I’d love to hear what five books resonate the most with you and why.

Here’s my list:

1) Ecclesiastes

If there is any book without pretense, it’s this. It presents life as it is, not how we want it to be – a mixture of happiness and sorrow.

2) Psalms

Imagery and emotion that speak to the heart.

3) Song of Songs

Love is precious and joyful. Sensual delights spring page after page.

4) Job

What is not to like about a just man constantly harassed by clueless friends who think they have the answers to why he is suffering or someone challenging God for an answer, which he never receives?

5)* Jonah

What a story! In the Bible when a prophet is called by God, he answers. Not so here. Instead, he flees and gets himself into a whole lot of trouble. Why? Could it be he wants the Ninevites destroyed? And what’s with those pagan sailors who are concerned with his life? When Jonah does eventually answer the call, and Nineveh is spared, he is none the happier.

*While the first four choices were clear, this was not as easy. I was between Genesis, Lamentations, the Books of Samuel, and Jonah. In the end it was a toss up between the last two. Perhaps, what tipped the balance was ** you do not have permission to see this link ** which I recently read and got me even more enamored with the book than I already was.