My Top Ten Book Recommendations
When it comes to books, I don’t know what the equivalent to, “My eyes are bigger than my stomach,” but I certainly own more books than I will ever be able to read. Among the many that I have read, here are ten that stand out in my special fields of interest of theology, history, and mythology.
1. The Bible — This is without question the most important book in the world. It’s also the most powerful. It can turn hate-filled enemies into devoted friends and turn drug addicts into productive citizens. One can study this book for a lifetime and barely scratch the surface. I believe it to be the inspired Word of God with the complete and only plan of salvation for mankind, and without error in its original text. If you ask me for my favorite book in this book of books, I would say Samuel. It’s has one of the most exciting plots, with theological nuggets interlaced among the episodes, and a brilliant narrative technique. I love multiple plot lines, which is what we get towards the end of I Samuel.
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte — I love soul-wrenching books with beautiful language. Star-crossed lovers and mysterious, ghostly settings define this book, which tells the story of the doomed relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and her beloved (but lowly stationed) Heathcliff and the heartache that is wrought for them and all around them when they are not together.
3. The Saga of the Volsungs/Elder Edda — I can’t decide between the two of these which is the better read, but they both overlap on the story of Sigurd Volsung and Brynhild. This is Wuthering Heights souped up to the max! This time the star- crossed lovers are supernatural and peerless, but fated to betray one another even though there is no one else worthy of them. It’s more heartbreaking than Romeo and Juliet with heaping helpings of action.
4. The Frigates by James Henderson — In Gregory Peck’s version of Horatio Hornblower, the old admiral tells Hornblower that his report “read just like a novel.” That’s the feel you get from this nonfiction work chronicling the exploits of British frigates and their crews in the Napoleonic Wars. From carefully planned cutting-out expeditions where everyone does their part perfectly to achieve the impossible to brilliant improvisations, this book can hold its own with any nautical fiction of the era.
5. On the Reliability of the Old Testament by K.A. Kitchen — Dr. Kitchen is an Egyptologist and Ancient Near Eastern expert who taught at the University of Liverpool. This book is a thorough investigation of what external evidence we have regarding the events of the Old Testament and how it either supports or supplements the Biblical record. Where the evidence hasn’t been as abundant as the critics would like, Dr. Kitchen shows how they’re expecting too much from the historical or archaeological record instead of from the Bible. He has an interesting section on proving that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, with a hypothetical description of what a book written at the time of the exile and influenced by the Assyrians would have looked like contrasted with the books we do have that show clear Egyptian influences.
6. The Aeneid by Virgil — I had the privilege of reading books from the Aeneid in the original Latin in college, and it is beautiful whether in Latin or English (much better than the Cicero we read the semester before). This work features a literally epic plot, beautiful imagery and figurative language, and a theme of doing one’s duty despite any hardship. While I root for the Greeks in the Iliad, I definitely root for the Trojans in this one!
7. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis — An epistolary novel in the form of Uncle Screwtape writing to his tyro-tempter nephew Wormwood, this is an incisive look at the methods the Devil uses to turn us away from God. When I read it, I was astonished at how C.S. Lewis seemed to know the inmost thoughts that ran through my head.
8. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius — This is an uplifting book written amid heartbreak. Boethius, a Roman philosopher living after the fall of Rome to the barbarians, was sentenced by those barbarians to a gruesome death. Desperate to leave his final word to the world about the philosophy he loved, Boethius wrote this book as he awaited execution as a dialogue between Lady Philosophy and himself as she comes to remind him of how all things work for good despite his circumstances. He closes his swan song with one of the most moving appeals to righteousness I have ever read.
9. The Mabinogion — This is the medieval compilation of Welsh mythology and courtly tales. It features liberal helpings of magic and action, as well as stories about King Arthur from his own people (he was in reality a Welsh king, not an English one). One of my favorite parts is the story of how Efnissyen lives to provoke trouble, but finally repents and sacrifices himself to save his countrymen.
10. Bannockburn 1314 by Chris Brown — This is, in my opinion, the definitive history of Scotland’s most glorious victory. The fact that Brown prints translations of all the primary sources save one is worth the price of admission alone since it enables us to distinguish what is recorded as fact by the eyewitnesses and what is later conjecture by subsequent historians. Brown does not include all of John Barbour’s The Bruce, since that would be too long, but he does a good job defending a work that is often dismissed as fantasy. Still, even though he supports Barbour, Brown remains an excellent myth buster. A must for anyone proud of their Scottish heritage (like me)!