Book Recommendations

• The Bible.  By far the most influential anthology of literature in the western world.  Many post-modern Americans avoid reading the Bible because they wrongly assume it is composed of proof-texts for religious doctrines.  Rather, it contains some of the most profound and beautiful poems, stories, letters, and theological musings between two covers.

• Oedipus the King, Sophocles.  Don't be put off by the label Greek Tragedy.  This ancient story of the King of Thebes is as vital and relevant today as it was in 5th century Athens.  You won't find a more moving rumination on the nature of leadership, the philosophical dilemma of fate vs. free will, or the agony and ecstasy of the human condition.

• Confessions, St. Augustine.  This great thinker of the early Christian era was a teacher of rhetoric before his adult conversion.  One of the first ever autobiographies, Augustine's Confessions blend personal reflection, spiritual examination, and philosophical treatise into a highly readable book loved by millions.  For many, the definition of a great book is one that yields new insights every time you return to it--this book certainly does that for me.

• Interior Castle, Teresa of Avila.  Medieval mystics aren't for everybody, but Teresa's lyrical instruction manual on prayer, written for the nuns in her convent, takes the reader deeper and deeper into seven stages, seven crystal castles, of spiritual growth.  I know, this is pretty esoteric stuff, but Teresa's metaphors are riveting.  If you like this, take a look also at the writings of Julian of Norwich, Bernard of Clairvaux, and St. John of the Cross.

• Hamlet, William Shakespeare.  Experiencing this play, whether on the page, live on stage, or on film is to stand at the crossroads of western civilization.  In addition to telling a ripping good story, practically every idea important to us is embedded in its poetry.  I know the language is difficult; everything worth doing is difficult--deal with it!

• Walden, Henry David Thoreau.  Along with his friend Emerson and the poet Walt Whitman, Thoreau was one of the first uniquely American personalities.  The story is simple: Thoreau went to live in the woods alone for a year to see what life was about free of distractions, and then he wrote this book from his journals.  "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived . . . "

• Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton.  Chesterton was a prolific, best-selling celebrity author during his lifetime (late 19th/early 20th century).  But his plays, novels, poems, articles, and lectures have fallen out of fashion with the arbiters of contemporary literary taste--a damn shame.  This book is a good introduction to his witty, erudite, and unconventional defense of what he calls "the romance of orthodoxy."

• Collected Poems, Robert Frost.  Poetry in the 20th century was divided into two camps: those who thought poetry should be dense, allusive, and difficult, and those who thought poetry should be readable, accessible, and popular.  Frost placed himself firmly in the second camp.  His poems continue to sing to me about how sad and how sweet life is.

• Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis.  An Oxford Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature and a WWI veteran, Lewis was invited to give a series of radio talks on the BBC during the early days of WWII.  A well-reasoned discussion of how one might come to an authentic life of faith in the midst of a largely secular culture, the radio talks resulted in this now classic book.  If you like this, read The Screwtape Letters next.

• Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien.  Also an Oxford scholar and survivor of the Battle of Somme, Tolkien and a handful of friends, including Lewis, regularly met in a local pub to read each other their latest stories.  Laced with Tolkien's Catholic theology, Norse mythology, and love for "fairie stories," LOTR is perhaps the closest any modern author has come to writing a true epic.  The movies are cool, but they don't/can't tell the whole story.