Between the Covers

This actually began as a Facebook post, where I was challenged (not to dump ice water on myself) but to name 10 books that have stayed with me over the years. Books that have affected my life or the way I look at things in such a way that having read them has changed me forever. These were hard to narrow down, but if I could only name 10, these are my choices...along with a brief reason by each one.

Before I begin, of course, I want to mention the bible. The most ignorant people I know are those who claim to follow it, but have never read it...and those who claim it to be nonsense, but have never read it.

On to this list!

1. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis - This allegory of a man's visit to Heaven, along with other people who have not realized they were living in Hell left an indelible mark on me. Especially the part where Lewis shows that all the gifts we have been given by God are unique, and we will retain them even when all things become perfect.

2. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis - Back to Lewis one more time. When I was a child, I read Narnia for the wonderment of it's heroic fantasy. When I read them again with fresh eyes as an adult, the scene where Puddleglum unashamedly declares his loyalty to Aslan (even in the face of having Aslan perhaps not rescue him) painted the idea of unconditional love and sacrifice on my heart in a way I have never had matched in any other book.

3. Watership Down by Richard Adams - Long before I raised rabbits, I found this book at the bottom of a pile my parents had purchased at a yard sale. In less than five pages, I was hooked. The tale of a warren of vagabond rabbits that escape human annihilation, sojourns forward in a perilous pilgrimage to find new life. It reveals not only the human side of animals, but the animal side of humans.

4. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - After seeing the broadway version with my French class in high school (and holding onto my seat, practically shaking as Fantine sang "I Dreamed a Dream") I went to Oxford Book Store in Atlanta and bought the Signet Classic version shown in the photo above. This translation remains my favorite, and Hugo's magnum opus does Paris the justice only a lover and childhood denizen of it's streets could describe.

5. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - Recommended to my by a friend, I devoured this book in three hours. It brought back memories of how many people mistreated this girl I went to high school with, and how we might have unintentionally tormented a soul whose internal battles were beyond what we could comprehend. Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a hard battle.

6. Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt - My "daughter from Savannah" shared this with me as being her favorite book. I won't even try to explain how Dicey wiggled her way into my heart, but there is one page in the book...one scene...where Dicey is sailing across the water on a boat after having traveled hundreds of miles on foot. Her description made me miss living on the coast so terribly, that I put the book down for a moment...and smelled the ocean---again.

7. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom - A lot of people see this as "feel-good pablum". I don't give a rats butt. If you can make it through the last scenes and not be affected, go find yourself a puppy to kick. We all need redemption, and even those with no faith can relate to this story.

8. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - As a boy who grew up with a girl as his best friend, this book resonated with me the moment I picked it up. (In the Newnan Library when I was 9 years old.) It was storming the day I read it, and unlike many today (who have seen that atrocity of a Disney adaptation) I had no idea what was going to happen. When "it" did, I couldn't breathe for a few moments. Trauma at the hands of a paperback.

9. Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine Exupery - I read this book in French before I read it in English. While some things just don't translate perfectly, the story itself is timeless, and still as relevant an allegory of the world today as it was in 1943 when it was written. Get it. Read it. It will take you all of an hour, but the people in it will make you say "Wait! I know that guy!"

10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - I first read this book while flying over the Atlantic ocean on my way to Germany, where a connecting flight would carry me to my first overseas mission trip to Romania. In high school, history bored me so much that I had to repeat one of the classes. Now, it is my favorite subject. I won't attempt to describe this book. My words seem to taint it. All I will say is that I am haunted by it. Stepping off the plane in Munich after reading it was so surreal...and so beautiful. (The movie that has been made of it is ALMOST as good. But please, read the book first. Please.)

Now that I go back and look at my choices, I want to add more. But I won't. Ten is enough.

Now, go read.

Shoo.