Suggested Reading & Viewing for
St. Nicholas "Contemporary Issues" Discussion Group

Ideas (not rules) for making suggestions

 
  • ALL genres are OK – novels, nonfiction, drama, etc. – as long as people are willing to spend the time on them.  If they are short, we can combine more than one.  Consider things you always heard you ought to read, or that you read long ago but have half forgotten.
     
  • Should include some relevant theme – spirituality, ethics, philosophy, human nature, etc. – but it does not need to be the dominant purpose of the book.
     
  • Generally avoid current or recent best sellers – we don't want to duplicate other book clubs our members may belong to, but give people something to think about that otherwise they might not.
     
  • Available – in libraries, reasonably priced bookstores, etc., or what's the point?
     
 

Novels
  • Candide – Voltaire (1759)
       Told in a whimsical style, journal of a young man's discoveries that perhaps everything is not really "for the best in this best of all possible worlds." Displays Voltaire's cutting wit and insight on willingness of humanity to delude itself.  Short, easy reading. 
     
     
  • A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller (1960)
       Traces the history of a Catholic monastery in future centuries, beginning some generations after a devastating war and partial fall of civilization; sometimes whimsical, with an emphasis on the mysteries of faith in a generally mysterious world, the development of myths, and the compromises of religious institutions with the secular world.  Moderate length novel, engaging. 
     
     
  • Dracula – Bram Stoker (1897)
       Told in letters and journals, a classic tale of horror.  Exemplifies traditional English views of the trappings of religion as the antidote for evil; still scary but not gruesome, much more literate than you would expect from the movies, with likeable characters; a fun read. 
     
     
  • Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (1818)
       The original story of a scientist "playing God." Moderate length, far more philosophical than any movie version would suggest; moderate length but in a somewhat archaic, ponderous style.  Thought-provoking but requires work. 
     
     
  • Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (1990)
       Demon Crowley (originally the Serpent in the Garden of Eden) is entrusted with bringing the Antichrist to Earth, but the delivery is bungled; he and his friend Aziraphale (an angel and rare book dealer) deal with the results, and with their personal reservations that the ultimate battle between good and evil is really something to look forward to.  Prophecy, mythology, nuns of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl, the Ineffable Plan, and the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse. 
     
     
  • The Island of Doctor Moreau – H.G. Wells (1896)
       Another great "playing God" novel, creepy but short and highly readable.  Looks at what it means to be human.  Based on Victorian fears of science, especially of "vivisection" (experimentation on living animals) and what it might lead to; philosophical but gripping.  Don't see the Marlon Brandon version. 
     
     
  • Letters From the Earth and The Diaries of Adam & Eve – Mark Twain
       Two separate short works.  The first is a series of letters from Satan to archangels Gabriel and Michael, describing the amazing things he finds in a visit to humans on Earth; a sharply cynical critique of social behavior and popular religious beliefs.  The second is a more gently mocking view of how the first two people may have viewed the world and each other, taking Genesis as more or less literally true but incomplete. 
     
     
  • Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny (1967)
       Odd but well written and engaging story of life on a distant planet, where future human colonists have established a theocracy based on the Hindu gods, aided by the controlled use of reincarnation.  Their absolute rule is threatened by one of their own who takes on the attributes of Siddhartha, the Buddha.  Intriguing juxtaposition of ruthless scheming and actual belief.  Moderate length novel. 
     
     
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell (1949)
       Classic, chilling novel of totalitarian Government, which plays on citizens' fears of others and seeks to erase all individuality; one of the most influential books of the 20th century, now often overlooked but still compelling.  Source of the concepts of "doublespeak" and "Big Brother is watching." Foreshadowed and partially influenced the actual politics of repression and rebellion during the Cold War and the cultural rebellions of the 1960's.  Moderate length, gripping. 
     
     
  • Out of the Silent Planet and/or Perelandra – C.S. Lewis (1938, 1943)
       Two out of three books of a trilogy.  The science fiction setting is unimportant; the theme is travels to Mars and Venus where, it appears, God has allowed for separate, independent "creations," and the origins of good and evil among thinking creatures, including the Eden story and the Fall of Man.  Good writing but somewhat slow.  (The third book, That Hideous Strength, which brings the battle back to Earth, is good but darker and with less to discuss.)
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde (1890)
       Well-known story but not widely read; about an attractive young man who finds that a portrait of him shows the marks of his increasingly dissipated life, while his own appearance remains unsullied.  Short novel, some of it heavy with Wilde's highly affected Victorian wit (like "The Importance of Being Earnest"), but with more serious and darker aspects.  Focuses on the attractions and failings of "sophisticated" society. 
     
     
  • The Plague – Albert Camus (1947)
       Tale of medical personnel (and others) dealing with a plague outbreak in Northern Africa.  Told from an essentially existentialist point of view, illustrates the possibility (and the difficulty) of finding meaning and hope in a fundamentally meaningless world.  Bleak, but not ultimately counseling despair; explores the implications of finding support from religion, and alternatively of finding it strictly in humanity. 
     
