The Ten Most Influential Writers in My Life

Originally this article was going to be, "My Ten Favorite Books," but I found that it was even harder to pin down only ten books, rather than ten authors who may have penned multiple books each.

Before I get started, I should mention that the Bible is the most important and more influential book in my life. This list you are about to read is "everything else."

You, gentle reader, are going to have favorite authors who are not in this list. I do not apologize, though, because I am not necessarily claiming that all these are the best authors; I am claiming that these on the list are the ones who wrote the books that were the most influential in my life.

The influence of a book can come at the reader from many directions. If a child's parents talk about a particular book quite a bit, the child will possibly think more highly of the book than he would otherwise. University professors have a profound influence not only on what books are read in class but what books the student will tend to read upon graduation.

But I'm keeping you in suspense! Well then, let's get started.

C.S. Lewis is at the top of my list.

When I was a child, my grandmother read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to my siblings and me. We were entranced by the magical world of Narnia, and as we played in the three acre woods where we lived in Tennessee, my brother, my sister, and I would take on the roles of Edmund, Lucy, and Peter, respectively. Years later, I read all seven books of the Chronicles of Narnia to my kids -- twice -- and the magic returned to me. My favorite of those seven books is Voyage of the Dawn Treader, though The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe will always have a special place in my heart.

Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity were immensely influential in shaping my belief system and in helping me grasp what the spiritual world is all about. Because C.S. Lewis had been an athetist and had come to know God through his intense searching, he was able to capture the essence of Christianity and explain it so that someone who had grown up in the church all his life (me) would see things in a new light. Lewis wrote in a way that is, simply put, brilliant. Other seminal works include The Great Divorce and The Problem of Pain.

Three books that I found to be wonderful comprise his Space Trilogy, namely Perelandra, Out of the Silent Planet, and That Hideous Strength. Don't start That Hideous Strength until you have a relatively free schedule, because you won't be able to set it down.

J.R.R. Tolkien needs to be up there as well.

Before I was old enough to read The Hobbit, my mother would tell us tales from that book, especially the scene where Gollum is asking riddles of Bilbo Baggins. I didn't read The Hobbit until I was fourteen, but as soon as I read it I knew that part of me was to remain in the Shire forever. It's not that I fantasized about being a hobbit. It's that Tolkien's hobbits are a part of every human. The simple life, the love of fellowship, and the joy of living that we see in the hobbits are things that I think are buried deep in the souls of most of us. We can identify with Bilbo, and when Bilbo wins, we all win.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is, in my opinion, amazing. I first read the trilogy when I was fifteen, then again at 17, then again at 23. I'm also a big fan of the movies that came out a few years ago. Mom and I would memorize passages, especially the poetry, and now years later I am delighted that my kids, especially my oldest son, share the same enthusiasm.

Ray Bradbury is one of my favorites.

Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, and his plethora of short stories put Bradbury way up high on my list. He can capture what a crisp autumn blue sky looks like and make you feel like you're right there in the setting. He digs into your heart as well. Fahrenheit 451 is really a barometer of where our society seems to be headed. I have a special fondness for Bradbury, too, because one of my uncles corresponded with him for years. Bradbury would sit down and write 3000 words every morning, whether he felt like it or not. Apparently that was time well spent.

Fahrenheit 451, I think, really opened my eyes about how I was spending my time. Was I sitting in front of the tube, watching some mindless television program, or was I reading a book, learning and stretching my mind?

William Shakespeare is on most people's lists.

Some people downplay Shakespeare because he recycled well known plots in his plays, but his writing is beautiful. Who doesn't feel heartache for the character Hamlet at the end of the play? Who doesn't despise Lady MacBeth? Who doesn't feel sorry for King Lear? The art of Shakespeare was something everyone could enjoy, from the highly literate aristocracy to the common laborer. The plots are fun and exciting, of course, but the beauty of Shakespeare is the poetry of the text. It's timeless.

Though I studied engineering in college, I spent the time to take extra English classes, including two different Shakespeare classes and a class on English Renaissance Literature. I grew to love reading Shakespeare, and I relished discussing Shakespeare with a couple of my uncles, both of whom had studied Shakespeare extensively in school.

