G. K. Chesterton: Where do I start?

[Eaquae Legit]

Caspian, I believe this is your topic.

[Dr. Mobius]

Most people would start by providing a link or summary or something so we know what the stck you're talking about.

[starlooker]

All I know is that Neil Gaiman refers to him constantly.

[Eaquae Legit]

I was talking to Caspian, and he'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm hoping Jan will get his attention when she sees this. I don't think he checks pweb often enough to notice a PM.

[Caspian]

Pleased to be of service.

[Sibyl]

Doesn't this belong in the book section? Or is that the place where new topics have to be started by a bookish mod?

Anyway, Chesterton is long enough ago that pretty much everything he wrote, in its original editions anyway, is out of copyright, and well enough known that most or all of it is in the form of e-books free from the web. With that in mind, you can start with one and if you don't care for it, quickly switch to a different one and haven't lost much.

http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/index.html

[starlooker]

I started reading Orthodoxy this morning.

I wish to heaven he were alive today. Not so much to hear what he'd say about contemporary religion as to hear what he'd have to say about contemporary psychology. I keep wondering what hash he'd make of Cognitive-Behavior therapy, not to mention Thomas Szasz and The Myth of Mental Illness. People today not only deny hell, but also Hanwell, I'm afraid.

So far, very enjoyable read.

[Eaquae Legit]

I'm ordering "The Collected Works" - Orthodoxy, Heretics, and the Blatchford Controversies. It should get here just in time for me to actually have reading time.

I'm really looking forward to this.

[Caspian]

Hooray!

[Rei]

Sadly, my poverty delays me. But I have a birthday coming up!

[Eaquae Legit]

I've started reading, and I'm really enjoying it. He has the same voice as Lewis - a voice I simply love to read, no matter what it's saying. Also, I laughed aloud at the "poached egg" bit at the end of the chapter "Maniacs." I had no idea Lewis borrowed the phrasing!

Anyway, I'm not far in, but it's very interesting so far. Zona, I get the impression that you'd be interested in Heretics as well, since it seems to be his reply to the pop philosophy and psychology of his day.

[Eaquae Legit]

Zona, I'm finding that I really wish he were around today. I'd love to see what he would say.

Reading, I find myself out of breath. For some reason, the voice I hear is speaking just a little too quickly, as if the thoughts are coming too fast for the mouth. It's not a sense of urgency, it's a sense of passion and excitement. It's very odd, I've never felt dragged along the rushing stream of words like this before.

[Eaquae Legit]

Well, I got sidelined a long while back on Orthodoxy, but I picked up "Favourite Father Brown Stories," and I loved them. It took a little while to get used to the constant presence of "Flambeau," who was never the same person. I suppose that was a convention of the time. Great little stories that require a surprising amount of brain.