Great Books

[Geoffrey von Westtal† 0]

Hello folks! I was curious, what kind of books do you all read? Any books someone would call great, or classic?

Here's a list of what I'm reading, please share your own!

• An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Frances de Sales
• On Moral Fiction by John Gardner
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (Christian Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi for the win!)
• Mystery and Manners by Flannery O' Connor
• Praying for Beginners by Peter Kreeft (I am very, very bad at prayer, this book helps so much.)
• Linking your Beads: The Rosary's History, Mysteries and Prayers

 

 

[Lu-Man† 0]

I enjoy reading.  I usually just read fiction, however.  Nothing I'd put on a Christian list except for the Odd Thomas series.  I also read Stephen King, but its just not a good idea to list any of his books on a christian list.

[EllieDachshi† 0]

I currently read for a living, so a lot of the books I am required to read (or read otherwise) wouldn't be good for the list, but:

 

Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

How to Pray When You're Pissed at God by Ian Punnett (I haven't read it yet, but it's coming up soon)

Islam by Karen Armstrong (I recommend this as a good learning tool)

Abraham by Bruce Feiler

 

Those are just a few...

[Chakram† 0]

I will read anything by

CS Lewis

 

Also if the bible counts I read that too

[Geoffrey von Westtal† 0]

One thing I'd like to mention is that we needn't be afraid to list non-Christian books. We can learn a lot from the examples of our non-Christian brothers if we have a discerning eye guided by God.

That said, C.S. Lewis is one of my favorites, so I'm tickled that other people read him as well. I should re-read Mere Christianity, I haven't read it since my conversion, so it'd be interesting to come at it from a Catholic perspective. What books to people most like from Mr. Lewis?

Is anyone reading classics of literature, such as the Confessions of St. Augustine, the Aeneid, or the Illiad? Beowulf? The Grimm Fairy Tales?

[EllieDachshi† 0]

I'm glad you mentioned that it's okay to list non-Christian book, Geoffrey. *wags*

 

Last night I finished reading Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton which was really good. The movie, as I'm sure you all know, was great, but the book was even better which I found amazing! Red-Tails in Love by Marie Winn is a great book. It's about people who love birding and the tale of how they watch the life cycle of hawks nesting in the Central Park in New York. It's pretty fascinating that hawks can do that amongst humans so efficiently. As furries, I think that it's especially interesting, but that might just be my opinion. The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner is another good one. It's about happiness around the world. It's pretty interesting to see how it's measured and what makes a person happy culturally in the east and in the west.  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is a mysterious story that I want to be a series. The author has taken old photos that he's found and built a story around them. It's creepy and poignant and almost the kind of thing you don't want to read with the lights off. Dog on It by Spencer Quinn - mysteries being solved by a dog! I suppose that'll do for now. Like I said, love to read.

[James SilverWolf† 1]

Well in my case Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" stand out as my favorites, of those "The Last Battle", "The Magician's Nephew", and "The Voyage of The Dawn Treader" stand out for me, but not by much, for the whole thing can read/viewed as a single volume, as easily as if it were all within one cover, which is impressive.  However, I have not read those lately, or much of anything with an actual physical cover on it.  Being a researcher, much of what I read online tends to be of a more obscure nature, texts/articles on secret societies, F.O.I.A. released documents, government and military manuals etc, articles addressing such abominations as trans-humanism and perversity that the puppets of evil are trying to legalize, many materials that may be considered bleak or depressing for people, despite their informational content. There is also Mythology and Folklore (such as "Oregon's Ghosts and Monsters") in that mix, learning of various so-called gods, the cosmology and theology of other cultures etc. which is not to say I'm void of classics, things such as "Treasure Island", "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", Sherlock Holmes mysteries (Of which, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" was my favorite), and even "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" prove informative and insightful.

 

As an aside, anyone that has trouble with spooks/devilish entities or is interested in their modes of operation should give "The Screwtape Letters"  (Also by Lewis) a read.  Finally, there is also a space trilogy that Lewis wrote, and while it does provide a good reason why there are not "aliens" visiting earth, I found one bit in the second book be a bit "heavy", not so much the reading, but rather "heavy" in the sense of emotional situation with dire consequences. (The Trilogy, for those curious is "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra", and "That Hideous Strength".)  I have yet to finish it.

 

P.S. Tolkien's works are also fun, "The Hobbit", the Lord of the Rings series and "The Silmarillion" All well worth reading in their entirety.

[Direlda† 0]

Hmmm...

 

I just recently read Persepolis (1 and 2) by Marjane Satrapi, The Young Unicorns by Madeline L'Engle, Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies, and maybe something else.

 

My stack of books to read includes works by St. Benedict, St. Athanasias, G.K. Chesterton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Immanuel Kant, James Joyce, Natsume Sōseki, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Arthur Schopenhauer, and C.S. Lewis.  Also in there are books on astronomy, drawing, folklore/mythology, ham radio, medieval Europe, Japan, linguistics, Old English, and writing.  And I need to find works by and about Søren Kierkegaard.  Plus whatever my wife is planning to have me read.