And now, another exciting episode of “My Favorite Things.”
I’ve put this one off because it is so darn difficult—nay, impossible—to get a booklover to narrow down her favorite reads to something manageable. So I’ve decided to divide up my list of books worth mentioning. Today’s category is “Entertaining LDS Books.”
CAUTION: because I mention a book here as being one of my all-time most entertaining reads does NOT mean that it will be entertaining for YOU. I find that people are especially sensitive and opinionated when it comes to reading something by or about Mormons. My listing a book here does NOT mean that I recommend it to you. Some of these books could be very disturbing to some people for one reason or another. We all have different tastes. (I myself was very uncomfortable with “The Work and the Glory,” for example—not because of anything inherently bad about it but because of my tastes and background as a reader. And yet there are people I highly recommend it to. You see what I mean.)
I apologize for having to give this caution, but among the people who read this blog and care about me is a wide variety of reading taste and experience. I don’t want to offend anyone. If any of these titles catches your interest, ask me and I’ll tell you whether I think you in particular would like it.
I’ve thought a lot about the word “entertaining.” Notice that I make no claims that these are the BEST LDS books in my opinion. Just that they are the most entertaining to me. But I find that I require certain things from a book in order to consider it entertaining to me, and the same criteria very probably might be used when I judge its value. That is, I am not entertained by a book which has simply a great plot–at least, I am not AS entertained by it as I am when the book seems to have something more to it, including fascinating characters and a certain resonating truth. So what entertains one person depends a lot on her reading expertise and background. My point is that I am not entertained by books that simply distract me.
So here we go . . . Darlene’s most entertaining LDS reads:
1. Neal Chandler’s collection of short stories, Benediction. My all-time favorite. I wish I had written most of these stories. Absolutely bowls me over. Favorites: “The Last Nephite” and “Benediction.” A hilarious, touching, sometimes satirical look at Mormon culture. Some difficult elements.
2. The other one I wish I had written: a play by Josh Brady called Great Gardens. You can find it in an issue of BYU Studies. I adore this play about a family who goes out to eat at a restaurant called Great Gardens. Included in this family are an overly-controlling mother, a recently returned sister missionary who has gained a few pounds, and several other fantastic characters.
3. Well, if we’re going to mention plays, I can’t neglect how much I enjoy just about anything by Eric Samuelson, a playwright and professor at BYU. Also, I think Scott Bronson’s play Stones is groundbreaking in the genre of LDS theater, besides being breathtaking.
4. Can’t leave out The Backslider by Levi Peterson. Again, this one comes with a strong caution. It’s a highly religious book, but also disturbing to less-experienced or highly-sensitive readers.
5. I loved Virginia Sorensen’s The Evening and the Morning. Also Maureen Whipple’s The Giant Joshua. Both are long, slow reads, highly character-driven.
6. Getting away from fiction for a second, Orson Scott Card’s essay collection, A Storyteller in Zion is incredibly thought-provoking, and Louise Plummer’s Thoughts of a Grasshopper is hilarious and moving. Also, any essay collection by Eugene England. My favorite essay of his is “Why the church is as true as the gospel.” I also enjoy any essay I can find by Tessa Meier Santiago, but she hasn’t published a collection (yet!) and so her essays are tricky to find.
7. Don Marshall’s The Rummage Sale is worth reading because it was ground-breaking. (It’s also very entertaining.) John Bennion’s Breeding Leah and other Stories blew my mind—I was only just barely old enough to read it, I think. Disturbing and moving.
8. A more mild read, one that I can recommend to everyone, is Donald Smurthwaite’s Fine Old High Priests. A very sweet, gentle book told with love for the church and its culture. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this book didn’t make a bigger splash. It seems perfect for the market that I believe is being underserved by Deseret Book and Covenant–readers who demand more filling reads than most of what these publishers produce, but who want to be able to trust that the book will be optimistic and faithful. I spoke to a DB editor a few months ago and she was also as depressed and perplexed as I was at how poorly this book did.
9. I loved Douglas Thayer’s Under the Cottonwoods, also a short story collection.
10. Orson Scott Card’s Alvin books are very Mormon without ever being outwardly religious. The first one is Seventh Son. I remember my joy when I first read Seventh Son. I had not known a person could write about religion like this. Amazing.
A few non-Mormon books that I think are important for people who are interested in writing from a religious standpoint (and all are very enjoyable):
1. Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather. Beautiful.
2. Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman. A must-read for people interested in writing from within a religious worldview about real people in that culture who happen to have problems.
3. The Ladies’ Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis. Ditto the above, only this one is even better. I wish I had written this. It could totally take place within an LDS ward relief society.
4. My Name is Asher Lev and The Gift of Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. Potok is often pointed to by Mormons who want to write about Mormonism for the general market, but I think he is a problematic example since his characters are often on the edge of their communities instead of solidly inside it. (We have enough “edgy” Mormon stuff. I’d like to see more high-quality “inside” stuff.)
5. Lying Awake by Mark Saltzman. This book spoke to me deeply about faith and my own testimony.
6. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson. Definitely on my re-read list because one reading won’t do it.
7. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger.
By the way, it’s odd to me that I can recommend any of the preceding 7 non-Mormon books to any reader without reservation. Some of them might move a little slow if you usually read Tom Clancy, for example, but none of them will be disturbing to you. Weird that I have to give greater caution about the LDS ones. I think we’re all just a little more defensive and sensitive when we know the writer or subject is LDS.
