Book Recommendations

[cbwing0]

"Ever read a book that changed your life? Me neither...I don't have the attention span" (Jim Gaffigan)

Joking aside, given that fact that there are well over 100,000,000 unique books in existence, the chances that any two people will have read the same books is very slim. For this reason, I've created a thread for book recommendations.

Here are my arbitary rules, that you may choose to follow or ignore:

1.The Bible-I think we've already established that everyone should read this, so I don't want to see anybody poking in with "sunday school" suggestions along these lines.

Ok, so that is really the only one.

I'll start:

1."The Son Rises," by William Lane Craig-A good, concise introduction to the historical evidence for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2."The Aeneid," by Virgil-A classic in the truest sense of the word. I personally like this better than either the "Iliad" or "Odyssey" of Homer, because it combines elements of both into a story to which modern readers can more easily relate.

Of course I could do more, but I will save them for later.

So, what do you recommend?

[Icarus]

The Saga of Recluse, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. If pressed to describe it, I'd say it's geo-political fantasy, with a point. Not necessarily one I agree with, but a point none the less.

As for warnings about content, love scenes are handled very delicately; swearing is almost anything less than "F"; violence isn't terribly graphic; and there is magic.

Speaking of the magic, it is obviously fantasy, but there is a sort of logic to it. You have order, and you have chaos, black and white, respectively. Nothing can live with out some chaos, but too much chaos is a problem.

[SPOILER= grey mages]There happens to be a group of mages that try to balance the two. The really good ones find a way to make the chaos in their bodies drive the order.[/SPOILER]

Anyway, I'd recommend it for about 15 and up.

[Technomancer]

The books that have had the most impact on me:

Cosmos- Carl Sagan Basically, it's nothing less than a look at the human place in the universe.

The Ascent of Man- Jacob Bronowski This is a history of science, and the development of human culture. It is history in the grandest sense.

Civilization- Sir Kenneth Clarke A sister book of Bronowski's. Where Bronowski examined science, Clarke surveys art history. The book has a lot to do with how historical tempers have been reflected in western art from the Dark Ages to the present day.

*If you can find them, read the hardcover editions of the above books since they are as much visual as they are textual.

Silence- Endo Shusako A fictional account of a Jesuit missionary in Japan during the persecutions. Another must read is Endo's "The Samurai"

The Sparrow- Mary Doria Russell
The Children of God- Mary Doria Russell
The above two books concern the fate of the first Jesuit mission to another world. The first book is a recounting of the mission from the point of view of the sole survivor. The second involves his return.


The Lord of the Rings- Tolkien

[kirakira]

The Firebird trilogy(Firebird, Fusion Fire, and Crown of Fire)-by Kathy Tyers. Sci-fi written by a Christian lady. I reallyreally enjoyed them, although not so much the StarWars books she wrote. -_-

The Lays of Beleriand-Tolkien Ok, this is one of my all-time favorite books^^ Epic poetry of Middle Earth

[Technomancer]

One book that people might find of interest is "The Trouble with Islam" by Irshad Manji. She's a Canadian journalist and Muslim and in the book discusses the troubling reactionary direction of Islam today. The book is not meant to be scholarly history, but instead is written in an easy, informal manner and draws heavily on her own personal experiences.

As well (and not at all on the same subject), I'd highly recommend Yann Martel's recent book "The Life of Pi". This one is hard to describe, suffice it to say it involves one boy's spiritual growth while being trapped on a liferaft with a Bengal tiger. the link below explains more.
The Life of Pi

Another book that I greatly recommend is Caitlin Sweet's debut novel "A Telling of Stars". This one is epic in scope, starting off as one girl's quest to avenge her murdered family. The writing is very poetic, and this book is definately one of the best fantasy novels that I have read recently.

[laka]

well the 'Cat Who' series by Lilian Jackson Braun have taught and entertained me since I started reading them 3 years ago. It's a murder mystery series but nothing too gross.
another murder mystery series 'the sneaky pie brown series'by Rita Mae Brown. This one is a little..... nobody who gets grossed out easily shouldn't read this series. this series is realistic like the other one only this ones from the animals perspective.
Both series' the animal is the one that actually solve the mysteries but give their human partners clues and into trouble.

[EireWolf]

I'd recommend anything by Madeleine L'Engle. Not only her fantasy novels (A Wrinkle in Time, etc.) but also her nonfiction (Walking on Water, Penguins and Golden Calves, etc.).

I'd also recommend most anything by Stephen Lawhead. He is a Christian author, although he is not for younger readers as some battle scenes are rather graphic. He writes historical fiction, Celtic fantasy, and a little sci-fi. I'm currently re-reading the Pendragon Cycle (about Merlin, Arthur, etc.).

