15 Books

Here's a blogging meme I found that I liked:

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List 15 books you've read that WILL ALWAYS STICK WITH YOU. They should be the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. True Spirituality, by Francis Schaeffer. I first read it in college and it profoundly affected me. I read it almost yearly.
2. Men at Work, by George Will. Anybody that loves baseball, well, this is a must read.
3. Generation X, by Douglas Coupland. The first influential author born in my generation. I've read everything he's written.
4. Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. Some things speak for themselves.
5. Reclaiming History, by Vincent Bugliosi. Everything you wanted to know about the Kennedy assassination. Nearly 1,000 pages of debunking goodness, complete with a CD to enhance each and every footnote.
6. The Stand, by Stephen King. He's been pigeonholed as a horror writer or verbose storyteller so most "serious" readers dismiss him. But this is a great story and well-told. I couldn't put it down.
7. The Grace Awakening, by Chuck Swindoll. The right book at the right time. It made all the scholarly works I'd read about grace in the spiritual life practical--which is what I needed when I needed it. There are better books on the subject, but this one meant a lot at the time.
8. Punk Rock Dad, by Jim Lindberg. I know. A parenting book written by the lead singer of a punk band? But it's HUGE on common sense and since it's written by a misfit in the world, well, I related and wish more parents would use common sense. What's the phrase? We live in an age where common sense is cutting edge.
9. Journals, by Kurt Cobain. Well, it did seem creepy reading somebody's journals who you never met posthumously. But it really was insightful, even if you knew his wife was making a buck off his personal journals.
10. Classic Christianity, by Bob George. I knew the ghostwriter. Still one of the best books on what the Christian life should be that the average joe can read.
11. The Chronicles of Narnia series, by C.S. Lewis. I read them as a kid. The reason they're all lumped as one book is that I think they should be. I mean, the series is like potato chips in that you can't eat/read just one. The reason they stick out is one of the most enjoyable memories I have with Kid2 is that we read them aloud to each other one summer every night in my hammock until we finished them. I strung out the last few chapters of the last book because I didn't want it to end.
12. Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Suess. Again, some thing speak for themselves.
13. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst. Every kid gets it, and it's even more meaningful as an adult.
14. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott and...
15. ...On Writing, by Stephen King. One of these days I'm going to write a book and I'll thank them for the practical insights. Not even kidding about both comments.

There's mine, kiddos...off the top of my head and within the 15 minute time-limit. I'm sure if I thought it through more it'd be different, but this is what came out when I played by the rules...