If reading is a journey of discovery, most readers can point to landmarks along the way. Whether it’s a matter of prose, conceptual lucidity, memorable characters, or just good timing, these books (fiction and non) embed themselves in our psyche and inevitably serve as signposts to our reading experience. These are the books you keep going back to — if not in thought, in actual re-reading — the ones you tend to judge other books by.
Below is ten of mine. I’m not necessarily saying these are my favorites, nor are they the best in their field. They’ve just had more lasting impact on my ideas, outlook, and emotions, than others. (I’ve purposely omitted the Bible because, hey, every believer is supposed to list it.)
The Pursuit of God — A.W. Tozer’s fiery devotional classic. As much a rebuke against stale orthodoxy as a passionate call to eschew comfortable Christianity. The chapter entitled “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing” should be required reading for every believer.
Godric — Frederick Buechner’s Pulitzer-nominated retelling of the medieval hermit’s battles against the world, the flesh and the devil. A bittersweet, poetic tale about a quirky, painfully devout saint. Buechner’s rich, alliterative language is nothing short of amazing.
Celebration of Discipline — Though criticized by many for its flirtations with mysticism, Richard Foster’s contemporary framing of the classical disciplines — prayer, fasting, solitude, meditation, etc. — is a timely tether to monastic history, the saints of the past, and their personal pilgrimages.
Perelandra — The second book of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy and the best of that bunch. The “unfallen” Venusian world of floating islands is unforgettable. But underlying the drama, Lewis demonstrates a philosophical rigor that engages the reader at another level. What Christian sci-fi can be.
What’s So Amazing About Grace — I read this on the heels of a debilitating legalistic relationship… and it was liberating! Philip Yancey unpacks a concept that’s been cheapened by bad theology and pop culture. Through insightful anecdotes and heartbreaking stories, the author restores the mystery to the most powerful divine force in the universe.
The Lord of the Rings — Tolkien’s classic trilogy remains the watermark for fantasists everywhere. I still view The Two Towers as the book that single-handedly inspired me to become a writer.
The Master Plan of Evangelism — This short book expounds Jesus’ simple strategy for changing the world. Robert Coleman reaffirms the exponential possibilities of human relationships, while alternately dismantling the inherent flaws with program-oriented power structures. Should be studied by every Christian minister or leader.
Amusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman’s scathing expose of the effects of television on public discourse, religious thought, and political debate is even more relevant now than it was 20+ years ago. The decline of the written word has been replaced by sound-bite psychology. Thus, we empower the very mediums of our demise. A must-read for every cultural observer!
Till We Have Faces — Lewis retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche, displaying both his fluency in ancient literature and his worldview regarding myth and Christianity. But, more intrinsic to this story, is the psychology of the human soul. While lacking the overt Christian symbollism of Lewis’ other works, the tale engages at a deeper, more disturbing, level. A haunting, beautiful, story.
The Creator and the Cosmos — Astrophysicist Hugh Ross articulates how the existence of multiple dimensions not only aligns itself with a biblical view of the universe, but provides a paradigm for resolving apparent theological contradictions. This book on cosmology single-handedly helped me overcome a dreaded fixation upon paradox.
Honorable mentions: Lifestyle Evangelism, The Man Who Was Thursday, No Place for Truth, Mere Christianity, Orthodoxy, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dust of Death, and Pensees.
So I’m interested, what books have most inspired / influenced you?
Good list Mike.
Ten off the top of my head.
C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters
Os Guinness – The Call
R.C. Sproul – The Holiness of God
E.M. Bounds – Power Through Prayer
P. Yancy – What’s So Amazing about Grace
Donald Miller – Searching for God Knows What
Steven Pressfield – Gates of Fire and The War of Art
William Gibson – Neuromancer.
There are more, but those all left a defining impression. (I hope)
“The War of Art” looks interesting, Pat. Like me, there’s a lot of theology in your list. Wondering what that says about us. Also, I’ve had Neuromancer on my Should-Be-Read list for years.
I think every book I read is influential in some way or another (sometimes it’s influential in that I say, “Man, this book is so bad, even I can do better than that!” lol)
Here are 10 picked completely at random that made an impact on me, and they’re in no particular order of importance:
1. The Stand by Stephen King – ultimate tale of good vs. evil in my opinion (other than, of course, the Bible 😉 ), and focuses on the nature of evil, forgiveness, sacrifice, and faith, which are common in all great pieces of literature.