[The Grammarian]

I'd personally recommend W.E. Sangster's The Pure In Heart. If you thought A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God was a good book, you should love Sangster. The book was originally given as a lecture series in an English university. It is made up of four different parts. The first deals with how we define and experience holiness throughout history. The second deals with what criteria different bodies of Christians have used to determine the level of holiness or conformity to Christ's image in a given person ('saints', not in a Catholic sense, but not in a Biblical sense either). The third is an exposition of 1 Corinthians 13, very scholarly and colored with moving anecdotal stories. The fourth part deals with the practices these saints found most helpful in their spiritual journeys.

A similar book, more recent and more easily found, though not nearly as good (in my opinion), is Richard Foster's A Celebration of Discipline.

[uc pseudonym]

Hmm. I have nothing particularly unique to recommend, but I wish to observe this thread for the sake of finding reading material of my own. I suppose that I can still recommend a few:

The Case for Christ
The Case for Faith (both by Lee Strobal)
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Discworld Series by Terry Prachet (that's about 25 books in one...)

[greyscale42]

Jurrassic Park. This book is one of the best written as well as its sequel because its fictional action-packed and suspensful but it also manages to bring up countless points and views on Theology and science. In particular, it tals alot about Chaos Theory. This book is a must read.

[Pantakrator]

Christian Books;

Elijah- William H. Stephens
Awesome book!!! For any of you guys interested in Elijah, you must read this book.

Life on the Edge- Dr. James Dobson
I found this one helpful in many different areas.

Twice Pardoned- Harold Morris
I enjoyed this one immensely. The fact that it's a true story makes it even better.

Any Frank Peretti book. Even his children series are well written...

Vote of Intolerance- Josh McDowell and Ed Stewart
Decent book about tolerance, set in the guise of fiction.

I Kissed Dating Goodbye- Joshua Harris
Whether you agree with the point or not, it's still a good read.

Non-Christian Books;
Warning: Some of these books I'm about to list are not for kids, at all. Alot of people may not even agree with me posting them. While I generally disagree with the author's view I nonetheless think thay are worth reading, if only to effectively present Christ's will to certain groups. With that...

The Turner Diaries- William Pierce (Andrew Macdonald)
An interseting and, IMHO, well written look into the thoughts of white supremists. I am in no way endorsing the ideas found in the book, but I think it's woth reading to understand a mindset that seems to be becoming more prevelant.

Lord of the Flies- William Golding
Very good book. As a Christiian I viewed this book as a showing of a lost world. Some people disagree...

Blood on the Plains- Walter Lucas
Good western.

Maus- Art Spiegelman
Ok, I admit it's not a real book. Good GN on how a man and his son deal with WWII

A Song of Fire and Ice Series- George R.R. Martin
Very good fantasy...



Well, that's all I can think of for now. Later.

[bigsleepj]

Hmmmm. My problem is I have very little favourites. I don't believe in setting up Top 10 lists...but I do have which I page through now and then and have the ideas fill my head.

Shusaku Endo's "Silence" has been mentioned I see. This is one of the most disturbing books I've read (disturbing in a good way) and that's saying a lot considering that I did my share of horror-reading once upon a time. It's about a Jesuit Missionary who goes to Japan during the Christian Persecutions of the 1600s. Some Christians may not like this, but if they read between the lines they'll see an amazing work of spiritual fiction.

"The Man who was Thursday" by Gilbert Keith Chesterton is one of the most bizarre books I've read. It's as if this book was a collaborations between the Wachowski Brothers and Monty Python attempting to write a James Bond spoof, but it's all the more amazing considering that it was written in 1908. It has philosophy, surreal humor, surrealism and undercover spywork...and all of it in the most complex Christian Allegory of all time! It could take you months to figure out the book's end (I'm still thinking about it two years later) but, even the ending puts you off, you'll still enjoy the surreal ride. The story is this; Gabriel Syme is a Poet and a rebel against rebellion. He's part of a new Scotland Yard police team whose job it is to root out Anarchists. Not the normal people who follow the anarchist's philosophy, but psychopaths who, under the disguise of anarchism and rebellion, plan to destroy the world for the fun of it. After infiltrating their council (in which each character is named after the day of the week) Syme begins to wonder who each member of the council is. And, worst of all, who is their leader, President Sunday... To reveal more would be a crime against humanity. Since it's an old book, it is available on Bartleby.com. Chesterton, the author, by the way, wrote a book called "The Everlasting Man" which helped an atheist called CS Lewis become a Christian. Even Neil Gaimann likes Chesterton; the worst you can do is try it.

[Technomancer]

One book I've read recently that I recommend above all others: "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books" by Azar Nafisi

The book forms the real-life memoirs of a former professor of English Literature who taught at the University of Tehran. It describes a reading group she formed from former students dedicated to discussing forbidden works of Western literature. The book wanders from the reading group, and musings on the nature of art and literature to the various events from the early days of the Iranian revolution. Dr. Nafisi's prose is first-rate, as are her reflections. One of the images from the book that I especially liked was the fact that Iran's top film censor was a blind man.

[Zedian]

I decided to pick up Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" which presented itself to be more controversial than it was really chalked up to be. But in any case I was profoundly moved by the thrilling immersion of how the esoteria of the past 2,000 years of western history was use so well in the book. It to me was more of a murder mystery than anything else but with some glances of a secret religious society called the Priority of Scion full of members like Da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton Victor Hugo and more. Actually the Priority of Scion is real and some have claim this book to be a agenda for what is bound to happen with a religious group claiming to be Christian. In any case I have enjoyed it so far, but it requires some second reading to get it.

Well, I did a research paper on it but I suggest picking up a copy of Giglamesh. Any translation is good though I read Mason's, which soaked out alot of the detail from the original Cuneiform scriptures. It's about a king named Giglamesh who was ruler of the people of Uruk and condemmed his people to the Babylonians. The kingdom of Uruk existed between the Euprhates and was Iraq before modern-day Iraq emerged. There is some cross-relation between this tale and the bible. Particularly when the god Anu summons a flood to befall the land. Good reading I say.

I need to do some more reading seriously.

[Yeshua-Knight]

i don't know how many of you are into comic books or superheroes (ex. superman, spider-man, etc...), but i just happened upon a really interesting book called "who needs a superhero?", it's a book that examines the biblical themes found in various comic books, it also uses the superheroes as ways of expressing spiritual truths that are present in our everyday lives,

example, it goes into how captain america uses his shield that is made from an indestructable material to protect himself from things that are meant to kill him, this is like God protecting us from things He doesn't want us to go through
then it compares that to being like wolverine, who has a skeleton coated in the same material and a super ability to heal himself, so that even when he does get hit by whatever is meant to kill him, he is able to come back from whatever it was that was meant against him, this is like those things coming our way that are meant to destroy us and we are given the internal strength to persevere through them by the grace of God

we are blessed by God with protection from many of the evils in the world, we are also blessed by God with the internal strength so that even when we do get exposed to the evils in the world, we can move forward, and we have at the end a city of gold to look forward to as our final destination

[soul alive]

i second the recommendation for the Lilian Jackson Braun "Cat Who..." series as well as Rita Mae Brown's "Mrs. Murphy Mysteries" series. sadly though, it seems the publisher for Braun's books has been experimenting lately with different ghost writers (or Mrs. Braun is losing her touch...) and the more recent books just don't compare with the earlier books in the series .

Francine Rivers' books are also very good, and i would highly recommend the "Mark of the Lion" trilogy.

i greatly enjoy CS Lewis's work, and would recommend any of his books, fiction and non-fiction, especially "Screwtape Letters" and "Mere Christianity" and of course "The Chronicles of Narnia."

there are many more (scores and scores) that i would recommend, so i will leave it there for now.

[Muopii]

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques may be directed towards a younger audience, but they're still some of my faves.

[Lehn]

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

It takes you a while to get into, but once you do it hits you like a ton of bricks. One of those books you must read in your life time. Really.

[flashjack]

Terry Pratchetts Discworld Series. He is pure gold in humour and satire.

[Jman]

Crispin - Just plain good, about a boy who is delacired a wolfs head (anyone can kill him and not get in trouble) so its about his journys to freedom!

LOTR Series - Kinda awesome!!

The outsiders - its about this gang. very sad story

There are some other titles but I do not read often...

[Maledicte]

something for everyone...:-)
Christian nonfiction: The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
Christian fiction: Rora by James Byron Huggins...excellent excellent excellent
Fantasy: Any Dragonlance book by MArgaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and the Darkangel trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce
Horror: Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Sci-Fi: the Empyrion Saga by Stephen R. Lawhead
Mystery: A Taste for Death by P.D. James and EVERY SINGLE sherlock Holmes mystery by Sir Arthur conan Doyle
Historical: byzantium by stephen r. Lawhead, The Wolf Hunt by gillian Bradshaw
Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo by alexandre Dumas, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony burgess

[Arnobius]

My Favorites
Christian novel: Quo Vadis
Japanese novel: Battle Royale (No, not the manga. This is the novel that everything else was based on).
Fantasy: Hmm, don't have anything. Used to like the Wheel of Time series, but now, it's just too long with no sign of ending.
Religion: anything by Joseph Ratzinger.
Non-anime graphic novel: Persepolis I (I didn't like part 2 though)

[Solid Ronin]

SHOGUN!!!!!!! - this book has quite a bit of profanity and sexual content so you may wanna try to reserch it before you get into it...

