Fridays Are For One Question
Posted by MK | Filed under Fridays Are For One Question
One of my goals in 2012 is to read more. More often, and more quantity (though if the Mayans were right, it’s not going to matter too much. But I digress…)
Yes, reading. My older son shames me with his commitment to books. He’ll knock out a “Magic Treehouse” adventure novel in about 2 days. Me? It took me two weeks to read The Hunger Games. But I’m working on it.
Right now, I’ve got a copy of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson which, by all accounts, is very long and very good. But I wondered today if we might share some recommendations.
Today’s question is about that one book that you love to give away. The one you will always talk about. The one you would recommend under most any circumstance:
“What is your favorite book to recommend to others?”
18 Responses to “Fridays Are For One Question”
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January 27th, 2012 at 7:41 am
Can I really only have one? ‘Cause if I can really only have one, I have to go with the Jesus Storybook Bible. But I have more. Oh, yes. I have more.
January 27th, 2012 at 7:42 am
A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God: Spirituality for the Rest of Us.
January 27th, 2012 at 7:45 am
Oh my! I love this question.
Top all-time favorite is “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer. The book. Not the movie (although the movie is stand-alone brilliant).
But you should also read:
“Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“When Helping Hurts” by Corbett & Fikkert
“How Soccer Explains the World” by Franklin Foer
any Madeleine L’Engle nonfiction
January 27th, 2012 at 7:53 am
I feel like someone needs to bring the intellectual level of these comments down a notch…so my favorite book(s) to recommend is anything by Sophie Kinsella because she’s hilarious and her books make great light reading. Of course, I’m generally recommending books to women, and, Michael, you don’t really strike me as a “chick lit” kind of guy. But I could be wrong…
January 27th, 2012 at 7:55 am
Katie K. – I’m not afraid to rock Chicken Soup for the Soul. But perhaps you could clarify:
What exactly is “chick lit.”?
January 27th, 2012 at 7:55 am
Cash by Johnny Cash
Also:
The Dark Half – Stephen King
The Poisonwood Bible – Margaret Atwood
Freakonomics – Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
To find out what makes you WANT to read, the Great American Non-required Reading series…they’re great!
January 27th, 2012 at 7:56 am
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini if I am limited to one.
The Steve Jobs book is really good.
January 27th, 2012 at 7:56 am
Is that “The Notebook” and other weepie stories that are pretty much the same?
January 27th, 2012 at 8:04 am
One of my favorite books is Crazy Love. So enlightening on so many levels, but I know it’s not for everyone. Francis has this hard sell approach to the gospel that is off putting to some and REALLY effective for others, like myself. I’m also a big fan of “Just Do Something” by Kevin DeYoung. The church has become paralyzed by the idea that one “misstep” will send us outside of God’s plan for the rest of our days. As a result, we fail to do anything. Kevin’s look at God’s will is so freeing and comforting. I love recommending it to believers.
January 27th, 2012 at 8:04 am
The Phantom Tollbooth. The Princess Bride. Everything by Shel Silverstein, but especially Uncle Shelby’s Book fo ABZs. The Stand. Blue Like Jazz. The Last Lecture. Featherless Woozy.
January 27th, 2012 at 8:12 am
I don’t know that anyone has come up with a good definition of chick lit, but it’s essentially the book equivaelent of a RomCom. If you want good examples of the genre, Bridget Jones Diary and Confessions of a Shopaholic (by Kinsella) were some of the first “chick lit” novels. Those books were so wildly succesful that everyone started copying them, and a new genre was born. Of course, not everyone does it nearly as well as Helen Fielding or Sophie Kinsella. And I think when most American writers write Chick lit it ends up sounding whiny and self-centered. Probably because they lack that dry British wit.
January 27th, 2012 at 8:30 am
I’d have to pick The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul.
January 27th, 2012 at 8:35 am
Come Back Barbara by Jack Miller … best book on parenting by far
January 27th, 2012 at 8:44 am
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Best book I’ve read in a long time. True story; couldn’t put it down.
January 27th, 2012 at 10:59 am
“No Compromise” – the Keith Green Biography written by his wife Melody
January 27th, 2012 at 11:55 am
I second The Jesus Storybook Bible. But also, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
January 27th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
One of my resolutions is to do one non-fiction book per month and not to buy anymore fiction until I read everything I have. So, I’m with you. My first non-fiction was Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and it’s great.
In answer to your question:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Telling the Truth by Buechner
Till We Have Faces by Lewis
January 27th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
“Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss. Just saying’–I love this book!