1) G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
2) C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
3) E. F. Schumacher, A Guide for the Perplexed
4) Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
5) Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien
6) Ralph McInerny, I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You
7) Dorothy Sayers, The Whimsical Christian
8) J. M. Bochenski, Philosophy: An Introduction
9) Etienne Gilson, The Unity of Philosophical Experience
10) Josef Pieper: An Anthology
One might object, “Only Dostoyevsky is a classic and it is long. What about John Paul II’s Crossing the Threshold of Hope? Or Benedict’s Encyclical on Love?” Read them! What about the Bible, Plato, and Aristotle? Read them! And Augustine’s Confessions? Never to be missed. What about Schall’s opera omnia? For Heaven’s sake, read them!
–James V. Schall, Docilitas: On Teaching and Being Taught
