...six, if you count My Ideal Bookshelf, published in 2012. I just picked it up from the library last week; however, I had this idea for a New Year's post of "books I wish I had read sooner" prior to reading this anthology. It turns out that the illustrator of this book has an ongoing blog and website https://www.idealbookshelf.com which you can find in the link. With hundreds of books, I find it a bit daunting to come up with an ideal bookshelf. My version of an idea bookshelf is a library. Instead, here are the books I wish I had read when they were first published.
The first book, I've already discussed above, and I'll keep coming back to it throughout 2018. I'll include the front of the cover at the end of the post. The second book, You Gotta Be the Book, was originally published in 1995 while I was in grad school for my Masters in Education, Curriculum and Instruction. This book could have been assigned to me then, but none of my professors did so. I even took a class in reading instruction. My copy is the third edition with a forward by the author written twenty years after the original. He updated the research, and that is lovely; still, I think of all the struggling readers I could have helped if I had known the information in this book. Basically, struggling readers do not see what natural or skillful readers see in their minds. This book includes practices tried and the amazing results gained when a teacher stops thinking either the student needs to get off the phone or needs to try harder or needs more skills. Some of those may apply, but they may apply because the student doesn't see what he or she is reading.
The third book, I have not finished as yet so I don't want to make a bold "you must read this" statement for it. All I know, so far, is that Aldous Huxley gave some amazing lectures at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1959. I can be forgiven for not being there at the time as I was barely in kindergarten. I only stumbled upon this collection of his lectures because I am enrolled in a trio of adult education classes on the Beat Generation authors, and Huxley is one of them. I never had any desire to learn about this group of authors since I unconsciously associated them with beatniks, and beatniks from the sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Dobie Gillis was not a beatnik but Maynard was...however, I digress. I may have to change my mind about the Beat Generation after this series of classes. Here is the Huxley quote that drew me into his lectures:
"My own feeling is that an ideal integrated education calls for an approach to the subject in terms of fundamental problems. Who are we? What is the nature of human nature? How should we be related to the planet on which we live? How are we to live together satisfactorily? How are we to develop our individual potentialities? What is the relationship between nature and nurture? If we start with these problems and make them central, we can obviously bring together information from a great number of at present completely isolated disciplines" (2).
Surprised by Hope and An Altar in the World comprise my spiritual "wish I had read sooner" section. Although, N.T. Wright's book Surprised by Hope (2008) came at the right time in my life, and maybe I need to consider that for all of these books. Perhaps, if I had read them sooner, they would not have had the impact that they did have. Wright's incredibly logical, well-researched and well-written book on the need for Christ-followers to see the beauty and importance of Christ's ascension gave me not only hope but also joy. I have read this book in full and can recommend it. I particularly appreciated the chapter on "The Redemption of Our Bodies" and "Resurrection: Life After Life After Death".
I'm finding that much of my reading these days has focused on loving God with my mind AND body. The body is not to be hated and ignored. The body in daily life is what Barbara Brown Taylor captures in her beautifully covered (stains and all) book An Altar in the World. I have not finished reading it, but I'm halfway done, and the first half alone makes the book worth buying. I recently finished the chapter on "The Practice of Wearing Skin." Will some of the people she quotes drive certain readers away? Sure. My practice when I am reading is to hang on to the good, true, and beautiful, and if I disagree with other parts, I disagree, but I don't throw the entire book out. I could not read otherwise as I have not found an author that I agree with his or her every single word...including myself!
Finally, in the fiction category: The Poldark series. I came to these books via BBC's Masterpiece Theatre. The latest series set in Cornwall is a sight for the eyes. Warleggan shown above is the fourth in the series of books by Winston Graham, the first of which was written in 1945 so I can also be forgiven for not reading this book before I was born. However, by the time I was in college, the first books could have qualified as classic (over 50 years old), and I truly feel the early novels have the hallmarks of classics: good thought provoking stories with social issues, politics, and history thrown in.
