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Faith Life

15 Books That Found Me

If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it? …A book must be like an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us. ~Franz Kafka

books and glasses

Eugene Peterson shares Kafka’s startling thoughts in the opening pages of Eat This Book. The power of literature to leave us wrecked and shaken, or marvelously remade has been proven in me across a lifetime of inhaling words.

Hundreds of books have informed, intrigued or entertained me, but sometimes, with perfect timing, a book will plant itself like that ice-axe in my unsuspecting self, and I am changed.

I know I am not alone. Whose writing has crept up and caught you unaware?

I’ll start by sharing a necessarily incomplete list, in chronological order from childhood to today. Reading through the titles sends me on a fast-forward journey through the shattering and re-shaping of my heart by my story’s Author, who knew what was needed at each turn of the page.

15 Books that found me

  1. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, by Langston Hughes
  2. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown
  3. Making All Things New, by Henri Nouwen
  4. Inside Out, by Larry Crabb
  5. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, by Eugene Peterson
  6. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
  7. Abba’s Child, by Brennan Manning
  8. No Greater Love, by Mother Teresa
  9. The Powers That Be, by Walter Wink
  10. Lest Innocent Blood be Shed, by Philip Hallie
  11. Embracing the Love of God, by James Bryan Smith
  12. Descent into Hell by Charles Williams
  13. The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
  14. Humility by Andrew Murray
  15. The Gospel in Dostoyevsky, excerpts from the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky

I could easily keep going, but it’s your turn. What book has wakened you?

 

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19 replies on “15 Books That Found Me”

Janet, as you already know, I have an entire blog dedicated just to literary detritus. This is a favorite exercise of mine. The following are anything NOT related specifically to my passion of Christian spirituality. That list would easily trump this one:

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Little Grey Men by Denys Watkins-Pitchford
Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser
The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen Lawhead
Dance of the Wu-Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics by Gary Zukav
The Camerons by Robert Crichton
The Last Spike by Pierre Berton
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
White Fang by Jack London
People of the Deer by Farley Mowat
The Carmina Gadelica by Alexander Carmichael (possible exception to above exception)
The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Oxford Publishing
The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Oxford Publishing
The Sonnets of William Shakespeare
Roget’s Thesaurus (no, really)

Robert, have you read the song of albion series by Lawhead–my favorite by him. Lots of meat on the bones of your list!

Yes to Peterson, Dillard, Nouwen, Willard. Then Frederick Buechner (anything). David James Duncan (The Brothers K). Anne Lamott (anything). The last book that shook me is ‘If Grace is True’ by Gulley and Mulholland.

Kelly, I’m going to have to look at that last one, new to me. We have a battered copy of the Brothers K here–everyone in the family has read it. Thanks!

What a great idea to share the books that have helped form us! Here is my list:
1. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
2. Watership Down by Richard Adams
3. Answers to Prayer by George Mueller
4. Christ the Sum of All Spiritual Things by Watchman Nee
5. Desiring God by John Piper
6. The Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins edited by Robert Bridges
7. The Weight of Glory (essay) by C.S. Lewis
8. The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
9. Catholic Matters by Richard John Neuhaus
10.Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
11. The Poem as Sacrament by Philip Ballinger
12. Saving Leonardo by Nancy Pierce
13. Apologia Pro Vita Sua by John Henry Newman

Roughly in order from young days to days of late! AFter pressing send, I thought of my final two books, to make a total of 15. I would add Thomas Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion and C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. And there you have it! How fun to read other people’s lists as well and find common denominators.

I shall answer the invitation but know that within hours I will say ” Oh ! I should have included that one!” …
1. The Book of the Dun Cow – Walter Wangerin
2. Watership Down – Richard Adams
3. My Name is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok
4. Improving Your Serve – Charles Swindoll
5. Christ the Sum of All Spiritual Things – Watchman Nee
6. A Severe Mercy – Sheldon Vanauken
7. Out of Solitude – Henri Nouwen
8. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
9. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexander Dumas
10. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
11. The Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkein
12. Perelandra – C.S. Lewis
13. The Mitford Series – Jan Karon
14. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
15. The Prodigal God – Timothy Keller

Thanks for sharing everyone! Excited to check out some of those titles for this summer! Soos… We have some overlaps! This my list from childhood to now in order of reading with asterisks ones that had the most impact on my life…

1. The Giver – Lois Lowry
2. *The Bronze Bow – Elizabeth George Speare
3. *Les Miserables – Victor Hugo (This book brought me to understand and feel God’s immense grace and love and started me on my personal journey of knowing Him)
4. Confessions- St. Augustine
5. *The Irresistible Revolution – Shane Claiborne
6. A Severe Mercy – Sheldon Vanauken
7. *Captivating – John Eldredge
8. *Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind – Bill Johnson
9. For Women Only (Shaunti Christine Feldhan) – Thanks for the rec Jeff Reed 🙂
10. Love and Respect (Emmerson Eggerichs)
11. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man – John Perkins
12. The Heavenly Man – Brother Yun
11. The Lord of the Rings Series – J.R. Tolkien
12. *A Culture of Honor – Danny Silk
13. *Destined to Reign – Joseph Prince

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