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – probably the best sci-fi comedy combination out there. First book I ever laughed out loud at when I read it. Unfortunately, it was while I was a teenager in the library.
3. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – this one was on a high school summer reading list, and it was the first summer reading assignment I had that was FUN to read.
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding – I came to this one late in life, and then I kicked myself for not reading it MUCH sooner. Probably the best study of social human beings in literature.
5. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving – Again, came to this one a bit late. Heard John Irving himself read this one, and was blown away by how powerfully written this character’s voice was.
6. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell – although classified as sci-fi, this one was powerfully “real” to me, and it was my first exposure to dystopian fiction.
7. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz – probably contains Dean Koontz’s most memorable main character in my opinion. He’s the everyman that all of us are, confronting evil with humbleness and faith.
8. The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub – first book where I actually cried over a character’s death.
9. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck – one of the most powerful, heartfelt, tragic and sad endings of any book I’ve ever read. Plus two of the most vividly painted characters I’ve ever read.
10. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss -what can I say? Fun beyond words, for generations before mine, mine, and now my own kids’ and I hope their kids’ someday.
Great list, George. Odd Thomas is also one of my faves and probably could’ve made my Honorable Mentions.
I thought for sure you’d pick up on my entry of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, since, as well as being incredibly funny and probably one of sci-fi’s all time best, it is probably also famous in that its author was always blatantly atheistic in his views. This is probably a topic for another day, but what ARE you thoughts on books and/or authors whose viewpoints are clearly poking fun at or disparaging Christianity? Should we be reading such literature? Is there anything positive we can take away from them?
Personally, I don’t find that that particular book changed my mind one way or another about my own beliefs, and I took it for what it ultimately was: a fun romp through the Universe he created.
Oooh! I also vote for The Stand and Prayer For Owen Meany.
This May 23rd is my 42nd Birthday. We are having a “Don’t Panic, Kat’s Still Mostly Harmless” major blowout. There will be fish.
Don’t forget your towels!
Awesome! My 42nd is coming in November. Can’t wait!
OOOH, what a fun task. Most influential? I think the most influential are the ones that stick with me the longest, so it’s generally fiction for me. Hmm…the first one was during my teen years:
1) A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet–Madeline L’Engle
2) Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man–James Joyce
3) E.E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Theodore Roethke, Edna St. Vincent Millay–poems
4) the short story “Ligeia”–by Edgar Allan Poe
5) To Kill a Mockingbird–by Harper Lee
6) The Mill on the Floss–by George Eliot (just did a blogpost on this writer)
7) Smilla’s Sense of Snow–by Peter Hoeg (wouldn’t recommend for all w/the cussing, but I love his style)
8) Gone with the Wind–Margaret Mitchell
9) Thomas Hardy ANYthing, but mostly Far from the Madding Crowd
10) The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie O’Martian (this book changed our marriage…where we lived, my husband’s job, etc)
OOH, I have to add 11) So You’re Thinking about Homeschooling by Lisa Whelchel. Definitely helped me decide to homeschool, even when I hadn’t entertained the idea before.
Okay, I could go on forever and will probably think of at least 10 more books in the next half-hour. Thanks for the fun question!
I like your smiley face next to Gone With The Wind, I really like that one too! Seems we have some similar tastes.
oooh, poetry! Good call.
I wasn’t sure if it counted. Or if I could credit just one. however , I will confess I’ve had a serious crush on Wislawa Szymborska the last few years.
I’d hope it counts, because _The Wasteland and Other Poems_ are on my list.
HA! I don’t know how that emoticon showed up on “Gone with the Wind!” Hilarious!
(And I should clarify that I thought the Bible was kind of a “given…” but it’s definitely top of the list!)
You and I share 8 of the 10. I’d add Don Quixote by Cervantes and Huckleberry Finn by Twain. After that, it’s mostly authors rather than individual books: Dickens, Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor. And Dashiell Hammett.
My top ten? This is tricky.
