BOOK CLUB: Reading list for "Religion"
Here are all the recommendations for this round's theme:
Additional recommendations (as mentioned on the recommenders' own journals):
Recommenders: sub_divided, tarigwaemir, worldserpent
Readers: bravecows, sub_divided, tarigwaemir, worldserpent
- Augustine, Confessions (Amazon | Project Gutenberg)
The author's sordid life before he found God. I once wrote a really awful school paper that compared St. Augustine's views in Confessions with Dante's in The Inferno (basically saying that Augustine is way too hard on himself while Dante is way too easy). With The Inferno, probably the most influential book on Christianity ever written.
- Octavia E. Butler, Earthseed (Amazon)
Science fiction. In a crime-ridden, polluted near future, a young black girl is forced out of her gated Los Angeles community. She heads north on the highway, looking for a better life, and gathering together the adherents of a new religion ("Earthseed").
- G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday (Amazon | Project Gutenberg)
What starts off as a surreal thriller about anarchist conspirators turns into a religious allegory about Creation and divine justice versus love.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (Amazon)
A dissolute father, Fyodor Karamazov, is murdered, and people suspect his eldest son, Dmitri, is responsible. Along the way, many philosophical discussions ensue, since the youngest son, Alyosha, is studying to become a priest; the middle son, Ivan, is a despairing atheist; and the eldest son, Mitya, is a hedonist like his father. Includes that famous passage, "The Grand Inquisitor".
- Shuusaku Endo, Silence (Amazon)
Book about the ordeal of a priest in Edo period Japan.
- Allegra Goodman, Kaaterskill Falls (Amazon)
Examines the members of an an Orthodox Jewish community on the eve of a crisis concerning the community's succession. Author is skilled at presenting other peoples' worldviews, including their religious views. Plus if you're familiar with the area (Upstate New York) you can kind of figure out which placenames were changed, and from what.
- Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory (Amazon)
Story of a whiskey priest in Mexico, who is pursued by the Lieutenant (under an anticlerical government). Though decidedly not a paragon, the whiskey priest still clings to his religious mission.
- Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha (Amazon)
A very fictionalized retelling of the story of the man who would become the Buddha. Written of course from a Western perspective with all of Hesse's personal biases in play.
- Cheikh Hamidou Kane, The Ambiguous Adventure (Amazon)
Islam, and religion vs. the modern world, mysticism.
- Laozi, Tao te ching (Amazon | Project Gutenberg)
Important Daoist text, possibly one of the most read books in the world.
- C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (Amazon)
Letters ostensibly written by a senior devil to his nephew who is trying to tempt a man to damnation.
- Walter M. Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (Amazon)
Classic story of the Catholic Church's attempts to preserve the remnants of our civilized age after an atomic apocalypse. Takes an extremely cynical view of humanity -- recommended if you've got a dark sense of humor.
- Yukio Mishima, Spring Snow and Runaway Horses (Amazon: 1, 2)
Religion is not the overarching theme, but the idea of reincarnation, and Mishima's idiosyncratic (I don't think he was necessarily describing orthodox ideas of either) depictions of both Buddhism and Shintoism are interesting.
- Terry Pratchett, Small Gods (Amazon)
Parody of organized religion in Discworld, unexpectedly sympathetic to genuine religious faith while making fun of religious hypocrisy and dogmatism.
- Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow (Amazon)
The Catholic Church funds a scientific/religious mission to an inhabited planet, but something goes wrong. Combines a science fiction "failed mission" plot with questions of sainthood and religious conviction in the face of obstacles. Plus, intelligent aristocratic bipedal cocker spaniels! <3
Additional recommendations (as mentioned on the recommenders' own journals):
- Orson Scott Card, Sarah and Rebekah (Amazon: 1, 2)
First two books in the Women of Genesis series: fictionalized retellings of Sarah and Rebekah's lives. Surprisingly, both books show a feminist streak, since both Sarah and Rebekah assert their right to share in the reading of scripture and other aspects of religious life which were normally restricted to men.
- Orson Scott Card, The Memory of Earth (Amazon)
Somewhat bizarre science-fiction version of Exodus. God as an artificial intelligence communicating with the mind of Nafai, to spur him to lead a expedition back to Earth.
- Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Amazon)
"Anthropological Judaism."
- G.K. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi (Amazon)
Hagiography. Chesterton has some interesting insights into the historical context in which St. Francis established his monastic order.
- G.K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox (Amazon)
Hagiography. With more theological content than the previous title, on account of St. Thomas Aquinas being such a major theologian. Considerable discussion of how Aristotle was Christianized in response to various heresies.
- Deepak Chopra, The Return of Merlin (Amazon)
"Fiction by spiritual self-help authors."
- Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama (Amazon)
"Hinduism in the future."
- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist (Amazon)
"Fiction by spiritual self-help authors."
- Dante, Inferno (Amazon | Princeton Dante Project)
"Influential, out of copyright."
- Elizabeth Borton de Trevino, Casilda of the Rising Moon (Amazon)
Fictionalized hagiography of a somewhat obscure medieval saint, a Moorish princess who converted to Christianity. I think much of the story is based on unreliable folk legends about Casilda, but it was a compelling read nonetheless. A children's book.
- Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose (Amazon)
A series of murders at a monastery, set during the Middle Ages, just at a time of political and religious turmoil. Brother William of Baskerville, a not-so-thinly disguised version of Sherlock Holmes, and his assistant, Adso, try to solve the crime, while questioning the contradictions of their religious faith. Contains inquisitors, discussions of heresy, rationalism and dogmatism, logical puzzles, labyrinthine libraries.
- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (Amazon)
The words of the eponymous prophet, just before he sets off on a journey to return home. Series of simple yet poetic aphorisms on various aspects of life, ranging from the everyday to the spiritual.
- Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land (Amazon)
"Cults in the future."
- James Joyce, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ()
Recommending this title again for this theme, since it traces the trajectory of Stephen's rebellion against the Catholic faith he's brought up with. Of particular note is the section containing the sermon on hell and Stephen's visceral reaction followed by a period of severe penance.
- Madeleine L'Engle, Many Waters (Amazon)
Especially interesting because the inspiration for the story is taken from the Book of Enoch, an apocryphal work.
- C.S. Lewis, Perelandra (Amazon)
Science-fiction allegory with considerable theologizing. The Garden of Eden story replays out on Venus (also called Perelandra) as the new "Adam" and "Eve" are tempted to repeat the fall to original sin. Although it's the second book in the trilogy, I think this one can stand alone.
- Yann Martel, Life of Pi (Amazon)
"Fiction by spiritual self-help authors."
- Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain (Amazon)
An autobiography, in the style of Augustine's Confessions, describing how the author, once an atheist, converted to Catholicism and became a Trappist monk. Merton is very articulate, very intelligent and an excellent writer, who also had a rather fascinating life. I think this book is actually one that will be a fascinating read no matter what your religious beliefs (or lack thereof).
- Thomas Merton (trans.), The Way of Chuang Tzu (Amazon)
Merton's poetic translations of excerpts from Zhuangzi, one of the most important Daoist writers after Laozi. Excerpts are rearranged, I believe, and the translation (when compared to other English translations) is not quite literal (though it still conveys the essential meaning), which is why I list this book under Merton's name rather than Zhuangzi.
- Naomi Mitchison, Travel Light (Amazon)
"Fiction by spiritual self-help authors."
- James Morrow, Bible Stories for Adults (Amazon)
The Amazon page has a good mini-review with reasons why you should read this short story collection, which is also quite funny in parts, and definitely not as boring as the title makes it sound.
- R.K. Narayan, The Ramayana (Amazon)
Narayan's English retelling of the Hindu epic. The story is probably considerably abridged, but I found it easy to read and very fascinating. (Narayan wrote a retelling of The Mahabharata as well, though I have yet to read it.)
- Henri Nouwen, The Genessee Diary (Amazon)
Nouwen's diary of his retreat at a Trappist monastery in the Genessee valley, with his everyday meditations on spiritual life and distractions therefrom. Interesting not only for the window into monastic life in modern times (still centered around a busy schedule of prayer and labor), but also for Nouwen's candid descriptions of his own difficulties in connecting to God and other people and his thoughts on various books he reads during his stay.
- Chaim Potok, The Chosen (Amazon)
The story of a friendship between two Jewish boys growing up in Brooklyn around the end of World War II. Danny is an eidetic prodigy, who despite his strict Hasidic upbringing, reads Freud and studies psychology. Reuben is a mathematician, whose father is known for his alternate method of Talmudic analysis. Both of them struggle with their fathers' legacy as well as their own spiritual doubts and concerns.
- Chaim Potok, My Name is Asher Lev (Amazon)
An artistic prodigy who grows up as a Hasidic Jew. His parents, especially his father, do not understand his need for self-expression, and he himself struggles to reconcile his impulse to create and his strict religious upbringing.
- Mary Doria Russell, The Children of God (Amazon)
Sequel to The Sparrow, which is recommended above. The protagonist returns to the planet where he lost his faith. During his absence, the rest of the mission try to adapt to life on the new planet and indirectly spark a revolution among the Runa (the slave/prey species).
- Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light (Amazon)
"Hinduism in the future."
Recommenders: sub_divided, tarigwaemir, worldserpent
Readers: bravecows, sub_divided, tarigwaemir, worldserpent