C. S. Lewis’ description of George MacDonald from his introduction to Phantastes:
His resignation to poverty was at the opposite pole from that of the stoic. He appears to have been a sunny, playful man, deeply appreciative of all really beautiful and delicious things that money can buy, and no less deeply content to do without them.
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Sol 01.01.12 at 19:18
I tried to read Phantastes (in the Project Gutenberg version) on my phone, and just slowly ground to a halt. I finally realized I was passing up a lot of good opportunities to read on my phone because I didn’t particularly want to read more of the MacDonald, and moved on to something else.
John 01.01.12 at 19:21
Lewis says in his introduction that the strength of the book is it’s events, not it’s prose. It’s probably easier to listen to than to read. I listened to a recording of it a few years ago, but I haven’t read it on paper.
Libravox has a free recording of it that I intend to try out.
Sol 01.02.12 at 21:56
It was definitely interesting; it just wasn’t in any way gripping.