Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis

This is one of my favourite books ever, I last read it about three years ago, and it was as good as I remembered. It's such a perfect blend of fantasy, psychological reality and myth. It is (like much of Lewis's work) a Christian work, but for some reason, I find that really easy to ignore in Lewis's writing. A lot of the things that have to do with Christianity in his works for me just have to do with being a decent person, and here it's very interestingly intertwined with Greek philosophy. I do have to say that I find it very hard to take his earnestness about religion seriously, but that's because I can't understand it. I find something so emotionally touching in Lewis's language and his characters, I definitely cried at least once when reading this. The main character, Orual, is such a favourite, Lewis somehow manages to write with such a perfect combination of simplicity and psychological depth. The style reminds me a lot of The Chronicles of Narnia in parts, but philosophical and religious themes are more obvious, and it's more intellectually complex. Overall, I find this book more emotionally satisfying than intellectually or spiritually, which may not have been what Lewis intended, and some of the time the fantasy element isn't completely perfect, but I find it so touching and beautiful, it's really one of those books that I can't get over.