Favorite Books/Authors

As a writer, it is important to immerse myself in good books. Here are a few I count among my favorites:

• Anne Lamott – Bird by Bird, Traveling Mercies, Operating Instructions, Plan B, pretty much all of her writing
• Brian McClaren – A New Kind of Christian
• Shane Claiborne – Irresistible Revolution
• Brennan Manning – Anything by him, but especially Ruthless Trust and the Rabbi’s Heartbeat, which you have to read slllooooowly
• Henri Nouwen – The Genessee Diary, Road to Daybreak, anything
• Fredrich Buechner – Godric, A Room Called Remember and about anything else
• C.S. Lewis – Til We Have Faces, Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, random sermon
• Ann Kroeker – The Contempletive Mom (this is great for anyone, not just moms) Watch for her new book coming in the next few months
• Steve Arterburn (with others) – his Every Man/Every Woman/ Every Heart Restored books are great. He’s also written a new fiction book that I loved: Healing Stones
• Francine Rivers – the only one I’ve read of hers is Redeeming Love (see post by the same name). I LOVED this book.
• John and Staci Eldridge – Captivating, and my all time favorite Wild at Heart – since I am surrounded by boys. Also The Journey of Desire, which Eldridge wrote w/the late Brent Curtis
• Irv Yalom – Love’s Exectutioner
• Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Alan Paton – Cry My Beloved Country
• Kaffir Boy (Mark Mathabane?)
• Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible (watch out for the Green Mamba Snake)
• Beth Booram – The Wide Open Spaces of God
• Ken Gire – any of his books are great, but my fav is Windows of the Soul
• Donald Miller – Blue Like Jazz and others
• Corrie Ten Boom – The Hiding Place
• Lauren Winner – Girl Meets God
• Rob Bell – Sex God
• Melody Beatty – The Language of Letting Go and Codependent No More
• Thomas Merton
• Addiction and Grace by Gerald May, and A commentary of The Dark Night of the Soul
• Phillip Yancey – all of his are awesome but I really liked What’s So Amazing About Grace and Soul Survivor
• John Perkins
• John Howard Griffin – Black Like Me
• Makes Me Wanna Holler
• Three Cups of Tea
• Jon Krakuer – Into Thin Ai
• Jane Eyre
• William P. Young – The Shack — this book has totally changed my ideas of God. I love this book. I love the ideas of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It’s fiction, but I want to believe every word!
• Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
• Greg Paul – God in the Alley
• Mel Levine, M.D. – A Mind at A Time, and They Myth of Laziness
• Julia Cameron – the Artist’s Way
• Annie Dillard – the Writing Life
• Richard Foster – the Celebration of Discipline
• Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina
• Little Women
• Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird
• Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
• Homer – the Odyssey
• Jack London – The Call of the Wild
• The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
• The Distant Land of My Father
• Flowers for Algernon
• Reviving Ophelia – Mary Pipher
• Sherri Reynolds – The Rapture of Caanan
• Ibsen – The Doll’s House
• Brother Lawrence – the Practice of the Presence of God
• James McBride – the Color of Water
• Burnett – The Secret Garden
• Shel Silverstein – The Giving Tree
• my son Eli, The Book of Hands
• Elie Wiesel – All Rivers Run to the Sea and Night
• Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love
• The Alchemist
• Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxas
• Little Bee