In a lecture given at Immaculata Classical Academy, Dr. Kreeft gives his top two “must read” recommendations from 13 different categories (for a total of 26 books). He is careful throughout to pick books that are relevant in today’s times, formative, and accessible for everyone – even if challenging. For example, he somewhat surprisingly does not include Dante’s masterpiece The Divine Comedy on this list, specifically because it poses huge challenges of historical context to the average modern reader, but does encourage the reading of Aquinas’ Summa by everyone – seeing this challenging work as necessary for the formation of a Catholic, thinking mind.
Give the lecture a listen – he gives his always-fascinating reasoning behind each recommendation, but below is the book list for quick reference.
Don’t forget to support small businesses and check for these books first at your local Catholic bookseller!
Autobiography:
St. Augustine – Confessions (NB: Dr. Kreeft stresses to make sure it’s the Frank Sheed translation)
Sheldon Vanauken – A Severe Mercy
Novels:
Dostoevsky – The Brothers Karamazov
C.S. Lewis – Till We Have Faces
Plays:
Robert Bolt – A Man For All Seasons
Thorton Wilder – Our Town
Epics:
J.R.R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings
C.S. Lewis – Chronicles of Narnia
Supernatural Fantasy:
C.S. Lewis – The Great Divorce
C.S. Lewis – Screwtape Letters
Science Fiction:
Walter M. Miller Jr. – A Canticle for Leibowitz
Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
Spirituality:
Brother Lawrence – The Practice of the Presence of God
St. Therese of Lisieux – The Story of a Soul
Apologetics:
Blaise Pascal – Pensees
C.S. Lewis – The Problem of Pain
Classical Philosophy:
Plato – Apology of Socrates
Ancius Boethius – The Consolation of Philosophy
Popular Philosophy:
G.K. Chesterton – St. Thomas Aquinas
G.K.Chesterton – Orthodoxy
History:
G.K. Chesterton – The Everlasting Man
Warren Carroll – Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness
Theology:
C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity
St. Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica (NB: Dr. Kreeft recommends using a book that provides commentary to help break open this massive work. Check out his own A Summa of the Summa as a starting point!)
Poetry:
G.K. Chesterton – Lepanto
T.S. Elliot – The Waste Land