A quick post about books. A gentleman named Paul Reese asked what book I recommend most for writers, and in answer I e-mailed him about several. Here are the ones that have floated to the top for me:
The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
Plot and Structure, James Scott Bell
On Writing Well, William Zinsser
Notable Mentions:
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Zen and the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
The Writing Life, Annie Dillard
Also, I recently placed an order for new books. I share them with you in hopes you might share a small list too. Here’s my next journey into bookdom:
Mind Over Matters, Michael J. Nelson
Walking on Water, Madeline L’Engle
The Mind of the Maker, Dororthy L. Sayers
Farenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Collected Stories, Ray Bradbury
The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck
A Wrinkle in Time, Madelin L’Engle
The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell
(Thank you Mark Hollingsworth for giving me a massive booklist from which I have chosen a few titles. Great spending the week with you and yours! And great talking books.)
That should keep me fed through the fall. And what will you be reading as the leaves come off?
For those who cannot make it to Powell’s in person, a quick tour of a Portland treasure, the world’s largest bookstore:
p.s.
i will be in portland a month from now and plan on spending several hours at powells. the thought kills me.
How serendipitous, I just got some reads in this week from some saved-up store credit. Besides reading for class, here’s what I plan on sinking my literary teeth into this fall:
Absolute Sandman Volume 3 (graphic novel), Neil Gaiman
Silence, Shusaku Endo
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Jon McGregor
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, translations by Daniel Ladinsky
TechGnosis: Myth, Magic + Mysticism in the Age of Information, Erik Davis
On Religion, John D. Caputo
God Without Being, Jean-Luc Marion
Read on!
Oh gosh, and I forgot – I just got this massive shipment from McSweeneys, where they were having this $5 back issue sale! I got like 2/3 of their total backlist, it was amazing.
An incredible list. thanks so much. reading sources of strength now by Jimmy Carter. Did you know he taught Sunday School the entire time he was President? How crazy is it that only that short time ago security was that low? I actually attended the RNC sixteen years ago. I basically snuck in because I was wearing a tie. I walked right up to the Bush family and sat behind them in the arena. Security was there, but so loose. Anyway, I thought about that while reading Jimmy Carter’s books. I’ve read Reagan, Clinton, Lincoln, Eisenhower, Truman, and now Carter. I look forward to reading the first book by W. (The Reagan book was by Edmund Morris, so it wasn’t Reagan’s writing.)
Mike – funny meeting you here! You get around as much as I do! I got this link from a fellow unschooling mama. We should both be packing — looking forward to meeting you in person!
And Don — I now live an hour south of you (Dallas, not The Dalles), but back when I lived in the shadow of Wash., DC, I read your “Blue” — part of God’s unlearning me, after leaving a legalistic system. Brian McLaren’s books featured hugely, too. I’ll compile my own journey-list (starting in 2004):
- Twelve Steps for Recovering Pharisees (Like Me)” ~ Fischer
- Blue Like Jazz – Miller
- Anything by Yancey
- Traveling Mercies – Lamott
- Plan B – Lamott
- Messy Spirituality – Yaconelli
- The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse –
- Sheet Music – Leman
- Finding God Where You Least Expect Him – Fischer
- A New Kind of Christian (trilogy) – Mclaren
- Generous Orthodoxy – McLaren
- For Women Only – Feldhahn (understanding men!)
- Dangerous Wonder – Yaconelli
- Exquisite Agony – Edwards
- Pagan Christianity (the original version) – Viola
- So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore – Jacobson
- He Loves Me – Jacobson
- Woman: God’s Plan, not Man’s Traditions – Krupp
- Captivating – Eldredge
- Me, Myself and Bob (a Veggie Tale) – Vischer
- Waking the Dead – Eldredge
- Christian Unschooling
- Unschooling Handbook’
- Searching for God Knows What – Miller
- The Shack (early ‘07) – Young (FAVORITE book, hands-down!)
- Hope Beyond Hell – Beauchemin
- The Inescapable Love of God – Talbott
- Universal Salvation: The Current Debate – Talbott
- The One Purpose of God – Bonda
- The Evangelical Universalist – McDonald
- The Irresistable Kingdom – Brogden
- God Does Not Foreclose – Watson
- Beyond Creation Science – Martin/Vaughn)
- Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation
- Hannah Whitall Smith – Marie
- The Search: Historian’s Search for the Historical Jesus – Charles
- Jim & Casper Go to Church – Jim & Casper!
- An Evening in Ephesus – Emery
- The Sexually Confident Wife – Etheridge (because a woman can’t think about “what the hell is hell” ALL the time!)
Lots of others, but it’s late, and I can’t remember!
Shalom,
Dena Brehm
Can W write?
Ooooh, no I didn’t! (Yes, I did)
I see you share my appreciation for Bradbury…Fahrenheit 451 is brilliant. I thank you for directing me to a book of his I have not yet read (and they are getting fewer).
Don,
For me….
This fall is about finishing.
