The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

It would be hard to write a book today about a man becoming an insect and be taken seriously, but Kafka pulls it off.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon

I didn't even really like comic books as a kid, but I still loved this book.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Read it in high school and it made me think about things in a whole new way which is the goal of many a great book.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven

The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong

Undaunted courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose

This book is very timely, since we are celebrating the bicentenniel of the Lewis & Clark expedition. It is a very readable, gripping tale of the expedition. A nonfiction page turner.

A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson

This book covers scientific discoveries in just about every field, from astronomy to zoology. It is told in a breezy tone, and the author focuses as much on the personalities of the scientists as on their discoveries.

The Victorian Internet : the remarkable story of the telegraph and the nineteenth century's on-line pioneers by Tom Standage

I'm still reading this book, but it highlights fascinating parallels between the telegraph and the internet.

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years by Sarah Louise Delany, Annie Elizabeth Delany, Amy Hill Hearth, Paul De Angelis (Editor) (1992)

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan (1996)

Genius : The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick (1992)

The Greatest Thing In the World by Henry Drummond

Returning by Dan Wakefield

The Arabists by Robert D. Kaplan

The Aeneid by Virgil

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

The Richard Jury Mysteries by Martha Grimes
http://www.marthagrimes.com

The Leaphorn/Chee Mysteries by Tony Hillerman
http://www.tonyhillermanbooks.com/

The Ballad Novels by Sharyn McCrumb
http://www.sharynmccrumb.com/ballad_overview.asp

Genessee Diary by Henri Nouwen

The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry

I Heard The Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff

On the Control of Nature by John McPhee

Wonderful Life by S. J. Gould

Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

The Broken Cord by Michael Dorris

The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw

The Battle is the Lord's by Tony Evans

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Until He Comes by Calvin Miller

Bleachers by John Grisham

The Hungry Spirit: A Quest for Purpose in the Modern World by Charles Handy (1998)

The Seeking Heart by Francois Fenelon, translated by Rose Marie Slosek (1992)

Father Elijah by Michael D. O'Brien (1996)

Future Grace by John Piper

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

In the Image of God by Phillip Yancy

Shogun by James Clavell

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Polaroids from the Dead by Douglas Coupland

Live from New York by Tom Shales

Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Jester Has Lost His Jingle by David Saltzman

Still Life With Iris by Steven Dietz

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

From Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder

Renae Owen - University Library

This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti

Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson

a MUST for anyone raising a son

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon

the entire Mitford series is just such a sweet, uplifting collection

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1955)

Professor and the Madman: a tale of murder, insanity and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester (1998)

A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century by Witold Rybczynski (2000)

A Painted House by John Grisham

Grisham's most poignant novel because it does not fit the pattern of his legal/crime novels. Easy to read but thought-provoking.

A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren

Asks tough questions but leads to a deeper faith commitment and understanding. McLaren is a minister who thinks outside the box. Refreshing!

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Pulitzer Prize winning novel about leadership and war. So good that I re-read it every two years or so.

Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith by Marla F. Frederick

a good book that I'm reading right now

Heaven in Stone and Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals by Robert Barron

a good book that has enriched my work

V for Victor by Mark Childress

a good book that I pick up every few years and read for fun

The Razor's Edge, a Novel by Somerset Maugham

Black Hawk Down : a story of modern war by Mark Bowden

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella

Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven by James Bryan Smith

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss

Hungering Dark by Frederick Buechner

Don't Cry Past Tuesday by Charles E. Poole

Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel by Lauren Weisberger

a must for anyone who's ever worked for an evil empire

I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson

I don't know how I do it either but it must be done if we want to eat.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

no commentary needed

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

The Cat Who Series by Lillian Jackson Braun

These books are about James Qwilleran, a semi-retired crime reporter and his two smart Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. They move from Chicago to a remote northern area because Qwilleran receives an inheritance and becomes a billionaire overnight. When and if a crime occurs, Qwilleran, Koko and Yum Yum are on the case whether Qwilleran realizes it or not. These who-dun-it books are different and have a kind of cute twist. Everyone should try them.

It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong

In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam by Robert McNamara

No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu

Jane Austen, A Life by Claire Tomalin

April 1865: The Month That Saved America by Jay Winik

Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat Moon

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