A book list...for this forum

[Discoteque]

So I know there was another thread in another forum on 'favorite books' but I'm starting one over here as well. So what are your favorite books, your 'desert island specials,' or the books you wish everyone would read? I'll start with a few:

NON-FICTION

The Bible, of course, NIV version - easy to read and understand

Pretty much anything by C.S. Lewis - such amazing gift for words, but specifically, The Screwtape Letters, Until we have Faces, TLTH&TW seven book series; The Problem of Pain

Inside Out - Larry Crabb (great book if you have struggles)

FICTION

The Moral Compass - Wm. Bennett

A Rift in Time/Hidden in Time - Michael Phillips

Deadline/Dominion - Randy Alcorn

Reluctant Prophet - T. Davis Bunn

A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, As Sure As the Dawn by Francine Rivers - AMAZING stories, if you liked the movie Gladiator, you'll love these books! She did some exhaustive research on these.

I gotta get off Interference more!

[This message has been edited by Discoteque (edited 01-07-2002).]

 

[Kieran McConville]

It may not be totally relevant to the 'Christian' angle, but if anyone can see fit to post some juicy extracts from John Waters' U2: Race of Angels (now out-of-print, I think), they will be worth their weight in gold.

------------------
"I could walk into this room
and the waves of conversation
are enough
to knock you down
with the undertow

soooo alone..."

 

[hippy]

Well, since this is a forum about spirituality, I have found that reading other holy books (besides the Bible) have really helped me to understand and define my own faith and spirituality.

So I would recommend these books:

Rumi's Divan of Shems of Tabriz

The Bhagavad-Gita

The Dhammapada

The I-Ching

And C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" I found it brimming over with ideas that really changed my pov.

------------------
And your earth moves beneath
Your own dream landscape

You can dream, so dream out loud!

"The way to be optimistic is not to shut your eyes and close your ears." -Bono

Create Light, Create Unity, Create Joy, CREATE PEACE!

 

[MadelynIris]

I'd like to add:

Orthodoxy by G.C. Chesterton (available free on the web here: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dcs6mpw/gkc/

Beyond the Cosmos by Dr. Hugh Ross
http://www.reasons.org/resources/books/beyondthecosmos/index.html

And a Bono recommended book

What's so Amazing about Grace by Phillip Yancey
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310213274/davidframbes/107-9633238-3868506

 

[Thermopylae]

"Jesus and the Lost Goddess" and "The Jesus Mysteries" by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy.

If you want to understand how Christianity developed, what Christianity was like for the first few hundred years, and possibly how to recapture that original Christian spirit - I HIGHLY recommend these books.

WARNING! If you a person who needs to believe that every word in the Bible is the "Word of God" in order to walk with Christ - I would ask that you not read these books. But, if you are Seeker and want to better understand the meaning behind the stories - then will find these works truly enlightening

 

[sulawesigirl4]

EEK, mark! You're reading my mind!

Actually, I haven't read Orthodoxy yet, but it is high on my list of to-get-soon books.

Anything by Yancey, I would highly recommend, especially What's So Amazing About Grace and The Jesus I Never Knew. I just finished a new book by him called Soul Survivor which I would also recommend...it is more of a book about the authors and people that have inspired him over the years and is a great source for more ideas on good reading. (It's because of him I'm reading Tolstoy now!)

Other books that deal with Christianity that I am currently into:
- "Suspicion and Faith : The Religious Uses of Modern Atheism" by Merold Westphal
- "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" by Mark Noll
- "The Journey of Desire" by John Eldridge
- "Reason for the Hope Within" by Michael J. Murray (this is a really good book for going through some of the big questions of apologetics)
- "Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals :Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis" by William J. Webb and Darrell Bock

Fiction
- Anything by C.S. Lewis...The Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy
- The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
- The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (no, don't laugh...they're not just kids books, they're a great read.

)

And many more. lol.

-sula

 

[popsadie]

Some books I love in this area..

Fyodor Doestoevesky- The Idiot, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov

CS Lewis- just finished the Narnia tales again

, Great Divorce, Screwtape Letters,Mere Christianity

George MacDonald- The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie

Madeliene L'Engle- Wind in the Door, Swiftly Tilting Planet, A Severed Wasp

Philip Yancey- What's So Amazing About Grace, The Jesus I Never Knew

Flannery O Connor- Wise Blood, The Violent Bear It Away, Everything that rises must converge, A Good Man is Hard To Find and other stories

Robert Coles- The Call to service, a witness to idealism

 

[Thermopylae]

Flannery O'Connor is a great short story writer - great choice

I remember reading the L'Engle Wrinkle in TIme Trilogy when I was a youngster (too long ago) I thought then they would have made great movies - much better than Harry Potter crap..

 

[80sU2isBest]

Mister God, this is Anna - Fynn
Anna's Book - Fynn
Anna, Mister God, and The Black Knight - Anna
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Jesus I Never Knew - Phillip Yancey
Speechless - Steven Curtis Chapman
A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett

 

[truecoloursfly]

God, guys, I'm never gonna leave my house now (except to go to the library). I usually haven't much use for book lists, 'cause they're so subjective. But let's just say...I trust this gang to lead me right.

Mostly because The Screwtape Letters has come up more times here in 12 hours than it has in 12 years in my other life

Also, Lewis' Reflections on the Psalms.

