Books that everyone should read

[Joseph Scibbe]

I am looking for great works or authors (non theological i.e. fiction, poetry, essays) that everyone should read. Any suggestions?

Also, does anyone know where I can buy a complete set of the Harvard Classics online?

 

[Wayne]

Try a good used bookstore. Most will have a set or two.

If you are adamant on going with non-theological, then I'd suggest instead Brittanica's Great Books set.

But rather than spending your time on those, I'd personally much rather spend the same time reading progressively through the Puritans, preferably twice through each available author's works.

 

[fredtgreco]

The Harvard Classics is available now in Logos. Currently you cannot read them iPhone/iPad, but that is supposedly coming.

Here is a list I put together at the University of Chicago almost 20 years ago (I am getting old!)

View attachment 2048

 

[Skyler]

Thanks for that list, Fred. I now have several more books to add to my Kindle! =)

 

[py3ak]

I don't know that there's any book other than the Bible that everyone should read. Some of it depends on your purpose, some of it depends on your tastes, some of it depends on your surroundings. I'm sure if I were French I'd feel more compulsion to take up Balzac again: and no matter what anyone says, Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake are not worth the time. But the Penguin Classics (or Signet Classics) will give you a good beginning point.

 

[he beholds]

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky

 

[LawrenceU]

Punic Wars and Culture Wars by Ben House.

 

[Notthemama1984]

Frankenstein and Dracula were both fantastic reads for me recently.

 

[Peairtach]

If you want to be more cultured and rounded in your worldview its probably wise to read some of the classic novels, plays and poetry.

But the "Western Canon" of classic literature is enormous and even those who devote themselves to English literature as their life's work only "master" some of it; for the rest they are bluffing, skim-reading or reading encyclopedias of literature and other reference works.

Or a few of them have enormous brains, read very fast and remember everything they read.

Western canon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There has been an ongoing, intensely political debate over the nature and status of the canon since at least the 1960s, much of which is rooted in critical theory, feminism, critical race theory, and Marxist attacks against capitalism and classical liberal principles.

The fact that the idea that there are such things as great works of literature has been attacked by such types of people since the '60s is evidence that it is worthwhile for the Christian to sometimes fit some of these books into his reading or otherwise become aquainted with Western Civilisation and Culture which has been so influenced by Christianity, although not perfectly so. Obviously this task may be more important and accessible for some Christians than others.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Ph 4:8, ESV)

 

[VictorBravo]

I agree with Wayne, read the Puritans. And especially read John Owen's Biblical Theology which ought to discourage you from putting too much effort into vain works.

But, as Ruben noted above, your circumstances may require broader reading. For me, and I'm not really kidding, major life influences have been:

Amazon.com: How to Stay Alive in the Woods: A Complete Guide to Food, Shelter, and Self-Preservation That Makes Starvation in the Wilderness Next to Impossible (9780684831015): Bradford Angier: Books

Amazon.com: The Lo-Tech Navigator (9781574091915): Tony Crowley: Books

And almost any book from these guys: Lindsay's Technical Books

 

[JennyG]

If you stuck to the Bible you would know everything anyone needs to know, and so much of Western literature draws on Scripture so heavily, far better to know Scripture without the literature than the other way round.
If you added a thorough knowledge of Shakespeare, culture would shine forth from your every pore!

 

[py3ak]

Perhaps I should clarify that while I don't believe there is a requirement for all Christians to cultivate literature, I certainly don't believe that it is intrinsically or necessarily a vain or unprofitable pursuit. I think many individuals, such as B.B. Warfield, and society as a whole would be even poorer and less refined if it were not for the steady, though perhaps steadily diminishing, influence of worthwhile literature, pagan and Christian, secular and religious. Though there can certainly be benefits as far as how one thinks and writes that are noble motives for such reading (as Johnson tells us to give our days and nights to the volume of Addison for the cultivation of good style), I still think the main reason for pursuing literature is found in the instruction it imparts and the pleasure it bestows. While Macbeth is no substitute for Matthew Henry, I can't assert that Matthew Henry is a substitute for Macbeth.

 

[CharlieJ]

Almost all the great Christian theologians were heavily read in the liberal arts. Even those like Gregory Nazianzen who bashed pagan literature for rhetorical purposes actually drank quite heavily from it. Jonathan Edwards, for example, kept up a lively conversation (or at least acquaintance) with the foremost philosophers and scientists of his day. Do drain the pagans dry.

My first recommendation would be Plato's Republic. Read it and find some good lectures about it on opencourseware or iTunesU or something like that. Then hit up Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. So much of Western culture flows from those two guys.

Here is Mortimer Adler's great books list. If you don't know who Adler was, find out. You'll never read all the Western canon, but smart selections here and there will expand your mind and facilitate other learning. I know that my reading in Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and others has let me access other sources that would have been impenetrable to me.

 

[Myshkin]

A few of my favorites:

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Necklace - Guy de Maupassant (a short story)
The Closing of the American Mind - Allan Bloom
Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman
The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
The Whipping Boy - Sid Fleischman (a children's book)
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Hamlet - Shakespeare
Rage Against the Dying of the Light - Dylan Thomas (poem)
Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving
Rip van Winkle - Washington Iriving

 

[FenderPriest]

Homer and Dante are good places to go. Moby Dick is a must read, and some Kierkegaard for some helpful (but at points flawed) history in Philosophy. C.S. Lewis's fiction is very helpful, along with The Lord of the Rings. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. G.K. Chesterton too. The great poets are good to work through as well. Alan Jacobs is very helpful as well. Just a smattering of thoughts. While Puritans are obviously helpful on many counts, they are not the sum of all good literature (theological or not) printed in the English tongue. Owen himself has a wide ranging library, and nobody would accuse him of wasting him time for reading a book on brewing beer.