10 Books

Going around Facebook is this: "List in your status 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't take more than a few minutes and do not think too hard. They do not have to be the 'right' books or great works of literature, just ones that have affected you in some way."

I've been tagged twice, and I have mulled over the question since I first saw it on Facebook. But I am terrible at these sorts of lists because there is so much more I want to say. And that is what a blog is for, is it not? First, I am re-wording the question: "What 10 books or series have you been conscious of their effect on your life?"

1. The Bible, specifically the books of Psalms, Esther, Galatians, John and 1 John. I felt that I had to include this because the Bible has shaped not only my choices, but my parents and grandparents choices, which have in turned shaped my life in more ways than I can even comprehend.

2. "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S.Lewis, specifically The Horse and His Boy, specifically the part where Shasta meets the Lion on the pass. I can understand it intellectually, but this story has helped me know with my life what it means to be loved by God and for Him to desire a relationship with us. However, I still find myself realizing, "oh, I think that because of ... in Narnia" so these books have played a huge part in shaping my rational and imaginative mind.

3. "The Great Divorce" by C.S.Lewis, specifically the scene with the salamander on the guys shoulder. I understood this because of the story of Amanda's Dragon from Tales of the Kingdom (see 6) It has also given me the freedom to ask questions and not be satisfied with the answers I know.

4. "Till We Have Faces" by C.S.Lewis. I don't exactly know how this book has changed my life, but it threw my mind for such a turn that I don't think I could have been the same person if I hadn't read it.

5. "The Time Trilogy" by Madeline L'Engle. I limited it to the Time Triology, but really all the books I have ever read by Madeline L'Engle have challenged and shaped the way I think about things, whether it is the integration of science, fiction, and Christianity, or life and death, or the way our history influences us. In fact, probably the reason I put the Bible as #1 was due in part to L'Engle's influence.

6. "The Tales of the Kingdom" Series by David and Karen Maines, specifically the story of Thespia. Amanda loving a forbidden thing and Dirty being loved and everyone becoming Real when they enter the Sacred Flames have also been pretty significant.

7. "Heidi" by Joanna Spyri. This book started the journey of integrating Faith with all of life.

8. "Let's Start with Jesus" by Dennis Kinlaw. Perhaps all my presuppositions were challenged and reshaped while reading this book. Some of it had to do with life situations at the same time, some of it because of the conversations it fueled. Those questions that Lewis and L'Engle had planted in my mind had some place to go rather than just getting stuck in my head.

9. The Works of Shakespeare, especially Much Ado About Nothing, which taught me to enjoy Shakespeare and As You Like It, though this is kind of cheating because it wasn't the reading of the play, but the performance of it that changed my life forever. Merchant of Venice challenges me to love in radical ways. Hamlet challenges me to listen and forgive. Macbeth fuels my imagination. I could go on, but I won't.

10. "The Singing Tree" by Kate Seredy. I read this book 10 times in about 6 years. I still love the characters and I want to be a tree like the singing tree - a safe place where people can rest and sing their song before they face the hardship of the world again.

Honorable Mentions go to Les Miserables, though I discovered its power through the musical first, Crime and Punishment which is an amazing story and made all the stuff I learned in Philosophy classes make sense. I would also like to mention Anne of Green Gables because of the community that formed while reading it. There were a bunch of us girls reading it at the same time and we compared notes and talked about it quite a bit. And finally, Elizabeth Yates' books "The Journeyman," "Hue and Cry" and "The Next Fine Day," all continued the challenges to listen, to look for beauty, and to find connections between everything.

What books have changed your life?