What NON-Christian books are your Favorites?

Robinson Crusoe
To Kill a Mockingbird
Statecraft by Margaret Thatcher
John Grisham novels

Many, mnay others

 

Most stuff written by Terry Pratchett
http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/

Giovanni Guareschi's stories of don Camillo and Peppone.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/guaresch.htm

Annie MG Schmidt
http://www.annie-mg.com/huiskamer/about_annie/

 

Hey, I like Pratchett!

Great satire, and people think they are kids books .

 

Chaim Potok's "The Chosen"
A great book about a conservative Jewish boy's friendship with a Hasidic Jew during the mid 1940's.


Rob

 

My all-time favorite:

A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens

 

Just finished reading Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan, an extremely insightful analysis of Europe's distancing itself from the US. A very small book (103 pgs) but excellent.

 

ERB - Warloard of Mars ...

7 habits series

"Rifles for Watie"

GOOD Leadership books - most of them are Christian tho' ...

GREAT books on Rhetoric - many of these are homiletical ..

 

Other favorites?

That's a toughie but I'll give it a shot:

Men and Marriage by George Gilder. This book gave me a secular understanding of the role of men in society and why families and society fall apart when men abdicate their responsibilities to the state or the state pushes men out.

Law, Legislation, and Liberty, vol. 2: The Mirage of Social Justice "Social justice" is repeated as a mantra, the arguments often repeated here at BB. Hayek demolishes the arguments in this relatively small paperback. There are lots of good books by Hayek, some very profound. I believe this or The Road to Serfdom are the place to start.

Theory and History by Ludwig von Mises. We often hear that socialism or communism sound good on paper but don't work on practice. Von Mises demonstrates why, even in theory it doesn't make sense. Even better than his monumental Socialism.

Marxism by Thomas Sowell, another excellent contribution to that discussion.

The Natural Law by Heinrich Rommen, written in the late 20's, I believe. It really got me fascinated in the subject of natural law and its importance.

The Perfectibility of Man by John Passmore, who follows the history of that doctrine (though it would be nice if he took it back to its roots in Eden).

Hegemon by Stephen Mosher, a very good book on the growing threat of China.

Rogue State by Joshua Becker and Rogue Regime by William Triplett, re North Korea. Both excellent.

The Moral Question of Abortion by Stephen Schwarz, the best book on the subject.

Politically Correct Death by Francis Beckwith. I delayed buying this book for a long time due to its emotionally-charged title but the author does a tremendous job giving sound, rational arguments against abortion.

Suicide of the West by James Burnham. The SINGLE BEST book on the essence of liberalism.

When Character was King by Peggy Noonan, A Different Drummer by Michael Deaver, and How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life by Peter Robinson. All three are wonderful and stirring portraits of the greatest President of my lifetime.

For books on early American history and Constitutional issues, the list would be at least as long as this one, will save it for another time.

 

I'm a big sci-fi/fantasy fan and a series fan

Frank Herbert's Dune series

Issac Asimov's Foundation series

Tolkien's LOTR

Orson Scott Card's Enders series

Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series

 

I like Timothy Zahn's Star Wars series, Natan Sharansky's "The Case for Democracy" and "Fear No Evil", Alan Dershowitz's "The Case for Israel", Michael Savage's "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder", Phillip Roth's "The Conversion of the Jews" and "The Plot Against America".

Joseph Botwinick

 

JB,

I'm curious about Savage's book. While he is sometimes incisive in his understanding, it makes me sick to listen to him talk to his callers; I usually can't listen to him for more than ten minutes. Often, as I'm changing radio stations, it seems to me that he is himself rather mentally unstable. He often makes Hannity (with whom I've yet to find a policy difference, though; and he especially has good taste in music) look like a pushover.

 

Part of it is that he is extremely right wing (I don't really think that is such a bad thing). Part of it is just his personality, I am convinced. I think he is simply a very gruf old man (not necessarily anything wrong with that either, but it can rub some people wrong). Part of it I think is just his entertainment value. He is the conservative sideshow. I like a lot of what he says, but agree that sometimes he pushes things a bit too far. If you were to read his book before listening to him, you probably would not recognize him sometimes. He actually does have a softer side to him.

Joseph Botwinick

 

Good murder mysteries are my favorite "fun" reading. I like P D James, Ruth Rendell, Agatha Christie, the "Murder She Wrote" series (they have books based on the tv show), Mary Higgins Clark, and others.

I tend to favor the women writers -- most of the men writers in this genre that I've read have cruder language and a more cynical edge to everything.

 

Marcia,

I tend to favor the women writers -- most of the men writers in this genre that I've read have cruder language and a more cynical edge to everything.

That's an interesting observation. I don't disagree with it or criticize it; in fact, am curious whether it is true across a spectrum of fiction--or other genres.

 

All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque
The Jungle by Sinclair

 

Yes, I wonder that as well. For awhile many years ago I read some sci-fi and did not find crude language there by male writers (except Heinlien could be sort of lewd as I recall), but aside from the classics and murder mysteries and books I had to read in school and college, most of my reading is non-fiction, so I'm not sure how the large number of male novelists write compared to women writers as far as language goes.

 

So many...

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma,by Jane Austen
Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys , by Louisa May Alcott

and more up-to-date: just about anything by Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher...the Kinsey Milhone Series by Sue Grafton...many of Mary Higgins Clark's suspense novels...

 

Marcia,

most of my reading is non-fiction

So what kind of non-fiction are you interested in? Being from the DC area, do you read much politics/law/history?

I see from your profile that you are in full-time ministry dealing with New Age. Are you familiar with Watchman Fellowship? I don't know if they're still around. I attended a seminar they did several years ago in Birmingham, Alabama about the New Age movement that was very fascinating.