1) Bible- of course
2) The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
3) Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas
4) Crazy Love by Francis Chan
5) Lady in Waiting by Debby Jones and Jackie Kendall
6) Jesus Freaks by DC Talk
7) When God Whispers Your Name by Max Lacado (really all books from him)
8) Till Armageddon by Billy Graham
9) Gone with the Wind
10) poetry by Edgar Allan Poe
honorable mentions: The Shadow Party by David Horowitz and Richard Poe, Ascent from Darkness: How Satan’s Soldier Became God’s Warrior by Michael leehan
The Islamic Antichrist by Joel Richardson, Little Women by Louisa Alcott…I could keep going
If the question is influenced and inspired, my list will be heavy with genre titles. This list reveals just how formative was my father’s phenomenal paperback library. It was literally a gateway to other worlds, and shaped me for life. I can never thank my dad enough for that great library (but that doesn’t stop me from trying at every possible opportunity).
Daybreak – 2250 A.D. (aka Star Man’s Son) by Andre Norton The first Sci-Fi novel I remember reading. http://www.amazon.com/Daybreak-D-G-717-Orig-title/dp/B0007HJI3Q/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2
One of Roger Zelazny’s works. I’ve kind of given up trying to pick a favorite, there are so many. Zelazny, more than anyone else, informs my writing and preferences. More than any other author, Zelazny trusted the reader to ferret out what he was thinking of when he was thinking stuff the reader had never thought of, and he did it with an offhand comment here, a shred of a clue there. He was at once spare and lyrical, poetic, covering a great amount of territory with the greatest ease. I never have finished LOTR because Tolkien never could seem to get around to telling his actual story (from my perspective). After being exposed to epiphany after epiphany, a studious description of mere topography or botany would never capture my attention. I might proclaim my favorite Zelazny works to be Roadmarks or Doorways in the Sand or Lord of Light or Jack of Shadows or his Amber Chronicles, or even one of his collections of short stories. Ooh! Call Me Conrad (aka This Immortal!) Zelazny was the polar opposite of what I value as a Christian, but he was everything I’ve come to value as a reader, as an author. Once exposed to Zelazny’s writing, I never could sit still for plodding, uber-detail oriented works.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0380014300/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0
When Eight Bells Toll, by Alastair MacLean. To this day, the first few pages is the most engaging twist to begin a novel I can think of. This first person story of Philip Calvert bled over to influence all my preferences for spies. He’s smart, he’s self-reliant, he’s flawed, he’s morally upstanding, and he’s mysterious, never overexplaining anything.
http://www.librarything.com/work/24052/81574399
Gray Lensman, by E.E. “Doc” Smith. This is the 4th in a loose series which may have spawned and certainly defined early space opera. This story of Kimball Kinnison captured my imagination and blew out the limits of everything. It is also where I first fell in love with fiery female love interests (Clarissa MacDougall!). As a bonus entry in the Space Opera category, I’ll mention Stand By For Mars!, the first book of the stories of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. I came to this series late, and the writing was already juvenile for me by that time, but the stories were so entertaining and the friendships so strong that I couldn’t help but be carried away by the fun.
http://www.manybooks.net/original_covers/r/rockwellc/rockwellc1952619526-thumb.jpg
Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I remember reading this when I was in the 6th Grade while all others around me were still laboring through lesser school-mandated fiction. I fell hard for Tarzan as told by Burroughs, and this was the beginning of what has become a lifelong love affair with great pulp fiction. I could as easily has gone with A Princess of Mars, the first in the series about John Carter, Warlord of Mars, but, really, Tarzan is where it started for me. Tarzan showed me that you could write a nuanced character that the civilized world didn’t understand who still made sense somewhere in the world, in a place for more exotic and dangerous and alien than the one I was used to. Tarzan captured my imagination and made me feel I could be different than those around me and still be perfectly formed for who I was meant to be. (A great runner up here would be Burroughs’ The Mad King, a brilliant one-off pulp tale.)
http://www.librarything.com/work/4912/81577122
Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert Heinlein. Again, you could throw almost any of the Heinlein juveniles in here; Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Starship Troopers, or the original Space Cadets. Heinlein was the real deal, a sci-fi grandmaster whose ideas were as mindblowing as they were subversive. If Andre Norton introduced me to Sci-Fi, and Roger Zelazny introduced me to storytelling, Robert Heinlein showed me what Sci-Fi could do, where it could take me.
