Let's face it, I love books, always have, always will. It's too hard to pick out my favorites. The bookshelves pictured are just some of the ones in my house. They don't include the ones in my two offices or any of the piles of books or the books I read but never bought. These bookshelves mostly contain my favorite books. Who can choose?
What's been interesting is how many of the books that stick out as my favorites were ones that I read as a child. Whenever I go to used book stores or sales, I always check the children's section. Most of Alexander Key is no longer in print - will I find one of his books that someone has finally let go of? Will I find the books by authors whose names I no longer remember but whose covers I can still see in my head? Will I finally find those books I checked out of the library in the next town over and loved but never saw again? Sometimes I do, and I scoop them up and spend time with characters half-remembered. At last year's Bruton Parish Book Sale, I found Fog Magic, The Westing Game, and Five Children and It. Delight filled me as I revisited those stories. You'd think with all the books I haven't read that I wouldn't spend time returning to the ones I have - but there's something marvelous about dipping back into a story that I loved as a child.
Those stories from my childhood and teen years have shaped me in ways that I can't even articulate. Always the battles between good and evil, the stories of the heroic quest, the tales about learning to believe in oneself. That's why I tend toward science fiction and fantasy - there's something archetypal in many of those stories that speaks to my soul. The other surprise was that no books of theology made it to the list. Nothing from seminary, though I did consider No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu and Take This Bread by Sara Miles. I walked around looking at all my shelves searching for something that I just had to include. I saw the favorites my clergy colleagues posted, and I wondered what was wrong with me. I knew I wasn't a scholar, but hmmm... I'm embarrassed to say that when I first began discerning whether I had a call to ordination, I wrote in my journal, "How can I be a priest? I'd rather read science fiction than the Bible." I'm sure that's not the right thing to say, but it was honest.
I finally decided that I would pick 10 books that had stayed with me for a long time. And then I gave myself 3 extra. Because as much as I love to read fiction, as dearly as I love to burrow under the covers with a tale of magic and far-off worlds, I cannot imagine my life without William Shakespeare, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Bible. Talk about the ultimate story of good and evil. It surprised me how much thinking time I've given to this little game. Playing has made me want to go back and reread many of my favorites. But there are four books on my bed and four more on the bedside table. Guess I'd better keep moving along.
If you haven't gotten to play the game yet, go ahead. Ten favorite books. See if you can do it. I might have to play again. Ten more. And then ten more after that. And then ten more after that...
