Lewis's shorter works were generally originally composed as speeches or as articles for periodicals. Various sets of them were collected and published in book form both during his life and after his death. Trying to determine what works are in what collections is difficult - most works appear in more than one collection, some works appear under more than one title, and some collections appear under more than one title.

To aid readers, in this review I've listed the works in this collection, with notes indicating other collections they have appeared in. Where a work has appeared under more than one title, I give both titles separated by a slash.

Table of Contents:

Preface, by Walter Hooper (4)

"Christianity and Literature" (1), (2), (4)

"Christianity and Culture" (2), (4)

"Religion: Reality or Substitute" (2), (4)

"On Ethics" (2), (4)

"De Futilitate" (2), (4)

"The Poison of Subjectivism" (2), (4)

"The Funeral of a Great Myth" (2), (4)

"On Church Music" (2)

"Historicism" (2), (3), (4)

"The Psalms" (2), (4)

"The Language of Religion" (2), (4)

"Petitionary Prayer: A Problem Without an Answer" (2), (4)

"Fern-Seed and Elephants" / "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism" (2), (3), (4)

"The Seeing Eye" / "Onward Christian Spacemen" (2), (4)

Notes:

(1) also published in "Rehabilitations and Other Essays"

(2) also published in "Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces"

(3) also published in "Fern-Seed and Elephants and Other Essays"

(4) also published in "The Seeing Eye and Other Selected Essays from Christian Reflections"

Recommendations:

If you are interested in Lewis's shorter works, my best advice is to get "Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces", which, as of the time of this writing, is available from Amazon UK but not Amazon US. That collection consists of about 130 short works by Lewis. The works in that collection are mostly, but not exclusively, Christian.

If your interest in Lewis's shorter works is restricted to those on Christianity, and your budget or enthusiasm does not run to "Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces", then my second-best advice is to get any or all of the following (they don't overlap significantly, and between them they include most of Lewis's shorter Christian writings):

"God in the Dock - Essays on Theology and Ethics"*

"The World's Last Night and Other Essays"

"Christian Reflections"

"The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses"

* Be careful - there is a UK Fontana paperback lurking about called "God in the Dock - Essays on Theology" that is substantially shorter than the "God in the Dock - Essays on Theology and Ethics" collection. A full version of "God in the Dock - Essays on Theology and Ethics" was published in the UK under the title "Undeceptions - Essays on Theology and Ethics".

These fourteen essays (with an introduction by Walter Hooper) are about a variety of topics related to Christianity, but not necessarily ABOUT Christianity. My favorite of the bunch is "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism", a thumping rejoinder to those whose misapplication of form and redaction criticism (e.g. Bultmann or Schweitzer or Dibelius) to the gospels prevents them from making sound judgments about the life of Christ. His essay "Petitionary Prayer: A Problem Without an Answer" is brutally honest, ending as it does in a questioning uncertainty about the matter, while his essay "The Psalms" is helpful in guiding the reader to an understanding of how to view that portion of scripture. Some essays may strike one reader's fancy less than another's, but there is plenty here for most people to find AT LEAST one or two they greatly enjoy. I liked all of them and found most of them very helpful to my own reflections on life.

Just the essay on church music makes the book a worthy investment. It appears that Lewis was not a personal fan of much church music that he experienced. However, he saw the purpose of church music was to glorify God. His insight about true spirituality of the learned and unlearned church musician is priceless. Here he provides a challange for all to consider the essence of our spiritual music offered to God.

This book is a collection of letters written by C. S. Lewis to an American woman during the last 13 years of his life. I found it pretty dull reading at first. The book only contains Lewis' half of the conversation and most of the letters are pretty short or deal with trivial matters. But, for those who are interested in a more of a personal glimpse of Lewis there are some interesting insights offered: Like what he thought about what journalists have written about him in papers and magazines, his correspondence during the years of his marriage to Joy Davidman (and after her death), the heaviness of the load of correspondence he carried on with many people. Lewis appears to have seen letter writing as more of a duty than a pleasure. He often complained that the load of personal mail made his life miserable, especially at Christmastime. Yet he seems to have faithfully read and answered all those letters.

Toward the end of the book the letters get more lengthy and and interesting. I was particularly struck by Lewis' attitude toward dying. He was able to look forward to his eventual death with a genuine hope and longing for the better world beyond these "shadowlands" and he was able to encourage this lady along those lines through the problems they both had with aging and poor health. I hope such a mature attitude of faith will be mine also when my time comes. It is the hallmark of a life lived for the glory and love of God.

Of course CS Lewis has proven to be the most popular Christian author of the 20th century. And for good reason. He's articulate, well-reasoned, and he certainly has a way with words. This book gives an inside look at Lewis as he corresponds with an American woman whom he apparently never met. The letters were written between 1950 until he died in 1963. If you like reading other peoples' mail (what is it, esp. we Americans have, with such things?), then this can make for interesting reading. Much of what he says here, though, is pretty trivial and doesn't get very deep. But if you want a personal glimpse of Lewis, its probably worth the read.

I read this book when I was just a teenager and I still refer to it for its profound yet gentle encouragement and open-hearted sincerity. Beautiful book by a beautiful Christian man who lived and practiced his faith. His humility and sweet nature are very evident in the pages of this little book.

This book tells the life of one of the greatest storytellers of all time. It tells of his life in step-by-step review in easy wording for the average reader. I find this book extremely touching in many ways. One of these is how spiritually he was in his books. Each having a Christian theme to it. It also tells of his hard lfie in childhood which eventually led him to the Lord. This book recognizes his master pieces such as "The Chronicles of Narnia" and my all time favorite "Perelandra". It show the humble life this man lead and directed to his readers. This book gives a accurate description on his life. The only problem is the "choppyness" (gaps in his life, etc.). But other than that this book holds a spiritual and mental meaning for us all.