     
  • The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene (1940)
       A novel of the struggle between the Catholic church and the Socialist government of Mexico in the 1930's.  Most priests have been killed or induced to recant and violate their vows.  The story focuses on a half-dissolute "whiskey priest" who is on the run from ruthless "red shirt" paramilitaries, trying still to fulfill some of his duties despite his own serious failings.  Considered by many to be Greene's greatest novel, condemned by many in the church but defended by Pope Pius VI. 
     
     
  • The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis (1942)
       A series of letters from senior devil Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, who is on assignment on Earth to secure the damnation of one individual soul.  Discusses in detail, from a perverse perspective, the nature of temptation and sin.  (The book was dedicated to Lewis' friend J.R.R. Tolkein, whom he sometimes reproved for not using his talents to convey truly Christian messages.)
     
     
  • The Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien (various years beginning 1920, published posthumously)
       Short stories constituting the created mythology behind The Lord of the Rings.  Told in the style of myth and legend, mainly of interest as examples of a more or less original, non-Judeo-Christian, creation myth.  As literature, of limited interest to those who have not read Tolkien's other works. 
     
     
  • A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini (2007)
       A second novel of Afghanistan by the author of The Kite Runner.  The story of two women, a generation apart, successively forced into marriage with the same older man, who (in keeping with cultural mores) treats them as property whose only purpose is to produce male children.  A powerful portrait of patriarchal society in which women are totally dependent for their survival and any hope of self-respect.
     
     
  • Valis – Philip K. Dick (1981)
       Weird, disturbing, sometimes humorous novel; touches of science fiction, but a mixture of mystical and psychological twists.  The narrator, clearly mentally ill, thinks God – or something that may be God – sends messages directly to his brain in beams of pink light, ultimately including keys to what may be the Second Coming.  The reader and characters have to deal with the possibility that these visions may be insane, or true, or both.  Uses ideas from traditional Christianity, Gnosticism, Jungian psychoanalysis, and other sources.  Short to moderate-length novel.  Probably influenced by Dick's own experiences with mental illness and drug abuse.  Rough language and content; not for the faint-hearted. 
     
     

 
 

Short Stories
 
  • The Star – Arthur C. Clarke
       A Jesuit priest traveling to distant star systems discovers the troubling history of a long-dead race
     
     
  • The War Prayer – Mark Twain
       Do we honestly want our prayers answered?
     
     
  • The Man – Ray Bradbury
       Travelers looking for the Messiah anywhere in the universe
     
     
  • The Fire Balloons – Ray Bradbury
       Catholic priests on mission to save the souls of beings who may not want – or need – salvation
     
     
 

Poetry
 
  • The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri (suggested: excerpts and plot outline; too long and archaic to read straight through)
     
     
  • Paradise Lost – John Milton (suggested: excerpts and plot outline; too long to read straight through)
     
     
  • Pied Beauty; The Windhover – Gerard Manley Hopkins
     
     
  • The Second Coming; Sailing to Byzantium – W.B. Yeats
     
     
  • Prayer for a New Mother; The Maid-Servant at the Inn – Dorothy Parker
     
     
 

Nonfiction
  • 95 Theses – Martin Luther (1517)
       The main triggering document for the Protestant Reformation.  What was it really all about?  Interesting to see what the real issues were.  Quite short, but takes serious thought. 
     
     
  • The Age of Reason –Thomas Paine (1794-1807)
       Highly influential attack on the underpinnings of traditional religion from a deistic point of view.  Paine had previously helped spur the American revolution with his pamphlet "Common Sense" and a mission to France to obtain financial aid for the revolutionaries, and later was directly involved in the French revolution as well, eventually being imprisoned and almost executed as an enemy of Robespierre's faction.  His last great effort, pitting rationalism and "natural religion" against the established church, tended to polarize American (and to some extent European) theology for generations to come. 
     
     
  • The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels (1848)
       Yes, 1848.  This is (essentially) where it all started.  Short, argumentative, a must-read for those who only know what communism is from the perspective of Stalin and beyond. 
     
     
  • Discourse on Method; and The Meditations – Rene Descartes (1637; 1647)
       Two classic essays fundamental to an understanding of Western rationalism (including rationalized theology).  The full titles are: "Discourse on the Method of Properly Conducting One's reason and of Seeking the Truth in the Sciences"; and "Meditations on the First Philosophy in which the Existence of God and the real Distinction Between the Soul and the Body of Man are Demonstrated."  Starting from the (surprisingly) critical perception that "I think, therefore I am," Descartes attempted to demonstrate far more elusive truths; he succeeded, at leat, in creating the modern science of deductive reasoning.  
     
     
  • Einstein's God – Krista Tippett (2010)
       The creator/host of the radio program "Speaking of Faith" presents a series of interviews with people of science regarding their own approaches to religion.  Interviewees include theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson (talking about Einstein); cardiac surgeon Mehmet Oz; particle physicist turned Anglican priest John Polkinghorne, and others. 
     
     
  • Existentialism and Human Emotions – Jean-Paul Sartre (1957)
       A brief and relatively easy to read introduction to the existentialist philosophy; discusses its implications for human emotion and behavior, especially the significance of personal choices in a fundamentally purposeless universe.  Probably no treatise on existentialism can be called light reading, but this is close. 
     
