Readers are inveterate and unapologetic list makers. Indeed, according to Umberto Eco, “Lists are the most necessary literary accessories of all.”
- There are lists of books that must be read.
- There are lists of books that must be reread.
- There are lists of books that must be read by others.
- There are lists of books that must be bought.
- There are best-seller lists.
- There are best of the best lists.
- There are the indispensable book lists—those titles readers might profess to be their preferred companions were they stranded on a desert isle.
It seems that list-making simply goes with the territory—it is the natural accompaniment to the shelf life.
T.S. Eliot quipped, “I love reading another reader’s list of favorites. Even when I find I do not share their tastes or predilections, I am provoked to compare, contrast, and contradict. It is a most healthy exercise, and one altogether fruitful.”
Here at King’s Meadow, we share that sentiment wholeheartedly. So, we trust you’ll enjoy mulling over, arguing with, and amending the following lists:
My Favorite Non-Fiction Books from the 20th Century
Compiling a list of my favorite non-fiction works of the twentieth century is harder than it might appear at first glance—at least partly because most of the really good books written in this century are barely up to the standards of mediocre books written in earlier centuries. But, of course, in accord with God’s good providence, there have been a number of happy literary aberrations. Almost any of the books by G.K. Chesterton, Abraham, Kuyper, Hilaire Belloc, C.S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, Niall Ferguson, Arthur Quiller-Couch, or Paul Johnson might have made the list—but I had to start and stop somewhere. These are listed in no particular order (other than the ramshackle, stream-of-consciousness order in my own mind).
1. Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
2. The Stone Lectures, Abraham Kuyper
3. Knowing God, J.I. Packer
4. Mont St. Michel and Chartres, Henry Adams
5. The Servile State, Hilaire Belloc
6. Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington
7. The Birth of the Modern, Paul Johnson
8. The Path to Rome, Hilaire Belloc
9. The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill
10. A World Torn Apart, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
11. Home, Witold Rybczynski
12. A Texan Looks at Lyndon, J. Evetts Haley
13. How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis
14. My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
15. I’ll Take My Stand, Donald Davidson, et al.
16. George Whitefield. Arnold Dallimore
17. 84 Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
18. The Calvinistic Concept of Culture, Henry Van Til
19. A Wake for the Living, Andrew Lytle
20. A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer
21. Where Nights Are Longest, Colin Thubron
22. Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
23. Civil Rights, Thomas Sowell
24. Essays and Criticisms, Dorothy Sayers
25. Ideas Have Consequences, Richard Weaver
26. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis,
27. The Intellectual Life, A.G. Sertillanges
28. The God Who Is There, Francis Schaeffer
29. The Fundamentals, J. Gresham Machen et al.
30. The Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
31. Witness, Whittaker Chambers
32. Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen
33. The Defense of the Faith, Cornelius Van Til
34. Battle for the Bible, Harold Lindsell
35. Spiritual Depression, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
36. The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
37. The Mind of the Maker, Dorothy Sayers
38. Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, Hans Rookmaaker
39. Idols for Destruction, Herbert Schlossberg
40. Fire in the Minds of Men, James Billington
My Favorite Fiction and Verse Books from the 20th Century
From this close distance, it is very difficult to tell which novels from our time will continue to have relevance in the days to come. Like any list, this one is subjective and reflects my own peculiar interests, biases, and concerns. At the same time it is rather wide ranging. Many of the writers included on this list could have had any number of their works listed. And again, these are listed in no particular order.
1. Oxford Book of English Verse, Arthur Quiller-Couch
2. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Father Brown Stories, G.K. Chesterton
4. Witch Wood, John Buchan
5. The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot
6. The Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis
7. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
8. The Four Men, Hilaire Belloc
9. Penhally, Caroline Gordon
10. Collected Stories, William Faulkner
11. The Wizzard of Oz, L.Frank Baum
12. Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White
13. Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini
14. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
15. Kristen Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset
16. Love in the Ruins, Walker Percy
17. The Velvet Horn, Andrew Lytle
18. The Footsteps at the Lock, Ronald Knox
19. The Weekend Wodehouse, P.G. Wodehouse
20. Falling, Colin Thubron
21. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingles Wilder
22. The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
23. Song of the Lark, Willa Cather
24. Possession, A.S. Byatt
25. At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon
26. George Orwell, 1984
27. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
28. The Descent into Hell, Charles Williams
29. The Moviegoer, Walker Percy
30. All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
31. The Golden Apples, Eudora Welty
32. Look Homeward Angel, Thomas Wolfe
33. The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O’Connor
34. The Second Coming, Walker Percy
35. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
36. The Yearling, Marjorie Rawlings
37. Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry
38. A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor
39. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
40. Absalom, Absalom, William Faulkner
Classic Theology List
Anthony Trollope once asserted that, “A good catalog of the best books is a world of wisdom and adventure, virtue and valor, insight and experience all but for the asking. A young man who prefers other pursuits to the neglect of this goodly catalog may well be akin to the sloth; to be sure he is akin to the fool.”
Though the greatest ideas, the most influential concepts, and the most inspiring prose can hardly be reduced to a short list like this, it is a helpful exercise nevertheless.
1. City of God, St. Augustine
2. Confessions, St. Augustine
3. Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis and Gerhard Groote
4. Institutes of Christian Religion, John Calvin
5. Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther
6. Westminster Confession of Faith
7. On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius
8. Merle D’Aubigne, The History of the Reformation
9. Treasury of David, Charles Haddon Spurgeon
10. Revolution and Unbelief, William Groen van Prinsterer
11. John Knox, The History of the Reformation in Scotland
12. Book of Martyrs, John Foxe
13. Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards
14. The Death of Death, John Owen
15. Christie Magnalia Americana, Cotton Mather
16. Practical Christianity, William Wilberforce
17. Collected Sermons, Thomas Chalmers
18 Journals, George Whitefield
19. Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
20. Scots Worthies, John Howie
21. A Crook in the Lot, Thomas Boston
22. The Bruised Reed, Richard Sibbes
23. The Life of God in the Soul of Man, Henry Scougal
24. The Covenant of Grace, Matthew Henry
25. The Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter