A friend of mine asked me if she could borrow a good novel. Never one to let myself be limited by a request such as this, I took her seven. So here they are, the seven novels I lent a good friend in need of a novel. (Note #7 is still on my shelf. My memory fails me; I just can’t remember what that seventh novel is/was, so I inserted a different favorite…)
1. Out of This Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis
This is the first in Lewis’s space trilogy, and I loved it when I read it and would have taken her the entire trilogy if I had it. Sadly, I only have the first in this series, but they’re all worth reading. I especially liked the last, That Hideous Strength.
2. China Court, by Rumer Godden
I can trace quite a bit of the reading I’ve done in the last few years to a few recommenders in my life, and one of them is the dear Julie of Happy Catholic and Forgotten Classics. After hearing her narration of China Court, I had to own it. I’m glad I do, because I want to share it. Oh, and I want to reread it too, since it was so good the first time around!
3. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
This was one of those novels that was a gift from an avid reader in my life who never lets me down with her book-giving. I laughed pretty hard reading it. And then, when I went down to New Orleans to visit family a few years after reading it, I was struck again by it. I’ve kept it around because I will probably reread it.
4. Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger
I read this book a few years ago. It has survived my book purgings and has even caught my eye a time or two recently. I’ll be interested in what my friend has to say when she reads it.
5. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo
I first read The Alchemist because my grad school adviser recommended it. I was at a point of great discernment (though I wouldn’t have called it that at the time), and this book spoke to me in a way that few things outside of Mass spoke to me. I need to pick it back up sometime soon, because I keep recommending it and there’s some distance between the me now and the me then.
6. In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden
Well, of course this made the list! I loved it then, I love it now, I love it tomorrow. I hope she reads this one first, truth be told.
7. Einstein’s Dreams, by Alan Lightman
(This is still on my shelf. Try as I might, I can’t remember what the seventh novel is/was.) I read this years ago, as part of a reading program in college during my first year. It’s a collection of essays on what might have been going on in Einstein’s mind, though that description doesn’t do justice to the beauty and brilliance in this book. If I kept favorite books by my bed, this would be one that would have a spot there. Why I neglected to include this in that pile, I don’t know.
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I love favorite book lists! Every one of these is going on my to-read list 🙂 Thanks!