     
  • The Fall of the House of Borgia – E.R. Chamberlin (1974)
       History of the two Borgia Popes (Callixtus III, elected 1455, and Alexander VI, elected 1492) and their times.  The latter was the father of notorious Cesare (nicknamed Valentino and featured in Machiavelli's The Prince) and Lucretia (legendary – perhaps unfairly – as a conspirator, temptress and poisoner).  Moderate length, readable history.  Out of print, but many used copies available. 
     
     
  • Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality – Barbara Bradley Hagerty (2009)
       A journalist interviews and explores varied scientific, mystical, and other approaches to proving (or disproving) the existence of God. 
     
     
  • Galileo's Daughter – Dava Sobel (1999)
       A selective biography of Galileo organized around the letters sent to him by his daughter, Sister Marie Celeste.  Delves into his beliefs and his struggles with the church hierarchy, but also brings to life the difficulties of an aging and disappointed man in the early 17th century. 
     
     
  • God's Mechanics – Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ (2008)
       The rationalist "techie" mindset and religion: explores the various ways in which scientifically educated and inclined people try, only sometimes successfully, to integrate spiritual and hard-nosed fact-based thought.  Short novel length, somewhat anecdotal, very readable. 
     
     
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot (2010)
       Lacks was a poor African American migrant worker who died of cancer in 1951.  A tissue sample, taken without her knowledge or consent, turned out to have a remarkable ability to survive and reproduce in laboratory conditions, became an important research tool and was reproduced in vast quantities over the decades.  Henrietta's surviving family continued to live in poverty and often poor health.  The author gained the trust of the family and united them with the truth of what their mother's body had done.  The book presents important questions regarding who owns our bodies and the secrets they hold. 
     
     
  • The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat – Oliver Sacks (1970)
       A series of unique but highly readable "clinical tales" by neurologist Sacks, author of "Awakenings" and "An Anthropologist on Mars."  The stories describe individuals who experience unforeseeable and often bizarre aberrations in their perceptions of themselves and their relationship to the world around them, as a result of brain injury or disease.  Sack's extremely humanistic approach to his patients' problems and a gentle sense of humor provide insight into the healer, the patient, and the odd ways in which the brain sometimes deals with the world. 
     
     
  • Meditations – Marcus Aurelius (~170-180 CE)
       A collection of thoughts jotted down by the great emperor, probably while on military campaigns, about the meaning of life, duty, and virtue.  Unpolished, but reflective of a great mind raised in the Stoic philosophy; highly spiritual in its way, although not significantly affected by Judeo-Christian influences.  The modern translation by George Hay is very readable and is strongly recommended; more classic versions may be so stilted as to be hard to understand. 
     
     
  • My Stroke of Insight – Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. (2006)
       A neuroanatomist recounts in detail her own stroke and recovery, tracing with scientific accuracy the effects on her brain, thought processes, and personality.  Also delves into the role of mysticism and its place in rational thought. 
     
     
  • Only a Theory – Kenneth Miller (2008)
       Highly readable and engaging explanation of what it is that evolution science thinks it knows and "intelligent design" proponents insist it doesn't.  Careful explanation of where scientific reasoning does and doesn't lead.  Does not require any significant background knowledge. 
     
     
  • The Prince – Niccolò Machiavelli (1513)
       Practical advice for despots, based in significant part on the successes of the ruthless Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI; source of the term "Machiavellian." Machiavelli was a successful diplomat and politician, and one of the founders of modern political science.  Archaic writing style, of course, and many references to now obscure historical characters, but short and coherent. 
     
     
  • The Sacred and the Profane – Mircea Eliade (1957)
       A classic work of the history of religion.  Eliade focuses on the differences between secular and religious ways of thinking from primitive to modern times, including the importance of myth, symbolism, and ritual in the religious world view.  
     
     
  • Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time – Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (2006)
       True story of American nurse Mortenson, who returned dangerously ill from an attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, and was sheltered and brought back to relative health by the small Pakistani village of Korphe.  In return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school.  This initiative grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since built over 130 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. 
     
     
  • Unveiling Islam – Roger DuPasquier (1992)
       One of the few expanlations of the history and core beliefs of Islam that is relatively concise and readable, without over-simplifying.  Written from a Muslim point of view; addresses topics such as the life of the Prophet, core beliefs, divisions within the faith, etc.  
     
     
  • The Varieties of Religious Experience – William James (1902)
       A series of college lectures by an internationally respected psychologist and philosopher (older brother of novelist Henry James), dealing with how people see the world differently in ways relevant to religious experience.  Fairly long and slow going, but well-written and intriguing; unusual in dealing with religion as a product of the human mind without rejecting its underlying validity. 
     
     
  • The Year of Living Biblically – A.J. Jacobs (2007)
       Humorous but insightful account of the author's attempt to live, for a year, following all rules in the Bible as literally as possible – including diet, personal grooming, family relations, stoning adulterers, and all.  Written from the perspective of a New Yorker who considers himself Jewish "in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant."
     
     
     
     
     
     

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