A Few of My Favorite Books

The prompt from StoryWorth, a gift my daughter gave me for Christmas, led me to consider what otherwise I would have avoided even thinking about. “What are your favorite books?”

This challenge to select from beaucoup books I have read forced me to ignore all but the top titles that came to mind without having to browse my bookshelves.

To be honest, my favorite book is the book I am currently reading or else I would lay that book aside in favor of one I have read and loved. Yet there are so many books to read, too many to count in fact, and I always tell people that a book is only as good as it is timely.

When I became a reader

At age 16, I read GONE WITH THE WIND for the first time. I was not an avid reader in my teens, but this book met me the summer before my junior year in high school, right after I was forced to move from California to Texas.

That time in my life, I could identify with Scarlett O’Hara who is 16 when her story begins. Scarlett’s pampered vanity collides with America’s Civil War. Author Margaret Mitchell sought to capture not only the effects of that war on the nation, but how that war changed the lives of individuals. Survivors, she believed, had gumption.

Another of the most memorable books about an unforgettable main character is ANNA KARENINA, by Leo Tolstoy. Russian novelists dig deep into the motivations and thoughts of their characters and both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky manage to tackle universal themes, timeless and applicable to readers who are not afraid of the heft of their books.

THE BROTHERS KARAMOSOV is my favorite book by Fyodor Dostoevsky. A scene from that story met me at a moment in time when I was on a flight from Europe back to the America. The poignancy of a particular scene made me cry, and I have never forgotten the way a dying character’s advice applies to life.

I have read all of Jane Austen’s novels, and there is not a throwaway in the bunch. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE I have read a few times, and each time I marvel that Jane Austen could write these books by hand, and at a time when women authors were not recognized. Supposedly, she wrote things on scraps of paper as she observed people and situations and later incorporated ideas and conversations into her writing.

It’s been too long since I read Wallace Stegner’s masterpieces. He won the Pulitzer for ANGLE OF REPOSE. Brilliant historical saga. CROSSING TO SAFETY covers the decades-long friendships of four friends. I need to read both these novels again.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and everything I have read by C.S. Lewis, his non-fiction especially, remain on my list of favorites. The SCREWTAPE LETTERS explores the nature of man against the temptations of the devil. Guess who wins.

And I have lost count of how many times I have read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. My collection of copies bears witness. My son gave me my earliest edition.

Which reminds me of how many copies of GIFT FROM THE SEA, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh I have collected, various editions. Also, I have given away more copies of this book than any other. GFTS continues to resonate, and I try to reread it every year.

After I read both A. Scott Berg’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning LINDBERGH, biography of Charles Lindbergh, and Susan Hertog’s biography of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, both books added flesh and bone to the lives of these public figures of the 20th century, whose fame exceeded that of any contemporary persons I can point to today. The depth of insight Anne captured in GIFT FROM THE SEA came from her extraordinary life.

My current favorites, what is consuming my reading bandwidth, are mysteries written by Louise Penny. My friend Sara C. recommended these books, and as of yesterday (September 2, 2019), I have read 13 of the 15 books in her Inspector Gamache series. She explores great depths and breadth of the human condition, and the extent of her literary reach astonishes me. Penny’s theme throughout her books is that goodness exists.

No great takeaways, still, my husband and I both enjoy reading Michael Connelly’s books about detective Harry Bosch and LINCOLN LAWYER Mickey Haller.

My daughter and I share a love for Daniel Silva’s Israeli spy novels about Gabriel Allon. Suspenseful, contemporary behind-the-scenes action stories that never make the evening news.

Read between the ages, old and new

C.S. Lewis ––“It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.”

C.S. Lewis suggested that “amateur readers” should read the classics, the old books, because the amateur is much less protected from the errors of new books. And that is something to think about.

“A new book is still on trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light.”

Lewis wrote that readers settle for reading about old books instead of reading the actual works of the great thinkers and writers of all time.

And what amazes me about the “old” books I have read is how the problems and feelings and struggles of being human remain constant.