Let me introduce you...

...to a few friends. As you can tell from the photo, I love books. It was my mission last year to collect a great library to bring to Peru. I am pleased with the success of this venture, as are Half-Price Books, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.com.

But as much as I love books, what I might actually love even more are books about books. (I may have just lost a few of you there, but hang tight.) These "books on books" serve me in the same way a friend who introduces me to new friend serves me. If my old friend had not made me aware of this other wonderful person, I would not have the other person as a new friend.

And so in the same manner I want to introduce a few "friends" who were helpful in directing me in my accumulation of literary works. Let me tell you what they have in common. They are all authors or writers in some vein. They are knowledgeable of the great literary works and they have proven themselves as discerning critics of what is good and right and true.

1. The Classics We've Read and the Difference They've Made by the Chrysostom Society This was the book that began my literary quest and gave me confidence to tackle the great works. Included are chapters by Christian writers such as Madeleine L'Engle, Eugene Peterson. Richard Foster, Phillip Yancy, and more writing about authors such as Fydor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, John Donne, John Milton, Flannery O'Connor, Evelyn Waugh and of course, J.R.R.Tolkien and C.S. Lewis as well as several others. The chapters are not literary analyses at all, but honest autobiographies of the contributors own reading and how their reading of these great writers worked in their lives. I finished this book and immediately, but still with a little bit of fear, bought Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky - now one of my top 5 favorite books and a must read for all Christians. If you only read one of the books listed, read this one.

2.Indelible Ink: 22 Prominent Christian Leaders Discuss the Books That Shape Their Faith Much like the previous collection, but with different people. The list of contributors includes Joni Eareckson Tada, Charles Colson, J.I. Packer, Josh McDowell, Larry Crabb and more writing about such authors as those included in the above book as well as Soren Kierkegaard, John Calvin, T.S. Eliot and even Annie Dillard. These contributors write a bit more informally including several "friends" of theirs, somewhat like a literary dinner party. And interestingly enough, the one thing almost every one of these chapters have in common is C.S. Lewis. Who can go wrong with Jack.

3.Soul Survivor by Philip Yancy Yancy's more personal and more in depth look at his favorite authors and how they influenced him. The subtitle of the book is "How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped my Faith Survive the Church". He includes chapters on John Donne, G.K Chesterton, and even Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Whether you agree with Yancy's considerations or not, it is still a book worth reading. I personally thank him for introducing me to Shusaku Endo a Japanese Catholic who has been likened to the novelist Graham Greene (another novelist you can meet through these "friends").

4.Take and Read-Spiritual Reading: An Annotated List by Eugene Peterson Similar to Yancy's in that it is a personal account. What I like about Peterson's book is the way he has grouped his reading lists. Check it out.

5.How to Grow a Young Reader by Katherine Lindskoog and Ranelda Mack Hunisicker
and
Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Fairy Tales Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination by Vigen Gurion Friends of children wanting to make sure I was introducing my kids to great children's literature.

This is a start. believe it or not, I actually have more "friends" but sometimes it's overwhelming to meet everybody at once, so I'll leave off here. Let me know if you have good "conversation" and if these "friends" of mine truly become "friends" of yours.