The Next Five (6-10)...

After posting the five books that have had the greatest influence on my life, several people let me know that on Facebook people were primarily posting the ten books, not five, that that had a profound impact on their lives.  So, upon their encouragement, here are the next five; although, to be honest, this was a real struggle as there are several books that could have probably made this list...

#6 To Kill A Mockingbird  by Harper Lee.
I honestly do not remember the first time I read To Kill a Mockingbird.  I believe it may have been in twelfth grade English class where we also read  Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Shelley's Frankenstein.  Nevertheless, this beautiful story of Atticus, Jem, and Scout in, "the tired old town of Maycomb, Alabama" during the depression has had a lasting impact on my heart.  Themes of racial justice/injustice, lost innocence, courage, and classism permeate the story.  I hate the ending of the story, and every time I read this book I dread the ending as those pages get closer with each page turn.  However, I continue to return to this book because it plays so heavily on themes of Biblical justice--not the "justice" I so often hear my theologically liberal pastor colleagues proclaim (where everything is a justice issue)--but rather a deep abiding justice rooted in God's mercy.  A mercy rooted in forgiveness, compassion, and restoration.

#7 Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume 1. 
As a sophomore at Western Illinois University in the early 1990's, I took "Introduction to American Literature 1 (Colonial Period-1865)" as a way to meet basic requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree.  I was a history major and political science minor and I begrudgingly signed up for this class hoping it wouldn't bore me to death.  Little did I know how Dr. John Hallwas was going to help me fall in love with early American colonial writers such as: William Bradford, Anne Bradstreet, Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Philip Freneau, Washington Irving, and James Fenimore Cooper.

It didn't stop there, Hallwas's passion led us to the next generation of writers such as William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allen Poe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry David Thoreau.  The list of writers could go on and on and on.  As a history major I came to value the importance of these early writers in our nation's young history.

This anthology is immense in size and scope. With close to 2,500 pages it is full of short stories, letters, biographies, poetry, and essays on all types of subjects.  I often find myself pulling this book off of the shelf when I am looking for something special from our country's history to dig my teeth into that has some meat on the bone.

#8 Roots by Alex Haley
As a person who has a strong interest in history in general, and our nation's history, in particular, I found Roots to be almost too emotional a book for me to handle.  I remember as a child watching the miniseries with my family on television back in the late 1970's.  I did not read this book until 2007 when my interest in this story was rekindled after watching the miniseries on a cable television network.

This is the story of a family--an American family--that endured unimaginable hardships, persecution, and slavery.  I know that many ethnic groups have endured intolerable conditions upon arriving in America, my Irish ancestors included when they landed in the 19th century.  However, no other race of people arrived here in chains, against their wills, to serve a lifetime as slaves.  Haley is not the best writer I've ever encountered, and I am aware that there were several lawsuits regarding plagiarism upon its release in 1977--all that being stated, however, the story that Mr. Haley weaves of Kunta Kinte's capture in the mid 18th century in Africa to his own generation in 20th century America is breathtaking in scope and scale.  This book blessed me, and helped me to better appreciate the history of the United States.


#9 Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis may be the single writer who has had the biggest impact in how I understand the nature of Christianity and the role of the world in the life of a Christian.   The Screwtape Letters, Miracles, The Great Divorce, Till We Have Faces, The Abolition of Man, The Problem With Pain, Surprised By Joy, and Reflections on the Psalms are books of his that quickly come to mind that have had a positive impact on my life.  The work of Lewis' that has shaped me the most (outside of the already mentioned Chronicles of Narnia in the prior posting) is Mere Christianity.

This book was put together from radio broadcasts that Lewis did for the BBC during WW2 to help encourage the British people in their darkest hours during the Nazi bombing campaign (The Battle for Britain) that ravaged many of their cities, especially London.  In this book, Lewis isn't out to try to lift up his own Christian tradition (high church Anglicanism) over any others.  Rather, his goal in this book is to give an outline of the barest of essentials to being a Christian.  This book has shaped Christianity in wonderful ways in that it has helped to bring Roman Catholics, Protestants (in all of their wonderful variety), and the Orthodox into a gentler understanding and appreciation of each other.  I am personally a confessional, Protestant, Reformed Christian.  Lewis, I know, had little time for my flavor of the faith, yet he saw the importance in Christian unity, whatever the stripe, and this book does a wonderful job in pointing out the basics.  WARNING: His rationale is rooted in Scripture and not in subjective experience!

#10 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
I am not ashamed to admit that I love the Harry Potter books!  I also loved the movies, but this post is about books...and The Sorcerer's Stone is the first of the Harry Potter series of books.  Years ago I was an assistant store manager with Walmart Stores, Inc. It was oftentimes my responsibility to put out new release movies and books on the appropriate dates.  Every time a new Harry Potter book was released lines would stretch through the store with people waiting to buy them when midnight rolled around on the date of release.

I never understood what the big deal was about these books.  At first I thought they were just a fad; after all, in my time at Walmart I had seen other items be big hits for a few months and then quickly drift away in popularity.  But these books were different.  Each book that was released was met with bigger and bigger crowds hoping to get their hands on a copy.  I finally bought a copy to see what the big deal was about Harry Potter and his friends.  I was immediately taken away to an imaginary world of wizards, witches, giants, and death eaters...I was hooked from the first page.