http://www.librarything.com/work/17486/3956092
This Present Darkness, by Frank Peretti. This classic novel of angelic warfare and spiritual struggle for the soul of a small town is what made me want to be a Christian writer. No other book, before or since, has so fully captured the idea that Christians can write about fantastic things without ignoring the supernatural side of reality. This book both opened my eyes to what could be and destroyed any and all lesser efforts after it (Angel Walk, I’m lookin’ at you).
http://www.amazon.com/This-Present-Darkness-Frank-Peretti/dp/0891073906
Watership Down, by Richard Adams. This novel showed me that you can write a fantastic novel of “exile, courage, and survival” using any characters in any setting. He did it with /rabbits/. Fiver may be one of the great characters of all time in any genre.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.wikia.com/watershipdown/images/1/16/Watership_Down_cover.jpg&imgrefurl=http://watershipdown.wikia.com/wiki/Watership_Down_(book)&h=670&w=416&sz=86&tbnid=ogeuYp6Ml7MEWM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=56&zoom=1&docid=ezHthuH6M55F0M&sa=X&ei=TSgHT6eDOIXJ0AGUndn2AQ&ved=0CHoQ9QEwCw&dur=503
Lyonesse, by Jack Vance. How could I leave Jack Vance off this list? I know of no more unique wordsmith than Vance. I could have chosen so many different titles here, but went with the fantasy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyonesse_Trilogy
Jhereg, by Steven Brust. Brust is a protege of Zelazny, the first great mashup I can recall, writing Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Noir in a style that is spare, fierce, funny, smart, and subversive. You can as easily throw in his Khaavren Romances (retelling the Alexandre Dumas Musketeer stories in a fantasy setting).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhereg_(novel)
Runner ups:
Keith Laumer’s Retief series (whose stories I pay homage to in my Random Tenerife short stories)
Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (I pay homage to him with The Reconstructed Man and the upcoming The Reassembled Man)
Anne McCaffrey’s Dragons of Pern
Randall Garrett’s Gandalara Cycle
Timothy Zahn’s Dead Man Switch – showed me you can write rigorous Science Fiction with Christian characters who were smart, valuable, understandable, and relateable.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series – what space opera should be
So, yeah, I’m missing all the classics, all the spiritual greats. There’s not a Lewis or Tolkien to be found here. But if you really want to know which thinkers and writers influenced me, here’s the list. This is what made me who I am. I’m ok with that.
Johne, I had forgotten about Have Spacesuit, Will Travel! I read it in 5th grade and I fell in love with space travel (I’ll never forget the bubble gum and that was 40-something years ago). Alastair MacLean’s novels taught me so much about suspense writing. “When Eight Bells Toll” did have the most gripping first sentence that I’ve ever read and I read that book when I was 14 or so. That was back when I spent all my allowance (except for my tithe) on books.
Definitely glad to have the entire LotR trilogy (not movie tie-in, the actual thing from a decade before the movies came out), as for books that are influential? Pretty tricky, let alone for a top ten.
First of all, because of your list I am going to get C.S. Lewis’s Perelandra and Till We Have Faces as well as the Creator and the Cosmos.
Books (fiction and non) which have inspired me are:
*Tosca Lee’s Demon: A Memoir
*Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis-made me think harder….
*Lilith’s Brood by Octavia E. Butler and her Xenogenesis series-made me wonder…
*Now I Walk On Death Row by Dale Recinella- made me pray more…
*A Woman’s Guide to Fasting by Lisa E. Nelson- helped me to learn the reason why…
*Sati by Christopher Pike-brought on fresh perspective…
*Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard-very deep book and will reread!
So far these are all I can think of and they inspire me still.
Erica, I loved that book “Now I Walk On Death Row”!
(I blogged about this years ago and dug around for it.)
I would like to note here that one book which has influenced me all my life: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I read it when I was fifteen and it deeply impacted my understanding of how Satan works in Christians’ lives. I think this book should be required reading for every Bible student.
