Recommend at least one book that isn't as well known as you think it deserves to be.--Al

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), January 28, 2000

Answers

Last night, yes, just last night, I finished the sequel to Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow," a bestseller. When I discovered the first novel due to my faithful readership of Karawynn Long's email journal in 1997, that initial reading sparked quite a spiritual makeover within myself.

Certainly one must read "The Sparrow" as a study for this follow- up, "Children of God." It was perfect reading as airplane fodder, as preparation and denoument around last week's excursion to Maui. I just came home from earthly Paradise, my friends.

My first thought as I closed the cover and held the book to my chest and sighed was, "I'd like to be sure whazzis-face --the guy with the autistic kids-- has had the opportunity to read this."

With the help of Open Pages, I recalled your name and webpage this evening. And you're asking about book recommendations, so here's mine.

If the thought of Jesuit priests traveling to another planet because they were in love with God and heard His voice in the broadcasted songs across the universe, if this thought intrigues you (the story was a probe into my own faith, quite painful at times) I urge you to pick up a copy of both books. "Children of God," and "The Sparrow" are written by an anthropologist with a genuine grasp on conversational wit. Deep, witty, engaging, extremely tragic, yet hopeful. The world may become a better place because of Russell. Certainly my life is a better place.

-- Trish Walraven (trish@intellivations.com), January 29, 2000.

the bible of course. for me next would come, "girl of the limberlost," by gene stratton porter. although i was a boy when i first read the book, it made a huge impression on me and i think it had something to do with helping me understand what "good people" really are here in this world. it provoked my mind into thinking and meditating on what life is and should be.

-- doug (ionoi@webtv.net), January 29, 2000.

Maya Angelou's "I know why a caged bird sings." Dr. Angelou speaks of her life growing up between two families -- her grandmother (who was more like her mother), and her abusive step-mother and her father (during her later years). This story is a true story, of course, and it taught me a wonderful lesson: my life isn't as bad as it could be. Dr. Angelou had a bad childhood, but she is a magnificant person now and an even better writer. I highly recommend the book, although it isn't "light reading."

Meg

-- Meg (meghlcl@aol.com), January 29, 2000.

Thomas Kelley - A Testament of Devotion. God spoke to me through this book.

Richard Foster - Celebration of Discipline. Here is a quote from the book to give you a feel the style and power of his writing. "How then do we come to believe in a world of the spirit? Is it by blind faith? Not at all. The inner reality of the spiritual world is available to all who are willing to search for it. Often I have discovered that those who so freely debunk the spiritual world have never taken ten minutes to investigate whether or not such a world really exists.

Let me suggest we take an experiential attitude toward spiritual realities. Like any other scientific endeavor, we form a hypothesis and experiment with it to see if it is true or not. If our first experiment fails, we do not despair or label the whole business fraudulent. We reexamine our procedure, perhaps adjust our hypothesis, and try again. We should at least have the honesty to persevere in this work to the same degree we would in any field of science. The fact that so many are unwilling to do so betrays not their intelligence but their prejudice."

-- Chris Hawkins (peace@clover.net), January 29, 2000.

October Sky (forgive me, forgot the author's name).

Am about 40 pages from finishing. Excellent read. One of those "stay up till 2 am cause I can't put it down" kind of books. It is a memoir about a group of kids in a poor coal mining town having a dream of building rockets and one day working for NASA. But really, it is about a lot more than that...

-- Bob Beltran (bobbeltran@hotmail.com), February 07, 2000.

My mother worked for a Canadian publishing company for over 20 years so we ended up with alot of Canadian authors on our book shelves. The books I want to recommend to you might be hard to find as they aren't new by any means but really worth a read. The first author is an east coast writer named Bill Gaston. His first book was 'Tall Lives' a really rich read about twin brothers who were joined at the toe when they were born. They are very different and it is funny and sad and insightful. His second book is called 'The Camera Man' it's a bit of a thriller and both my husband and I couldn't put it down, I also think it would make a fantastic movie. The other author I'm crazy about is Jane Urquart. I've read all of her books except for 'The Underpainter" and recommend them all. My favorite is "Away" it starts out in Ireland just prior to the great potato famine and ends up in Canada, it's not really a saga, it's a bit prosaic and magical,very good.

-- Kim Nelles (Kim@loupomanti.com), March 05, 2000.

Quotes, Poems, and Words That Flow by Kevin Grommersch is not currently a well known poetry book. It was recommended to me by a friend and I have to say I enjoyed it very much. It can be purchased from the publisher by going to http://quotespoems.cjb.net or from amazon.com, bn.com, and virtually any bookstore.

-- Andrew Johnson (anameiuse@yahoo.com), August 11, 2003.