My friend David Mills offers a suggested reading list for beginners reading the works of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton. Of the two, Mills writes: “These portly, homely, undramatic men are still the bookish Christian’s rock stars.”
There is, though, a problem, David asserts, for those who would wade in to the Lewis/Chesterton bodies of work:
Their new readers, having become fans, excitedly look up the lists of their books — and stop dead. There’s just too much to read, and too little time, and some of those books look like slow going. Chesterton wrote more than 100 books, Lewis more than 50, including the posthumous collections of essays, letters, and diaries.
David offers his suggestions for the books you should read for both men, and those you can afford to skip. I don’t agree with all of his suggestions (don’t skip Chesteron’s biography of Francis!), but I think it’s a helpful exercise with much guiding wisdom.