What I’m Reading

A while ago, my lovely friend and colleague Rachel posted a book review of Cornelius Plantinga’s Reading for Preaching on Eerdword, the company blog, called “The Pastor and the English Major.”

Such lists are hard for me to resist. Now that I’m finally caught up with (a) reading the awesome Plantinga book and (b) whittling down my long, long list to a manageable size, here’s my contribution to the conversation.

1. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C. S. Lewis: I agree with Rachel that “No one can render complex theological concepts as plainly and winsomely as Lewis,” but as much as I love The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, VDT is my absolute favorite. Not only does it start with one of the greatest opening lines in all of literature (“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”), it also features one of my favorite characters (the abovementioned Eustace), and it’s all about the Christian life.

2. Much Ado about Nothing, by William Shakespeare: “But wait!” you say. “This is supposed to be recreational reading, not more work!”

Don’t be scared off by the fact that it’s Shakespeare; this play is a pretty easy read and my favorite Shakespearean comedy. No one can turn a wittier or lovelier phrase than the bard. Plus: Dogberry. He has lines like “Thou shalt be condemned to eternal redemption for this!”

(Bonus recommendation: Hamlet – the easiest read of the really great tragedies. Macbeth is shorter and easier but doesn’t quite have the depth of Hamlet – nor does it have the gorgeous, tortured existential soliloquies. My favorite tragedy is King Lear, but that’s a huge play to wrap your head around and may end up feeling more like work.)

(Yes, I’m an unapologetic Shakespeare nerd.)

3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee: All the hairs on your arms will stand straight up when Atticus Finch walks into the courtroom. This story is sure to bring delight (. . . there are so many awesome bits that I want to tell you about, but I’m deeply afraid of spoilers) plus make you think deeply about the concept of justice.

4. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle: a few misfit children, a dash of science fiction, a bit of magic, and a wonderful good vs. evil story.

5. Anything by P. G. Wodehouse: I admit, the particular brand of offbeat humor in these stories is not something everyone enjoys, but I love them. My mother does not allow me or my dad to read these stories in public because we giggle too much. My favorite are the Jeeves and Wooster stories, but if you’re only going to make time for one, read “The Clicking of Cuthbert.” One of my very favorite lines:

“Anyone who was content to call you fairly good-looking would describe the Taj Mahal as a pretty nifty tomb.”

I mean, really. Who doesn’t need more of that in their life?

6. I echo Plantinga’s hearty recommendation of The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. I also loved Hosseini’s latest, And the Mountains Echoed. Lovely, lovely books with complicated morality questions to wrestle with.

7. Quiet, by Susan Cain: Possibly you’re an introvert. Certainly at least some of the people you work with are introverts, and absolutely definitely some people in your congregation are introverts. As an introvert myself, I loved this book. It was affirming and made sense of a lot of how I operate.

8. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck: Again, this echoes Plantinga’s recommendation of the book. Fair warning: it’s pretty dark. Cathy is one of the most thoroughly evil characters I’ve ever encountered. But it’s a brilliant book.

If you want another great Steinbeck, I’m also a big fan of The Grapes of Wrath. Mildly less dark than East of Eden, but still a great picture of migrant life in the 1920’s and 30’s. As Plantinga says, “You feel the desolation and maybe your feeling has the texture of compassion.”

9. Speaking of the 1920’s and 30’s — A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. Except this time it’s the lives of a poor Irish family in New York City. A gentle and lovely book.

10. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: This is a brilliant epistolary novel, which is not usually a genre I enjoy.

Bonus recommendation: The Last Days of Summer, by Steve Kluger. Another brilliant epistolary novel.

Fair warning: both these books make me cry every time I read them. Even if you’re not a crier you’ll definitely feel lots of things.

That’s all I’ll say about that.

11. Bonus recommendation: (This isn’t a book, so it doesn’t count. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.) This American Life, episodes 487 and 488 about Harper High School in Chicago, are very, very well worth listening to. I’ll let their description speak for itself:

“We spent five months at Harper High School in Chicago, where last year alone 29 current and recent students were shot. 29. We went to get a sense of what it means to live in the midst of all this gun violence, how teens and adults navigate a world of funerals and Homecoming dances. We found so many incredible and surprising stories, this show is a two-parter.”

There. Ten books for pastors or anyone else who cares about deriving wisdom from good reading, if you don’t count the bonus recommendations. Asking for a list of only ten books was just too darn hard.