30 books to read by 30
I'm cheating by adding "and/or"!
1. Eiger Dreams or Into Thin Air - John Krakauer
You read, Into the Wild, didn't you John? You might have read these two, but if you haven't, I think you would enjoy them and relate to Krakauer personally, especially in Eiger Dreams.
2. Anything by Terry Pratchett
Granddaddy Richard and Aunt Julie both love this author. I've only read one of his, I can't remember what, something about a young witch learning the ropes. I think his Disc World series is his most famous.
3. Jesus as Precursor - Robert Funk, or Jesus and the Disinherited - Howard Thurman
These two books kinda helped me re-commit to Christianity in college. I expect I wouldn't enjoy Jesus as Precursor as much now, but I re-read Jesus and the Disinherited last year and was moved once again by Thurman's faith.
4. What if? - Randall Munroe.
Richard also lent me this book after he read it. So awesome and so funny!
5. The Half Has Never Been Told - Edward Baptist
An economic analysis of interstate slave trade to and colonization of Tenn/Alabama/Miss/Texas, and how all that ties into U.S. economic super-growth. It's a lot to get through, but very much involves our family. He even begins book by describing how enslaved folks were marched from Danville west and south along routes we now drive frequently.
6. The Education of Little Tree - Forrest Carter
A sweet book, sent to me as a bday gift by Aunt Marrietta, that brought tears to my eyes; I read it one day in HS when I was home sick. Little did I know of its dark and ugly background. Look on youtube for "The Reconstruction of Asa Carter." I think we are related to one of Asa's co-conspirators in their planned attack of Nat King Cole. Also Henry Louis Gates Jr wrote a very good NYtimes piece about the book.
7. Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
Living in the mountains of NC, if you haven't read it, you will enjoy it!
7. Holes - Louis Sachar
Didn't you have to read this at some point? I've found it - usually, but not always - very fun to pick up books I read as a kid (I didn't read very many).
8. The Hobbit
For example, until I read this as an adult, I didn't realize how well it was written for youth. Very very charming experience.
9. a story collection by Sherman Alexie
I've read a lot of his stuff, so I'm not sure which to recommend. Pick a short story collection.
10. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
I enjoyed all her books, and I'm not sure which I liked the best. But this one is the funniest, I think.
11. Moby Dick or The Encantadas - Herman Melville
I took a class on him and loved it; these two especially.
12. Ficciones or Labyrinths or another story collection - Jorge Luis Borges
I took a class on him too! Also awesome. The Library of Babel and the Lottery of Babylon both stick with me. Kinda dark philosophical-dilemma, mind-bendy stuff. Very much something Christopher Nolan would like.
13. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
Speaking of trippy stories! A wild tour of late-hippie life.
14. The Miracle of Mindfulness - Thich Nhat Hanh
I wish I could hang out with him for a year or two. Ready anything by him.
15. the Rule of St. Benedict
This is something I return to regularly. Be careful not to sleep with your knife in your belt! Benedict edited as much or more than he wrote. There's so much experience packed into this little book.
16. Sayings of Desert Fathers and Mothers
I'm not sure which collections I've read. I do really like Benedicta Ward's writing style.
17. The Life of St Antony - Athanasius
18. Some biography of St. Francis
I can't remember which ones I've read. I know I read G.K. Chesterton's book on St Francis, which I enjoyed. But Chesterton's personality is so strong, it sometimes masks his subject. He has a fun, apologetic, sometimes exaggerated voice; sometimes it's annoying. Heretics is a fun book of his.
19. War and Peace - Tolstoy
This really is an awesome book. So many cool characters and scenes, and so much dramatic history. Tolstoy's diatribes against the "great man" theory of history get repetitive. Granddaddy David told me a couple times, even before he listened to the book, that he identified with a particular famous scene - where Prince Andrei is injured in battle, is lying on his back staring at the wide sky, and has a spiritual redirection moment (the first of several). https://bigbook2018.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/andreis-infinite-sky/
Granddad said he had such a moment once as a boy, lying in the field by the plow while his Dad went to get something, staring at the sky, feeling a benevolent force in the universe. I think he called it a great "friendliness."
20. Zen and the Birds of Appetite - Thomas Merton
I read a lot of his stuff for a couple years; I'm not sure what to recommend. I'm not as big a fan as I used to be, for some reason.
21. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
One of my favorites, I think. If you read it, I recommend Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie as a sequel.
22. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
I really struggled with it in HS but really appreciated it the second time through. Achebe has a seminal lecture/essay confronting it's racism.
23. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Kim by Rudyard Kipling
I definitely recommend reading these two back to back. Great stories with lots of similar racist and colonialist innerworkings.
24. Ancient Turkey: A Traveller's History - Seyton Lloyd
One of my favorites from travels in Turkey
25. Any book about Islamic architecture
I don't know why exactly, but I feel very attached to domed mosques. so periodically I'll check out a big picture or history book about Islamic art and/or architecture.
26. The Cloud of Unknowing
Another book that doesn't get old for me. It's the inspiration for the "centering prayer" movement.
27. A book by Martin Laird
He's my favorite contemplative prayer author. His books are Into the Silent Land, A Sunlit Absence, and An Ocean of Light
28. Jesus the Baptist - Richard Vinson
When I was trying to read a handful of books about historical Jesus work/research, Dad sent me this unfinished manuscript. He gives a great introduction to the subject, and then presents some of his findings and arguments. I really really enjoyed it.
29. A River Runs Through It, and Other Stories - Norman Maclean
So beautiful, and it makes you want to move out west.
30. Something by Shakespeare that you were forced to read in school
Go back and read it again. I bet it will be a very different experience. It has been for me.
