Books

Here are a list of books that have influenced me deeply over the years:

1) The Gift of Good Land. Wendell Berry.

An amazing book, offering the most thorough and plausible critique of modern life I’ve run across so far–and from the point of view of farming. Whether WB is talking about a trip to the Andes or how an Amish farm manages its land, he always provides insights relevant to those living more citified lives. Buy it, read it, treasure it.

2) The Complete Gospels. Polebridge Press.

I can’t think of a better introduction to the New Testament. Ornery, persnickity, and just plain radical, this bee in the bonnet of received texts will not be forgotten any time soon. The language is fresh & daring, and the noncanonical gospels will set you to thinking in new ways about the most important person in Western culture.

3) The Bible with Sources Revealed. Richard Friedman.

By the author of Who Wrote Bible, this book divides up the Pentateuch by its several sources, most importantly the J, E, P, D, and R texts of the documentary hypothesis. The translation is straightforward and the color-coded text easy to follow. Once again, new perspectives on an ancient text.

4) The Year of the French. Thomas Flanagan.

A powerful novel about an invasion of Ireland by a small French force in 1798. Beautifully written, tightly plotted, deeply researched, the book focuses on Irish culture in County Mayo, and in particular on the poet Owen MacCarthy and the ways he helps carry Irish traditions into the modern era.  A historical novel you won’t soon forget. See my review in the October 2010 RT archives.

5) The Mars Trilogy. Kim Stanley Robinson.

I was a Sci-Fi buff when I was a teenager; in college, I turned towards poetry and essays. Then, in my mid-30s, The Mars Trilogy came out, one exciting volume after another–Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars. They describe the settlement and terraforming of Mars, and I couldn’t put any of these lengthy novels down. The combination of prodigious research, superior (and sometimes outstanding) prose, deft plotting, and epic scope carried me breathless to the end of each. The scenario they paint of the transformation of the most likely candidate for New Earth is so convincing that to this day, I believe that sooner rather than later we will be thickening Mar’s atmosphere and pumping up its ocean of water. The Trilogy also reignited my interest in the exploration of space, which, despite a dearth of funding, is proceeding at an amazing clip.

6) Swan’s Wing. Ursula Synge.

I bought Swan’s Wing at a children’s bookstore soon after I graduated from college, but this is no more a children’s book than The Lord of the Rings. Ursula Synge deftly spins out the fairytale, “The Seven Swans,” telling the subsequent adventures of the brother who was left with one wing in place of an arm. The language is gorgeous, yet true to the feel of medieval Europe, the reverence for the period unmistakable, the inner struggle of the characters intense. Perhaps best of all, the story offers reflections on the nature, rewards, and burdens of the artist’s life. Revealing truths about everyday life through its excursions into the fantastic, Swan’s Wing is one of the best stories I’ve read about the “Dark Ages” and the truths that its demise has obscured.