15 Books

These are a strange list of books. Many of them have little in common except that they impressed me in some way. Some are favorites from childhood, some deepened my faith, some frigthened me, some disgusted me--all took me to new heights and depths of thought. I'll not forget any of them.

I don't like to include the Bible with other reading, hence its absence. In the order they came to mind:


1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I generally read this book every year. The characters are dear friends and their quest pulls at something deep inside even though the greatness of it is totally outside of my experience.

2. The Idiot by F.M. Dostoevsky

There is something feverish about the philosophy of this book, something terribly, terribly beautiful but flawed in a way that just makes me love it more. The main character is someone I want to be, and yet I am glad I am not.

3. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

The writing style of this book took hold of my mind and wouldn't let go, to the degree that I had suicidal thoughts for a few days after reading it.

4. Grimms’ Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

Read when I was about age 6 or 7. In one story a girl turns into a frog-like creature at night. One night she tearfully attempted to rid herself of the curse by cutting apart her webbed fingers. Somehow I was never the same after reading that.

5. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

I love to escape to this underwater world, where science and a systematic way of looking at the world serve more to emphasize the mystery of things than to explain them. Nemo is such a magnetic character. I still get a bit of a crush on him every time I reread.

6. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Beauty and ugliness, evil and goodness mix in this haunting book. The reader sees his own sins in Dorian so it's not a comfortable read. One of the few books I read for pleasure that roused me enough to write essays refuting some of its ideas.

7. The Gentle Infidel by Lawrence Schoonover

A scene from this fun, epic sword-and-sandal book often comes to mind in moments of trouble. In his moment of need, the main character, a young Muslim warrior, cries out "Father in heaven, Father in heaven!"--all that he remembers of The Lord's Prayer from his distant, Christian childhood...

8. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

Many things about this book still linger in my memory though I haven't read it since I was about 12 or 13. It somehow taught me how to be a teenager, in that it woke up a sense that someday I would become a person, and oh yes...the birds and the bees were rather less mysterious after this book!

9. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Read this over and over as a kid. The horses were such living characters, their lives so sad but full of a kind of charm for me.

10. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Another book that lodges in the mind through its shocking imagery and disturbing conclusions. Not a favorite, but there is a lot of truth in it.

11. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

A beautiful book, of many interwoven stories all together of many people and times. Is its own world...and God is somehow on every page: the themes of forgiveness, grace, and love are not to be missed. I'm so glad there are books like this, whole worlds to visit and be changed by.

12. Richard III by Shakespeare

The short passage of evil from quiet plotting, to gaining power, to final destruction by the good guys makes this a great story. Many passages in this book are just too much fun to speak aloud in your best iambic pentameter and a snarly Richard voice.

13. Silence by Shusaku Endo

The first word that comes to mind in describing this book is "miserable"--the trials of Job set in medieval Japan, complete with plenty of poverty and persecutions, make for a depressing read. Offers a different (very Japanese) view of Jesus that I hadn't thought of before.

14. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

What a delightful book! And it isn't all fluff. The author has very wise insights into people's natures, as human beings, as individuals, and especially as women. I never quite warmed up to Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell is more to my liking.

15. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

The worst thing about reading this book was it's about a very disturbed person, and I sympathized with one too many of his ways of thinking for my comfort. Uh oh. I think it was simply because the author was familiar with human nature, in all its beauty and ugliness.

What books have touched you most? Which books will you never forget?