There is One book that literally answers every one of these and that is my beloved Bible. I cannot go a day without reading it because I get so much from it that my soul overflows. But, in the spirit of this thing, I shall congitate on this and give you some books that I have truly enjoyed and that have taught me so much about life and people and character.
1. One book that changed your life — My Bible
2. One book you’ve read more than once–The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Jane Aiken. It is a children’s book and I read it about 7 or 8 times when I was 8 or 9 years old, then I read it a couple of more times when I was 10 then I read it again when I was an adult. I enjoyed it as much when I was an adult as when I was a kid. This book taught me lots of wonderful words and that I could do anything that I set my mind to do. It is about two children who were badly abused by a distant cousin who stole their inheritance after they learned their parents had died in an accident. They were sold, escaped, traversed many trials to finally return home. I think every child should read it.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island — My Bible
4. One book that made you laugh — All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriott. This series is just about the best written that I have read. Classic! Witty, full of life lessons and outstanding insight into human nature. Great books! I can hardly wait to dive into Every Living Thing — But THE book that made my cheeks hurt and tears run down and my sides hurt from laughing is — I’ll Trade You An Elk by Charles Goodrum. This book is the true story of how the Wichita Zoo began, and is so good that it could be a TV series. Young Charles is faced with a father who is laid off during the depression but wrangles the job with the city as the “developer”. He gets the brilliant idea to revamp the local zoo and it is one mishap and adventure after another. I do not think it is still in print, but you may find it on someone’s old book list. It was printed back in 1959 or 60 I think.
5. One book that made you cry — The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas and Though None Go With Me by Jerry Jenkins. Taught me two things… you can’t run from God and it is absolutely the best thing in the world to remain within God’s will. Both were made into movies which badly mauled the stories, in my opinion. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee made me laugh and cry, and the movie was almost exactly like the book [insert shocked look].
6. One book you wish had been written — Life After The Beast by Nebchadnezzer
7. One book you wish had never been written — Anything by Jackie Collins or Elizabeth Lowell
8. One book you’re currently reading– the books by Georgette Heyer again in alphabetical order.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read — The Revelation Record by Dr. Henry Morris
10. The most interesting non-fiction book (besides the Bible) was Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed Ameria by John Barry. Please note the documentary shown on the History Channel did not follow this book although it did feature John Barry. I am becoming more and more chary of things published on the History Channel for I have found many false thing presented. (Although, I’ll Trade You An Elk, and the books by James Harriot are both true and extremely interesting.)
It is interesting that my choices have not changed in 5 years since I posted this, although there are many more that I could list like “Gone With The Wind”, “The Count of Monte Cristo”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “Ivanhoe”, “Kim”, guess I’d better stop and get back to work!
I forgot about the Screwtape Letters! I loved that one immensely!
I have authors rather than books (on my shelf no less): Ray Bradbury, Annie Dillard, Alexander Pope, James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Agatha Christie, Alexander Pushkin, Ann Radcliffe, Horace Walpole, and Daphne DuMarier. Ray Bradbury is at the top for a reason.
I love Annie Dillard’s stuff! Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and For the Time Being could have made my list.
The Bible
Complete Shakespeare
Complete James Joyce
Complete Flannery O’Connor
Portable Edgar Allen Poe
Washington Square
The Pilgrim’s Regress
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Pensees Blaise Pascal
Training in Christianity, Soren Kierkegaard
oops, one more:
Eternity in their Hearts Roy Richardson.
The Bible – God
The Gospel of the Kingdom – Ladd
Spiritual Authority – Nee
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement – Winter
Hinds Feet For High Places – Hurrard
The Making of a Leader – Clinton
This Present Darkness – Peretti
The Shack – Young
Lead Us Not Into Temptation – Basham
The Heart of an Executive – Phillips
Okay, wow. I’ll take a stab:
1. The Stand, by Stephen King – forever converted me into a Stephen King fan. So epic, the ultimate battle between good and evil, spiritual, and the way he juggled all those main POVs…AMAZING.
2. Boy’s Life, by Robert McCammon – THIS is the book I wanted to cry after. One of those things that convinces me I’ll never be able to write as purely and as beautifully as this.
3. lost boy, lost girl, by Peter Straub – Again, there’s the horror of “monsters” and “demons” and serial killers, then there’s really wrenching stuff like child abuse, etc. Peter Straub was able to deal with something so horrible, yet write so eloquently and beautifully.
4. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury – so hauntingly poetic and rich. The type of book that MAKES you read passages over and over again, just to savor the language. And, the ULTIMATE Halloween thriller.
5. <Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury – one of the very few science fiction/dystopian future novels that have slapped me upside the head, saying: “WAKE UP! This is happening NOW.”
6. <Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury – first of all, proving Bradbury’s awesome range. Second, made me wish I’d grown up in the 20’s. And even though I grew up in the 80’s, my summers seemed just like Doug Spaulding’s…
7. , by Harper Lee – again, one of those PERFECT novels that makes me realize I’ll never write something as wonderful.
And now, I’m going to “cheat” with my last three:
8. The Repairman Jack series, by F. Paul Wilson – I was a huge Roland Deschain fan from Stephen King’s Dark Tower, but Jack is so…real. A regular guy. And he’s an anti-hero with a STRICT, almost old fashioned “code”. Hard to find these days in fiction. And Wilson’s style is so spare, he packs in TONS of action and plot into his stories, and it all reads so very well.
9. The Oxrun Station series, by the late Charles L. Grant – Introduced me to “quiet horror”, and I’ve never before encountered such subtle nuances and artistic prose. And, in a push-back against gore-horror, I love Charles’ respectful, modest restraint and tension. His writing is the first writing I’ve encountered that’s had a tangible affect on my writing.
10 The Foundation and Robot series, by Issac Asimov. I discovered him in high school, and it was the very first HUGE, mega-arc series I’d ever encountered, first one I HAD to have all the books to. And when he managed to tie his Foundation series together with his Robot series, I loved it. Had me primed for the Dark Tower saga long before I ever encountered.
Anyway, that’s it…
Uh, #7 should be To Kill A Mockingbird….
I don’t know that I necessarily have ten (and the Bible is a given), but here goes for the books that have influenced me in one way or another:
Cleric Quintet Series – R.A. Salvatore
I’m not sure I can fully express how important these books were for me. I was a huge reader all through elementary and middle school, then got one of those English teachers in high school who completely sapped any interest I had in reading. Then I stumbled on this series by accident by finding the first three books at a used paperback store; not only did it renew my love for reading, but it gave me a desire to write in the first place!
Art and the Bible – Francis Schaeffer
I have a feeling that, wherever my writing takes me, this book will prove to be a huge influence; I’ve long felt the CBA “encourages” writers to do their very best to include the entire Gospel in any single work they write. This book, however, encouraged me to fit only what is appropriate in any given story…and then allow the sum of my work to display my worldview.
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
I know there were many different strong reactions from within the Christian community toward these books, but I have to say that Pullman did an incredible job of crafting a story that both captured all the magic of reading I can remember from my childhood and wrote it in such a way as to intelligently appeal to both children and adults. I use “intelligently” because I think there have been other books that have also appealed to both children and adults but that haven’t been so intelligent. Like I said, I understand why his work is so controversial; but as Francis Schaeffer said, it is possible to disagree with an artist’s worldview while also appreciating how the artist performs his/her craft.
Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling
What can I say? I absolutely adored these stories. Rowling created an incredible alternate world, and as I told my wife one day: if I could ever write a book or series of books that captures the world the way Rowling did…wow!
I’m part of the renovare organization proffered by Richard Foster and other great teachers of the faith. Two pastors asked me if I was a mystic for following his teachings as I follow Christ. I had to think about it a second and then replied, “Yes. Anyone who prays and expects an answer is a mystic.” They just smiled. =)
A quick partial list of those that have inspired:
The John Carter of Mars series by ERB
The Thomas Covenant series by S.R. Donaldson
The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy
Perelandra……………………………..C.S.L
To Kill a Mockingbird………………..H.Lee
Odd Thomas…………………………… D.K
The Name of the Rose………………. Umberto Eco
Lisey’s Story…………………………… Stephen King
The Fencing Master…………………. Arturo Perez Reverte
Disappointment with God……….. Philip Yancey
First off, I never put “The Bible” on here because it my mind it’s separate from mere books. (For the record I also never put “Jesus” on “men of the year” lists…)
I have a really hard time making lists like this because books that were big in my world even 5 years ago get usurped by newer things. That’s also another reason I leave off the Bible.
