It’s funny how reading can get pushed to the back burner as we get older. At least it often does for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still have 5-10 books stacked on my bedside table at any given time. I just don’t read them with as much intention as I did in college, or back when I had more time. With so many things vying for my attention, everything else seems more urgent that reading. And, yet, nothing seems to satisfy in quite the same way. A great read, a strong cup of coffee, morning sunlight streaming onto the pages in my hand while I sit on the back porch. What could be better.
In spite of life’s distractions, I love to learn and experience above almost anything else. I find it endlessly hopeful, as it is filled with the possibility of discovery. I come by that honestly; I follow in long line of voracious readers. My dad and grandad, Pappy, taught me early on that there wasn’t anything I couldn’t know, so long as I could find either the right person or the right book to teach me.
My parents faithfully read to my sisters and me in the evenings – Robinson Crusoe, A Wrinkle in Time, Little House in the Big Woods, An Indian in the Cupboard. My imagination was born through the pages of those books, along with many of my fondest childhood memories.
In spite of such a legacy, I barely read anything on my own before high school. Up until that point, I had a difficult time in school and was a delayed reader. Sometime during the ninth grade, I fell in love with learning, and reading in particular. I was unstoppable. I started buying books, reading books, collecting books, appropriating books. For a while, I purchased antiquarian books from hole-in-the-wall shops, from Chattanooga to Edinburgh. I would hold their dusty, worn bindings up to my nose and breathe in the excitement of a new story.
It is time for me to recapture that kind of wonder and delight with reading. To that end, and in pursuit of my continued personal development and enjoyment of life, I’ve decided to read 25-30 books in the next year. I’ve been inspired by the reading lists of a couple of friends lately, and it got me thinking. What would I really love to read this year? I realized I need your help!
What is your absolute favorite book – the one that has been more important or influential than any other? Think of it this way, if you were stranded on a desert island, what book would you take with you? What would get you through?
My favorite songwriter, David Wilcox, talks about the way the universe seems to conspire to bring you the right song at just the right time, acting as handhold on the rock climb of life. He believes that perfect timing matched with the perfect song can keep you from falling, help you enjoy the climb, and take you to the next place. I think it is the same with books.
I will do a follow up post once I compile my list, with your help, very soon! Thanks for the input!
Geez, Megan. Most influential? The Bible is obviously the answer. But beyond that, lately I’ve read Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, and it was pretty fantastic.
Scott
I love “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, “Where the Heart Is” by Billie Letts, “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden, and I could go on and on with books I love. But, the winner for me and number one ever is “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo…but NOT the original because they got paid by the word back then and it’s tough to plow through, but the adapted version done by Jim Reimann (who also adapted “My Utmost for His Highest”). It is an unbelievably moving story of grace and redemption and I love Jesus more every time I read it! Here’s a link to the book that I mean http://www.amazon.com/Miserables-Victor-Hugo/dp/0849916879/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213805735&sr=8-5
Wow, tough question! Does it have to be just one? And are we counting the Bible?
I’d have to say Gone with the Wind. Don’t laugh.
If I’m stranded on a desert island I’d rather be swept away by Rhett Butler than a Tsunami.
You could send me a box of Dickens and Jane Austen and I’d be a happy camper too.
Nice to meet you by the way…I’ve enjoyed reading your blog.
I’d hope to have a book entitled, HOE TO LEAVE A DESERTED ISLAND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GO BACK TO CIVILIZATION.
Otherwise, the NKJ version of the Bible. One book that I read over and over and over, and captured me in my pre and early teens was LITTLE WOMEN. it’s sooooo difficult to select just one. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY was an unexpected pleasure as was discovering Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Okay, I’ll stop for now.
A Walk in the Woods and A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson), The Emigrants (W. G. Sebald), Camera Lucida (Roland Barthes), American Gods (Neil Gaiman), Blue Like Jazz (Don Miller), Traveling Mercies (Anne LaMott–I know you’ve already read this–you recommended it to me!), The Five Love Languages (Gary Chapman), Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling, anything in the series), In His Steps (Charles Sheldon), Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris). If I were at home I could really load you down. This is what I could remember off the top of my head. I think Suzanne would recommend Assassination Vacation among many, many . . . many others.
I really liked Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters(often in the same volume) by CS Lewis. Seven Habits by Steven Covey is good and so is Getting Things Done by David Allen.
It may also depend a bit on your current interests. I am reading a lot on China right now. If you talk a little more about your current interests, you might get better suggestions. There are hundreds of really great books but few of them are going to be of universal interest.
Here is what I suggest, it will be different than the other lists, because it’s coming from an English reader with an Egyptian mind!
1. English translation of the Quran by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, you won’t regret it!
2. The other side of Israel, Susan nathan.
3. The success principles, Jack Canfield.
4. Think Big, Ben Carson (he talks about how his mother forcing him to read when he was a kid changed his life).
5. Banker to the poor, Muhammad Yunus (the story of Grameen bank founder and the facther of microcredit for the poor).
Easy, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Because “All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.” What great wisdom (besides a great story) while you wait… and wait… and wait.
English was my poorest subject, as well as my Dad’s, so not a real long line of literary genius here! The only area of moderate success and pleasure was writing or analyzing poetry – it always surprised my professors that the same student produced the same work. I guess it was a matter of passion.
So up until now with my career in the corp world and at times 70 hour wks being the norm any time for a book was spent as pure mind candy… Thus, I’ve read every Grisham novel & James Patterson novel ever written. Give me a good murder, killer virus, death & deception suspense drama that you can knock out in a day or two and I was happy. I’ve almost stopped reading now that I read the blogs. Sad but true.
One book that changed my life forever… Who Moved My Cheese. It’s about mice in a maze and how you go about life.