If I knew that I could only read five books for the rest of my life, I would want books that not only entertain, but inspire, remind me of eternal things, and also help me ponder what it means to be human. For me, the choices aren’t that difficult; these are books that I reread nearly every year. In some cases, like with The Lord of the Rings, I have read nearly 20 times and still never get tired or bored. Perhaps I’m just easily amused, or perhaps there really IS something sustaining and life-giving in these books. On to the list:
The Last of the Just
Andre Schwarz-Bart
Winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1960(sort of like the French Booker Prize), The Last of the Just is written by a French Jew who saw many in his family perish in the Holocaust. It is a brilliantly-written account of 1000 years of Jewish persecution culminating in the life of Ernie who is the final chapter in the long line of’just men.’ According to legend, at any one time there are 36’just men’ on the planet whose destiny is to take upon themselves all of the sorrow and suffering of the world, and they mainly remain anonymous, even to themselves. The Last of the Just is Ernie’s story of life, love, and finally, destruction in the concentration camps of Poland. If you only read one novel on this topic, this should be the one-it will move you to a place beyond tears, but ultimately remind you of how precious, beautiful, and complex life is.
The Habit of Being
Flannery O’Connor
Flannery O’Connor is one of the finest American short story writers. This collection is a compilation of her letters to fellow writers, friends, and fans over the course of career from 1951 to her early death from lupus in 1964. It is filled with profound theological musings, hysterically funny comments on everyday life on her farm in central Georgia, and deeply-felt thoughts about her characters and the writing process as a whole. I highly recommend this to anyone struggling with their faith or with their writing-Flannery has a direct style that speaks to the heart. When you read her final letters, written just before her death(she knew she didn’t have long to live), you will feel as if you’ve just lost a dear friend. And if you’re like me, you’ll want to read it over and over, deepening the friendship each time, and eventually explore her novels, short stories, and other prose writings.
The Jeeves Omnibus
P.G. Wodehouse
Since the desert island can be a sombre place, I’m going to need a good laugh from time to time. The Jeeves Omnibus is just the ticket: a compilation of all 36-odd stories about the dim-witted Bertie Wooster and his brilliant manservant, Jeeves. Written over the course of two decades, they are nevertheless stranded in a particular time and place-the England of the 1920s upper class. The stories all take the same shape: Bertie is cruising merrily along until a situation(friend, lover, relative) throws a stumbling block in his path, and, through elaborate and labyrinthine ministrations, Jeeves somehow manages to extricate him. The fun is in the details and in the clever methods by which Wodehouse attains the denouement. Again, to be read over and over along the course of one’s life; you will only enjoy these more the older you get.
The Chronicles of Narnia
C.S. Lewis
Yes, I know what you’re saying:’But these are children’s books!’ Well, yes and no. After all, I only came upon them when I was 23(which was over half a lifetime ago), and have read them through at least once every two years since then. Comprised of seven separate novels, ’The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, ’’The Silver Chair, ’’The Horse and His Boy, ’ etc., the stories are all the adventures of the Pevensy children who accidentally stumble clear out of this world into the enchanted land of Narnia, where one can spend a lifetime without taking up any time at all on Earth. Narnia is often allegorical, the being of Aslan the Lion being meant to represent Christ, but regardless of your beliefs, you will find this series endlessly compelling and entertaining. Narnia is the beautiful world of our dreams for which our hearts ache, and it is a land that, once visited, you will want to revisit again and again.
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
So much has been written about this trilogy, the story of Frodo and Gandalf and the hobbits, elves, dwarves, and men of Middle-Earth, that I hesitate to say anything else. The one thing I do want to say is, THE MOVIE IS NOT THE BOOK! You may think you know the story of Middle-Earth if you’ve seen the excellent films by Peter Jackson, but the real power is in Tolkien’s writing and imagination, and no filmmaker can ever hope to attain-within the limitations of film-the astonishing glories and terrors that Tolkien creates. As C.S. Lewis famously wrote, ’These are beauties that pierce the heart like cold iron.’ I believe that The Lord of the Rings will still be read by a mass audience 100 years from now, and will eventually eclipse, in the popular imagination such books as Ulysses to take its rightful place as the greatest literary accomplishment of the 20th century. And, I might add, as one of the greatest of all time. Need I say more? Go on, get up. Go to your local bookstore and buy it. And I mean NOW, mister!