Patrick’s Top Ten Most Intimidating Books

It is yet again time of another guest post from my lovely husband, Patrick.  He has really been itching to do a Top Ten Tuesday post with the Broke and the Bookish.  I am on call and did this topic a few weeks ago, so he gladly took over.

I am excited to finally do a Tuesday Top Ten as I’ve been wanting to do for a while now!  When I saw that this week was “Top Ten Most Intimidating Books”  I  have to admit that groaned a little.  Mainly because I’m as big a bookworm as Trisha and was an English Lit Major. Therefore,  I don’t tend to be intimidated by books and am the last to admit it if I am. That’s not to say that I could or would want to read any book out there. For example I have no desire to read  Trisha’s medical textbooks .  But I digress. Below are ten I could think of in no apparent order:

1. The Shack by William Young.  Trisha actually started reading this aloud to me when she first picked it up. I asked her to stop when she started crying. I also know it caused some controversy due to its depiction of God as a woman.  That’s not really the reason I’ve avoided it, however, the fact that the main character is a father who’s child was abducted and murdered is. Someday I’ll hopefully get up the courage to read it.
2. Firestarter by Stephen King:  I grew up reading Goosebumps books, and classics like Dracula and Frankenstein but had never read anything by the horror guru until I finally decided to pick up Firestarter.  It was not the non-stop gore I was expecting and I really enjoyed his down to earth writing style.  I’ve read several King books since and have a long list of his books I plan to read.
3. Wherever I Wind Up  by R.A. Dickey.  I’ve almost bought this autobiography by the CY Young winning Toronto Blue Jays Pitcher a few times. I’ve heard that its an inspiring and honest story of the obstacles he had to overcome to get to this point.  The only thing stopping me is knowing that I know it includes topics I don’t like to think about.  I really should just buy it because I admire the courage it took for him to write it.
4. The Fault in Our stars by John Green.   I avoided reading this because it seemed to make Trisha laugh and cry at the same time. Not to mention it revolves around teens with cancer, which is not something I usually enjoy reading about. But after I loved Green’s Paper Towns I had to check it out. I’m very glad I did.
5. His Illegal Self by Peter Carey.  This has been sitting on our shelf for a long time and actually belongs to a friend of ours.  I’ve been tempted to read it but haven’t due to the fact its not a light read by any means. The inside cover promises “it will make you cry more than once”.  I’m sure I’ll read it soon as the story of a boy searching for his outlaw parents intrigues me and I’ve read many books that make you want to cry a lot so that’s nothing new.
6. Ulysses by James Joyce.  This was actually assigned reading for a course I took. I didn’t get very far into it as I found the stream of consciousness and experimental style difficult to follow. It also helped that the professor openly admitted you could skip two books and still do well in his class. He was right. Maybe someday I’ll give it try again.  
7. The Complete C.S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis.  I tore through The Chronicles of Narnia series with great pleasure.  C.S. Lewis non-fiction works are another story because I can’t read more than a couple sentences without thinking about the deep meanings he is getting at. I still think they are worthwhile and want to continue reading them.
8. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  I’ve been avoiding reading it for similar reasons as “My Illegal Self”. I also know one of the most tragic parts of books since Trisha told me as I gave her the book for Christmas.  Sounds festive I know but she had been eyeing it for some time.
9. The Gunslinger by Stephen King. I’m actually excited to read this as its the first in his “Dark Tower” series but I know once I start I will want to read all 8 novels and the many novels related to it at once. That’s a lot of King and doesn’t leave much time for anything else.
10. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook  By  Adele Ahlberg Calhoun.   Mainly because it has “disciplines” in its title and I am not a very disciplined person. In all seriousness, I actually read almost half of this book with a group of other people as part of an internship. It is very worthwhile but I haven’t picked it up since because I know it isn’t the type of book you read without trying to apply it to your life. Plus I’m really not good at being disciplined in general. Ironically, its likely written for people just like me.