One Book

I have been tagged by Myles Werntz, whom I respect greatly and whose blog is one of my favorites (see sidebar links to visit it), so without further adieu ...

One Book ...

... that changed my life: The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. Say what you want to about this book, and scoff at the bandwagon following that has grown with it (though I prefer to think of it as a grassroots movement of sorts), this book is extraordinary. I first read it my sophomore year in college, and then again right before I graduated. The message of God's relentless grace and love struck so deep a chord within my hollow soul that now, in recounting my faith journey, I almost always mention this book.

... that you'd want on a desert island: The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor. Like Myles, I feel I would need a good anthology of sorts, and none would be better than O'Connor. I've loved her writing since first reading "A Good Man is Hard to Find," "Good Country People," and "Parker's Back," and just about every story I read of hers, I marvel at it's simple wonder and bone-crushing truth. I feel it wuld do well in keeping me occupied. Also, O'Connor once reinterpreted a famous Scripture verse that always assuages any self-consciousness I might feel: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd."

... that made you laugh: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I have never attempted to quote another book so much, or annoy people by reading them so many passages. And I have never, ever, ever burst into boisterous laughter on an airplane, but for the time I was reading some of Douglas' passages lampooning theology and the existence of God.

... that made you cry: A tie between Peace Like a River by Leif Enger and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I'm not much of a crier, and honestly, I wasn't blubbering at the end of Enger's delicately moving, astonishingly good story, but my eyes were misty, and I was full of sorrow that this book had a last page. The same is true for Irving's work. I was devastated to part with the character of Owen Meany, and the incomparable gusto with which he clung to faith in God.

... that you wish had been written: Barefoot Poet: An Autobiography by Rich Mullins. There is no other person other than Jesus himself whom I wish I could know the full story of their life. The biography/hagiography by James Bryan Smith is a phenomenal work, and filled with Mullin's wit and musings and brave, get-under-your-skin statements, but if only Rich himself had had the time to sit down and write about his life, from childhood in Indiana to ministry with the Navajo people in New Mexico, pouring out reflections with the same vigor and beauty with which he crafted his songs ... I believe such a book could have changed the world, if not at least the Church, if not at least me ...

... that you wish was never written: Left Behind by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim Lahaye (as well as all its brethren sequels). I read seven of the series before I finally wised up, and from book three or four on I was almost gagging at the massacre of literary craft these books are. Terribly written. Terrible story. Terrible theology. Flat characters. Predictable action. Stereotypical villains. The reader is beat over the head so much by genre fiction archetypes that he or she begins to lose brain cells. These books are, perhaps, one of the worst assaults on contemporary fiction, not to mention the Christian literary market (which was never very trustworthy in the fiction arena save a few talents). Beware the horrors of these works!

... that I wish I'd written: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. There truly are no words to describe this book, simply because each sentence is composed of the most perfect ones. To describe it would be to lessen it. To even write but a shadow of the way Robinson wrote her Pulitzer prize winner is to acheive a greater understanding of the craft as I will probably never know ... and I won't even attempt to discuss how magnificantly she captures small town religion and pastoral ministry.

... that you are currently reading: The Brothers K by David James Duncan. I'm only into the second or third chapter, so the jury is still very much out. However, I have a feeling this is going to be a very, very good one ...

... that you want to read: Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton. I just finished his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain which was my initial foray into Merton, and I loved it. So, now I'm hooked - I suppose I'll become a Mertonite like Dr. Talbert, Burt Burleson, and so many others who have quoted him to me. C'est la vie.

It occurs to me that at no point in these answers have I offered a book by my literary hero, Frederick Buechner. It must be noted that of all the books I have read by Mr. Buechner, I can substitue one of his for almost every category's answer. His expressions and stories are matchless.

So now I must tag, and I tag I shall:

Chris Moore
Janalee Shadburn
My beautiful girlfriend, Leigh (ha ha, you have to post again)
Josh Brewer (because he now has an active blog)
Grayson Goodman

Farewell, dear and loyal readers.