I have decided to list the books that changed my life . . . not the best books I have read. How to get on the list? First, I have read it more than ten times. Second, I can see the cover of my first copy in my mind’s eye. Third, it is a book I have carried to an event that had nothing to do with the book. Fourth, I sometimes quote it by acccident. These are not all great books, or even good books, but at some time in my life they moved me to action.
1. The Bible
I don’t remember a time when the stories of this book were not being read to me and I read it every day. My parents raised me in an atmosphere super-saturated with this Book of Books.
2. That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis)
Torrey is based on the image of Saint Anne’s in this book. This is the truest account of the state of the West written in the last one hundred years. I have read it every year since I was ten (or so).
3. Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
I have read this book every year of my life since seventh grade. Even the smallest hobbit can do great things for God.
4. Republic (Plato)
The two years spent with this book and Al Geier were the most academically productive of my life. Since then, I have come to find almost every truth needed in the pages of this book, saving only the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Nicholas and Alexandra (Massie)
This book seized my imagination and still makes me cry.
6. A Severe Mercy (Vanauken)
My favorite book on love, marriage, and the problem of pain.
7. Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis)
I still hope the elevator in Sutherland (my college building) will open to Narnia someday.
8. Divine Comedy (Dante)
The most influential book of the last four years of my life.
9. Timaeus (Plato)
This is the first and last word on science for me.
10. Reason in the Balance (Johnson)
The book that still shapes the educational experience at Torrey.
March 23rd, 2010 | 1:49 pm | #1
I suppose 9 and 10 speak volumes about the regard for science at Torrey (or rather the lack thereof).
March 24th, 2010 | 12:40 pm | #2
Love that you love A Severe Mercy.
March 24th, 2010 | 7:43 pm | #3
Now that I think about it, The Chronicles of Narnia would have to go on my list of books that have most influenced me over my lifetime, as well.
I read them as a child (around age 7, and re-read them later) and loved them, but purely as fantasy. I had never been to church and never been exposed to the Bible or any religious concepts whatsoever, so I didn’t even get the slightest echo of Jesus.
Then I read them again after I knew a little something about Christianity, enough to think that it was stupid superstition. At that point, I got really angry with Lewis for spoiling a good story with setting traps for the reader to sucker them into believing these things.
Then I read them again in my late twenties, when I was doing my doctoral dissertation on the history of the modern fantasy novel. I had a chapter on Religious Fantasy, so I had to look at them seriously again. My intellectual honesty apparently won out over my axe to grind, because as I analyzed them, I came to the different conclusion that these were actually, still, really good books. I was also reading a lot of writing on fantasy, including Tolkien’s seminal essay “On Fairy-Stories,” and reflecting on the way that the authors’ Christian faith was essential to the way they told their stories. I came to the grudging conclusion that it was OK for Lewis to believe these things, and to show that he believed them in the stories, and it was still possible for a confirmed atheist like myself to enjoy them.
A few years later, I found myself seriously exploring issues of faith and (much to my surprise and consternation) coming closer and closer to accepting the truth of Christianity. This was a very very hard thing for me. One of the things that helped me a great deal was re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia once more. The figure of Aslan was tremendously helpful to me because it allowed me to approach the idea of the Incarnation sideways, to — exactly as Lewis hoped — get past my watchful dragons, but for me the watchful dragons were of my militant and fearful atheism.
And now I can re-read them and rejoice that they are not only wonderful stories, but true.
March 25th, 2010 | 11:20 am | #4
To both Chris writers: Try my book “When Athens Met Jerusalem” for a justification of these claims.
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