Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Books I've Read And Recommend

A while back a friend asked me for a list of books I recommended. I
wrote up this list for him and thought that I could include it to the
blog. I cannot encourage reading enough. It has changed my life. The
Bible is the one book that has had the great influence in my life and
I didn't include it into the list, because my friend and I both
consider the Bible to be a class of its own. The books on the list
are written by human authors, about the Divine Author.

Books I Recommend

I tend to favor authors, rather than the books themselves. So in the
list I'll mention Authors and their key books. Please don't take this
as the only good authors. I cannot recommend books I have not read,
so there isn't a big list. There are many other others I plan on
reading, but just haven't gotten around to yet. Also, if I liked a
book, that doesn't mean you won't like the others, we read books with
different needs at different times of our lives.

CS Lewis
Anything by him is good. God gifted him with words like I could only
dream. No one says it quite like Lewis. I would recommend starting
with Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters or A Grief Observed.
They are all amazing!

John Piper
I love Piper, but he is a better preacher than writer. His books are
heavy, full of Bible and therefore you must read them slowly. Start
with Don't Waste Your Life, an excellent book! Everything else is
excellent so start wherever you feel like it. His first and perhaps
most famous book is Desiring God.

Louie Giglio
I read The Air I Breathe: Worship As A Way of Life and absolutely
loved it! His other book is I Am Not, But I Know I AM, I've just
begun it.

Francis Schaeffer
This man is brilliant, but really deep! I didn't understand more than
5% the first time I read his book, The God Who Is There, but it
changed my life and gave me a heart for evangelism in a post modern
world. I recommend He Is There And He Is Not Silent as his greatest
and most accessible book. Start there.

Randy Alcorn
Great author. Read The Purity Principle and The Treasure Principle,
they are both great. I've not read the book Heaven yet, but I was
told it is excellent (One of Akira's favourites).

Spurgeon
I've only read sermons by him, but everything is good. I think Mark
B. would best recommend where to start with the best.

Stu Weber
He's written a few books, they're all right, but one is a modern
classic, Tender Warrior is a must read on Biblical Manhood.

Philip Yancey
I'm a biased reader. My favourite of his is Disappointment With God,
mostly because I read it at the perfect time in my life. God used it
a lot. However, several other of his books are good: The Jesus I
Never Knew and What is So Amazing About Grace? I appreciate his very
open and honest writing style. However it can get introspective to a
fault.

Joshua Harris
I love this guy's writing, but I understand that he is a bit too
radical for many. I think he stays away from legalism so that is why
I recommend him without any hesitation. I Kissed Dating Goodbye is
his first and famous one. Excellent! Boy Meets Girl is also great,
but my favorite is Not Even A Hint (it has a new name in the book
shop: Sex Is Not The Problem, Lust Is). It is an excellent book and
both men and women should read it. It is brilliant!

John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress. A must read!

Those are the ones that come to mind first. Of course there are many
more, but there is no end to writing books, therefore there is no end
to reading them.

Enjoy your reading,

Stéphane Kapitaniuk

(Photo credit: Yi-An Neoh)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like it. Many of these authors/teachers have changed my life, too. One, that you owuld nejoy, Stephane is "Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem. If you read this book like a devotional it will pull your socks off. You will add it to your list, believe me :)

Bless. Ben

Stéphane K said...

Believe it or not Ben, Wayne Grudem is on my "to buy" list... I just have to find a way to get one of his books across the Atlantic.
Do you have a Top Books list? Send it to me!