Any fans of GK Chesterton?

[bigsleepj]

Has anyone read any of his books, Fiction or Non-Fiction? If so, what did you think of his writing?

[Arnobius]

I've read a few of his non-fiction books: Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. He makes some good arguments in TEM against some sociological assumptions that we are more morally advanced today than in the ancient times (He makes a sarcastic reference to assumptions about caveman society, saying he'd love to debate them but can't because he doesn't have any access to the evidence [implying that there is none that exists and the sociologists are just acting on their own beliefs])

[Maledicte]

PHWEEEE! I really like GKC. I've read every single one of his Father Brown mysteries...gawrsh. That was a major undertaking. My fave character is the reformed thief Flambeau. My fave short story by GK is in fact not a Father Brown one, but a standalone called "The Moderate Murderer." (no, I do not have any delusions of massacring our beloved mods.) I haven't read any of his nonfiction, though.

[Arnobius]

PHWEEEE! I really like GKC. I've read every single one of his Father Brown mysteries...gawrsh. That was a major undertaking. My fave character is the reformed thief Flambeau. My fave short story by GK is in fact not a Father Brown one, but a standalone called "The Moderate Murderer." (no, I do not have any delusions of massacring our beloved mods.) I haven't read any of his nonfiction, though.

Hmm, the Moderate Murderer. Maybe someone could do that similar to what they did with the "troll hunting" comic a while back...

[bigsleepj]

PHWEEEE! I really like GKC. I've read every single one of his Father Brown mysteries...gawrsh. That was a major undertaking. My fave character is the reformed thief Flambeau. My fave short story by GK is in fact not a Father Brown one, but a standalone called "The Moderate Murderer." (no, I do not have any delusions of massacring our beloved mods.) I haven't read any of his nonfiction, though.

I really like Chesterton's books but I'm not fond of the Father Brown stories. Off all those I've read I've found only about three or four to be really memorable. "The Sign of the Broken Sword", "The Sins of Prince Saradin", "The Blue Cross" and "The Purple Wig" are the only stories of his worth reading, especially "Broken Sword" and "Prince Saradin" because they delve very well into the inner workings of pure evil. That said I still have to read all of them, and in that department you have beaten me. I tip my hat at you for that.

If you ever feel to upgrade to more complex Chesterton then try "The Napoleon of Nottinghill" and "The Man who was Thursday", but I should warn you - these books are very complex. Nottinghill ends in a strange way where you have to figure out what the whole story means. "Thursday" ends the same way, but about 3/4 of the book is like that. Also good is "Manalive" which starts and ends well but drags in the middle sections.

My favourite Chesterton book though is "The Man who was Thursday" which could accurately be described as what you would have gotten if the Monty Python Gang teamed up with the Wachowski Brothers (the guys who made the Matrix movies) to write a Christian philosophical allegory in the form of a James Bond spoof. My signature has a link to an on-line text of "Thursday". As you can see, I love this book.

[Indigo_Eyes]

I bought my older brother either The Everlasting Man or Orthodoxy (can't remember which ) for Christmas because I knew he really wanted it. He found out that that book (whichever one I had gotten him) had helped lead C. S. Lewis to Christ.

[mitsuki lover]

I have the anthology The Man Who Was Chesterton.It has some of his essays,short stories,poems and part of The Everlasting Man and one of his other nonfiction works.

I've also read some of the Father Brown stories and also the little known
The Poet And The Lunatics.

[SManBeyond]

Chesterton is the man. I admit that I have only read all of his Father Brown short stories, but I have read numerous quotes by him as well. The man was an amazingly witty and insightful fellow.

Of the short stories, I have lots of favorites..."The Blue Cross", "The Secret Garden", "The Sign of the Broken Sword", "The Absence of Mr. Glass", "The Salad of Colonel Cray", "The Wrong Shape", etc. etc. I could go on and on. I like all the little paradoxes he throws in. Now, I really should read some of his religious works soon...as well as The Man Who Was Thursday...

On a side note, we actually have a center for Christian studies and intellectualism near my college named after him called The Chesterton House. It's not affiliated with any of the various Chesterton societies, but a couple of those are interested i the place...

[mitsuki lover]

What makes Chesterton even more accessible than either Lewis or Tolkien is the
fact that unlike them he wasn't a scholar but rather a journalist.All scholars who have studied the biogrpahies of St.Francis of Assisi and other people that Chesterton wrote all agree that he made a lot of mistakes and errors.In general he was a lot more sloppy in his research and writing than either Lewis or Tolkien or even some other writers,but the end result were works that are much more human and readable.

[Maledicte]

I've also read some of the Father Brown stories and also the little known
The Poet And The Lunatics.

The Poet and the Lunatics...oh yeah.....

[bigsleepj]

What makes Chesterton even more accessible than either Lewis or Tolkien is the
fact that unlike them he wasn't a scholar but rather a journalist.All scholars who have studied the biogrpahies of St.Francis of Assisi and other people that Chesterton wrote all agree that he made a lot of mistakes and errors.In general he was a lot more sloppy in his research and writing than either Lewis or Tolkien or even some other writers,but the end result were works that are much more human and readable.

What I realized about Chesterton is when I read "Thurdsay" it felt it was written about two years ago instead of 1908-ish. That is why I compared it to Monty Python, James Bond and the Matrix. Monty Python because of the silly almost surreal humor and surreal way the plot works. James Bond because the main character, who is almost a spy, agitates and infuriates his enemy at one point to get him to reveal something like Bond. And The Matrix because of a lot of discussions on philosophy and Christianity and such. You read "The Lion, the Witch & The Wardrobe" and you can feel that its 50 years old. With the exception of the language Chesterton feels fresh. That is what is remarkable.

[mitsuki lover]

What I realized about Chesterton is when I read "Thurdsay" it felt it was written about two years ago instead of 1908-ish. That is why I compared it to Monty Python, James Bond and the Matrix. Monty Python because of the silly almost surreal humor and surreal way the plot works. James Bond because the main character, who is almost a spy, agitates and infuriates his enemy at one point to get him to reveal something like Bond. And The Matrix because of a lot of discussions on philosophy and Christianity and such. You read "The Lion, the Witch & The Wardrobe" and you can feel that its 50 years old. With the exception of the language Chesterton feels fresh. That is what is remarkable.

Perhaps it's also because Tolkien and Lewis have been overly reviewed and
analysed within the past 40-50 years.
Have you ever read Chesterton's poem Lepanto?IMO one of the greatest
overlooked poems ever written.
Another greatly overlooked writer is Charles Williams.His novels are able to combine Christianity with a good dose of horror.

[bigsleepj]

Doh. I still have to read Lepanto.

Another greatly overlooked writer is Charles Williams.His novels are able to combine Christianity with a good dose of horror.

I've read 3 Charles Williams books. The first one I read was "Descent into Hell". I didn't like it. I know what he was aiming for I just felt he missed the mark.

The next one was "Different Dimensions" which I really liked. The best I've of his however was "War in Heaven" which was really scary and deep as well. I catch myself thinking about it often. Maybe I should read it again later.