Earlier this year in March, I attempted to compile my list of reads through the years in the blog post: bookwyrm. While I’d love to list out everything I read, including online articles, blog posts of other people, and @ tinybuddha tweets; I believe what I consume now and will consume matters a little more to the contemporary self.
What is a bookwyrm?
A wyrm is an alternative name for a dragon (from the Old English meaning “serpent”).
In contast to a bookworm (which is a person unusually devoted to reading and study {which originates from the larvae that literally bores through books}), a bookwyrm not only consumes books but digests it (mentally of course) and breathes the fire of their words.
What does it mean to breathe the fire of words? That’s just my fancy way to say: let the memes you and the author have created together manifest themselves in the real world and spread like fire. Let them have impact and affect change.
I wrote an article about adventure that describes reading as a great way to explore other worlds, empathize with the author and characters to learn from them, and to grow and mature as a person.
I created this section to centrally list what I’ve read, what I’m currently reading, and to get suggestions from you on what I should read.
Currently reading:
“Moral Tribes” by Joshua Greene
and
“The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt
I would love to see in the comments below what your favorites are, suggestions you have, or books you are looking to read in the future.
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The Owl & Glaive 
You could organize the books you’ve read by creating lists, mayhaps by genre. Also, you could make a Favorites section with a review of each book. It’s a lot of work, I know. However, it’s a good way to spark interest in your audience. I, myself, am actually curious on what book you would recommend. But I also want to know why I should read it.
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I’ll do that. Thanks! What are your favorites?
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Ah, tough question my friend. My Favorites list is quite long since my taste in books is particularly diverse. However, here are three books that have made the biggest impact in my life.
THE GIVER by LOIS LOWRY: This is actually categorized as a children’s novel; and I think that it’s a clever metaphor. This book explores how love and pain congruently mold our core as human beings. It leaves us with the question, “Is order the absence of chaos?”. I am quite fascinated with deftly crafted works that could convey such immense depth and philosophy in sheer simplicity; and Lowry delivered well with this one. Post Scriptum: Please do not watch the movie unless you have marveled at its written form.
THE ENCHANTED by RENE DENFELD: Considering that this is Denfeld’s debut novel, it is quite impressive. Set in an old prison, it tells the dark lives of a death row inmate, a fallen priest, a torn woman and a lost boy. After turning the last page, I was overwhelmed with the truth. The world has damaged each one of us, one way or another; and we are all desperate for redemption. I came to value the dire importance of empathy and human connection. There are books that tickle your mind and stimulate your imagination; and then there are books like this – books that overwhelm your heart and pinch your soul.
EVERYDAY by DAVID LEVITHAN: Close friends know fully that romantic novels irk me. However, this book is a vital exemption. I thought that I knew enough what love meant, only to be proved wrong by Levithan. This book made me realize how foolish and shallow the world’s perception and understanding of the emotion is. It is a beautifully written, thought-provoking literary art that challenges your view of love with such delicacy.
Runner ups are:
THE ALCHEMIST by PAULO COELHO
PAPER TOWNS by JOHN GREEN
A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by KHALED HOSSEINI
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
I AM THE MESSENGER by MARKUS ZUSAK
My list could go on. As you can see, I am quite fond of Fiction novels. However, I am very much open for your and your friends’ fiction AND nonfiction suggestions. :)
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Let me open with this slumbook classic: Books before Boys and Babies. Just to keep tangent.
So here’s a bit of my reading list.
You should know that I am a very impatient reader whose imagination is slightly “restricted” and obscured by present circumstances, and so my excuse for not being too keen on novels. However, I have enjoyed reading many of Paulo Coelho’s and Mitch Albom’s work. The Alchemist would be a classic favourite although I have also loved the characters on The Zahir, Brida, Witch of Portobello, Eleven Minutes, and Veronika decides to die. I would quote Tuesdays with Morie and for One more Day for Albom, although the others have also been worthyourwhile reads.
I also love reading coffeetable books like Chickensoup for the Soul and Teatime Stories for Women. Some people find it too cheesy but its my fair compromise to not keeping up with novels x
However, my Untoppled Favourites (Its hard to pin on just a top 1) would be:
The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O and the Giving Tree by Shel Shieldon
These books have made me realise that they are the type of books that nourish my soul. They are children’s books, and with the help of illustrations, they help me reconcile my inner kid to the growing woman within :)) I now go to bookstores and online bookshops looking at the children’s section. Too much adult thinking pollutes the soul and corrupts the innocence of our inner kid self. Well, thats one of the lessons from The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, also a classic favourite.
On the more reflective spectrum, I would recommend Robert Fulghum’s All I needed to Know Ive Learned in Kindergarten and Spencer Johnson’s The Present and Who Moved my Cheese. The latter has been key to me moving forward in my life and I would recommend this read for anyone feeling stuck or is actually stuck. You have met Hem and Haw and its one of my lighter missions to let them be known to more and more people. This is a book that is meant to be passed on after reading. I have already given away 4 copies.
God on Mute by Pete Greig – This is a good book to tackle our frustrations and other human behaviours toward God’s responses to our prayers. This is a good book to anchor reflection on unanswered prayers
Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard – This is such a beautiful allegory which confronts the struggles and rewards of a growing up woman who is new to her faith. Very Highly Recommended
Decisions Decisions by David Swaveley – this is a Killer. It convicts you to deeply examine your biases and thought/emotional processes involved in a key area of adult living, that of decision making
The Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkinson
The Shack
The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
Current Reads:
Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard
In Light of the Truth by Abd Ru Shin
…and no bashing!
HOW TO FIND YOUR ONE TRUE LOVE. Reading Proud ;)
My “Prospects”
The Pilgrims Progress
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
And anything else that any of your other friends would recommend. I am looking forward to their responses. :)
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The Alchemist. This book actually inspired me to leave home and explore the world.
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May I throw in: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger , A Wrinkle in Time and Many Waters by Madeleine L’ngle, The Giver by Louis Lowry, History of Sexuality by Michel Foucault, Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks , The Professor and the Madman: a history of the Oxford English Dictionary, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, The Masnawi by Rumi, Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, Dickinson’s poems.
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