Important dark works for mature readers include: Night (Wiesel), 1984 and Animal Farm (Orwell), Brave New World (Huxley), Heart of Darkness (Conrad), Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde), Lord of the Flies (Golding), and Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury). Larger scale works worth the work include The Divine Comedy (Dante), Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained (Milton), The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky), and Shakespeare’s tragedies and histories. Some good books for younger readers include: Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis), Aesop’s Fables, The Wind in the Willows (Grahame), Little House on the Prairie (Wilder), The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss), 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (Verne), and The Jungle Books (Kipling). For young teens, The Book of the Dun Cow (Wangerin) is a powerful allegory.

POETRY

Poetry enriches life and is especially delightful at the close of day. Some nice anthologies include: The Top 500 Poems, edited by William Harmon, and 100 Best-Loved Poems by Dover Thrift Editions. Explanatory notes in the Folger Library’s edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets make this important poet accessible.

HISTORY

Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley is a wonderful overview of our Christian family history. Jostein Gaarde’s Sophie’s World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy is an engaging introduction to the major issues, answers, and philosophers in the Western tradition. Modern Times by Paul Johnson is an important history of the past century, while The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is an exciting treatment of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Finally, for further reading you can examine the winners of major book awards to see what experts consider the best books in a wide variety of categories. Winners are listed at bookspot.com/awards.

Happy reading!

- John Brown, MTI Director

Take Up and Read“Take up and read! Take up and read!” This was the litany that led Augustine to the Lord, and it is still a call to be heeded by Christians in every age. The following brief bibliography offers suggestions of where to begin reading in order to begin growing in and for Christ. These works can be purchased online at sites such as amazon.com and read for free at sites such as ccel.org and gutenberg.org. They can also be ordered locally at Mardel and Barnes & Noble or discovered used at stores such as Recycled Books & Records and Half Price Books.

Some Discouraging NewsAccording to a 2007 Associated Press poll, one in four American adults do not read a single book in a year. Among those who do read, the average is seven books per year, and much of this popular fiction. Moreover, these readers tend to be fifty years old and older. Younger people are reading less and less – and it shows in our schools, churches, country and culture.

Some Encouraging NewsThe average American adult reads at a rate of 200 words per minute. The average book contains 400 words per page and 250 pages per book. Thus a typical American adult reads a typical book at a rate of one page every two minutes, or 15 pages per half hour. Therefore, if someone substitutes 30 minutes of television or web surfing with 30 minutes of reading, then this person will read 105 pages per week. Rounding this down to 100 pages per week and multiplying it by 50 reading weeks per year equates to 5,000 pages per year or twenty 250-page books — 20 books per year for half an hour per day! And, oh, the delight of and fruit from this time! So let’s start reading!

CHRISTIAN CLASSICS

The Church is blessed with a treasure trove of literature to help us know, adore, and serve God. Richard Foster offers an accessible introduction to several of these great works and writers in Devotional Classics. Foster’s Spiritual Classics is a companion piece to his classic Celebration of Discipline. Augustine is considered Christianity’s most important writer. His autobiography, Confessions, will help you love God more. A recent collection of his writings entitled Late Have I Loved Thee will further bless and guide you in fulfilling the great commandment. Peter Brown’s Augustine of Hippo is the standard biography for those wanting to learn more about this delightful man. The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is the most widely translated and published devotional work in Christian literature — and for good reason. It is easily understandable and should be read slowly and reflectively to help us become more like Christ. Another brief classic is The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence which models what it is to “pray without ceasing.” John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is the most important theological work in the Protestant tradition. It is pastoral, readable, and will feed your soul and ministry for a lifetime. The two-volume edition translated by Battles is the one to get. Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand is still the best introduction to Martin Luther, Calvin’s predecessor and our Protestant forefather. The recent volume Overcoming Sin and Temptation collects three works by the English Puritan John Owen who wrote more helpfully on these subjects than any other writer in our history. The American Puritan Jonathan Edwards displays a more magnificent God, a more beautiful Christ, a more sublime Spirit, and a greater gospel than most of us imagine. Some good entry points are: A Jonathan Edwards Reader, Religious Affections, and Knowing Christ. George Marsden’s A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards will introduce you to the man. J.I. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness and Leland Ryken’s Worldly Saints are standard introductions to these giants. Christians have always been inspired by biographies. Some of the more timeless and influential include The Life of David Brainerd, The Autobiography of George Mueller, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, and Elisabeth Elliot’s Through Gates of Splendor. Ruth

Tucker’s From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya : A Biographical History of Christian Missions offers a more comprehensive introduction.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS

Twentieth Century writings already considered “classic” include The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship. Other helpful recent works include Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman, J. I. Packer’s Knowing God, Paul Little’s Know What and Why You Believe, Nancy Pearcey’s Total Truth, and John Stott’s The Cross of Christ. Two authors to read repeatedly and at length are C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and Chesterton’s Orthodoxy may well be the two greatest Christian books of the last century.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE

Literature is often neglected by Christians but is essential to a well-balanced intellectual and spiritual diet. Short stories make for a nice introduction to fiction. Some good collections include: Fifty Great Short Stories (ed. Milton Crane), Dover Thrift Editions’ affordable The World’s Greatest Short Stories and Great American Short Stories, and the wonderfully titled Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages, edited by Harold Bloom. Marvelous novels include Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan), Robinson Crusoe (Defoe), Treasure Island and Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson), and Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country – one of the most beautiful novels of the twentieth century. Other great novelists include Charles Dickens (Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, etc.), Victor Hugo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lés Miserables), Alexandre Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo), John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath), Nathaniel Hawthorne (Scarlet Letter), Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn), and Herman Melville (Moby Dick – and it’s ok to skip the “whale” chapters). Fantasy works well worth reading include J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength), and Phantastes (Macdonald).