15 Books July 6, 2009
Posted by Matt in books.Tags: 15 books, 1984, Facebook, Huckleberry Finn, Marcus Borg, On the Road, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Brothers Karamazov, The Catcher in the Rye, The Cost of Discipleship, The Kite Runner, The Road, The Sun Also Rises, To Kill a Mockingbird, Walden, Watchmen, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
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Since I was tagged by both of my favorite native Africans, Mark and Nicole Kennell, I figured this was one meme that I should follow up with. So, here goes…
Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Copy the instructions into your own note…
These are not in any order … Just whatever comes to the top of your head! Copy and paste the above into your own note. Tag 15 + plus friends including the friend who tagged you.
Walden – Henry David Thoreau (Sometimes I think we all want to just build ourselves a little cabin in the woods and get away from it all.)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig (A great milestone of our culture’s postmodern evolution)
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway (Who doesn’t want to travel around Europe and drink. A lot.)
On the Road – Jack Kerouac (I came up with my son’s name nearly 10 years ago after reading this one.)
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally – Marcus Borg (A revelation for someone who struggles with the idea of divine inspiration)
The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer ( A challenging book that should be required reading for all followers of Christ)
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger (It’s almost scary how much of myself I see in Holden Caulfield)
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (The great American novel. If you haven’t read it, you should be ashamed of yourself.)
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky (God, free will, morality, justice – there are few philosophical topics Dostoevsky doesn’t cover)
1984 – George Orwell (the prophet speaks.)
The Road – Cormac McCarthy (Probably the greatest book of the last 20 years.)
Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut (So it goes…)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain (There is a reason Hemingway claimed that all of American literature sprang from this small tome.)
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini (A heart-wrenching beautiful book that will someday be looked upon as a classic)
Watchmen – Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons (The movie wasn’t bad, but the graphic novel was far better in its explorations of God and morality.)
Thoughts?
The Brothers Karamazov is high on my reading priority list, but I don’t have a copy! ALso I think I need to reread Zen because it’s been a long time (around 15 years) and I would get a lot more out of it now. I ave never read any Vonnegut, but will.
Kurt Vonnegut is probably the single funniest novelist that I know of. He’s definitely worth reading.
Wisdom,
Interesting list and I will probably post a similar one on my blog. Regarding your list:
Walden – have not read it, but should, and will
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – tell me more?
The Sun Also Rises – Never been into Hemingway
On the Road – classic. Just thinking about it makes me want to hit the road
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally – I have a knee-jerk reaction to not take members of the Jesus Seminar seriously, but…
The Cost of Discipleship – agreed
The Catcher in the Rye – No offense, but I always thought that Holden was a bit of an ass
To Kill a Mockingbird – agreed
The Brothers Karamazov – a masterpiece. As you said, its about almost everything
1984 – scared the crap out of me when I read it in high school
The Road – the only McCarthy book I have ever been able to finish
Slaughterhouse-Five – Vonnegut was one of the greats
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – agreed
The Kite Runner – brilliant
Watchmen – agreed
I borrowed the Kite Runner from a fellow teacher on the way home from St. Louis a couple of weeks ago and nearly finished it before we got to Beebe. I’m not sure I can bring myself to watch the movie though.
I haven’t seen it, either, Jeff. It would be tough to watch.
Odgie, like I said, I see a lot of myself in Holden and it’s not necessarily the good side of me.
I was intrigued by the Borg book – Reading the Bible Again for the First Time – when you mentioned it in your earlier Losing My Faith posts, and now it pops up again. You’ve convinced me. I just ordered it from Amazon.
It’s a very interesting work and one that, whether you agree or disagree, will challenge any preconceptions you may have about scripture.