- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis: I first read them when I was 13. I finished all seven in three days because I couldn’t stop reading them. They were the first fantasy books I read, and I’ve loved fantasy ever since.
- The Shield Ring by Rosemary Sutcliff: It made me fall in love with British history.
- Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead: It wasn’t the book so much as the fact that it was the first book I read in college just for fun. I’d gotten so busy I’d forgotten to read just for myself. It was the end of my first semester, during finals week when I picked it up at the library and realized that it really helped my stress levels to lose myself in a book. After that I read books just for fun every finals week.
- Harry Potter by J K Rowling: I started reading these in 2004. They are still my favorite books. I could write a lot about them. Actually I did once, here: http://nomadicinklings.blogspot.com/2010/11/harry-potter.html
- For the Time Being by Annie Dillard: Growing up as a Christian, you hear that it’s okay to question your faith. This woman does it properly.
- Godric by Frederick Buechner: Best told story of God’s grace working through a broken person that I have ever read. This book saves me from feeling like I need to be perfect.
- John Donne’s Poetry: Not really a book, but he made me realize just how much I LOVE poetry. I thought I had found my favorite poet until I discovered Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
- Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor: Her dark, American gothic stories introduced me to what truly outstanding Christian writing can be. Here is the New Georgia Encyclopedia’s introduction to her: ‘Flannery O'Connor is considered one of America's greatest fiction writers and one of the strongest apologists for Roman Catholicism in the twentieth century. Born of the marriage of two of Georgia's oldest Catholic families, O'Connor was a devout believer whose small but impressive body of fiction presents the soul's struggle with what she called the "stinking mad shadow of Jesus."’ I love pretty much everything that she wrote / said.
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. It’s just a great story about a preacher and his family, and I love the writing style.
