In a previous blog (‘A Life Prayer’) I spoke of experiencing ‘reading the right books at the right time’. These are often books that have made an impression on me. They may be self help books that do what the cover says, they help. Or they may be inspiring for their wisdom or insight for living. A book may meet a need at a specific time of life. Yet I probably would not re-read it. It may be left to gather dust on a shelf. Or maybe I think it’s useful to give to someone. I think they might find comfort or other help through reading.

Other books are destined for the charity shop. Not necessarily because they haven’t been of value. It may simply be an attempt at tidying. The longer I live the more decluttering seems attractive. An elusive ideal as I related in ’O For a Simple Life’. 

There is another category of book which I can read repeatedly. Pick it up and open randomly at any page and I will often be blessed. There is a voice that nourishes me in the moment. Such books have changed over the years. There will likely arise others to take their place. Invariably they are not ’fast food’ type of writing. They challenge my intellect, invoke emotion and mystery. And that’s maybe why I need to keep re-reading. I just don’t get first time round.

Below are some current examples of authors of such books. For some it is just one or two of their books. For other writers it is almost anything they write. A couple of caveats first …

*** These are not recommendations. They speak to me at this period of life. My reasons for liking will be different from yours. And you may not like anyway! Yet I hope that you will have your own favourites. Writings that speak to your heart’s longing. That give encouragement and hope when you need.

*** As a Christian it will probably come as no surprise that these authors are all Christian. That is not to say that I derive no help from those who are not. There are many brilliant, wise and helpful people whose words can inspire. However their works are usually for me a ’one off’ experience. In the ’often read’ category it is more with those whose faith resonates with mine.

So, enough beating around the bush, here are my four picks…

G K Chesterton – He is a master of the pithy saying. His book ‘Orthodoxy’ is a masterpiece in Christian apologetics and his own journey to faith. Written over a century ago he writes with wit and humour but also very profoundly. So much so that much of it is beyond me. Yet he draws out my little grey cells to make an effort to understand the force and wisdom of his arguments. Few people write with such insight today.

“The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate. This gives to the typically Christian pleasure in this earth a strange touch of lightness that is almost frivolity…

’Orthodoxy’ GK Chesterton

Henri Nouwen – Often speaks directly to my heart. Words of comfort. Almost any of the many books he wrote fall into the ‘any part, any time’ category. He usually writes with a background of his own personal struggle.

‘To be tempted to turn stones into bread is the temptation to do something useful i.e. results, achievements, stats, numbers, signs of growth. Instead we are to focus on living every word that comes from the mouth of God. There’s a source of sustenance, affirmation, satisfaction that is not rooted in our fulfilment of doing things…’

Gleaned from ‘Downward mobility and the spiritual life’ by Nouwen.

Dallas Willard – I only ‘discovered’ Willard after he died. He was a Baptist pastor, university professor, theologian and philosopher. He delivers wisdom with a genuine humility and gentleness. I thought I had heard a lot of what there had to be said about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. That was until I read ‘The Divine Conspiracy’. He has a way of communicating old, often used words in new, fresh and insightful ways. His teaching compels me to change behaviour. To think, speak and act differently. I have written a whole blog on what one of his short sayings has meant to me in ‘Never Believe Anything Bad About God’

The following thought is mind-blowing, if you will excuse the pun!

“God, many are now shocked to realize, does not have a brain. And he never misses it. This is something one must never forget. Body and brain come from him, not the other way around. And in him our own personal being will be as secure without body and brain as it now is with body and brain. In fact, much more so”.

George MacDonald – One area of literature that I am not at all well read on is poetry. A lot of poems I just do not get. As a result I read few. However one collection that really does it for me is by G. Macdonald. It has the long and rather enigmatic title of ‘A Book of Strife in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul’. A short 7 line poem for every day of the year if you are so inclined. As with Chesterton I often do not understand the profundity of what he says. Except that it stirs up my soul. Longing, wistfulness and beauty is awakened. Like an artist he invokes feelings that can’t really be described.

“Too eager I must not be to understand.
How should the work the master goes about
Fit the vague sketch my compasses have planned?
I am his house—for him to go in and out.
He builds me now—and if I cannot see
At any time what he is doing with me,
‘Tis that he makes the house for me too grand.”

‘Diary of an Old Soul’ (15 July), George MacDonald

I could of course speak about the Bible. For me it fits the bill as ’often read and an enduring source of inspiration’. Yet it is in a wholly different, altogether unique category. Incomparable. Recommended reading for all, at any age and stage of life. Yet it is beyond the scope of this blog piece. The apostle John hints at the immensity of what could be said at the end of his account of the life and work of Jesus. Beyond words, beyond books, the mystery of Immanuel, ’God with us’.

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” 

John‬ ‭21‬ verse 25‬ ‭(NIVUK‬)

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