I remember one Sunday dinner when my uncles were visiting. Uncle Tom and I were having a debate regarding Hamlet's sanity. I claimed Hamlet was not mad; Uncle Tom claimed he was. I said, finally, "Uncle Tom, I've read Hamlet FIVE TIMES, and the man is sane."

Uncle Tom responded, "I've read Hamlet TEN TIMES. Read it five more times and then come to me and we'll discuss it further."

John Milton is one of my favorites.

Paradise Lost, to me, is the literary equivalent of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It's well know that Beethoven composed his last symphony while completely deaf. Paradise Lost was recited by Milton to a scribe because Milton was completely blind. If you haven't read it, try reading part of it. The beauty of the poetry is breathtaking.

Aeropagitica was a piece that Milton wrote that became the foundation of the idea of freedom of speech. Besides its importance, it is also a very interesting read.

I think though that the tipping point that puts Milton on my list is his Samson Agonistes. Milton really brought the story of Samson alive for me, turning it from a story about a strong man with a weakness into a tragedy that somehow manages to leave you with a sense of hope in the midst of ruin at the end.

Edmund Spenser significantly impacted my fondness for English literature.

I was introduced to Faerie Queene in college, and Spenser's description of the seven deadly sins just floored me. To write something that long ago that creates a loathing in my heart for sin; well, that is brilliant and inspired writing.

Spenser's Shepheardes Calendar is beautiful poetry, as is Epithalamion.

Now, to be honest, in this spot on the list there are several other writers who almost made the cut. So many great writers are out there ... but Spenser was a notch above the rest, in my mind.

Robert Penn Warren wrote one of the best books I've ever read.

All the King's Men, felt by some to be the greatest American novel written in the Twentieth Century, was another monumental work in my literary upbringing. The impact of his descriptive writing style really forced me to rethink how I write. The author won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel in 1947. If you haven't read it, it's a must! One of my favorite English professors in college said this was his favorite American novel, and I'm sure that's influencing my decision here.

Edgar Allen Poe is another favorite.

I can't get enough of Poe! Besides his more well known pieces such as Tell-Tale Heart, Pit and the Pendulum, Murders in the Rue Morgue, and Gold Bug, I have really enjoyed others such as How to Write a Blackwood Article. Poe's writing can be tragic but humorous.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a fairly recent addition to my list.

The Cost of Discipleship, which focuses on the Sermon on the Mount and uses it as the backdrop for a treatise on God's grace, was written at the front end of his career. At the back end were the letters he wrote in prison, Letters and Papers from Prison, in which he shows a total dependence on God, and it's clear that in spite of his pending execution, Bonhoeffer is at peace with God and the world.

Stanley Crawford is on my list!

This is the guy whom you probably don't know. Let me set some context here. After my maternal grandfather died in the mid 1960's, my grandmother was very sad. On top of that, she developed Parkinson's Disease shortly thereafter. There were two books she would read for comfort and to bring a smile to her face. One was the Bible. The other was Gascoyne, by Stanley Crawford. No, Gascoyne doesn't really belong in the same sentence as the Bible. It is filled with dark humor; it is irreverent in places; it is very non politically correct; but there are parts of it that are hilarious. This book has become an icon in my family; my parents, my brother, my sister, and my aunts and uncles all have copies of this book.

Mom wouldn't allow me to read it until I came home for Christmas break during my freshman year of college. I've probably read it a dozen times since then. It's a quick read; it flows well; and again, it is hilarious. Now, I'll have to say that not everyone who reads it likes it. Would you like it? I don't know. In my opinion, though, if you have a sense of humor, you will enjoy the book.

This book was written in the mid 1960's. It was out of print for decades, but a year or two ago it came back into print.

Check it out!

There are dozens of great writers that I haven't included, and I feel terrible about it. I love the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Samuel Clemens, Carl Sandburg, John Steinbeck, and others.

That being said, I'm sticking with my list.

Who is on your list?