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I need a book worth buying.


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Okay, usually I just get books through the library, and I spend all my book money on the kids.

 

Hubby wants to buy me a book for Christmas (great idea).

 

Only problem is that I'm pulling a huge blank.

 

I want a book worth buying. You know, the ones that change your life and you want to read over and over again.

 

I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction.

 

So let the listing begin. List anything you can think of and I'll look at it. :D

 

Thank you!

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Two of my favorite non-fictions that are in the same vein are

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

and

Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman.

 

My all time favorite fiction books are

White Oleander by Janet Fitch,

Blindness by Jose Saramago,

and

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

 

These are all my go to recommendations for my hard core book reading friends. The three fiction books I listed really blew me out of the water.

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Perhaps you already have some or all of these? But here are a few of my all time favorites - ones I reread and reread and reread. Hardbacks, of course. My taste in nonfiction runs to theology. None are really new and many are old.

The Narnian by Alan Jacobs. Fabulous biography of C.S. Lewis

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

 

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

 

Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller

 

The Ten Commandments by Thomas Watson

 

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin

(2 vol. Battles' edition) An easier read than most would surmise! Very devotional!

 

Knowing God by J.I. Packer

 

Herbert: The Complete English Works

Everyman's Library edition of George Herbert's poems.

Edited by ScoutTN
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Just about anything by Karen Kingsbury (Christian Fiction)

"It's my turn" by Ruth Bell Graham (collection of poems and vignettes, Christian)

 

"Nourishing Traditions" (Nutritional Insight by Sally Fallon & Mary Enig)

 

A classic from the Dover Thrift Edition. They have a great selection and very reasonable prices: http://www.doverpublications.com

 

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I loved The Hiding Place and Tramp for the Lord by Corrie Ten Boom.

 

I agree. Fabulous books!

 

How about a reference book that you could refer to over and over? Nourishing Traditions or Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House or something? Maybe a parenting book like one by Ted or David Tripp?

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Born to Run

 

How about a reference or coffee table style book?

The Elements

Natural History

The Travel Book

 

I'm kind of like you & rarely buy or have books for myself. I use the library almost exclusively & spend our book $ on books for the kids (because they tend to reread books, whereas I do not). I have also severely culled my book collection. One book that I do keep, though, just because it makes me smile:

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear (fiction though :lol: -- it's just hilarious & bizarre & how can you not love a blue bear on a bright yellow cover???)

Edited by Stacia
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You've probably read these too, but here are some other non-fiction suggestions that I loved.

 

Half the Sky

The Reindeer People

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Nothing to Envy

Stones into Schools

China Road

The Year my Son and I Were Born

Mormon Country

Invisible China

Garlic and Sapphires

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper

Reading Lolita in Tehran

A House in Fez

Wild Swans

The Road from Coorain

Climbing the Mango Trees

Monique and the Mango Rains

Guests of the Sheik

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years

Dreams from my Father

Forbidden Journey or News from Tartary

A Woman's Asia

Shadow of the Silk Road

A Midwife's Tale

Land Beyond the River

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Mystery of Marriage--beautiful, not just applicable to marriage.

 

 

Ok, I don't read a lot of nonfiction. How about poetry? That's one of the only things I reread. The Norton Anthology is nice for all-around. I also like having the collected works of ee cummings, TS Eliot, Wallace Stevens. They're very sharable w/ the kids, which makes them extra worth it.

 

Stories change me, though, more than non-fiction. I love short stories. I kind-of love essays. I have anthologies of both.

 

The Maxwells have several good books--my favorite is Managers of their Chores. There are some interesting insights there that are worth rereading.

 

Phil of Ed books? Liping Ma? GL!

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My dh who is a library lover (snort) used a GC my mother gave him for his birthday to by himself: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, & Cultivating Life. He says he already owns his favorite fiction/classics, so he prefers reference books. If you like home projects and/or gardening/sustainablity, you might enjoy these. ;)

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Nonfiction

 

My Several Worlds (Pearl S Buck)

Honeymoon in Purdah

An Anthropologist on Mars

The Breadbaker's Apprentice

Sand County Almanac

Coop

 

 

Fiction

 

The Moonstone

How Green Was My Valley

The Brothers K

The River Why

Til We Have Faces

Interpreter of Maladies (short stories)

Ursula, Under

Peace Like a River

The Diamond Age

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