19 December, 2014

Books that have shaped me

I was tagged months and months ago asking for the ten books that have most influenced me because of how they stretched my thinking. This post has been languishing in drafts since then, occasionally pulled up and pondered. I've only come up with five, which seems crazy as I've read thousands of books in my 40+ years.
This is also an excellent book.


 The Bible by God inspired authors (this really is in a category of its own and many of the following books were by those who were shaped by the Bible).

 I Am David by Anne Holm
Suffering by Edith Schaeffer
Pilgrim's Progress (Children's Version) by John Bunyan
Second Mile People by Isobel Kuhn
Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels

 I've read many biographies and autobiographies that have influenced my life. Here are some I can remember reading about:
Corrie Ten Boom The Hiding Place
Isobel Kuhn
Hudson Taylor
Annie's Coming Out by Rosemary Crossley and Anne McDonald
Lewis Braille

 A couple of other non-fiction books come to mind here:
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Prayer by Philip Yancey
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey
Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado

 Other books that I might add here are fictional books that I've loved or been moved by, but I'm not so sure if they've stretched my thinking quite as much as the above did at the time I read them.
Heidi
The Billabong series by Mary Grant Bruce
Nancy Drew mysteries
Colleen McCollough series about Rome
Bryce Courney's The Power of One, and others of his set in that era of South Africa

All in all, books in general have shaped me in so many ways that it's nearly impossible to pinpoint those that have influenced me most. I can't imagine life without them.
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5 comments:

  1. -J26 December, 2014 22:15

    Am just catching up on internet and enjoyed reading your list. I imagine Edith Schaeffer's _Affliction_, which I've appreciated is merely a different title for the _Suffering_ book you mentioned. Good reminder that I'd like to pick it up from my shelf again. Thanks to your list, I just ordered _The Power of One_ off Paperback Swap. Looks good!

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  2. Sarah03 January, 2015 16:31

    I love I Am David and I found a copy of it in an opshop. My Year 7 teacher read it to the class and he had an eager bunch of 12-year-olds looking forward to 'storytime' each week.

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  3. Wendy04 January, 2015 15:33

    I want to read it to my boys (we own it in Australia), but have one more Billabong book to read to complete the series. At present we're watching Big Bash every night after dinner! Soon...

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  4. Wendy04 January, 2015 15:34

    Forgot to say, Sarah, that I encountered it at a summer camp. They can't have read the whole book to us, or maybe they did?

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  5. Wendy04 January, 2015 15:35

    J, I think you are correct on that title. I was bad and didn't check my facts.

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