Books are friends, so choose wisely

Ideas are food for the mind. Without them, our thinking shrivels down to what we already know. In order to keep growing, we need rich, wise words contained in books. Books can have a powerful influence on a person—that’s why all sorts of people recommend them.

In time for summer, The Atlantic published Seven Books to Read Before You Turn 22. The author, Anna Holmes (founder of Jezebel.com), says these titles can help young people on the cusp of adulthood answer the big questions: “Who am I? Who do I want to be? And how do I find my way through the world?”

Holmes is right that the early 20s are ripe for soul searching, and books are central to self-discovery. But the lessons she distills from her recommendations are self-focused and unhelpfully introspective. She seems to think the answer to such big questions reside within: How you feel is your best guide to how to live your life.

Her selections include poet Mary Oliver’s Devotions; leftist James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time; Buddhist Pema Chödrön’s Start Where You Are, and novelist Toni Morrison’s The Source of Self-Regard. These authors are widely read, one received a Nobel prize, one a Pulitzer. But that makes them even more perilous. They urge young adults to find what they need by looking no further than their own hearts. This is what gets us into trouble. As the prophet Jeremiah warned long ago, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

We all need help refocusing our gaze away from ourselves to love God and neighbor. Young adults, as they grow toward independence, need this even more so. Tim Keller’s The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness offers such help. How easily we forget that the call of the Christian life is to take up your cross and follow Christ, to lose your life for His sake in order to gain it (Mark 8:34-35). The key to joy, Keller says, isn’t to think more or less of yourself, but to think of yourself less. His message unlocks the relief of not being devastated by criticism, nor puffed up by praise.

When worldly voices aren’t directing young people to look within, they’re urging them to turn to nature. Poet Mary Oliver was so taken with it that she said she “got saved by the beauty of the world.” God’s world is staggering in its beauty, but it offers no lasting salvation. 17th century poet George Herbert is a better guide. His collected poems, The Temple, reveal that his hope rested not with the world, but its Maker. This collection of 164 poems, ranging over topics of Constancy, Affliction, The Temper, and Love, continues to grip and uplift readers willing to give themselves to the patient process of poetry. No less than C. S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, Simone Weil, and T.S. Eliot praised Herbert’s work for its uncommon beauty and power.

Holmes included Little Women in her recommendations for thoroughly postmodern reasons. She says this 19th century classic about four sisters is “a work of subversive American literature that explores what it means to go from child to adult.” Tragic. Louisa May Alcott’s story is delightfully descriptive, not subversive. Its themes of feminine sacrifice, family loyalty, and love are punctuated by mention of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan’s allegory about Christian’s journey to the celestial city was the book Marmee hoped would influence her daughters—most notably the headstrong Jo. Christian’s tale is one of spiritual formation suited to women and men preparing for life beyond their childhood homes.

Beyond fiction, young adults need exhortations from real life as they launch into the world. Rather than Holmes’s suggested memoirs of worldly advice, however, consider the many faithful brothers and sisters whose examples we can learn from. Brother Andrew’s God’s Smuggler recounts his calling to a most unexpected, but beloved, career: sneaking Bibles across borders into communist countries. Corrie ten Boom’s trio, In My Father’s House, The Hiding Place, and Tramp for the Lord provides stunning evidence of God’s sovereignty over hideous suffering—preparing her for it in her youth and redeeming it in her old age. Andrew Peterson’s Adorning the Dark tells how an awkward preacher’s kid turned singer-songwriter came to “to tell the truth beautifully.” With humility and good humor, he describes his insecurities as well as God’s faithfulness. These are just a few of the many worthy autobiographies to choose from.

Like a gourmet meal, ideas are meant to be shared. We should set an example of feeding on rich food, full of marrow (Isaiah 25:6) by gifting worthy books to the young adults in our lives. But even better, give the book, then offer to meet together to talk with them about it. You’ll both be richer for it, well read, and well fed.

Editor’s note: This column has been corrected to reflect that one of Anna Holmes’s selections won a Nobel Prize and another won a Pulitzer Prize.