100 Books Every Christian Should Read

I posted a list yesterday of (arguably) 100 books everyone should read, and promised to follow it up today with my 100 books every Christian should read.

I should say, I think many of the classics on yesterday's list should be read by Christians, as I agree with Francis Bacon that "Reading maketh a full man" (or woman).

But with that understanding, let me offer 100 books I think every Christian should read (some ancient, some very recent), and ask you to agree or disagree as you choose (and, while everyone should of course read everything I've ever written, I've intentionally left my books off the list). And if you care to add your count of how many of these you've read, please copy and paste the list in your comment, bold the books you've read, italicize books not completed, and then sum up with a head count, so to speak.

1. The Bible (of course)
2. Aggressive Christianity - Catherine Booth
3. The works of EM Bounds (7 books on prayer)
4. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made- Brand/Yancey
5. God's Psychiatry - Charles L. Allen
6. The works of Samuel Logan Brengle (9 books on holiness)
7. Streams in the Desert - Lettie Cowman
8. God's Smuggler - Brother Andrew
9. The Practice of the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence
10. The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan
11. My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers
12. The Master Plan of Evangelism – Robert E. Coleman
13. Born Again – Charles Colson
14. Money, Sex, and Power –Richard Foster
15. Prayer –Richard Foster
16. Celebration of Discipline – Richard Foster
17. Hand Me Another Brick - Charles Swindoll
18. The Way to Power and Poise – E. Stanley Jones
19. A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm – Philip Keller
20. Mere Christianity – CS Lewis
21. The Screwtape Letters – CS Lewis
22. The Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
23. Know What You Believe – Paul E. Little
24. Know Why You Believe – Paul E. Little
25. Ordering Your Private World – Gordon MacDonald
26. A Man Called Peter – Catherine Marshall
27. More Than a Carpenter – Josh McDowell
28. The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict – Josh McDowell
29. None of These Diseases – SI McMillen
30. The Christ Life for Your Life – FB Meyer
31. With Christ in the School of Prayer – Andrew Murray
32. Sit Walk Stand – Watchman Nee
33. The Normal Christian Life – Watchman Nee
34. Spiritual Maturity – J. Oswald Sanders
35. Spiritual Leadership – J. Oswald Sanders
36. The Book of Hours – Rainer Maria Rilke
37. The Gospel According to Moses - Athol Dickson
38. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah - Alfred Edersheim
39. In His Steps – Charles M. Sheldon
40. The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life – Hannah W. Smith
41. Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret – Dr. and Mrs. Taylor
42. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Annie Dillard
43. Joshua – Joseph Girzone
44. The Ragman and Other Cries of Faith – Walter Wangerin
45. How Should We Then Live - Francis Schaeffer
46. The Body -Charles Colson
47. Knowing God - JI Packer
48. Boundaries – Henry Cloud
49. A Rabbi Talks to Jesus -Jacob Neusner
50. No Wonder They Call Him the Savior – Max Lucado
51. Margin - Richard Swenson, MD
52. How to Understand Your Bible - T Norton Sterrett
53. True Spirituality - Francis Schaeffer
54. Knowing Scripture - RC Sproul
55. Darwin on Trial - Philip Johnson
56. The Cost of Discipleship - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
57. Loving God - Charles Colson
58. Orthodoxy - GK Chesterton
59. Keeping the Sabbath Wholly - Marva Dawn
60. The Confessions - Augustine
61. Love Your God with All Your Mind - JP Moreland
62. What’s So Amazing About Grace? - Philip Yancey
63. The Case for Christ - Lee Strobel
64. A Promise Kept - Robertson McQuilkin
65. How Now Shall We Live? - Charles Colson
66. Traveling Mercies - Anne Lamott
67. The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris
68. The Purpose-Driven Life - Rick Warren
69. The Case for Faith - Lee Strobel
70. The Book of God - Walter Wangerin
71. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire - Jim Cymbala
72. Women in the Church - Grenz/Kjesbo
73. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - JRR Tolkein
74. Contemplative Prayer - Thomas Merton
75. The Pursuit of God - AW Tozer
76. In the Name of Jesus - Henri Nouwen
77. Living Prayer - Robert Benson
78. The Way of the Heart - Henri Nouwen
79. The Cloud of Unknowing - anonymous
80. Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
81. Lancelot Andrewes and his Private Devotions - Lancelot Andrewes
82. A Diary of Private Prayer - John Baillie
83. Answering God - Eugene Peterson
84. Abba’s Child - Brennan Manning
85. The Treasure Principle - Randy Alcorn
86. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction - Eugene Peterson
87. Leap Over a Wall - Eugene Peterson
88. A New Kind of Christian - Brian McLaren
89. The Story We Find Ourselves In - Brian McLaren
90. The Last Word and the Word After That - Brian McLaren
91. The Complete Jewish Bible - David H. Stern
92. Surprised by Jesus - Tim Stafford
93. The Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning
94. Prayer - Philip Yancey
95. The Divine Hours (3 vol.) - Phyllis Tickle
96. Pensees - Blaise Pascal
97. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day - Mark Batterson
98. If God Is Good - Randy Alcorn
99. The Peacemaker - Ken Sande
100. The Blessed Life - Robert Morris

It's not a perfect list, by any means (it's actually not 100 books, for instance, but 125 because of multiple volumes listed on one line). But I've read every one of them, and I'm surprised as you are at the people whose books are not on the list. But I chose books that have been important and influential--even transformative--in my life. I grieve a little that there's so little fiction and only one book of poetry on the list. Maybe I'll revisit it someday and make it better...maybe with your suggestions.