Great Divorce Quotes

What attracts me to a book like this are the many quotable statements. They make me think long after I've read them. I have several but will only post one in hopes that others may have picked up on some favorite quotes during their reading.

This quote is found in the preface. I casually read it months ago when reading this book was just a thought.

"If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell."

I would LOVE to hear what's sticking with your during your reading journey!

My 2009 Book List

Hi Ladies,

Since I know you are all book addicts, just like me, I thought I'd give you a list of my favourite books that I've read this year.

You can find my list on my personal blog, here.

What have been your favourite books this year?

The Great Divorce

Our January selection is The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.

The title is in reference to Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. While Blake believed that the material world and our physical desires are part of the divine order, thus marrying heaven and hell, Lewis describes the divorce between the two.

The Great Divorce is an allegorical study of the psychological difference between the heaven-bound soul and the hell-bound soul.

It begins with the narrator (presumably Lewis) finding himself in a "grey town", a place devoid of joy and colour. The grey town symbolizes hell, and the inhabitants are granted a sort of vacation. They board a train to travel to paradise, and it is on their journey that they discover that they are ghosts, lacking a physical body.

Paradise turns out to be physical and material, but it is painful to the damned souls. The blades of grass are too hard to walk upon, and the leaves are too heavy for them to lift. They are invited to enter paradise properly, presumably through some sort of repentance process. Some accept. Some don't.

The Dropout's First Brief Meet

Our first meeting went well despite the first glitch of getting the closing time wrong at the cafe. My vision of everyone spending time getting to know each new face was cut short by a brief inhaling of gelato while throwing out administrative detail to everyone. With only a half hour to bond with my new book club family I felt robbed! However great my disappointment I'm very excited about our group. And our January book! Maren did such a great job introducing the book. I'll coax her into posting it!

Again, first official book discussion at Maren's house January 5th, 8pm. We will email everyone the address.

Getting to Know You

Just wanted to let you all know that we're excited to meet for the first time tomorrow night.

We're planning on just a fun gathering where we can get to know each other a little bit before we launch into our first book.

Hope you all make it!

Manifesto and Bylaws

Our dissatisfaction with our local neighborhood-affiliated book clubs has reached its peak.

As book lovers we hereby declare that no longer will we endure inane conversation about bland books.

We believe that reading should be challenging, educational, enjoyable, enriching, uplifting, and inspiring.

We have a vision of a book club that promotes just such a reading experience.

We commit ourselves to reading books that are intelligent and well written; books that make you think as well as feel. We want to read and discuss books that actually warrant discussion. Books that are provocative, thoughtful, insightful, as well as fun.

The Book Club Dropouts is a place for disgruntled bibliophiles to gather and share in their love of books and their malcontent with the average neighborhood book club.

Members of the Book Club Dropouts agree to adhere to the following:

1. Read the book. This is a group for people who read, not just people who want to eat refreshments and socialize (although there will be plenty of that). There will be no synopsis telling at meetings. If you want to be in a book club that doesn't require previous completion of the selected book, then go to your neighborhood book club.
   
2. Accept that all members may not agree on a month's reading selection. If a member does not want to read a particular selection, then that member can uninvite themselves from that month's gathering. However, said member is encouraged to read it anyway. They may in fact end up enjoying the book, and if not, at least they could contribute to the discussion by providing an interesting counterpoint.
3. Come prepared to discuss beyond the "I liked/didn't like it" and the "I liked the part where _____" type of conversations.
   
4. Refuse to read the current year's Richard Paul Evans release.
5. Eliminate all home decor licensed by Thomas Kinkade.
6. Respectfully hear all opinions, rather than talking over any that oppose your own, Sean Hannity-style.

If you are disappointed with your local book group, you can lobby for membership into our invitation-only book club by demonstrating wit and intelligence in a comment on this blog. We look forward to hearing from you.