Jennifer has a couple of posts up on one book and one movie memes. I thought I’d take a crack at both of them in one post.
One Book That . . .
1. Changed your life.
Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm
This book awakened me to the reality of God’s presence and providence everywhere and always, and how by simply attending to the moments of our lives, we are often granted opportunities to see God present and at work, but also to exercise faith that he is present and at work even if we do not see it.
2. You’ve read more than once.
Hieromonk Damascene’s Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works (and the first version of the biography, Not of This World)
Father Seraphim is one of my patron saints, and it was by reading his life that I began to better understand what Christian faith and life is all about; most importantly to begin to dismantle the Protestant intellectualized paradigm of Christian faith that I’d become bound by.
3. You’d want on a desert island.
The Bible (the unexpurgated version; i.e., not the Protestant Digest Version)
4. Made you laugh.
Woody Allen’s Without Feathers
5. Made you cry.
Andrew Clements’ Frindle
6. You wish had been written.
How to Travel Back in Time to Change Your Present
7. You wish had never been written.
Anything by Bart Ehrman
8. You’re currently reading.
Steven R. Covey’s The 8th Habit and Archimandrite Sophrony’s We Shall See Him as He Is
9. You’ve been meaning to read.
Metropolitan Hiertheos’ The Person in the Orthodox Tradition
One Movie . . .
1. That made you laugh.
This is Spinal Tap
2. That made you cry.
The Passion of the Christ
3. You loved when you were a child.
The Empire Strikes Back
4. You’ve seen more than once.
Ostrov
5. You loved, but were embarrassed to admit it.
Dead Poets’ Society
(I think that the embarrassment stems from some of the elitist academics I encountered that pooh-pooh’ed the “superficial” treatment of great literature and music in the movie. But I still love that movie, and it had a profound impact on me, moving me out of a very narrow pragmatic anti-intellectualistic culture into God’s wider, beautiful world.)
6. You hated.
Star Wars 1, 2, 3 (the prequel trilogy)
7. That scared you.
What Lies Beneath (Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer)
8. That bored you.
Blades of Glory
9. That made you happy.
Hoosiers
10. That made you miserable.
American History X
11. You weren’t brave enough to see.
Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
‘Nuff said.
12. Character you’ve fallen in love with.
Eowyn of Rohan (The Lord of the Rings)
Double ’nuff said.
13. The last movie you saw.
Iron Man
14. The next movie you hope to see.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