Will any of these five make the categories shown on the front cover (below) of My Ideal Bookshelf? I have not decided that as yet. Perhaps by the end of 2018, I will revisit that question and come up with my own ideal bookshelf.
The first book, I've already discussed above, and I'll keep coming back to it throughout 2018. I'll include the front of the cover at the end of the post. The second book, You Gotta Be the Book, was originally published in 1995 while I was in grad school for my Masters in Education, Curriculum and Instruction. This book could have been assigned to me then, but none of my professors did so. I even took a class in reading instruction. My copy is the third edition with a forward by the author written twenty years after the original. He updated the research, and that is lovely; still, I think of all the struggling readers I could have helped if I had known the information in this book. Basically, struggling readers do not see what natural or skillful readers see in their minds. This book includes practices tried and the amazing results gained when a teacher stops thinking either the student needs to get off the phone or needs to try harder or needs more skills. Some of those may apply, but they may apply because the student doesn't see what he or she is reading.
The third book, I have not finished as yet so I don't want to make a bold "you must read this" statement for it. All I know, so far, is that Aldous Huxley gave some amazing lectures at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1959. I can be forgiven for not being there at the time as I was barely in kindergarten. I only stumbled upon this collection of his lectures because I am enrolled in a trio of adult education classes on the Beat Generation authors, and Huxley is one of them. I never had any desire to learn about this group of authors since I unconsciously associated them with beatniks, and beatniks from the sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Dobie Gillis was not a beatnik but Maynard was...however, I digress. I may have to change my mind about the Beat Generation after this series of classes. Here is the Huxley quote that drew me into his lectures:
"My own feeling is that an ideal integrated education calls for an approach to the subject in terms of fundamental problems. Who are we? What is the nature of human nature? How should we be related to the planet on which we live? How are we to live together satisfactorily? How are we to develop our individual potentialities? What is the relationship between nature and nurture? If we start with these problems and make them central, we can obviously bring together information from a great number of at present completely isolated disciplines" (2).
Surprised by Hope and An Altar in the World comprise my spiritual "wish I had read sooner" section. Although, N.T. Wright's book Surprised by Hope (2008) came at the right time in my life, and maybe I need to consider that for all of these books. Perhaps, if I had read them sooner, they would not have had the impact that they did have. Wright's incredibly logical, well-researched and well-written book on the need for Christ-followers to see the beauty and importance of Christ's ascension gave me not only hope but also joy. I have read this book in full and can recommend it. I particularly appreciated the chapter on "The Redemption of Our Bodies" and "Resurrection: Life After Life After Death".
I'm finding that much of my reading these days has focused on loving God with my mind AND body. The body is not to be hated and ignored. The body in daily life is what Barbara Brown Taylor captures in her beautifully covered (stains and all) book An Altar in the World. I have not finished reading it, but I'm halfway done, and the first half alone makes the book worth buying. I recently finished the chapter on "The Practice of Wearing Skin." Will some of the people she quotes drive certain readers away? Sure. My practice when I am reading is to hang on to the good, true, and beautiful, and if I disagree with other parts, I disagree, but I don't throw the entire book out. I could not read otherwise as I have not found an author that I agree with his or her every single word...including myself!
Finally, in the fiction category: The Poldark series. I came to these books via BBC's Masterpiece Theatre. The latest series set in Cornwall is a sight for the eyes. Warleggan shown above is the fourth in the series of books by Winston Graham, the first of which was written in 1945 so I can also be forgiven for not reading this book before I was born. However, by the time I was in college, the first books could have qualified as classic (over 50 years old), and I truly feel the early novels have the hallmarks of classics: good thought provoking stories with social issues, politics, and history thrown in.
Will any of these five make the categories shown on the front cover (below) of My Ideal Bookshelf? I have not decided that as yet. Perhaps by the end of 2018, I will revisit that question and come up with my own ideal bookshelf.
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