In the last year or so I've read very little fiction (though I miss it). Most of what I've read, outside of school, has actually been C.S. Lewis. I just love his writing, his sensibility, and his talent for making difficult problems clear and pithy. Among the best are: the first book of Mere Christianity, Surprised by Joy, and The Four Loves (though I did also read his fiction; Till We Have Faces is amazing).
One of the most interesting things, however, was his collected letters. You really get to know him, and he was an even more interesting person than his philosophical writing suggests. But anyway, I was thinking of this quote, but I forgot to whom he wrote it or under what circumstances:
"When we pray, it seems ridiculous that we would ever have more things to ask for than to be thankful for. But I think we tend to prefer prayers that ask for thing after thing after thing -- forgetting the vast number of prayers that have been answered" (or something to that effect).
Compare with Thomas à Kempis in The Imitation of Christ:
"Looking at this world, the good man always has something to be sorrowful about."
Hmmm... I think they both have a point.
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