Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
16 journalers for this copy...
Offering as a bookring. Just completed reading for a group at church.
Read twice within a two month span. I do not read much literature, so the style of this read was really different for me. I must say that I really enjoyed the story of jealousy, love, and self-deception. Till We Have Faces will be a book I remember for a long while.
Mailed on 2/15/06
1. Maharaja journalled
2. tkdtina journalled
3. cnfotp journalled
4. yogie journalled
5. Miss-Owl journalled
6. Kaleidoblikk journalled
7. PinkManager Greece asked to be skipped at this time.
8. Glade1 USA journalled
9. chich France journalled
10. gomboggit USA journalled
11. ilovethehutch asked to be skipped
12. Thursday5 USA journalled
13. azuki USA journalled
and back to me.
2/28/06 received in the post today. RETURN TO SENDER! Not sure why. Pm'ed Maharaja to confirm her address.
Another successful bookring. Thanks to all who participated.
Read twice within a two month span. I do not read much literature, so the style of this read was really different for me. I must say that I really enjoyed the story of jealousy, love, and self-deception. Till We Have Faces will be a book I remember for a long while.
Mailed on 2/15/06
1. Maharaja journalled
2. tkdtina journalled
3. cnfotp journalled
4. yogie journalled
5. Miss-Owl journalled
6. Kaleidoblikk journalled
7. PinkManager Greece asked to be skipped at this time.
8. Glade1 USA journalled
9. chich France journalled
10. gomboggit USA journalled
11. ilovethehutch asked to be skipped
12. Thursday5 USA journalled
13. azuki USA journalled
and back to me.
2/28/06 received in the post today. RETURN TO SENDER! Not sure why. Pm'ed Maharaja to confirm her address.
Another successful bookring. Thanks to all who participated.
Just got it in the mail and I'm in the process of reading it. like it a lot so far.
I really enjoyed reading this book because it got me so caught up in the characters. It also really made me think and in the days since I finished it I have spent a lot of time reflecting on myself and my relation to the main character. I like when a book can make me do that.
I just sent the book off to tkdtina today. Enjoy!
I just sent the book off to tkdtina today. Enjoy!
Received today and will probably start reading it this afternoon!
I really enjoyed this book. My favorite line was within the first few pages, my daughter and I had a good laugh. The mean king has just bought an older Greek man and this is the exchange:
"'Now, Greekling,' said my father to this man, 'I trust to beget a prince one of these days and I have a mind to see him brought up in all the wisdom of your people. Meanwhile practice on them.' (He pointed at us children.) 'If a man can teach a girl, he can teach anything.'"
Oh my, I laughed so hard! Being a homeschool mother to three boys...well... comparing them to my 17yo girl who breezes thru the schoolwork...HA!
Now I am off to read the original story this was adapted from - Metamorphoses. If anyone in this ring is interested in reading it after they finish Till We Have Faces, just PM me!
I have PMed cnfotp and will mail as soon as I receive her address.
Mailed - 3/27/06
"'Now, Greekling,' said my father to this man, 'I trust to beget a prince one of these days and I have a mind to see him brought up in all the wisdom of your people. Meanwhile practice on them.' (He pointed at us children.) 'If a man can teach a girl, he can teach anything.'"
Oh my, I laughed so hard! Being a homeschool mother to three boys...well... comparing them to my 17yo girl who breezes thru the schoolwork...HA!
Now I am off to read the original story this was adapted from - Metamorphoses. If anyone in this ring is interested in reading it after they finish Till We Have Faces, just PM me!
I have PMed cnfotp and will mail as soon as I receive her address.
Mailed - 3/27/06
Arrived today, a little tired from its long journey but otherwise fine :) I've been looking forward to this so much and I'll start on it straight away.
What a beautiful book - I really enjoyed this retelling of this myth. I was drawn into the story and taken by the characters immediately and found the notes referring to Metamorphasis at the back very helpful for filling the gaps in my memory of the original tale.
I am pming for yogie's address now and will journal again when the book is moving.
