Recommended Reading List: Fiction

I was brought up “in the fear and admonition of the Lord" in an area of Missouri known as “the "golden belt buckle" of the Bible Belt. My folks instilled a love of reading in me, and my library included Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, the encyclopedia, Reader’s Digest, the Bible, Danny Orlis, and other primarily Christian titles.

As a child, books occupied my free time. In grade three, my teacher, dear Miss Snyder, sponsored a contest to see who could read the most books throughout the school year. I won the award but was somewhat non-plussed when my prize was… wait for it… another book. Even then, I felt reading had to be for some ultimate purpose beyond just the love of reading.

I read ravenously as a teen, chewing through mysteries and “Christian romance” novels, until I entered university. The academic research and reading load was so great, I simply burned out on reading as entertainment and set it aside. As an adult, reading became utilitarian. I focused on self-help and how-to, but hardly any fiction, with the notable exception of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, of course. As my own child grew, my desire was to cultivate a love of reading in him also. We read together, I read to him, and my library expanded to include children’s classics, youth, comedy, graphic novels and YA books. Other than that, my exploration into the fiction genre has been quite limited and unfulfilling. Something was missing. I decided in retirement, it was time to change that.

So, I asked my Facebook friend, John D Blase, for a favor in compiling a recommended reading list of Fiction titles. As an author, poet and editor, John seemed the most credible literary candidate within my circle to help with this. Being the thoughtful and approachable gentleman he is, John responded in fairly short time, recruiting input from his own Facebook friends and followers.

Here was the criteria:

What are the top seven fiction titles you believe every person of faith should read? These would be titles to stretch your mind, challenge your worldview, crack you open with beauty, inspire you, bring you to tears or belly laughter or both. If you can't conjure up seven, at least try for four. And remember - fiction.

John started with his top titles and many of his friends responded. You can read the raw data on Facebook here. I collected and sorted those recommendations, which initially included 153 titles but I excluded a few nonfiction that snuck in and where a recommended book was part of a collection, I combined them. What follows is the list of books that received nods, sorted by number of mentions, then by author. I have included the title, author, year originally published and, in some cases, the sub-genre. At the end, I include the list of books only recommended by one person, sorted by Title.

Disclaimer: This list is not a personal endorsement of any title. If you'd like this list in an Excel spreadsheet to sort and expand on yourself, click here to access a copy in Dropbox. Typographical errors may exist.

Enjoy, and happy reading.

11 Recommended

Peace Like a River, Leif Enger, 2001

Gilead Triology, Marilynne Robinson, 2004

8 Recommended

All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, 2014

The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1880, classic

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving, 1989

7 Recommended

Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis, 1956

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell, 1994, scifi (has a sequel)

5 Recommended

Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis, 1949, fantasy

East of Eden, John Steinbeck, 1952

Les Miserables, Victor Hugo, 1862, classic

4 Recommended

Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis, 1943, scifi

Godric, Frederick Buechner, 1981

Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954, fantasy

A Ring of Endless Light, Madeleine L'Engle, 1980

Silence, Shusaku Endo, 1966

Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry, 2000

3 Recommended

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver, 1998

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith, 1943

The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay, 1989

My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok , 1972

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, 1945

Harry Potter Series, JK Rowling, 1997

The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, 1985

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd, 2001

The Confessions of X: A Novel, Suzanne M. Wolfe, 2016

2 Recommended

Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton, 1948

The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas, 1844

Selected Stories, Andre Dubus, 1995

The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas, 2017

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943

The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis, 1945

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk, 1996

Hyperion, Dan Simmons, 1989

The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor, 1971

The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O’Connor, 1960

Son of Laughter, Frederick Buechner, 1993

Lilith, George MacDonald, 1895, fantasy

Phantastes, George MacDonald, 1858, fantasy

Robert Falconer, George MacDonald, 1870

Tenth of December, George Saunders, 2013

Returning to Earth, Jim Harrison, 2007

Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamilo, 2006

Girl Who Drank the Moon, Kelly Barnhill, 2016

Benediction, Kent Haruf, 2013

Eventide, Kent Haruf, 2004

Plainsong, Kent Haruf, 1999

Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery, 1908

The Giver, Lois Lowry, 1993

Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich, 1984

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle, 1962

Don Quixote, Saavedra, 1615

Anything by PG Wodehouse, P.G. Wodehouse, 1900-1970s, humour

The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck, 1931

Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1987

Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner, 1987

Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner, 1971

Book of the Dun Cow, Walter Wangerin Jr., 1978

Anything by Wendell Berry, Wendell Berry, 2000

Hannah Coulter, Wendell Berry, 2004
Life of Pi, Yann Martel, 2001

Reading Deprivation

I'm on a "Reading Fast".

No reading. Yes. You read that right. No reading. No books, no blogs, no internet, no in-bound email, no text messages.

