Hey, everybody! Welcome back to Tumnus’ Bookshelf where we review any and all books by and about CS Lewis and the land of Narnia. For today’s review we will be looking at Ruth James Cording’s “CS Lewis: A Celebration of His Early Life.”
Title: CS Lewis: A Celebration of his Early Life
Author: Ruth James Cording
Publisher: Broadman &Holman Publishers
ISBN10: 0805422005
ISBN13: 9780805422009
Summary:
In this quaint little gift book, Ruth James Cording takes a look at the childhood of CS Lewis. Featuring letters, journal entries from his parents and never-before seen photographs this keepsake gives a very exclusive look at Lewis early life that only a few can fully know and sets it even more in the context of the time period he grew up then most biographies.
Review:
If the old saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, then CS Lewis : A celebration of his early life is worth well over 7000 words as it features one of the richest collections of photographs of the early life of CS Lewis. It includes photos that are rarely and some that have never been seen by the public. You almost expect Liam Neeson to be narrating it as it feels so much like a well crafted documentary.
Some of the photos may seem a bit odd to modern readers, in particular ones of young Jack and Warnie in their christening gowns up until the age of eight. However that, along with everything else in the book helps set it in the context of the time. The narrative of the book does that just as well as we see a much more warm and intimate picture of Jack’s parents. To often modern biographies make his father look like some cold, cruel, unfeeling man who cared nothing about his boys. However in the early 19th century as opposed to the 20th century father’s didn’t show much emotion towards their boys, for him to do otherwise would be unseemly.
There are also rare excerpts from letters to and from jack’s parents and their journal entries. These detail everything from Flora and Alberts courtship, to holidays at the sea that Flora took Jack and Warnie on. We don’t only get to see the big points of Jack’s life like his mother’ death but something as small and meaningless as the happiness he felt as a young boy by the sea.
The later years of Jack’s life following his time in school are covered but only briefly. His conversion, his time at oxford, and his love affair with Joy have been dealt with many times in other biographies. The major point of this book is to look at Jack’s childhood. As this is a gift book, it is a short read, but that also makes it very intimate, but it is ultimately the pictures in this book that make it so worthwhile.
It should be noted that this book is now classified as a “rare book” and is hard to find, even on Amazon.com, Borders or Barnes & Noble .However a trip to a good second hand bookstore, or ordering it at Powells.com should allow interested readers to have a copy of this book for their collection.
4 ½ out of 5 shields