I am pming for yogie's address now and will journal again when the book is moving.
In the post today :)
~~safe travelling little book~~
~~safe travelling little book~~
Recieved in the mail today. Thanks for letting me participate!
Will read as soon as I've finished the book I'm currently reading.
Will read as soon as I've finished the book I'm currently reading.
I have just finished reading this book and I thought it was great! C.S. Lewis has a language that is not very common anymore. It has the same feeling about it as Tolkien and other, a bit older, fantasy authors. It's more romantic and poetic.
I really liked this one. For once, the main character is ugly. You get people that are plain looking or, "not that good looking" but not pure ugly. Although, I don't think she was really that ugly, but compared to Psyche, most people would have been boring looking according to the descriptions of her. Anyways, back to the story. It was really interesting the way Lewis took a myth and retold it in a totally different way. In one way I thought it was quite modern, especially when Orual told her story about the meeting with Psyche in the mountain. That Orual couldn't see all Psyche could see, and then the Fox telling Orual that Psyche was probably delusional felt very modern. If someone came back from a trip and told a person that she's married to a god and whatnot, the person would definitely be declared delusional.
Great book! Thanks for the opportunity to read this one. Can't wait to read Metamorphoses now. I love old greek myths.
I have already PMed Miss-Owl for her address, and will send off as soon as I get it!
Edited 12/6/06: On the way to Miss-Owl. Will probably take a few days to get there since this book is now travelling halfway around the world! :)
I really liked this one. For once, the main character is ugly. You get people that are plain looking or, "not that good looking" but not pure ugly. Although, I don't think she was really that ugly, but compared to Psyche, most people would have been boring looking according to the descriptions of her. Anyways, back to the story. It was really interesting the way Lewis took a myth and retold it in a totally different way. In one way I thought it was quite modern, especially when Orual told her story about the meeting with Psyche in the mountain. That Orual couldn't see all Psyche could see, and then the Fox telling Orual that Psyche was probably delusional felt very modern. If someone came back from a trip and told a person that she's married to a god and whatnot, the person would definitely be declared delusional.
Great book! Thanks for the opportunity to read this one. Can't wait to read Metamorphoses now. I love old greek myths.
I have already PMed Miss-Owl for her address, and will send off as soon as I get it!
Edited 12/6/06: On the way to Miss-Owl. Will probably take a few days to get there since this book is now travelling halfway around the world! :)
Arrived! Book has travelled "halfway around the world" & is safe with me :)
Thanks for sending all that way, yogie, & for initiating, spaceystacey. Have a bookring or so ahead of it (who doesn't?!) but am looking forward to getting into CS Lewis's inimitable prose & will have it moving again soon.
Thanks for sending all that way, yogie, & for initiating, spaceystacey. Have a bookring or so ahead of it (who doesn't?!) but am looking forward to getting into CS Lewis's inimitable prose & will have it moving again soon.
Wow.
Now, I know this is not an especially profound comment but this book blew me away. Lewis's blending of the mythical, the spiritual & the psychological is nothing short of compelling. Orual is invested with all the self-serving, self-delusional and self-thwarting qualities that I could wish for in an unreliable narrator - all the qualities, in short, that give her so much pathos, make her so human and thus so easy to empathise with.
I don't want to read too much for several more days now - just to let this book's mythic power resonate a bit more. :)
Sent on its way 11/7/06
Now, I know this is not an especially profound comment but this book blew me away. Lewis's blending of the mythical, the spiritual & the psychological is nothing short of compelling. Orual is invested with all the self-serving, self-delusional and self-thwarting qualities that I could wish for in an unreliable narrator - all the qualities, in short, that give her so much pathos, make her so human and thus so easy to empathise with.
I don't want to read too much for several more days now - just to let this book's mythic power resonate a bit more. :)
Sent on its way 11/7/06
Recieved the book in the mail today & I am really looking foreward to read it! Thanx for letting me join this ring!!
Sorry for keeping this book for so long . . . I will enclose some sweets for the rest of the participants when I send it, just as a smile to thank you all for your patience.
This book did not turn out to be of my kind. We really never got along. I grew up with Narnia, so I feel somewhat dissapointed that there is something written by C.S. Lewis that I just don't adore... And it is not C.S. Lewis I am dissapointed of, it is me for not being able (at the time being) for truly letting his art of words grow inside of me.
(PinkManager has asked to be skipped, I will therefore send it to Glade1 tomorrow!)
This book did not turn out to be of my kind. We really never got along. I grew up with Narnia, so I feel somewhat dissapointed that there is something written by C.S. Lewis that I just don't adore... And it is not C.S. Lewis I am dissapointed of, it is me for not being able (at the time being) for truly letting his art of words grow inside of me.
(PinkManager has asked to be skipped, I will therefore send it to Glade1 tomorrow!)
Received in the mail today. I've had a flood of bookring books arrive in the last few days. I'll read as quickly as I can!
I really liked this one. After kaleidoblikk's note to me ("hope you'll enjoy this book more than I did"), I feared I would not find it to be good. But I eagerly turned pages to see what would happen next. Although I did brush up on the legend of Cupid and Psyche before reading Till We Have Faces, Lewis added so much and changed so much and used such a different perspective that I had no idea what would happen. Lewis's writing is beautiful and he brings up a lot of points and questions very eloquently. A few of my favorite passages:
And there you can see how little difference there is between dying and being married. To leave your home--to lose you, Maia, and the Fox--to lose one's maidenhead--to bear a child--they are all deaths.
The freshness and wetness all about me (I had seen nothing but drought and withered things for many months before my sickness) made me feel that I had misjudged the world; it seemed kind, and laughing, as if its heart also danced. Even my ugliness I could not quite believe in. Who can feel ugly when the heart meets delight? It is as if, somewhere inside, within the hideous face and bony limbs, one is soft, fresh, lissom and desirable.
Either way, there's divine mockery in it. They set the riddle and then allow a seeming that can't be tested and can only quicken and thicken the tormenting whirlpool of your guess-work. If they had an honest intention to guide us, why is their guidance not plain? Psyche could speak plain when she was three; do you tell me the gods have not yet come so far?
This is where men, even the trustiest, fail us. Their heart is never so wholly given to any matter but that some trifle of a meal, or a drink, or a sleep, or a joke, or a girl, may come in between them and it, and then (even if you are a queen) you'll get no more good out of them till they've had their way. In those days I had not yet undersood this.
I say the gods deal very unrightly with us. For they will neither (which would be best of all) go away and leave us to live our own short days to ourselves, nor will they show themselves openly and tell us what they would have us do. For that too would be endurable. But to hint and hover, to draw near us in dreams and oracles, or in a waking vision that vanishes as soon as it is seen, to be dead silent when we question them and then glide back and whisper (words we cannot understand) in our ears when we most wish to be free of them, and to show to one what they hide from another; what is all this but cat-and-mouse play, blindman's bluff, and mere jugglery? Why must holy places be dark places?
No man will love you, though you gave your life for him, unless you have a pretty face. So (might it not be?), the gods will not love you (however you try to pleasure them, and whatever you suffer), unless you hae that beauty of soul. In either race, for the love of men or the love of a god, the winners and losers are marked from birth. We bring our ugliness, in both kinds, with us into the world, with it our destiny. How bitter this was, every ill-favoured woman will know. We have all had our dream of some other land, some other world, some other way of giving the prizes which would bring us in as the conquerors; leave the smooth, rounded limbs, and the little pink and white faces, and the hair like burnished gold, far behind; their day ended, and ours come.
That's a lot, I know, but there was so much eloquence in the book that I couldn't resist marking passages. Lewis sometimes really homed in on a woman's perspective.
I have PMed spaceystacy about the shipping order and wait to hear from her before I contact the next person. Thank you very much, Stacy, for sharing this book with us.
BTW, I would keep all the chocolate for myself if Kaleidoblikk had not mentioned it in the JE. Now I am forced to share :)
And there you can see how little difference there is between dying and being married. To leave your home--to lose you, Maia, and the Fox--to lose one's maidenhead--to bear a child--they are all deaths.