Right now where I’m at and who I am I would say the books that are most to blame for that stew are:
1. Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever
I carted that thing around with me from the time I first learned to read. It taught me to look for authors when looking for the next thing to read. It taught me how to like all different types of stories and how to laugh and cry. I love that book. Second only to BSE is Babykins.
2. Heidi
The first novel I read multiple times, this was the book that showed me how fundamental a sense of place and nurture is to my enjoyment of story. When Heidi is taken down from the mountain I was as homesick for Peter and the goats and Grandfather and the mountain as she. That’s wholly because Johanna Spyri did such a great job of making me feel like I was on the Swiss Alps instead of a porch swing on an Indiana farm.
3. Run Baby Run
The sheer violence in this book taught me that life isn’t all mountains and lions who drive cars. I think maybe I might have been too young when I read it the first time, but it did stick with me. It also taught me the importance of carrying the gospel to domestic mission fields.
4. Agatha Christie
None of her single books (except perhaps Ten Little Indians and They Came To Bhagdad) did much to me on their own. But the books as a whole taught me basic French, basic chemistry and the nuances of plot.
5. Edith Hamilton/Bruno Bettelheim/Jan Harold Brunvand/JKR’s Harry Potter
Categories aren’t fair, but I started into Mythology when I was 6 with a signed copy of Hamilton’s Mythology. (She was from my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. It underscored that writers COULD come from such a place.) In HS I found Bettelheim who had all the nifty psychological backstories for fairy tales and Brunvand who showed how we remake folk tales in the modern age. Then Rowling brought me full circle back to sheer love of myth and magic.
6. To Kill A Mockingbird
This is the perfect book. It has story, romance, plot twists, intrigue, a sense of place, a sense of food, humour and sadness.
7. Katherine by Anya Seton
My parents were planning on naming me Deborah, but then my mom packed this book in her hospital bag and read it while labouring with baby me. For years I teased her about changing my name from a wise judge to a slutty mistress, then I read the book for myself. In Seton’s story she emphasises faith and duty and Katherine’s change from a courtier to courtesan to mystic Christian. A powerful book where I found power in my own faith in Christ and my own ability to be a strong woman
8. The Wasteland And Other Poems
TS Eliot writes music and his music is about despair and hope and God and death. And I like that very much.
9. The Stand by Stephen King
The best example of post-apocalyptic literature out there. What this book has (and so many dystopian works miss) is true hope. The dystopian part is actually that which is set in our world. King then shows what his two bands of misfits choose to do with the second chance at the world they’ve been given. It’s entertaining story that also leaves you thinking those same thoughts. Not to mention that Tom Cullen is one of the absolute best characters in literature–next to Tyrion Lannister and Sherlock Holmes. I will forever be stimpled at Stephanie Meyer for bastardising the name of Cullen.
10. The Physicians of Myddfai
It’s a cheat putting this on here. But I’ve spent years of my life researching it, wading through dusty articles from Welsh journals and collapsing under histories, codeces and all sorts of fun things. I spend nearly every day writing it and bringing the myth together with the world we have. Even if it never sees the light of day past my hard drive it’s still had quite an effect on my life.
Oooh, I forgot Richard Scarry! And the Little Golden books! But Agatha Christie has been a huge part of my life, too. My fave were her Tommy and Tuppence books, as well as Parker Pyne, Detective and Sparkling Cyanide.
You make a good point, Katherine, about how books as a whole have influenced you. There are so many that I read when I was young that may not have been written by anyone famous, but the stories made an impact. The biographies I read of JFK, Florence Nightengale, Dolly Madison, and the presidents made a huge impact on me as a whole. It just makes me realize that content is as important as presentation because the package as a whole makes the impression.
First let me ditto four from your list: The Pursuit of God; The Lord of the Rings; The Master Plan of Evangelism; Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman was next to prophetic.
Oddly enough as a Christian I would add atheist Asimov’s Foundation and Empire as a bookend to Jonathan Edward’s Freedom of the Will. Foundation made me think as a 20 something about the big picture from man’s point of view. Edward’s challenged me to see the big picture from God’s point of view.