11 Novels Every Christian Should Read

Film Fisher, my favorite site for movie reviews, runs a regular segment called “Undefended” in which they list the “best” of a category without defense or explanation. Simple and direct, it serves as a great debate-starter. Another site I frequent is hosted by Dr. George Grant –Eleventary. On it, he lists, not ten or twelve, but eleven of something – Chesterton quotes, must-eat-at restaurants in London, favorite books by dead authors, whatever.

So, here I’m combining the two, offering a list of eleven books that every Christian should read…undefended! I will say, however, that this list will not include anything you can purchase at LifeWay. In fact, part of the reason I am making the list is that too many Christians would overlook them. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
2. The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor (not a novel, but who cares, it’s undefended!)
3. The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
6. The Giver by Lois Lowry
7. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
8. Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
9. The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
10. The Complete Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton (also not a novel – see #2)
11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee