Recently in The Lists Category

For a segment on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, John Mark Reynolds compiled a list of thirty books that every college student should read. Since John Mark is the founder of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University its not surprising to see that his list contains many of the standard works common to a "great books" programs. Indeed, while I might quibble over a few of the selections (Satre's No Exit? Really?) it would be difficult to improve on the excellent selections he's chosen.

Reading the list, though, got me to thinking about what books should be read after those thirty. What works should the young collegian or autodidact turn to next? Because I think the primary need of young adults is to learn to think critically and creatively I've chosen fifteen pairs--presumably to be read together--to help them on that task:

In his Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Pierce defined a novel as "a short story padded." The inability to prune a story to its essential story is a unfortunate quality shared by many modern writers and the primary reason that bookshelves are filled with that bloated form of literature. William Faulkner once wondered if writers didn't become novelists after having failed at the short story, "the most demanding form after poetry." Perhaps this is the reason there are even fewer great short stories than there are novels.

I certainly wouldn't know what works would fill the category of "greatest short fiction" which is why -- as is my standard disclaimer -- the following list of short stories is not intended to be representative of the best or most profound works in a particular category. These are merely my favorite 25 stories (at least the ones I could remember). The list is in no particular order and contains links to the stories whenever they are available online.

Here then are my favorite short stories:

1. Flannery O’Connor, Parker’s Back (The last story Flannery O'Connor is the first in my estimation of great short stories.)
2. Leo Tolstoy, Three Questions
3. Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It
4. Frank Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger?
5. Ambrose Bierce, An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge
6. W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw
7. Stephen Vincent Benet, The Devil and Daniel Webster
8. George Saunders, Pastoralia
9. Jonathan Lethem, Hardened Criminals (A strange tale that describes a prison whose walls are made entirely out of convicts.)
10. Flannery O’Connor, Good Country People (A Cinderalla story -- Southern Gothic style)
11. Ring Lardner, Haircut
12. Shusaku Endo, The Final Martyrs (A great tale of cowardly regret by one of Japan's greatest Christian writers.)
13. Ernest Hemingway, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
14. Thom Jones, The Pugilist at Rest
15. Franz Kafka, A Hunger Artist
16. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
17. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Birth-mark
18. James Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
19. Shirley Jackson, The Lottery (One of the best examples of an undderrated genre: Horror.)
20. Jack London, To Build A Fire
21. Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game
22. John Cheever, The Swimmer (On first reading this story I could see what all the fuss was about. But years later I still can't forget the haunting ending.)
23. Flannery O’Connor, Good A Man Is Hard To Find
24. George Saunders, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
25. Jonathan Lethem, The Happy Man (The soul of the main character in this strange story makes occasional visits to hell. His body, though, remains behind in a zombie-like state to be cared for by his exhaustively patient family. A peculiar, moving tale of speculative fiction by one of the best writers in America.)

[Note: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Friday feature "The Lists" is being moved ahead a day.]

"That movie was totally overrated. Now if you want to see a really worthwhile flick you should see..." Because film buffs like me say this type of thing all the time so I thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to actually list 50 of the most overrated and 50 of the most underrated films of all time. A few of the overrated films are just plain bad while most are merely undeserving of the critical or popular praise they receive. The underrated films, though, are all examples of excellent cinema and should be considered at least slightly more worthy than the corresponding "overrated" film with which they share a category. The categories, which range from the obvious to the just plain odd, are intended to cover a broad selection of interests but are not meant to be exhaustive (expect to see an additional list of 50 in the future).

Here then are 100 of the most overrated and underrated films of all time (overrated on the left, underrated on the right):

1. Most overated/underrated: Raging Bull | Metropolitan (Raging Bull is often referred to as one of the best films of the '80s. Such people obviously do not like either a) movies or b) humanity for the film is all style and no substance. Metropolitan, on the other hand, is nearly the opposite of Raging Bull in every way. It is urbane, witty, and subtle. But the main difference is that Whit Stillman's charming little film shows a depth of undertanding about the human condition that is completely lacking in Scorsese's misanthropic "masterpiece.")
2. Movie about fraternities: Animal House | PCU (I hesitate to include these two together simply because the criminally overhyped John Belushi shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as comic genius Jeremy Piven.)
3. Disney movie about dogs: 101 Dalmations | The Fox and the Hound
4. John Wayne movie: The Searchers | Big Jake (Both are about the search for a kidnapped family member but Big Jake has two things missing from The Searchers: love and humor.)
5. Harrison Ford movie Witness | The Mosquito Coast
6. Movie about a rock band: Gimme Shelter | Some Kind of Monster (I'm not a fan of either the Rolling Stones or Metallica. But Gimme Shelter shows that deep down the Stones are uninteresting dullards while Monster reveals the members of Metallica to be fascinatingly neurotic.)
7. Cold war movie : Dr. Stangelove | Crimson Tide
8. Mobster movie: Scarface | Miller's Crossing
9. Audrey Hepburn movie: Breakfast At Tiffany's | Roman Holiday
10. Movie about a pig: Charlotte's Web | Babe

[Note: Because no one wants to read (and I hate to write) anything serious on Fridays, I have a rotating list of features for this day. “The Lists” is yet another occasional Friday feature that has been added to the mix.]

The following is a list of 50 of my favorite films that explore spiritual themes in a significant and serious manner. The criteria for inclusion was that the film:
(a) Must exemplify a high degree of quality as a work of narrative art.
(b) Must address a spiritual theme that would be of theological interest to a Christian.
(b) Can be found on DVD.

Some of the movies on the list (i.e., To End All Wars) were created from a distinctly Christian worldview. Most of the selections, though, could not in any way be considered "Christian" yet share a significant degree of common grace that makes them worthy of engagement and dialogue.

As with the previous entries in this series, I don't pretend to be compiling a list of the best or most profound works in a particular category. This is simply the list of my favorite movies that fit the narrow criteria I've outlined. These artificial contraints skew the list toward more recent movies (though it appears the "Golden Age" of cinema seems to have been far less concerned with spiritual themes than we might have imagined) and cinematic features released or produced in America. The first ten are ranked in order of preference while the rest are listed alphabetically. Sequels and series are treated as one entry.

Here then are my favorite spiritually significant films:

1. Ponette (1996) (This story of a child grieving over the death of her mother is one of the most devastating explorations of loss ever captured on film. Four year old Victoire Thivisol, giving one of the best performances of any actor ever, shows the profundity of a child's faith.)
2. The Apostle
3. Unforgiven
4. Groundhog Day (1993)
5. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
6. Dekalog ("The Decalogue") (1989) (Ten one-hour television dramas made for Polish TV by Krzysztof Kieslowski, each one a modernized, free-standing part based on one of the Ten Commandments. Considered by many critics to be one of the best film series of the 1980s.)
7. Three Colors: Blue, White, Red (1993-1994) (A three-film collection of stories about contemporary French society based upon the 3-colors of the French flag by Krzysztof Kieslowski.)
8. Barcelona (1994)
9. Dancer in the Dark (2000) (You are as likely to hate this movie as you are to love it. At times director Lars von Trier makes it hard to appreciate his work (slow-pacing, experimental cinemetagrophy). But those who can appreciate this strange musical drama will be haunted by it long after it is over.)
10. To End All Wars (2001)

[Note: Because no one wants to read (and I hate to write) anything serious on Fridays, I have a rotating list of features for this day. “The Lists” is yet another occasional Friday feature that will be added to the mix.]

The following is a list of my 99 favorite songs in that fall under the genre of "Christian" music. Since I'm not exactly sure what that even means, I won't attempt to define the parameters. All of these songs, though, are by Christain artists and have a Christian theme.

As with the previous entry on imaginative literature, I don't pretend to be compiling a list of the best or most profound works in a particular category. This is simply the list of my favorite songs (at least the ones that I can remember) that fit this genre. The first ten are ranked in order of preference while the rest are listed alphabetically. Links to pages with the lyrics are provided whenever they were available.

Here then are my favorite songs in the genre of Christian music:

1. I Can Only Imagine -- Mercy Me (live version)

2. Amazing Grace -- Traditional hymn

3. Let Your First Thought Be Love -- Whiteheart

4. Why -- Nicole Nordeman

5. Show Me Your Glory -- Third Day

6. O How I Love Jesus -- Traditional Baptist hymn

7. The Finish Line -- Steve Taylor

8. A Love Supreme -- John Coltrane

9. Savior -- Michael English

10. In Your Presence -- Jeremy Camp

[Note: Because no one wants to read (and I hate to write) anything serious on Fridays, I have a rotating list of features for this day. “The Lists” is yet another occasional Friday feature that will be added to the mix.]

The following is a list of favorite works compiled by a literary snob. Unlike similar lists, though, you won't find anything as unreadable as Joyce's Ulysses or as faddish as the latest Salman Rushdie novel. In fact, on first glance the inclusion of children's books and graphic novels might give the impression that it is rather lowbrow, if not philistine. But each of the entries was carefully selected because they have what most modern fiction lacks: a compelling story.

C.S. Lewis once wrote that it is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. This is an an especially useful axiom for 20th century literature, which tends to pale in comparison to time-tested works. I find it difficult, for example, to justify reading a doorstopper by by Jonathan Franzen when Tolstoy would provide more enlightenment per page.

But a preference for works that have proved themselves over the centuries does not mean that modern literature should be completely avoided. While the works on this list are not the best books of the last century – or even the best books that I have read – they all tell interesting stories that are worthy of attention.

One last note about my particular prejudices. I not only prefer the old to the new but I prefer non-fiction to fiction. Fiction lovers will therefore rightly take issue with my narrow choices. I also prefer short stories to long novels, magical realism to realistic narrative, and the fantastical to the mundane. Such taste make for an admittedly odd mix.

Here then are my favorite works of 20th century imaginative literature: