Books I Couldn't Stop Thinking About
“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”
The Fault in our Stars, John Green
Rory Gilmore taught me never to go anywhere without a book in your handbag - not even the Leaning Tower of Pisa (see evidence below).
I've loved and laughed over too many stories to count, but there have been a smattering of Very Good Books (with capital letters) that have haunted me for far longer than the time it took to turn their pages. Each of these Very Good Books, I'm convinced, arrived in my life at precisely the moment the Holy Spirit had anointed for it, and spoken into my circumstances and spiritual growth in a way that nothing else could.
When I encounter a Very Good Book, it really does (as Hazel from TFioS puts it) fill me with a weird kind of evangelical zeal that won't rest until I've told EVERYONE about it. To be honest, I think it's a taster of what our zeal for the Bible should be - the overflow of enthusiasm that comes from a deeply moving personal encounter. My zeal for Very Good Books even sometimes propels me to make a list for public consumption (vis a vis, the following).
This isn't a list of books I like (if it was, then why the HECK aren't Harry Potter or The Book Thief on there?!). It's a list of books that changed the way I thought about God - or maybe, more accurately, books that revealed to me my misunderstandings of God. These are the books that have excavated the malformations of my heart.
And if you get a chance, dear friend for whom I am making this list, you should really read them 😉
Books I Couldn't Stop Thinking About (in no particular order, except that the first is the most important)
C.S. Lewis
If I could recommend one book to every human, this would be it. I can't even. It's just perfect.
Orual is one of the most honestly-sketched protagonists I've ever encountered, and her spiritual journey probes to the depths of what it means to be human. This was the last novel C.S. Lewis ever wrote, and both he and J.R.R. Tolkien considered it Lewis' best and most accomplished work.
Till We Have Faces arrived in my hands close to the end of my second year of NET, and I've re-read it a few times since then. For me, God anointed this book as a powerful antidote to self-pity, jealousy, and confusion about unfathomable circumstances - and continues to use it to safeguard against despondency and slavery to earthly projects.
Victor Hugo
I was predisposed to love the book Les Mis after several years of worshipping the musical. It was my post-NET holiday book, and is reminiscent of long days lying on the lawn in summer sunshine with an enormous cup of tea and a notebook for jotting down Victor Hugo's most profound thoughts.
If I had to summarise this book in one word, I'd say "Mercy". It's hugely powerful stuff, and is clearly the work of a Christian author well-aware of hypocrisies within the Church and within himself, but committed to seeing the light of Christ shine in all men. It's beautifully written (a bit long-winded in parts - I still haven't read most of the 13-chapter wholly-tangential account of the Battle of Waterloo) and well worth its weight.
Caryll Houselander
The perfect Advent read (as a dear friend of mine has discovered over the last few weeks while borrowing it). Houselander's spirituality and awareness of the value of emptiness and poverty is beautiful. Reading this book made me fall in love with the child Jesus in a whole new way, and rekindled my relationship with Mary after several years' hiatus. It's poetic, it's passionate, it's simple, it's intimate. I adore this book.
Michael Ende
I just finished reading this yesterday afternoon and spent most of dinner reading aloud pages and pages of handwritten notes to my (very patient) parents. I had watched the movie once upon a long long time ago and thought it was the most awful thing I'd ever seen. The book was better. It was also philosophically deep in ways I am still struggling to make sense of, but have been powerfully moved by. It grapples with the balance between excellence and humility; the role of desire in shaping our destiny; the journey towards becoming capable of loving. Though I believe Ende was actually an anthroposophist, there are strong Christian allegories in The Never-ending Story that, for me, kindled a deeper understanding of free will, Jesus' descent into hell, and the meaning of baptism.
Harper Lee
This is the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, in which Jean Louise (formerly known as the little girl 'Scout') returns to her native Alabama and struggles to come to terms with the backwards, racist, and often downright cruel social attitudes of her once-beloved hometown. It's got very little plot and a whole lot of delicious sociological and psychological depth - but for me its importance lay in the challenge to embrace other people, warts and all.
“[T]he time your friends need you is when they’re wrong, Jean Louise. They don’t need you when they’re right”. Too often in life, I've chosen to be around people that make me a better version of myself, and avoided those whose behaviours or attitudes I found unacceptable. Go Set a Watchman reminded me that my role in society can be a constructive as well as a receptive one - that I have the power to stay true to my beliefs in a group of people who believe otherwise, and so influence that group in a positive way.
C.S. Lewis
More of Clive Staples at his finest (seriously, is there anything that man can't do? biggest literary crush ever). I found the chapter on 'Friendship' especially enlightening and challenging - but experienced the entire book as a call to a bigger, broader, and deeper love than I usually give in day-to-day living.
L.M. Montgomery
Oh, Anne. My soul sister. My bosom friend. My eternal kindred spirit.
I don't know how it is that the Lord has managed to use this little redhead to change my values and attitudes so much over the last five years. I can't seem to make it through three months without picking up one of the books in the Anne series, and am inevitably converted to a deeper joy and firmer faith by her relentless positivity and willingness to see the world through a childlike, imaginative lens.
Susan Cain
This book struck a lot of chords in me as I read it, both because I'm a bit of an introvert myself (but struggle to admit it / pay heed to it) and because I realised how profoundly hostile Christian missionary life can be to those who are far more introverted than I am. In conjunction with the story of Mary and Martha, I begin to realise that God's will for our discipleship isn't restricted to hyperactive, loud, bouncing-up-and-down ministry. He calls us according to the ways in which He has gifted us, and a Church we should better affirm the unique value of introverted missionaries.
Fr Jacques Philippe
This book was handed to me in the middle of 2016 while I was staying at a Benedictine monastery and in the midst of a battle with extreme vocation anxiety. Every single line seemed a breath of mercy into my tightly-wound soul, and I cried many, many tears as I realised that God did still care about me exactly where and as I was. He spoke to me in powerful, tangible ways about my call to live every moment with faith, hope, and love, and began a new chapter in my spiritual journey founded less on guilt and fear, and more on the choice to live with surrender and joy in His presence.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
I've loved this book for as long as I can remember, and learned many of my foundational values from its pages. Marmee was probably my first spiritual director. It's a classic, a worthy re-read, and infinitely underline-able.
J.R.R. Tolkien
What. A. Book. Yeah, I know the movies are good, and they actually make the plot make a bit more sense, and there's less "and then they walked another mile". BUT THE BOOK IS SO FLIPPING GOOD.
It's the book that finally made me understand the Eucharist (paradoxically, by reading about the Nazgul. But whatevs). It's the book that planted a love for the Quest in me just as I was about to begin my own little missionary quest. It's the book that still quietly speaks to me from some corner of my brain about the true nature of friendship and humility and heroism and righteousness. Well played, Tolkien, well played.
Richard Louv
And also Last Child in the Woods, by the same author.
My housemates can testify how much I went ON AND ON about this book in June when I read it. Everything resonated. Everything set a fire in my belly. I cross-referenced with Laudato Si, and passages of the Bible, and Queensland Parks and Wildlife maps. It's the reason "spend quality time in nature" is on my daily to-do list. It's the reason my environmental advocacy has become less about 'do no harm to nature' and more about 'live in harmony with nature'. It's going to be a beautiful asset to bring to the table heading into a very special project I'm doing with the Archdiocese of Brisbane in 2018 (squeeeeee! more news soon).
Fr Jacques Philippe
What a way to finish a list - I'll claim this one as the second-most important book on the list, because it and I have had such a beautiful relationship over the years. Just like the woman who recommended this book to me, I adopted a strategy of reading a section of it every day and starting again as soon as I hit the last page. Fr Jacques' words are balm to a weary, deadline-driven world. This beautiful little book taught (and continues to teach) me to cherish His love and abide in the peace that is His free gift.
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These are just a few of the Very Good Books I have loved - but I want to hear from you. Which books have transformed you? How has the Holy Spirit spoken to you through a vessel you might not have expected? What are your recommendations?
I'm excited to head into 2018 and discover more books I can't stop thinking about.
Blessings!
AMDG
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