Book Review: Tremendous Trifles

by: GK Chesterton

            I went in search of this book after reading a quote attributed to it – “A baby is the kingdom of God.”  (Thank you American Chesterton Society!).  I suspected if the rest of the book came anywhere near to as good as that small sample, it would be a most enjoyable read.  And it was.  In fact, I feel comfortable saying that this was probably one of the best books I’ve ever read and also one of the most unorthodox.  The dust jacket says that the essays contained in this book were the result of the author deciding to sit still, “letting marvels and adventures settle on him like flies,” and then writing about them.  

I’m not sure how to adequately describe what it was like reading this book.  It was like reading the diary of an elf or fairy or maybe even a hobbit.  It was like reading the writings of a small child only they had the writing ability of one of the 20^thcentury’s greatest English writers.  It was like how I picture books will read when written on the New Earth when we’ve all been resurrected and are carrying on with life in our new bodies in paradise.  There was something very ethereal, even supernatural about these essays.  Now, I am a big fan of GK Chesterton and have loved every word of his that I’ve read, but there was something very special about this collection of essays.  He really captured something that I wouldn’t have thought possible to capture.  It was very nearly the most perfect book I’ve ever read.