[Maledicte]

YES!!!!!! shogun rocks. all 1300 pages of it!!!!!
oh, you should also read King Rat. It's a lot shorter but just as good.
I...must...finish...Tai-pan....*collapses from sheer exhaustion* *or, alternately, starts a shorter, dumber novel*
by the way, Shogun and all the other aforementioned novels were written by James Clavell
Oh, Pillars of the EArth by Ken Follet is another good historical novel...once again, a bit of blood and sex but still worth the read (at nine hundred pages!!!! and if you don't like it, "at least, in hardcover, it can be used to stun a burglar...which has always been my definition of good art"~Neil Gaiman)

[Needle Noggin]

I recomend:
The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas. Very good book about revenge.

I anti recomend: The Da Vinci Code . No character development, it is baddly written, and blatanty tries to spark controversy.Sparking controvesy is the only thing this book did well.

EDIT: These are some good history books

Viking History
A Short History of Byzantium(Short being 453 pages with small print)
What If? The History of What Could Have Been
Egyptian History at a Glance
Turkish Military Expansion Through the Years and
"Salt: A History of Salt". If you like "Condiments and History", this book is for you.

[Technomancer]

Another very good book that some people might be interested in is "War" by Gwynne Dyer (a Canadian military historian and former instructor at Sandhurst in the UK). There's now a new edition out, which encompasses the events since the first one was published back in 1985. It's a superb book on the subject of war and is well worth reading.

A condensed version of the last chapter is also available at:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1230-05.htm

[true_noir_chloe]

The Color of Water, by James McBride. It is uniquely written interchanging first person voice from this young black reporter, back to his white Jewish mother. It was written because he wanted to pay respect to his mother and what she went through in an inter-racial marriage at the time - I think the early 50s to 60s. Very good and engrossing read. It's been awhile since I read it, but I still remember how much I loved it.

My favorite fiction writer has been Patricia Cornwell and her Kay Scarpetta series; but, unfortunately, she went downhill after The Potter's Field and changed the voice of her heroine, plus she went to third person, rather than first and the writing went downhill. She also left her earlier stance that she would never give the murderer's, rather the victims, a voice in her writing. Unlike many of the murder mystery writers who seem to glorify every wretched scene with a killer, she chose to keep their voice out. When that changed her writing changed for the worse. Other than that, any of her earliest stuff was the best murder mystery writing I've read.

I happily recommend anything written by Joni Eareckson Tada or Beth Moore for inspiration. They are not only inspirational, but technically fantastic writers who are very Biblically adept.

Jurassic Park was the best thing Michael Crichton wrote.

Hmm, I can't say I've read anything else which was overwhelmingly wonderful.

[Technomancer]

I don't know if I'd really call Cornwell's work 'mystery' instead of crime/police. The Brits tend to write better mysteries anyways I've found. My own picks for mystery writers would be

Ellis Peters- The Brother Cadfael series, set in 12th century Shrewsbury. The television series is excellent

Peter Tremayne- The Sister Fidelma series, which are set in 7th century Ireland and Britain. The author writes under a pseudonym and is apparently an expert on the ancient Celtic legal system (he wrote the first story as an illustration of how it worked)

Susanna Gregory- Matthew Bartholomew & Brother Michael, which are set in Cambridge shorty after the Black Death. The books are great but have quite convoluted plots.

Lyndsey Davis- The Didius Falco series, these are set in the Rome of emperor Vespasian. Another excellent series.

John Mortimer- Rumpole of the Bailey. It's not exactly mystery, but its still greatl.

[Photosoph]

I agree that Steven Lawhead is an excellent author. I'd highly recommend 'In the Hall of the Dragon King' as well as the other two in that fantasy trilogy: 'The Warlords of Nin' and 'The Sword and the Flame'. He's a christian author and his books reflect that well; not only are they well written and have a great storyline, they also have great morals etc. I've also read another book of Steven Lawhead's: Patrick. I enjoyed this one too, but I don't know if I agree with the whole Druid thing.

I am waiting eagerly to try some of his science-fiction books as well.

Also highly recommend C.S Lewis's Narnia series. I've always loved that series. ^_^