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When I was a college girl, I had tea nearly every day with Elisabeth Elliot. That's funny, really, because I've never actually met her. But, in a kind of reverse adoption, I took Mrs. Gren (her real name) as my personal mentor in Christ. I read her books, her essays, her autobiographies for years. I came to feel that I knew her, and (I hope), my heart and life were influenced by her gracious example.
My brother-in-law, Brian, has had a similar experience with C.S. Lewis. He adores Lewis and can quote many of his books just from the sheer love of reading him over and over again. Lewis has, for him, done what Elisabeth Elliot has done for me - he has helped Brian see Christ more clearly and encouraged him to love Christ more. Isn't that why believers write books for other believers, anyway? They are using their gifts for the glory of God and for the good of His church - really one in the same thing.
I haven't adopted an author-mentor in quite a while. I think it's time :) Having been so intrigued by Brian's love for Lewis, and having just begun to read through the Chronicles of Narnia (for the first time!!) with my children, I've decided C.S. Lewis is the natural choice. I have no idea how many of his books I'll be able to read in 2009, but I've posted a chronological reference list below to keep me moving along. I hope to start with Pilgrim's Regress soon (I borrowed it from Brian today).
If you've never adopted an author-mentor, maybe this year would be a good time to begin. Who can tell how the Lord may use that one man or that one woman to deeply impact your life and spur you on in your love for the Lord and His people this year?
May you be blessed as you draw nearer to our Lord God.
C.S. Lewis Chronological Reference List (compiled from Wikipedia)
The Pilgrim's Regress (1933)
The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition (1936)
Out of the Silent Planet (1938)
Rehabilitations and other essays (1939) — with two essays not included in Essay Collection (2000)
Collected Letters, Vol. I: Family Letters 1905 – 1931 (2000)
The Personal Heresy: A Controversy (with E. M. W. Tillyard, 1939)
The Problem of Pain (1940)
A Preface to Paradise Lost (1942)
The Screwtape Letters (1942)
The Abolition of Man (1943)
Perelandra (aka Voyage to Venus) (1943)
Beyond Personality (1944)
The Great Divorce (1945)
That Hideous Strength (1946)
Collected Letters, Vol. II: Books, Broadcasts and War 1931 – 1949 (2004)
Miracles: A Preliminary Study (1947, revised 1960)
George MacDonald: An Anthology (editor, 1947)
Essays Presented to Charles Williams (editor, 1947)
Arthurian Torso (1948; on Charles Williams's poetry)
Collected Letters, Vol. III: Narnia, Cambridge and Joy 1950 – 1963 (2007)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
Prince Caspian (1951)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
Mere Christianity (1952; based on radio talks of 1941 – 1944)
The Silver Chair (1953)
The Horse and His Boy (1954)
English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama (1954); 1975 reprint ISBN 0198812981;
Major British Writers, Vol I (1954), Contribution on Edmund Spenser
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (1955; autobiography)
The Magician's Nephew (1955)
The Last Battle (1956)
Till We Have Faces (1956)
Reflections on the Psalms (1958)
The Four Loves (1960)
Studies in Words (1960)
An Experiment in Criticism (1961)
Screwtape Proposes a Toast (1961) (an addition to The Screwtape Letters)
A Grief Observed (1961; first published under the pseudonym «N. W. Clerk»)
They Asked for a Paper: Papers and Addresses(1962)
Selections from Layamon's Brut (ed. G L Brook, 1963 Oxford University Press) introduction
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (1964)
The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (1964)
Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (1966) — not included in Essay Collection (2000)
Spenser's Images of Life (ed. Alastair Fowler, 1967)
Letters to an American Lady (1967)
Christian Reflections (1967; essays and papers)
Selected Literary Essays (1969) — not included in Essay Collection (2000)
God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics (1970), = Undeceptions (1971) — all included in Essay Collection (2000)
The Dark Tower (1977)
Of Other Worlds (1982; essays) — with one essay not included in Essay Collection
Present Concerns (1986; essays)
All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C. S. Lewis 1922 – 27 (1993)
Additional References:
Essay Collection: Literature, Philosophy and Short Stories (2000)
Essay Collection: Faith, Christianity and the Church (2000)
The Business Of Heaven:Daily Readings From C. S. Lewis ed. Walter Hooper, 1984, Harvest Book, Harcourt, Inc.
Boxen: The Imaginary World of the Young C. S. Lewis (ed. Walter Hooper, 1985)
Spirits in Bondage (1919; published under pseudonym Clive Hamilton)
Dymer (1926; published under pseudonym Clive Hamilton)
Narrative Poems (ed. Walter Hooper, 1969; includes Dymer)
The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis (ed. Walter Hooper, 1994; includes Spirits in Bondage)
