Booklists

Alas, the computer is not yet cooperating. The hard drive was erased at the doctor's (whew for the foresight to backup beforehand!) so the boy is spending many an hour reinstalling all of our programs and files. The pictures are waiting, waiting, waiting to be shared. And they will be soon. In the meantime I thought I'd share a book list I stumbled upon.

I read a lot of books. My goals are as wide ranging as the time periods and genres of the books I read. I want to read the books that 'everyone should read,' I want to read books that are spiritually profound, or I want to read books that will contribute to a specific area of interest (and too often these categories don't overlap). I'm always on the lookout for recommendations because there are so many books and so little time!

Sometimes people ask me for recommendations, or to make a book list that, if read, will accomplish such and such a reading goal. Each list has a specific function. If the goal is to be classically well-read and liberally, artsy educated the book lists on the Gutenberg College or St. John's websites will keep you busy. If the goal is to be culturally educated, I pick something off the Nobel Prize in Literature list or the Pulitzer Prize list. If I want to be trendy/have something to talk about with my neighbor then there's of course The New York Times Bestseller list. But between you and me I'd resort to that one last.

I'm continually forming my personal list of 'Eternal Books'- the vague criteria being something along the lines of 'portraying true/permanent things'. I recently found a list that might contribute more to my Eternal Books than many of the others do. It is Image Journal's '100 Writers of Faith' list (keep in mind these are all literature, and from the 20th C.). There were a few surprise inclusions, I will admit, such as John Updike whose 'Rabbit' series I am still recovering from (for some reason I waded through all four volumes even though I hated it from Book I, Chapter I), but I'm willing to trust them and read the one they recommend which is, incidentally, not one of the Rabbit books. Judging from the books on the list I have read or know by reputation, this list is worth printing out and bringing with you next time you visit your favorite bookstore.

And because I can't blog without pictures anymore I'll leave you with another picture that I did not take, that has nothing to do with this post, it's just where we met a long lost friend for dinner last night.