#georgemacdonald

llustration by Arthur Hughes for "The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald (1872).

Starting a new series of posts I’m going to call THE BOOKS THAT MADE ME, to share some of the books I read as a child and teen that had the biggest influence on me as a reader and writer. . Let’s take C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as a given — I won’t go into them here, because their influence is huge and there’s been plenty written about both. But less well known is an author who came before and strongly inspired both of them, GEORGE MACDONALD. . These four books pictured were a boxed set I received one Christmas as a child, and I’ve re-read all of them many times since. THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN and THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE especially were a big influence on my understanding of fantasy in general and Christian fantasy in particular, and while their style is flowery and old-fashioned, the characters are charming and the spiritual imagery in the books is fantastic. . Who could forget Irene’s magic thread, or the strange “doggy” Lina, or the old queen’s fire of burning roses? Not me, that’s for sure. But neither can I forget the hard lessons taught by the Wise Woman of THE LOST PRINCESS, or the airy fishes of THE GOLDEN KEY. . MacDonald had a phenomenal imagination, as well as a keen appreciation and respect for the value of women (in fact nearly all the spiritual mentors and Christ-like figures in his books are female, which was extraordinary for his time) that still resonates powerfully with me as a reader today. . If you haven’t read these books, I recommend them! . . . . . #bookstagram #bookish #BookRecommendations #books #reading #booksthatmademe #writinginspirations #rjandersonwriter #georgemacdonald #theprincessandthegoblin #theprincessandcurdie #thelostprincess #thegoldenkeyandothershortstories https://www.instagram.com/p/B9dSD7vAOO9/?igshid=9i8fezn18de4

#GeorgeMacDonald

#Repost @cavepublishing (@get_repost) ・・・ Tomorrow is the day, can you believe it?? 'The Light Princess," written by @finchmeredith1 and illustrated by @renaedeliz and @raydillon_art hits comic shop shelves tomorrow! We have been so excited to share this for so long, we hope you love it! 👸🌬️ • • • • • #cave #cavepicturespublishing #cpp #thelightprincess #fairytales #georgemacdonald #comics #newcomic #indie #indiepublisher #indiecomics https://www.instagram.com/p/BuXglz1BqIk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1dbr0znff1pzl

It's not often that I #bookstagram but I couldn't help but share this treasure I found at a library book sale. This is At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald, and it still has the library card in it with dates stamped on it going all the way back to the 60's, making this the oldest book we currently have in our collection. I've seen and held many older books since my mother was a huge fan of antique books and had several in her collection that were at least 200 years old, but I still consider a nearly 60-year-old book to be quite an accomplishment. Especially how good of condition it's in. This is definitely a treasure I'll enjoy for years to come. :) #book #books #oldbooks #antiquebooks #atthebackofthenorthwind #GeorgeMacdonald #ChildrensBooks #childrensclassics #classics

George MacDonald' 'The Princess and the Goblin illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith, 1920.

'At the Back of the North Wind' illustrated by Arthur Hughes, 1871.