The freshness and wetness all about me (I had seen nothing but drought and withered things for many months before my sickness) made me feel that I had misjudged the world; it seemed kind, and laughing, as if its heart also danced. Even my ugliness I could not quite believe in. Who can feel ugly when the heart meets delight? It is as if, somewhere inside, within the hideous face and bony limbs, one is soft, fresh, lissom and desirable.
Either way, there's divine mockery in it. They set the riddle and then allow a seeming that can't be tested and can only quicken and thicken the tormenting whirlpool of your guess-work. If they had an honest intention to guide us, why is their guidance not plain? Psyche could speak plain when she was three; do you tell me the gods have not yet come so far?
This is where men, even the trustiest, fail us. Their heart is never so wholly given to any matter but that some trifle of a meal, or a drink, or a sleep, or a joke, or a girl, may come in between them and it, and then (even if you are a queen) you'll get no more good out of them till they've had their way. In those days I had not yet undersood this.
I say the gods deal very unrightly with us. For they will neither (which would be best of all) go away and leave us to live our own short days to ourselves, nor will they show themselves openly and tell us what they would have us do. For that too would be endurable. But to hint and hover, to draw near us in dreams and oracles, or in a waking vision that vanishes as soon as it is seen, to be dead silent when we question them and then glide back and whisper (words we cannot understand) in our ears when we most wish to be free of them, and to show to one what they hide from another; what is all this but cat-and-mouse play, blindman's bluff, and mere jugglery? Why must holy places be dark places?
No man will love you, though you gave your life for him, unless you have a pretty face. So (might it not be?), the gods will not love you (however you try to pleasure them, and whatever you suffer), unless you hae that beauty of soul. In either race, for the love of men or the love of a god, the winners and losers are marked from birth. We bring our ugliness, in both kinds, with us into the world, with it our destiny. How bitter this was, every ill-favoured woman will know. We have all had our dream of some other land, some other world, some other way of giving the prizes which would bring us in as the conquerors; leave the smooth, rounded limbs, and the little pink and white faces, and the hair like burnished gold, far behind; their day ended, and ours come.
That's a lot, I know, but there was so much eloquence in the book that I couldn't resist marking passages. Lewis sometimes really homed in on a woman's perspective.
I have PMed spaceystacy about the shipping order and wait to hear from her before I contact the next person. Thank you very much, Stacy, for sharing this book with us.
BTW, I would keep all the chocolate for myself if Kaleidoblikk had not mentioned it in the JE. Now I am forced to share :)
Mailed to chich in France via surface mail on 1-13-07.
Journal Entry 18 by chich from Ibiza - Sant Antoni de Portmany, Illes Balears/Islas Baleares Spain on Monday, March 5, 2007
Book received today, thanks a lot Glade1!Thanks so much for the chocolate Kaleidoblikk, it was a very nice addition to my afternoon tea:-))
I'll finish the book I'm reading right now and will get right on to this one.
Journal Entry 19 by chich from Ibiza - Sant Antoni de Portmany, Illes Balears/Islas Baleares Spain on Monday, March 12, 2007
Hmmm... I made a journal entry here this morning but it looks like it somehow got lost in cyberspace;)
What can I say about this book? I tried reading it last week but just couldn't get into it and put it now. Then I took a look at the entries here and thought that since most of the previous readers had found the book really good, I should give it another try... Well, I just couldn't go through with it and didn't go past the first 50 pages. It looks like I'm definitely not in the mood to read this book right now so I'll pass it on to gomboggit right away (I already have her address).
Thanks for sharing spaceystacey!
What can I say about this book? I tried reading it last week but just couldn't get into it and put it now. Then I took a look at the entries here and thought that since most of the previous readers had found the book really good, I should give it another try... Well, I just couldn't go through with it and didn't go past the first 50 pages. It looks like I'm definitely not in the mood to read this book right now so I'll pass it on to gomboggit right away (I already have her address).
