TEN BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE. Not sure how this works, but I was tagged by Melissa Gabrielle, and it was a really fun process of reviewing my brain for the stuff that books did to me. A surprising amount of lit texts didnt make it into the final list. Hmm. 1. Paradise Lost (John Milton) -- An epic poem that tries to justify the ways of God to men. It didnt really do that for me, but as an experience of the English language, I think its second to none. It takes quite a bit of effort to get into it, but its so, so rewarding. Reading it puts me in an almost sacred space, and doing so helped to guide me towards a gentler attitude towards Christianity, God, and religion in general. 2. Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Carl Jung) -- An autobiography of sorts. I read this in army, when I was (in my mind) trying to escape the clutches of a very immature understanding of God and Christianity. It was a revelation when I read it, for the fact that Jungs spirituality was so far from mine. Jung also reveals how close to crazy he actually was here. Fascinating read. 3. Answer to Job (Carl Jung) -- Another CG book! This ones a response to the Bibles book of Job. It opened the idea of literary criticism for me even before I stepped into NUS. I was floored by the idea that someone dared to question the goodness of God like that. And once you open your mind to such questions, you can never stop asking. Ive since learnt that questioning God is something that Christian/Jewish history (dunno about Islam, though) has in spades. A very useful balance to Jungs book is Harold Kushners writing (particularly his The Book of Job: When bad things happened to a good person). 4. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Robert Fulghum) -- Saved my life in NUS. I was suffering from really bad anxiety attacks, and this book helped me gain a perspective that saved my sanity. I think Robert Lee Fulghum is an uncelebrated master of the short story, a writer who understands that shit happens, but that theres a way of smiling, still. 5. The Bible (God??) -- The act of reading a sacred text, while believing that it is sacred, is something everyone should experience. I dont think its inerrant. I think its mindblowing. 6. The Art of Happiness (The Dalai Lama) -- Common sense for life, in a short, easy to understand volume. Self-help with substance. 7. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) -- One word: SOMA. This was my introduction to Huxleys work. As I read and re-read it, I recognize that in many ways, Huxley was more prescient than Orwell (plzdunshootme orwell fans). 1984 is cool, but BNW is cooler ;) 8. The Gospel of Thomas (Thomas??) -- I chose this as a representative text in my foray into investigating the historicity of Christ. My view of the Bible was thoroughly changed by this little book. (And actually the Nag Hammadi library too.) 9. Vertical Run (Joseph Garber) -- Not a brilliant book, but this is one of the first books with which I learnt that I could dream books, if I read them quickly and deeply enough. An action-thriller centered around running up a skyscraper to escape the baddies, I was thoroughly exhausted AND exhilarated when I woke up from the dream. 10. The Case for God (Karen Armstrong) -- I love Karen Armstrongs writing. Reading her books is almost like a penance, since she can get really, really long-winded at times -- but the payoff is always worth it. Here, she provides a corrective to the Hitchens/Dawkins gang. Ive read books from all three authors, but Armstrong is the only one I continue to read. Ok so umm, tag three people right? Lim Ming Jie coz youre a scientist. Samuel Caleb Wee coz I curious, and youre also a strange human. Jachin Pousson coz youre reading all the time. (No pressure for any of you busy people to respond. It was just so much FUN reviewing my brain. I wish you the same fun.)
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 03:09:35 +0000
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