The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

This is the third time I've read this book, but it's been about four years since I last read it, so I remembered very little of it, except that I loved it and thought it was hilarious. I still loved it and still thought it was clever and hilarious, but this time I understood much more, and loved it slightly less because C. S. Lewis is, at times, repulsively elitist and conservative. I can forgive him for the Christianity (I'm not religious and am not a fan of people who actively try to push their beliefs on people) because most of the ideas in this book have (for me) very little to do with being a good Christian and have to do with being a decent human being, and how we all regularly fail to do so. Lewis's ideas about the 'Lowerarchy' of devils, their training college, the way they are trying to adapt to tempting people in the modern world are all hilarious, sharply satirical and creative. The bafflement of the inhabitants of Hell about the idea of love is also great. The part where Screwtape becomes so enraged that he accidentally turns into a huge centipede did not fail to send me into fits of laughter. But some of Lewis's views (especially on sexuality) belong in the Middle Ages. Can anyone now (or in the 1940s when this was written) seriously entertain the idea that when any man and woman have sex, they are forging some transcendental union (whether they will or not)? Obviously, there's nothing about anything besides heterosexuality. Parts like that really irked me. Lewis's attacks on more 'modern' values and education reform seem really backward and narrow-minded to me. But of course, parts of the book are incredibly accurate, cutting, and hysterical social satire, and I really enjoyed it, but with reservations.