I keep seeing friends of mine putting up posts about the 10 books that they've read which have shaped them the most. This is actually a moment where the interwebs came up with a good idea, so I think I'm going to do it. The ten books that have impacted me the most in my life, with one exception. The Bible, or any of the books within it, are exempt from the list. I've never felt comfortable just putting "Bible" in my booklist; my interaction with it and its contents are so thoroughly different that it doesn't seem right to lump it in next to the novels and biographies and great works of nonfiction that I've consumed over the years.
So, here we go - the ten books that have most "stayed with me" since I've read them.
1. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque.
This was the easiest pick on the list. I remember reading it and having my entire perception about one of the key realities of life - war and conflict - change. It's the book that, more than anything else, created in me the desire to see the world not just through a black and white lens of "X is right; Y is wrong," but through the more complex lens of human lives and experience. For a short, simply written book, it packed a punch.
2. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley.
I checked this out on the same trip to the library as All Quiet on the Western Front and read them both in a weekend. 8th grade Kevin's mind was blown wide open by the end of it all. This one's lingered with me, much more so than the nightmarish vision of 1984 because, ultimately, Huxley's vision of an empty, vapid, hedonistic "eudaimonia" has proven more prescient, at least in the context of the developed world. How often is the answer to our societal problems something like "a gram is better than a damn?"
3. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.
A childhood favorite. I resonated with the theme of the smart, young Nathaniel Bowditch struggling to be understood and follow his passions...but life nonetheless taking him on grand adventures that make good use of those passions and gifts. This one also probably helped turn me into a world traveler, too. I still talk about rough times of my life as ones where I've had to "sail by ash breeze."
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain.
Beyond being my favorite novel, Huck Finn rocked my world in high school...and has done so since. The core of the story is Huck's moral dilemma between doing what society says is right (turn in the fugitive slave) and what Huck realizes is right (recognize Jim's full humanity). At least a few times, I've caught myself feeling trapped in the same sort of reality, and turning back to Huck's words when he tears up the letter he'd written to turn Jim in - "all right, then, I'll go to hell."
5. Reading the Bible from the Margins, Miguel de la Torre.
Finally, something nonfiction. This was a textbook for one of the theology courses I took during my first year at TLU, and I don't really think I'd grasped the notion that "what you see depends on where you sit," as a seminary instructor would later put it. We read the Bible (and everything else, of course) in ways that reflect who we are and where we are coming from...and de la Torre would assert that those of us who stand in positions of privilege in society are in need of hearing the voices of people who live on the margins. I've never been able to read scripture, or much of anything else, the same way since.
6. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Henry Fielding.
I read this one when I was in Ghana, and I immediately jived with the central struggle at the heart of the book - what makes a good person? Is it somebody, like Tom, who is good-hearted and caring, but given to the occasional moment of folly because of his lusts and passions? Or, is it someone like Mr. Bliffle, Tom's drab, hypocritical brother by adoption, who is outwardly excellent (from a moral perspective), but a cold, hateful person on the inside? It's the question that, frankly, the Church needs to wrestle with a little more often, given how many more Bliffles seem to be calling the shots in many circles.
7. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Read in high school. It made me ponder, for the first time, the nature of morality - is it something objective, or is it subjective? What makes a person strong, or good, or wise? How do we prove that to the world? What role should ideology, or tradition, play in its formation? Is it innate? It made me think. It still makes me think.
8. God the Economist, M. Douglas Meeks.
This is probably the best book I've read on the intersection of Christianity and economy. Meeks' vision of a "gift economy," which puts God's abundance and generosity at the center of what it means to follow Christ economically, has stayed with me and become a core principle in my own outlook.
9. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair.
I read this one in 8th grade, too, now that I think about it. Apparently, 8th grade was a good year for reading....not very good for much else than that, but at least I picked some good books. Other than giving me my first impression of Chicago (and I still moved here), it was to my understanding of business and industry what All Quiet on the Western Front was to my understanding of war. Not everyone who's out to make money is bad or views people as stepping stones or cogs in a gear...but some people do. Human nature is ugly; greed is real.
10. A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn.
This was a college read...and ties in nicely with the previous entry, and with de la Torre. Zinn simply flips the perspective; instead of telling the story of the U.S. from the perspective of the "winners," who typically dictate the national narrative, he focuses in on those who weren't ultimately wielding social power - slaves, workers, women, the disenfranchised and cast aside. Is his the whole story of the nation's history? Of course not. But, then again, neither is the other side of the coin; they're two perceptions of the same reality. What you see depends on where you sit.
So...what about YOU? What books have stuck with you over time?