Finishing books I have started and have not finished. I guess like the trees I will be casting off a few good ones:
Hinds Feet on High Places – Hannah Hurnard
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Ernesto Guevera
Desiring God, John Piper
And picking up a few new ones to keep me for the winter:
A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor
The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis
When You are Engulfed by Flames, David Sedaris
{PS. Interesting/funny that ‘On Chesil Beach’ is the last shot in your little powell’s video….Hmmmm]
I recently visted Powells on my trip to portland. I went because of you talking about it in your books etc and had to see it for myself. Wow…impressive.
Im currently reading The Shack by William Young. Its beautiful
My book club is reading these books to finish up our year:
Overload Syndrome: Richard A. Swenson
Don’t Waste Your Life: John Piper
Lord Change Me: Evelyn Christensen
When the Soul Listens: Jan Johnson
The Hiding Place: Corrie Ten Boom
We also read some other good books this year: Your God is Too Safe: Mark Buchanen; What’s So Amazing About Grace: Phillip Yancey and…a little book called Searching for God Knows What (which is my favorite DM book!)
I moved to Salem from Texas this summer and have made my way up to Portland with the sole purpose of getting lost in Powell’s a few times already. It is by far the coolest, most unique one I have been to. I have yet to get in and out without letting go of more money than I had planned on spending.
The current reading list includes:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (I finished this last night and I highly recommended it to anyone who enjoys reading)
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
The Rebel by Albert Camus
The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud
Hurt by Chap Clark
A Timbered Choir (The Sabbath Poems) by Wendell Berry
Back to the Basics (The Young Life Story) by Jim Miller
I am also slowly making my way through Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
I’ve been meaning to start If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor. I’ll get around to it hopefully sooner than later. After that, who knows? I bought a whole bunch of secondhand books I hadn’t read a couple years ago, and I’m still wading through those.
Don,
With all the Madeline L’Engele and a Lamontt book – you are on a great reading journey!
Another L’Engle book I’d highly suggest is ” Circle of Quiet.”
Tara
I have to read the following typical evangelical books for my college classes:
Shattered Dreams by Larry Crabb
Seeing With New Eyes by David Powlison
Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard
and I am reading The Shack in my free time right now
Maybe the parents in the crowd will appreciate this list:
With son Drew (age 11): Going thru Narnia series for a second time. About to start A Horse and His Boy. Read thru Hemingway’s Old Man and The Sea with him around the fire on a three night Dad-son only camp trip. I was lucky. He really enjoyed it… and he “got it”! We were on book 20 of 58 in Hardy Boys when we felt they were all sounding alike (were reading the 50s/60s era versions).
With daughter Julia (age 8): Nancy Drew (50s/60s era versions)
With Claire (age 6): Magic Treehouse Series.
With Wife: A walk thru the Bible in a Year for New Believers… Just discovered about 18 months ago she was a “new believer” (its complicated)…
By the time I’m done with those, doing work related journal reading… I’m usually watching a ball game & thumbing thru Car & Driver, Christianity Today, my wife’s Southern Living magazine, etc.
My to-read pile is enormous: ‘Til We Have Faces, CS Lewis; A bunch of Chesterston & Brennan Manning; Yancey’s last 2 or 3 books, half a dozen biographies: J. Cash, B. Graham, Hemingway, Churchill, Bono… , a couple books given to me… “Sex God” (author?) & a couple by B. McClaren. I’ve read “The Shack” and need to read it again…
Thanks for sharing the video! I’m moving to Portland soon, and now I know where I can spend my first unemployed days in town.
I just bought probably the most quintessential book for a Christian, “The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics.” According to some, I might not even be a Christian until this is read.
Don,
Now we need a music list. I need some writing tunes. I just purchased a few tunes by The Be Good Tanyas. But I need more recommendations.
(Hey Dena, funny to see you on here.)
My reading list is all about getting back to classics – most of which I have not read:
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
The Little Prince, Antoine de St. Exupery
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Mark Twain
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
So my list makes me feel like a Supernerd, but here it is nonetheless:
Current- Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman, Buffy Season 8 #17 (do comics count?), and Astonishing X-Men (anything from the Whedonverse ranks high on my list).
Next Up- Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis, Fray and Serenity (comics, again), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland, Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton, The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy.
Thumbs up to “Fahrenheit 451″ and Sayers’ “Mind of the Maker”
I hope you’re making your way to them.
I also took note of a book or two from your list, and hope to make my way to those… so, thanks!
-Chase.
I would add Stephen King’s “On Writing” to your list…it is quite insightful and he obviously takes very seriously his craft.
Thanks for the kudos, Don. I’m sure I’ll think of more books than I could come up with while we were together in California a few weeks back.
You mentioned Jimmy Carter teaching Sunday School in one of your responses. You know, he STILL teaches every Sunday when he is home in Plains, GA. Got to attend one of those classes in the humble little Maranatha Baptist Church in May. Besides being a former President, Admiral in the Navy, nuclear physicist, Governor of Georgia, author of over 20 books, peace activist, poet, painter, and carpenter…he is also a good Bible teacher. He was working through Hebrews this spring and summer.
