Books

Books.

I have always enjoyed reading,  but have never put pen to paper -- or fingers to keyboard as the case may be --  in naming the books which have either most influenced me in my life up to this point or those which I have read over and over and over.

So, for the sake of having a post to post (it's been entirely too long since my last), I think I might try to make my list now!  This list of books will not include any of the books in the Bible, nor is it in any particular order:

1. Night, by Elie Wiesel
2. The Little House on the Prairie (series), by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
4. The Preaching Life,  by Barbara Brown Taylor
5. The Chronicles of Narnia (series),  by C.S. Lewis
6. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
7. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
8. Telling Secrets, by Frederick Buechner
9. The Courage to Be, by Paul Tillich : although I don't entirely agree with some of his thoughts in regard to existentialism, but that's another post.
10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
11. Guess How Much I Love You?, by Sam McBratney
12. The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13. The Once and Future King,  by T.H. White
14. The Cotton Patch Evidence, by Dallas Lee
15. Ben Hur, by Lew Wallace
16. The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas
17. Musashi,  by Eiji Yoshikawa
18. Loaves and Fishes, by Dorothy Day
19. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce
20. The Agony and the Ecstasy,  by Irving Stone
21. How (Not) To Speak of God, by Peter Rollins
22. The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut, by Mark Twain
23. Life Together,  by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
24. Leaving Church, by Barbara Brown Taylor
25. Harry Potter (series),  by J.K. Rowling
26. Return of the Prodigal Son, by Henri Nouwen
27. The Mitford Years (series),  by Jan Karon

Yep.  I realize that's a pretty strange list!  I'm also quite sure that I've inadvertantly left some rather important ones out...

The characters in these novels are my friends, these authors and theologians my heros (especially Bonhoeffer),  and these settings the worlds which I visit.  These books are conversation partners of mine in the deepest sense.

I wonder, would I be a different person if I hadn't traveled West in a covered wagon Laura Ingalls Wilder? Or if I hadn't witnessed the horror that is genocide with Elie Wiesel? Or if I hadn't pondered and wrestled with the idea of 'cheap grace' alongside Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

These books have indeed, affected me.

What books and which authors have affected you?

Comments

[Lorna]

yes it's been too long since your last post.

I loved that Guess How Much I Love You?, by Sam McBratney was on your list. I read this book to my Goddaughter before she died (age 7) and again at her funeral. It's powerful!

[gavin]

what no letters & sermons of john wesley? a horrible list indeed! &:~)

[denise]

looking forward to irresistible revolution making the list. :)

[Shottie]

amongst many others I could mention- the giver by lois lowry must grace the list.

[melissa]

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky would rank on that list for me, along with Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. On a lighter note, I also have to go with Tolkein's Lord of the Rings.

[rev mommy]

how about some Johnathon Edwards?

"CONCERNING these words, I would observe,

1. Who it is that is here spoken of, viz. the hypocrite; as you may see, If you take the two preceding verses with the verse of the text. "For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God bear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call up on God?" ...

Uh, maybe not.

[Wes Magruder]

Just wondering -- why did "Atlas Shrugged" make the list?

[Amanda Mae]

You inspire me.
An abbreviated list:
1.Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo
2.Bell Jar, The, by Sylvia Plath
3.Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk
4.Family Tree, by Carole Cadwalladr
5.Girl, Interrupted, by Susana Kaysen
6.Giver, The, by Lois Lowry
7.Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8.Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen
9.Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne
10.Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt
11.Separate Peace, A, by John Kowles
12.Shades of Simon Grey, by Joyce McDonald
13.Speak and Catalyst, by Laurie Halse Anderson
14.Importance of Being Earnest, The, by Oscar Wilde
15.Outsiders, The, by S.E. Hinton

[Natalie]

Amanda Mae!!!

I love 'A Seperate Peace'!! That's one of the ones which I forgot...