Thanks for sharing spaceystacey!
This came in the mail today. I will begin reading ASAP.
By the way, Kaleidoblikk, thank you for the chocolate. I love the picture on the wrapper. It looks like it must be from some old folk tale, so I am going to have fun going through my books of folk and fairy tales trying to figure out which one it is!
By the way, Kaleidoblikk, thank you for the chocolate. I love the picture on the wrapper. It looks like it must be from some old folk tale, so I am going to have fun going through my books of folk and fairy tales trying to figure out which one it is!
I am very ashamed and embarrassed. I have never lost someone else's book, but just two days after receiving this in the mail, this book and another one in my permanent collection was lost. It was sitting on my couch one night and it just disappeared! I have searched the house, looked under furniture, searched everywhere in town that I had been to and still could not find it. I have lost a lot of sleep over wondering where this book went. I feel so bad.
Anyway, I purchased another copy, and I have added a label with the same BCID and will send it on its way, and if and when the other copy resurfaces, I will mail it back to spaceystacey to do with as she wishes. I am so sorry that this happened.
I just finished reading this. I thought it was very interesting, but I thought it would be more about Cupid and Psyche. It was more about Orual and her personal growth.
I will PM ilovethehutch and get it moving ASAP. Thanks for including me, spaceystacey.
Anyway, I purchased another copy, and I have added a label with the same BCID and will send it on its way, and if and when the other copy resurfaces, I will mail it back to spaceystacey to do with as she wishes. I am so sorry that this happened.
I just finished reading this. I thought it was very interesting, but I thought it would be more about Cupid and Psyche. It was more about Orual and her personal growth.
I will PM ilovethehutch and get it moving ASAP. Thanks for including me, spaceystacey.
ilovethehutch asked to be skipped, I have PMed azuki and am awaiting reply.
Azuki has asked to be switched with Thursday5 and I am awaiting Thursday5's address, then I will get this going.
Azuki has asked to be switched with Thursday5 and I am awaiting Thursday5's address, then I will get this going.
This book came in the mail today-with some chocolate! Thanks so much!
It was 90 degrees F today (32 C) so I put the liquid chocolate in the refrigerator. I hope this doesn't ruin it.
I have always been a C.S. Lewis fan so I am interested in what this book is like.
I am almost finished with the book I am reading so this one will be next up.
Edit:
I ate the chocolate after it hardened and It was WONDERFUL. You have to understand that I LOVE European chocolate. I practically refuse to eat American chocolate but everytime we travel to Europe the first day I'm there I find a shop where I can buy chocolate. My theory is that the milk is different because the grass is different, but my husband thinks that it is the amount and quality of the coccoa buter that gives it its unique quality.
It was 90 degrees F today (32 C) so I put the liquid chocolate in the refrigerator. I hope this doesn't ruin it.
I have always been a C.S. Lewis fan so I am interested in what this book is like.
I am almost finished with the book I am reading so this one will be next up.
Edit:
I ate the chocolate after it hardened and It was WONDERFUL. You have to understand that I LOVE European chocolate. I practically refuse to eat American chocolate but everytime we travel to Europe the first day I'm there I find a shop where I can buy chocolate. My theory is that the milk is different because the grass is different, but my husband thinks that it is the amount and quality of the coccoa buter that gives it its unique quality.
Finished the book last night. Interesting retelling of the myth. He does seem to understand human nature very well. I do wonder though if CS Lewis put 20th century thought into these ancient characters. I was interested in how several times he said that "the balloon blows up big just before it is going to be burst-meaning that right before things get really bad things seem almost too good. That has been my experience in life. Perhaps it is just be the contrast, but I remember one time when my whole family was at my house for the Christmas holidays and I remember taking time out and sitting on the steps thinking, "this is almost too good to be true." and sure enough disaster struck not too long after that. Ever since then, when things are really really good I have been suspicious. Anyway, I suspect that this will be one of those books that will roll around in my mind for awhile.
I'll send azuki a PM.
I'll send azuki a PM.
