Saturday, November 20, 2004

Why are you reading this post?

Why aren't you reading a book? Is it because you think you've read every good book ever written? Have you read these?

THE TEN BOOKS I WISH EVERYONE WOULD READ AND DISCUSS WITH EVERYONE ELSE

(Nonfiction)
1. Telling the Truth; the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale (Frederick Buechner)
2. Orthodoxy (G. K. Chesterton)
3. Soul Survivor (Philip Yancey)
4. Addicted to Mediocrity (Franky Schaeffer)
5. The Ragamuffin Gospel (Brennan Manning)

(Fiction)
1. Till We Have Faces (C. S. Lewis)
2. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)
3. Short Stories (Flannery O’Connor)
4. The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien)
5. The Death of Ivan Ilych (Leo Tolstoy)

I don’t mean to sound snooty, I just thought that (maybe) if you had enough time you’d be better off spending it reading one of these books than my blog.

4 comments:

Eucharisto said...

Good point. And good list. I've only fully read 2 of those on the list, and am in the middle of reading 4 of them. The other 4 I haven't even seen yet, but am looking forward with great interest to reading them. I got Orthodoxy for my birthday, so I will probably read it first, but if I could add a book to your list on a whim, I'd add Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I also got it for my B-day. I have to admit, I'm quite book hungry right now, so I think that's what I'll do right now. Go read a book!

Mat Brewster said...

I've only read these.

4. The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien)
5. The Death of Ivan Ilich (Leo Tolstoy)

I just finnished reading my library collection and was wandering what I should read next. Your list will be quite handy my next library visit. Let's just hope the darn French libraries will have one of them.

Can't we read books AND your blog?

JD said...

What is The Life of Evan Ilich about? I think I've read that one.

Mat Brewster said...

"The Death of Ivan Ilych" is about the death of this guy named Ivan Ilych. Ok, smart answer I know. Actually that is rather true because his death, or rather pending death, is exactly what the book is about. Ilych is an upper class guy who has never given any thought to mortality and his own life, until he is confronted by the fact he is about to die. He is an unreflective person suddenly confronted by Truth. Ok, I stole part of that from amazon.com but only because its been years since I read it and my brain is a little fuzzy. It was an excellent book though.