The List of 200

A few months ago a friend challenged me to come up with a list of 200 books I would be satisfied to keep while letting go of all others. His reasoning was that in our golden years we may find ourselves with very limited living space; a smaller library could be a necessity.

In keeping with my personality, I made a number of smart alecky remarks to him. Can I have 200 Kindles instead? Can I later swap some of my 200 with someone else's 200? I also mentioned that I didn't know what books I'd be interested in reading in the future. Bear in mind I have a multitude of books and have 'culled the herd' a number of times over the years.

After giving it some consideration, I decided to go ahead with the exercise. What I learned astonished me. Following are comments I sent him after I concluded the assignment:


"I have decided to start finding homes for many of the books that did not qualify for my List of 200. For the rest of my life I'd like to read the books I did include, some of which are yet unread or which deserve to be reread.

"I now have the objective of pruning my library significantly (I've already pulled a number of books which I will likely never read again). I want to narrow the scope of my library to topics of greatest interest to me."


Yes, it sounds cruel and heartless. But I am the predator at the top of the 'word pyramid' in my library. I need the optimal number of brain nutrients possible from what I choose to read. To misquote Ludwig Feuerbach, "You are what you read."

This exercise led me to think seriously about why I collected a vast number of books. I asked myself what I expected from my library and where precisely did my literary interests lie. I discovered good reasons for reducing my library to manageable proportions. I also justified to my wife the need for purchasing more books to complete my vision for a "leaner, meaner" collection (we're still in negotiation over that one).

You may wish to take the List of 200 challenge! You gain a sense of freedom and clarity when you scrutinize your library. I am now at the decrepit age of "nearing 50" and my interests in literature are fairly established. But I do allow myself the latitude of cheating on my list should I discover a new topic of interest.

I plan to assemble my List of 200 as nearly as I can. The challenge for me will be to keep my library at this manageable level over the years. Will I cast away one book in favor of another? I hope so. After all, if a book has truly influenced me, I will possess its essence even after I give it away.

Following is my List of 200. The order is not necessarily of ascending preference. Sometimes that is the case. At other times I list the books by the time period in which the writers composed them or by the logical order of themes. Or I just put them where I wanted because it 'felt right.'

I was fairly ambivalent about the Science Fiction in my library; I have so many novels of this genre I didn't bother mentioning all those I'll keep. Easy come, easy go with pulp SF. They, I suppose, are my exception to the List of 200.

Jeff Henry’s List of 200

(Bible and resources)
1 RSV Catholic Bible
2 NKJV Bible
3 ABS Greek NT
4 Septuagint in Greek/Engl.
5 Perschbaher's Analytical Greek Lexicon
6 BAGD Lexicon
7 Concordance of some sort

(Literary)
8 Complete Works of T.S. Eliot
9 Dante's Inferno
10 Dante's Purgatorio
11 Dante's Paradiso
12 Antonio Machado, Times Alone
13 Antonio Machado, Selected Poems
14 Antonio Machado, The Landscape of Castille
15 Flannery O'Conner, The Habit of Being (letters)
16 Sigrid Undset – The Wreath
17 Sigrid Undset, The Wife
18 Sigrid Undset, The Cross
19 Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
20 Willa Cather, O Pioneers!
21 Willa Cather, Shadows on the Rock
22 Joseph Heller, Picture This
23 Otto Frederick, The End of the World
24 Georges Bernanos, The Diary of a Country Priest
25 Georges, Bernanos, Under Satan's Sun
26 Georges Bernanos, Mouchette
27 Georges Bernanos, The Carmelites
28 Georges Bernanos, The Impostor
29 Georges Bernanos, The Heroic Face of Innocence : Three Stories
30 Georges Bernanos, The Open Mind
31 Charles Péguy, God Speaks;Religious Poetry
32 Julien Green, The Green Paradise
33 Julien Green, The War at Sixteen
34 Julien Green, Love in America
35 Paul Claudel, Coronal
36 Francois Mauriac, Flesh and Blood
37 Francois Mauriac, Viper's Tangle
38 John Breslin, The Substance of Things Hoped For
39 William Saroyan, The Human Comedy
40 E. Nesbitt, Five Children and It
41 E. Nesbit, The Phoenix and the Magic Carpet
42 E. Nesbit, Short Stories
43 E. Nesbit, The Enchanted Castle
44 George MacDonald, Phantastes and Lilith (combined)
45 James Hilton, Lost Horizon
46 Morris West, The Devil's Advocate
47 Maupassant, Selected Short Stories
48 Elsbeth Huxley, Flame Trees of Thika