What's So Amazing About Grace? was my favourite read this year (thanks, B-man).
The Way of Zen, Alan Watts
Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood, Mary Strong, ed. A little obscure, but worth seeking out -- immensely fortifying and insightful, particularly in wartime. "[Keep] a fiery faith!...Listen, listen for your very life...Stand for the Invisible..." Man, I love that book.

Everyday Zen, Charlotte Joko Beck
I mention the Zen books here because they illuminate the way of compassion in a very particular manner -- they reveal to me Christ's way.

And the first book I read that really shifted my world, James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. As audacious a piece of writing as I've ever seen, a sucker-punch of compassion dressed up like journalism.

I don't read novels too often anymore, but Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet is dazzling. His prose literally made me giddy.

Deb D





------------------
He set my feet upon a rock
made my footsteps firm

the greatest frontman in the world -- by truecoloursfly: http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=1575

 

[sulawesigirl4]

Originally posted by truecoloursfly:
I don't read novels too often anymore, but Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet is dazzling. His prose literally made me giddy.
Deb D

It made me giddy too...but in a dizzy, confused sort of way. lol. *wonders if she's just not smart enough to get Rushdie* I hated the main characters...they had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. But the narrator was alright. Poor guy, he should have dumped that prima-donna long ago. oh well.

I should add another author that I really respect. I spent a month at L'Abri (a community he started while he was still living) and apparently he was an influential author for the young lads of U2 as well.

Francis Schaeffer

-sula

 

[spanisheyes]

To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry. ~ Gaston Bachelard ~

-The Word of God

-My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

-The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge

-The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

-Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner

-The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

-Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

-As I Lay Dying or anything by William Faulkner for that matter
"I'm a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can't and then tries the short story which is the most demanding form after poetry. And failing at that, only then does he take up novel writing." --William Faulkner

-The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe

-Almost A Revolution by Shen Tong

-The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, or anything by C.S. Lewis, including Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity

-The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

-Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

-Anything by Max Lucado...phenomenal writer I think as well.

Chris



[This message has been edited by spanisheyes (edited 01-09-2002).]

 

[Discoteque]

Originally posted by truecoloursfly:
I don't read novels too often anymore, but Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet is dazzling. His prose literally made me giddy.

Deb D

this one's at the top of my list (or maybe it's What's so Amazing about Grace?)...I feel the very same way when I read C. S. Lewis, Deb...the very way he turns a phrase has literally made me feel 'giddy' with awe and amazement. We need more writers like that....

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

The Holy Bible [North American Standard Version, the most accurate translation other than Revised Standard Version]

Anything by C.S. Lewis

Thomas Merton:
No Man Is an Island
The New Man
New Seeds of Contemplation
Contemplative Prayer

M. Scott Peck:
The Road Less Traveled
People of the Lie
A World Waiting to be Born

Dr. Neil T. Anderson:
Victory over Darkness
Bondage Breaker

Henri Nouwen:
Return of the Prodigal Son
Life of the Beloved
Inner Voice of Love

 

[Angell]

Anything by Max Lucado...phenomenal writer I think

------------------
"Love is a verb..."
enterangell@cs.com

 

[brettig]

Most of the stuff i read is either sports, history or several kinds of fiction, ive also read a few of the books already listed here so i wont add any books other than these two...both by a guy whose fast become my favourite Christian author

Imagine: A Vision For Christians And The Arts- Steve Turner
Hungry For Heaven: Rock n Roll and The Search For Redemption- Steve Turner

hes also written some other stuff including biographies on Marvin Gaye and Van Morrison, and an 'Into The Heart' style volume on the Beatles.

 

[JennyBean]

Thanks for all these great suggestions!
For fiction: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

 

[in te domine]

Letssss see... C.S. Lewis, Phillip Yancey and M. Scott Peck have been mentioned, so has Max Lucado... I just LOVE Max Lucado's stuff. It really is amazing. He is ... a true artist... a "poet" with what he writes. My first Lucado book was "He Chose the Nails" and it is my favorite.
Here's a few others that have enriched, if not changed my life:

"Who Told You That You Were Naked?" by John Jacob Raub

"The Lies We Believe" by Dr. Chris Thurman

"Why Good People Do Bad Things" by Erwin W. Lutzer

"The Seat Of The Soul" by Gary Zukav
(NOT necessarily a Christian book, but one with many spiritual truths)

"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran
(again, not Christian, but deeply spiritual, and breathtaking in its imagery and poetry)

"Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom
(IF you haven't yet read this book...MY GOD, do yourself a favor and read this very true story!)

Any book with quotes from Mother Teresa.
In the song "Gloria", Bono sings, "Lord, if I had anything, I'd give it to you"....well, Mother Teresa LIVED it!

Oh, well of course, the Holy Bible. The Gospels are my "favorite", if that is appropriate to say. "Psalm 40", and the "Prodigal Son parable" IS about me, as it may also be about any of you, and after Sept. 11, I found no greater comfort than Book of Romans, Chapter 5. It really spoke to me and indeed gave me hope.

____________________


Love has a hem to her garment
That reaches the very dust.
It sweeps the stains
From the streets and lanes,
And because it can, it must.
- Mother Teresa

[This message has been edited by in te domine (edited 01-24-2002).]