My top all time book list, part 1

In the order that I read them:

The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (Senior year of high school)

I didn't actually read a lot of books in high school. I read a lot of cliff's notes though. But this was one book that I actually read, and I loved it. If you've seen the movie, then you get the basic idea of the book, except that the book is much longer and more detailed. It recounts the most detailed and intertwined stories of revenge, but has a conclusion more typical to the time it was written than to today: the lead character realizes that all of his revenge has not satisfied him, and that he would have been better off to leave vengeance to the Lord.

Brother's Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky (Started freshman year of college, finished 3 years later)

I was still not a big reader at this point, hence the 3 years required to read this book. But, by the second half of it I really began to enjoy it. Dostoevsky is well known for his detailed look inside the human soul and consciousness, and this book is a great example of that. Well worth the 900+ pages.






Don't Waste Your Life, John Piper (2005)

This was the first of many John Piper books that I've read. I got my first taste of John Piper when a friend gave me a sermon of his, with the same title as this book. I couldn't get enough of it. I gave it to Megan to listen to (this was before we were married), and she went out and bought the book. She finished it and then gave it to me. I actually don't remember if I read this book first or The God Who is There, but they were very close together. God used this book to begin to reorient my world, seriously. Piper's passion for the supremacy of God in all things is contagious. I finished this book with a new passion for not wasting my life - by glorifying God in all that I am and with all that I have. This is probably the easiest Piper book to read, with the possible exception of some of his biographies in The Swans Are Not Silent series.

The God Who is There, Francis Schaeffer (2005)

I was introduced to Schaeffer by some friends at church . They suggested to us a 10 part video series, narrated by Schaeffer (very humorous at times) on his book How Shalll We Then Live? It was excellent, so I picked up this book, which is one of his most well known and foundational. This book helped me to begin to see all of history from God's persective - including the arts, philosophy, governments and politics, and the church. Schaeffer is a genius, and his ability to understand the tides of culture and morality are astonishing. This is a tough read - he has a list of vocabulary in the back of the book, most of which are words and terms that he made up.

A Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis (Spring 2006)

This was one of my favorite Narnia books. Megan and I read them together during the spring and summer of 2006, mostly while driving around Virginia visiting people. The scene that sticks out the most in my mind is the one where Shasta and the others are attacked by lions while being chased. Shasta later finds out that it was Aslan who had scratched him. It's a compelling and Biblical picture of suffering. Besides that scene, the story is great as well, as are all the Narnia books.




The Heavenly Man, Brother Yun (Spring 2006)

This is an amazing book. It's the story of Brother Yun, a Chinese Christian and former leader in the underground church. It tells of his conversion and ministry, recounting many amazing stories and miracles. The book is also radically Christ-centered. The point is clearly not to make the reader marvel at the miracles and astonishing events that surround Brother Yun's life, but to make us marvel at God in Jesus Christ. One warning, the events of this book took place mostly in the 80's and early 90's. China changes very quickly. Do not read this book and then think that this is what today's China is like. There are certainly simliarities between then and today, but there is much that is different.
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That's it for now, I'll post part 2 as soon as I have some more time.