I received the book, thanks. But where is the chocolate??
You meant by swapping position I missed out on the chocolate? wahhh!!! (naturally, I have to go get some chocolate to comfort myself.)
I have 3 rings ahead of this but will read it soon.
Thanks for the cute bookmark too. It *almost* make up for the chocolate. : )
ETA: Aug 2, 2007
I am adding this to my original entry. As there are now two books with the same BCID, and the original book is with stacey now, I don't want a new entry from me to mess up the status of the book. The replacement copy has been re-registered (BCID XXX-5340987).
I couldn't help subtitling this book "The Confession of the Ugly Half Sister", though without doubt this is a much more accomplished work. I don't really like part 2 of the story though - I would have liked the story to end at around Part 1, though Part 2 explores the author's idea in a deeper level.
Thanks Kaleidoblikk for the chocolate.
You meant by swapping position I missed out on the chocolate? wahhh!!! (naturally, I have to go get some chocolate to comfort myself.)
I have 3 rings ahead of this but will read it soon.
Thanks for the cute bookmark too. It *almost* make up for the chocolate. : )
ETA: Aug 2, 2007
I am adding this to my original entry. As there are now two books with the same BCID, and the original book is with stacey now, I don't want a new entry from me to mess up the status of the book. The replacement copy has been re-registered (BCID XXX-5340987).
I couldn't help subtitling this book "The Confession of the Ugly Half Sister", though without doubt this is a much more accomplished work. I don't really like part 2 of the story though - I would have liked the story to end at around Part 1, though Part 2 explores the author's idea in a deeper level.
Thanks Kaleidoblikk for the chocolate.
Sending chocolate to Azuki today. I can't believe I forgot to include it with the book! I had put it on my shelf of available books so I wouldn't forget about it...
There is a piece for Azuki and one for Spaceystacey.
There is a piece for Azuki and one for Spaceystacey.
HALLELUJAH!!!! The original copy has been found! Believe it or not, my couch ate it! I had to turn my couch upside down and cut the underlining and I found that and two other books that had gone missing. I am feeling so much relief today. The mystery of the missing books, gas bill, and remote control have been solved! I will PM Spaceystacey for her address and get this original copy mailed. Woohoo!
Thank you for a successful bookring. I am thrilled to have the book returned to me. I have had my couch eat some books as well.
07/02/2008 out on its journey again. This time starting in California. Enjoy
order of the ring.
1. LittleWhiteBird journalled
2. CollegeLady journalled
3. Kiri journalled
4. GateGypsy January 2014 has the read.
5. jsmeltser IOWA
6. bsliv1219 Ohio
7. eva4eva germany 8. back to me
07/02/2008 out on its journey again. This time starting in California. Enjoy
order of the ring.
1. LittleWhiteBird journalled
2. CollegeLady journalled
3. Kiri journalled
4. GateGypsy January 2014 has the read.
5. jsmeltser IOWA
6. bsliv1219 Ohio
7. eva4eva germany 8. back to me
I picked the book up from my P.O. box today. I've already started reading it.
What an interesting story. I really like how it is told from the perspective of the "ugly" sister.
I'm sending the book to CollegeLady tomorrow.
I'm sending the book to CollegeLady tomorrow.
Just arrived today. I have two books to finish before I can start this one but will get it out asap.
Sent to Kiri on 8/28/08. Tracking number: 9102805213907566667797
3 March 09 - Finished and on up to GateGypsy with the next mailing. =)
What a well-travelled book!
I'm a little surprised to get this: I love to read CS Lewis, but have no recollection at all of signing up for a bookring. Perhaps it's just the mommy-brain hormones that have made me forget? The good news is that I'll be able to get to this fairly quickly, as I just recently moved and therefore have nearly no books to read haha.
I'm a little surprised to get this: I love to read CS Lewis, but have no recollection at all of signing up for a bookring. Perhaps it's just the mommy-brain hormones that have made me forget? The good news is that I'll be able to get to this fairly quickly, as I just recently moved and therefore have nearly no books to read haha.
