Monday

Letters to Children

You should also read C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia and the fiction of George MacDonald. MacDonald, however, is difficult to read. If you can only bear to read one thing, please read his story “The Golden Key.” It is a bizarre little story that will no doubt baffle you (it baffled me), but it has movement and meaning that I suspect will affect your heart and soul in ways you won't see.

Never, incidentally, presumptuously put away a piece of great fiction because you “don't get it” or the author seems to be wasting words–if you don't get it, that's fine; you might understand it some day, especially if you re-read it. If he is a great fiction writer, you need to come to his level, not he to yours, and even if you don't come to his level, the work might have a profound effect on you even if you don't see it or can't describe it.