(Theology/Philosophy, various flavors)
49 NICOT, Genesis 1-17
50 NICOT, Genesis 18-50
51 NIV Commentary, Isaiah
52 Blessed Theophylact, Commentary on St. Matthew
53 F.F. Bruce, Gospel of John
54 NICNT, Book of the Acts
55 Jerome Biblical Commentary
56 Throckmorton, Gospel Parallels
57 NIGTC, Galatians
58 Catholic Catechism
59 Vatican II Docs., vol. 1
60 Vatican II Docs, vol. 2
61 Early Church Fathers
62 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History
63 Athanasius, Anthony of Egypt
64 Athanasius, On the Incarnation
65 A collection of the Desert Fathers
66 Augustine, Confessions
67 Augustine, Commentary on the Gospel of John and the Epistle of John
68 Augustine, City of God
69 St. Augustine, Select Letters
70 Rule of St. Benedict
71 Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy
72 Maximus Confessor, Select Writings
73 Bede, History of the English Church
74 Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (short, long versions)
75 A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham
76 Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Vol. 1, Bk. 1
77 Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Vol. 1, Bk. 2
78 Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Vol. 1, Bk. 3
79 Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Vol. 1, Bk. 4
80 Aquinas' Summa Theologica, vol. 1
81 Aquinas' Summa Theologica, vol. 2
82 Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on Conversion
83 William of St. Thierry, The Golden Epistle
84 Catherine of Sienna, Dialogue
85 St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul
86 St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle
87 St. John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love
88 Angelus Silesius, Cherubinic Wanderer
89 Philokalia, vol. 1
90 Philokalia, vol. 2
91 Philokalia, vol. 3
92 John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua
93 Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas
94 Etienne Gilson, The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy
95 Etienne Gilson, The Mystical Theology of St. Bernard of Clairvaux
96 Joseph Lortz, The Reformation in Germany, vol. 1
97 Joseph Lortz, The Reformation in Germany, vol. 2
98 Karl Barth, Epistle to the Romans
99 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
100 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship
101 Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
102 Simone Weil, Waiting on God
103 Louis Bouyer, Liturgical Piety
104 Thomas Merton, Seven-story Mountain
105 Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church
106 Vladimir Lossky, In the Image and Likeness of God
107 Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus through the Centuries
108 Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary through the Centuries
109 Alexander Schmemann, Journals
110 Vatican II Docs., vol. 1
111 Vatican II Docs, vol. 2
112 Karl Rahner, Meditations on Hope and Love
113 Karl Rahner, Encounters with Silence
114 Henri de Lubac, History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to
Origen
115 H. de Lubac, Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace
116 H. de Lubac, Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man
117 H. de Lubac, The Christian Faith
118 H. de Lubac, Christian Resistance to Anti-Semitism: Memories from 1940-1944
119 H. de Lubac, More Paradoxes
120 H. de Lubac, The Motherhood of the Church
121 H. de Lubac, Paradoxes of Faith
122 H. de Lubac, Theology in History
123 Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Bernanos: An Ecclesial Existence
124 Hans Urs Von Balthasar, The Christian and Anxiety
125 Hans Urs Von Balthasar, The Theology of Henri de Lubac
126 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Convergences
127 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Dare We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"?
128 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Elucidations
129 Hans Urs von Balthasar, In the Fullness of Faith: On the Centrality of the
Distinctively Catholic
130 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mary, The Church at the Source (with Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger)
131 Hans Urs von Balthasar, New Elucidations
132 Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Office of Peter And the Structure of the Church
133 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Scandal of the Incarnation: Irenaeus Against the
Heresies
134 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theology of History
135 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Truth Is Symphonic: Aspects of Christian Pluralism
136 Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age
137 Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Truth of the World
138 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Truth of God
139 Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Spirit of the Truth
140 Benedict XVI, Church Frs., From Clement of Rome to Augustine
141 Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth
142 Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy
143 Peter Sewald, God and the Earth
144 Peter Sewald, Salt of the Earth
145 Thomas Santa, Understanding Scrupulosity
146 Ronald Rollheiser, The Holy Longing
147 Heino Kadai, Accents in Lutheran Theology
148 Martin Buber, Eclipse of God
149 Martin Buber, Between Man and Man
150 Martin Buber, I and Thou
151 Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim
152 Martin Buber, A Martin Buber Reader
153 Alex Waley (trans.), Monkey
154 Arthur Waley (trans.), The Analects of Confucius
155 Bhagavadgita
156 Epic of Gilgamesh
157 Rahula, What the Buddah Taught
158 R.A. Cram, The Ruined Abbeys of Great Britain
159 Ante Pacem, history/arch. of Church b/f Constantine

(Natural Science related)
160 Elsbeth Huxley, The Mottled Lizard
161 Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey
162 Loren Eiseley, The Unexpected Universe
163 Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
164 A Golden Guide to Birds of North America
165 Peterson Field Guide to Native Wildflowers

(SF, Fantasy, Mystery and other fun books)

166 Clifford Simak, City
167 Clifford Simak, Time and Again
168 Clifford, Simak, Werewolf Principle
169 Clifford Simak, Highway of Eternity
170 Keith Laumer, Trace of Memory
171 Keith Laumer, Knight of Delusions
172 Paul O. Williams, The Breaking of Northwall (1981)
173 Paul O. Williams, The Ends of the Circle (1981)
174 Paul O. Williams, The Dome in the Forest (1981)
175 Paul O. Williams, The Fall of the Shell (1982)
176 Paul O. Williams, An Ambush of Shadows (1983)
177 Paul O. Williams, Song of the Axe (1984)
178 Paul O. Williams, The Sword of Forbearance (1985)
179 Walter M. Miller, Jr., Canticle for Leibowitz
180 Michael Crichton, Andromeda Strain
181 George O. Smith, The Fourth “R”
182 John Brunner Sand Dropper
183 Terry Bisson, Bears Discover Fire
184 Terry Bisson, Numbers Don't Lie
185 Terry Bisson, The Hole in the Hole
186 Terry Bisson/Walter M. Miller, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman
187 Terry Bisson, Greetings and Other Stories
188 Algis Budrys, Rogue Moon
189 Algis Budrys, Michaelmas
190 John Wyndham, Trouble with Lichen
191 John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids
192 Jack Vance, Language of Pao
193 Hal Clement, Ice World
194 Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
195 Colin Dexter, The Last Remorse
196 John Mortimer, various Rumpoles 1
197 John Mortimer, various Rumpoles 2
198 John Mortimer, various Rumpoles 3
199 John Mortimer, various Rumpoles 4
200 John Mortimer, various Rumpoles 5