Every story, yes, even a penny dreadful or a cheap novelette, has something in it that belongs to our universe and not theirs. Every short story does truly begin with creation and end with a last judgment - G.K. Chesterton
Excellent. Buchan is great fun adventure. Early WWI spy stuff (Hannay series) and he’s got tons of other books in adventure category. Excellent for teen boys too.
I really enjoyed reading this, thank you. I home school my kids and we do a lot of literature based curriculum. I’m currently reading Bullfinch’s mythology.
Blood Meridian is probably the best of his books that I've read so far, but it's pretty heavy. No Country for Old Men is also amazing and not quite as dark, and there's a pretty good movie version to watch after! I started with The Road, but I don't recommend starting there—I think of it more as a conclusion to McCarthy's worldview.
Some people whose opinions I respect say that the borderlands trilogy (the first book is All the Pretty Horses) and Suttree are some of his best works to start with, but I haven't read them yet. Hoping to read the trilogy this year.
This is an absolutely wonderful read. It actually ties in quite closely with a lot of writing I've read from Carl Jung - who shared this view on mythology being a fundamental part of the human psyche (and, by extension, the human soul too)
So I agree with you wholeheartedly with the importance of stories too. And love the way you weave this article so intricately through so many different reference points.
I’m a little late to this post (which is excellent by the way) and I’ll answer question about favorite works of fiction:
- the count of Monte Cristo (dumas)
- the ransom trilogy (CS Lewis)
- the Richard Hannay series by John buchan (the 39 steps, mr standfast, etc)
Haha not too late, and thank you for the kind words. I’ve never heard of that last series u mentioned, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
Excellent. Buchan is great fun adventure. Early WWI spy stuff (Hannay series) and he’s got tons of other books in adventure category. Excellent for teen boys too.
Sounds awesome.
Les Mis has to be my favorite work of fiction.
Haven't given it a shot yet. It is sitting on my shelf. What's good about it?
I really enjoyed reading this, thank you. I home school my kids and we do a lot of literature based curriculum. I’m currently reading Bullfinch’s mythology.
Thank you!
Just finished rereading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader—it was even better than I remembered as a kid.
Some of my favorite fiction at the moment is anything by Cormac McCarthy.
Haven’t read any Cormac McCarthy, what would you recommend? I’ve been going through the short stories of George MacDonald, those have been excellent.
Blood Meridian is probably the best of his books that I've read so far, but it's pretty heavy. No Country for Old Men is also amazing and not quite as dark, and there's a pretty good movie version to watch after! I started with The Road, but I don't recommend starting there—I think of it more as a conclusion to McCarthy's worldview.
Some people whose opinions I respect say that the borderlands trilogy (the first book is All the Pretty Horses) and Suttree are some of his best works to start with, but I haven't read them yet. Hoping to read the trilogy this year.
I've never read any George MacDonald!
This is an absolutely wonderful read. It actually ties in quite closely with a lot of writing I've read from Carl Jung - who shared this view on mythology being a fundamental part of the human psyche (and, by extension, the human soul too)
So I agree with you wholeheartedly with the importance of stories too. And love the way you weave this article so intricately through so many different reference points.
Amazing work.
Thanks again, I have yet to read any Jung, but have heard a lot of people reference his thinking with some of this stuff