This is another review for http://booksneeze.com/
Before I read Philip Yancey's Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church I'd never heard of G.K. Chesterton. I love biographies, so I was excited by the opportunity to read more about this man's life
He was truly remarkable. A genius who thought and wrote from a different perspective than the ordinary person. A person who is difficult to capture on pages. He was a journalist, an essayist, a poet, apologist, novelist. He wrote detective fiction and was a formidable literary critic. In all, he succeeded at every form of writing that he turned his hand to.
It is not a traditional biography and unfortunately the book has uncovered my deficiencies in English literature and criticism. I struggled at times to follow the arguments and the points of the author. It is a fairly dry read for the non-literary person.
It would be a valuable resource for a school or theological library. A great introduction to the works of G.K Chesterton, just not my cup of tea.
Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this DVD was provided to me for review by Thomas Nelson Books <http://BookSneeze.com>. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this DVD was provided to me for review by Thomas Nelson Books <http://BookSneeze.com>. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Can I add "has amazing hair" to your list of his qualities?
ReplyDeleteYou may, though the picture on the front of the book is somewhat exaggerated. (It certainly got the attention of my boys.) I think it is saying something about his larger-than-life personality that I didn't really mention. Here is a place where you can see photos of him: http://www.gkc.org.uk/gkc/pictures/index.html
ReplyDeleteYes, we were surprised by the picture on the cover, because as my husband said, it's not how you'd think he'd look (only knowing about him from his writing) so we looked him up, and were then surprised that the picture wasn't any more exaggerated than you'd expect of a picture in that style.
ReplyDeleteWendy,
ReplyDeleteOld GK is a hoot! I've read his Orthodoxy and Heretics -- both very stimulating of thought and available free from gutenburg.org -- I've also have a copy of his autobiography (again very interesting)and a biography by Michael Finch.