Anyone can attend, and there is always a wide variety of guests from around the globe. Afterwards you get to chat with he and Rosalyn and get your photo taken with them. What a treat. I highly recommend getting the Jonathan Demme documentary done on him last year (now on DVD) entitled “Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains.”
Also, while we were together you mentioned some folks had recommended Neil Peart’s writing. I’ve been a 30+ year fan of Rush…in particular Neal’s drumming (he’s one of the best) and his lyrical prowess. He writes his books in a more memoir style. Probably the most gripping is “Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road” about his various marathon motorcycle rides around North America in the years after his wife and daughter both died tragically. Heavy stuff.
One final thing: I met Barbara Bradley Haggerty, the chief religion correspondent for NPR) today. She was speaking at Belmont University here in Nashville where one of the Presidential Debates will take place on Oct. 7. She has heard about you from several sources, and believes she has even been given a copy of “Jazz.” I told her how you rattled some religious radio folks by telling our retreat group that you often found NPR to be more Christian than most Christian radio. She got a good laugh out of that. She asked more questions and I told her to definitely read your work, and check out your site. Who knows, maybe she’ll want to do a feature on you for NPR one of these days. : )
Given our current financial crisis I think Atlas Shrugged might make for some good reading right now. Too many parallels to our current situation.
Travel’s With Charlie? Holy Crap, that is the first time I ever heard that obscure of a reference!! That is right up there will The Log From the Sea of Cortez!! Aw heck, I love Steinbeck. My favorite I think was Cannery Row. Doc was a heck of a good charecter, and it was cool he turned out to be real. I am also sure glad you read Bradbury. He can suck you in and spit you out in 3 pages like nobody else can!!! Has anybody read Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Mike Perry?–great book. I am going to a book reading by him next month….
What a fantastic list of great books. Wow. My list is now about a mile longer than it used to be.
That said, my favorite books about writing are:
“Bird By Bird” and just about anything else by Anne Lamott,
Steven King’s “On Writing” (great guide for writers),
Harry Frankfurt’s “On Bulls***” (actual title had to be edited), and Anthony Weston’s A Rulebook for Arguments. While the last two titles aren’t necessarily books about writing, they are great for understanding the role of fallacious thinking, the danger of intentionally misleading one’s audience (“On Bulls***” has a lot to say about that. Those are necessary lessons for any writer.
I have so much in my “to be read” list, it’s ridiculous. While I’m not sure about Ayn Rand, I get what you’re saying, Kathleen. Freakonomics might be a good read right now, as well as Thomas Friedman’s new book, Hot, Flat and Crowded.
I wandered around Powell’s for 3 hours on Friday morning and purchased nothing but a greeting card (needed a receipt get my parking validated.)
In my defense, I was there to do market research. Still, leaving the world’s mega-bookstore with nothing in my book bag reminds me how spoiled I am to live a stone’s throw away from the world’s most amazing retail establishment.
Besides, I have too many books going right now. My goal for the fall is to finish all I’ve started.
I have literary adhd, I think:
oh, yeah. the list …
Jesus Land, Julia Scheeres
Ahab’s Wife, Sena Jeter Naslund
Where’s Your Jesus Now, Karen Zacharias
The Exorsistah, Claudia Mair Burney
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Through the Storm, Lynne Spears (figured I’d better read it since it’s one of our books and on the NYT BSL)
Oh, and Mike, Sex God was written by Rob Bell.
Walking on Water and A Wrinkle In Time are classics that will change the way you think about creating/writing, in different but equally amazing ways. Madeleine L’Engle was a gift to this world I will sorely miss.
I’m able to read a bit “for fun” this week as my graduate program is on a fall break before midterms.
I’m currently finishing up
unchristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
and Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain. I started the Merton over Christmas break. It wasn’t anything I wanted to rush.
I found great little copies of The Last Unicorn (Peter Beagle), The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams) and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Beverly Cleary) at a thrift store the other day so I bought them. I can’t wait to reread them as the nights get longer. I’ll take rereading those old favorites over TV as a filler any day.
For the Time Being (Annie Dillard) is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read. I also love Raymond Carver (Where I’m Calling From is a good one). If you want to see Christianity from an outsider’s point of view (very eyeopening), I recommend Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement (by Lauren Sandler). I also love Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel. And my favorite of the “classics”: As I Lay Dying (Faulkner)
It seems so hard to be challenged by books these days, but I managed to find a few that I think may help me grow my intellect and party-fact-knowledge. Here they are in no particular order:
–How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson
–Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi
–How to Walk in High Heels by Camilla Morton
–Hip-Hop Rhyming Dictionary by Kevin Mitchell
–How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor
–I Can’t Believe I’m Lace Knitting by Kay Meado
Some books that made me think and I reread:
Soul Survivor – Philip Yancey
The Jesus Way – Eugene Peterson
Leap over a Wall – Eugene Peterson
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes – Kenneth Bailey