"class_list":["post-2569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\nGreat Summer Reads: The Screwtape Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Though I don't exclusively read fiction in the summer, I always\u00a0want to. 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