Wait. What?

Reading deprivation is a tool, a jump-start toward creative output. As Julia Cameron suggests in The Artist's Way, "For most artists, words are like tiny tranquilizers. We have a daily quota of media chat that we swallow up. Like greasy food, it clogs our system. Too much of it and we feel, yes, fried." (p. 96)

She goes on to explain the paradox of emptying our lives of distractions so that we can experience the sensory world, make observations we might otherwise miss, do things we have left neglected and begin creating our own art, writing and so on. We fill the well of our creative potential with new sights and sounds that we may otherwise numb ourselves to if we are constantly filling the void with white noise and/or other people's opinions and perspectives.

"We often cannot hear our own inner voice, the voice of our artist's inspiration above the static... reading can be an addiction. We gobble the words of others rather than digest our own thoughts and feelings, rather than cook up something of our own." (p. 97)

The time filler of Facebook and daily digest of emails from intelligent, spiritual and/or witty bloggers are not wrong. But setting them aside for a time, I have realized my dependence on them as distractions, diversions or excuses from actually getting work done or spending time in necessary and beneficial self-care. Full-headed days packed with mind-numbing volumes of reading have given way to satisfying personal entertainment, meditation, face-to-face engagement with real people in real time and diligent, satisfying work. I've had short story inspirations, time to write an article for the church magazine, plan camping trips with friends and decide where to spend our 2016 holidays.

So far this week (in three days), I have written at least three pages (longhand) every morning, sent some important emails, listened to music (blues), danced, rearranged my accessories drawer and jewelry cabinet, learned a new way to remove dried blood stains, sorted and filed half my stacked papers, fed the birds & squirrels and spent hours watching their antics, photographing them and listening to their songs and fights, visited Heritage Park, gone out for dinner, had several long conversations with my husband about stuff that really matters, made dinner several times and enjoyed one on the deck while watching the sun set, played cards and Crokinole, learned to appreciate blackbirds and magpies, called my banker about business, called Spa Lady about an incorrect charge, called the dentist to book an overdue appointment, practiced music for choir, took a walk, wrote a poem, rehearsed my lines every day for my role in dinner theatre, sorted pictures and made a to-do list in which I have already checked off several things. And I have laughed. There's more, but some things are private.

All the while, the undercurrent of my major writing project is simmering at a higher temperature. It is always in the back of my mind, sorting itself, ideas and outlines coming and going, notes sketched out in morning pages, taking on a shape, slowly but surely.

I'm on the journey.

I retired from my last job completely depleted. The volume of information I had to absorb, sort, categorize and act upon was overwhelming. I was working out of an empty well. After truly resting for a few months, I began filling the well and now I am working out of my strength and getting stronger every day. I'm studying, writing, singing, speaking, acting, directing, loving, dancing, laughing. Oh, so much laughing!

Reading and Digital Deprivation, by intention, leaves room to fill the well with new sights, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and inspiration. I am richer than I have ever been, and not one dollar has changed hands.

I've just started paying more attention.

And the return on investment is priceless.




Photo credit: depositphotos.com #54606177, standard license

Joyce Buys a Novel

I bought a novel. "A smart, subtle, funny, painful, weirdly personal novel" (Globe and Mail). For those of you who know me, this is rather significant. I never read fiction. When I was a child, I read ravenously. It was my coping mechanism in a family with seven older brothers. Withdraw to my quiet room, alone, away from the noise, and escape into fantasy. A world other than my own.

I don't remember being unhappy. But escape I did. When I hit college, reading became 1) work 2) obligatory and 3) non-fiction, so I stopped reading fiction because there is only so much time in the day. By the time I had my bachelors degree, I was burned out on reading in any genre at all.

But someone I respect recommended this book and we're entering the dog days of summer and I'm off for an extra long weekend coming up and I happened across this book wandering around Target. After I read the first couple of pages, part of one paragraph made me want to buy it:

Upstairs Maureen shut the door of David's room quietly and stood a moment breathing him in... She kept the room clean because she was waiting for David to come back, and she never knew when that would be. A part of her was always waiting. Men had no idea what it was like to be a mother. The ache of loving a child, even when he had moved on.

So, yeah, "weirdly personal" is strangely accurate.

My son called today.

"I have put a damage deposit on an apartment. It's on the west end of Vancouver, a block from the beach and I can see the ocean from the front window. It's a year long lease, then month to month."

Sigh. I'm happy for him. Truly, I am. He's very responsible and talented and happy. But, I never know when he will come back and when he does, I know it will likely never be for long... but in the meantime, I'll wait for him.

And read my novel.

--------------------------------

Update: August 18, 2015
I picked up the novel and brought it with me to camp. I finished it. Very different. Very good in weirdly personal way. I cried a little. I laughed a little. I'm glad I read it. I would recommend it.