My Five Most Important Books

Newsweek runs a regular column in their "Periscope" section called "A Life in Books." Usually an author of note is asked to list "My Five Most Important Books," plus one or two additional books, which might be "A book you hope parents read to their kids," or "an important book that you admit you haven't read." There is also a brief reason why with each title. If you want to look at some of the series, go to the Newsweek web site and type "A Life In Books" into the site's Search engine at the top of the page.

After reading Claire Tomalin's list in this week's issue, I found myself pondering the topic during the rest of my train ride home. It has been a more difficult exercise than I thought it would be. Often one of my most important books is the one I'm reading or have just finished. Are they the ones I reread most often? Or the ones that have had the greatest impact on my life? Do I even realize how much a book impacted my life years after reading it? Or what if a series played a major role (and so many Science Fiction and Fantasy books are written in trilogies!), how do you pick one of the series?

At this moment, and in no particular order, here is my list.

1. Watership Down, by Richard Adams. A group of rabbits strike out on their own to make a new home. Adams creates a rich culture and an adventure/quest story.

2. The Book of Common Prayer. I AM an Episcopalian, after all.

3. La Folle de Chaillot (The Madwoman of Chaillot), by Jean Giraudoux. Greedy businessmen plot to destroy a Paris neighborhood in order to profit from oil found under it. They are defeated by a group of "misfits."

4. Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn. "A Novel in Letters" chronicles an island country's slide into totalitarianism and ultimate redemption. Both funny and frightening.

5. The Mayor of Castro Street, by Randy Shilts. As a college freshman spending Thanksgiving Break with a dorm mate on his family's farm in a small Minnesota town, I watched the story of the assassinations unfold on TV and in the newspapers. Shilts' book was published the year I graduated from college and played a role in my own coming out process.

"An Important Book" that I admit I haven't read: Pedagogy of The Oppressed, by Paulo Freire.

A classic that, on rereading, disappointed: The Old Man and The Sea, by Earnest Hemmingway. I hated it in ninth grade English class, and I hated it when I tried to read it again a couple of years ago.

A book you want your kids (if I had any) to read: It's a toss up between The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (and this surprises you how?) and Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series.

So that's my list. What's yours?

Peace,
Jeffri