C.S. Lewis' classic book, The Screwtape Letters in Everyday English. Here is a before and after so that you can get a flavour of the rewording of the book: ORIGINAL: MY DEAR WORMWOOD, I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a Christian. Do not indulge the hope that you will escape the usual penalties; indeed, in your better moments, I trust you would hardly even wish to do so. In the meantime we must make the best of the situation. There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a I brief sojourn in the Enemy's camp and are now with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favour. EVERYDAY ENGLISH: My dear Wormwood, I must express my profound displeasure at the news of your patient's conversion to Christianity. Make no mistake; there will be repercussions for this oversight. However, all is not lost; we still have avenues to exploit to salvage the situation. Remember, many adults have dallied with Christianity only to return to our fold in due course. Your patient's habits, both mental and physical, still lean in our favour. When I first read Mere Christianity I was left wondering if the average North American reader would be able to follow along without having an English-to-'English' dictionary at their side. Even I had to Google the meaning of some of Lewis' 1940's colloquialisms. Lewis himself makes reference to the changes in language and word usage over time. This led me to reworking his book into Mere Christianity in Everyday English . Never did I expect such a positive response to my efforts. This success led me to tackle The Screwtape Letters which Lewis wrote the year prior to writing Mere Christianity . Since its initial release in December 2023, The Screwtape Letters in Everyday English is presently ranked as the "No. 2 most gifted" book in the category of Religious Ethics on Amazon. Endeavouring to 'make a good thing better', I have further revised and updated the book's content in this 2024 edition to make it even more readable - especially for the younger audience. I made a conscious decision to sacrifice Lewis' penchant for composing extraordinarily long paragraphs, some of which spanned more than a page-and-a-half, in favour of prioritizing readability. Clive Staples Lewis was a Professor of English at Oxford University and authored many famous novels, including The Chronicles of Narnia and The Problem of Pain . The most recent estimate for sales of his books is in excess of 200 million copies.
ThriftBooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. We personally assess every book's quality and offer rare, out-of-print treasures. We deliver the joy of reading in recyclable packaging with free standard shipping on US orders over $15. ThriftBooks.com. Read more. Spend less.