fMh discussion

My dad was telling me about how he's trying to narrow down the top ten books that all mormons should read. I think that they should be simple and easy to read. What would be on your list? So far I just have two. Obviously I need to read more.

1- BofM (obviously)
2- JS Rough Stone Rolling

I would say anything by Cheiko Okazaki. It's hard to put my finger on just one!

I definitely second Rough Stone Rolling and anything by Sr. Okazaki - I think Disciples and Lighten Up are my favorites.

Also Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society by Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher. And Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery.

I know some people don't care for it, but Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson is on my list, too.

I think my list would include the following:

1. Book of Mormon
2. New Testament ( I feel like I should say OT as well, but it's seriously wacko to me)
3. Rough Stone Rolling
4. Mormon Enigma
5. Lighten Up
6. Various stuff by Hugh Nibley
7. BYU's World Religion text book

And, I also like Stephen Robinson. I think he has some really important messages.

I don't know what else I'd recommend. I've never been too much into Church books. :)

In 1980 Curt Bench put together a list of the 50 most important Mormon books, divided into 5 categories: History and Biography, Doctrine and Theology, Literature, Anti-Mormon and Books by Sympathetic Non-Mormons

The list was published in Sunstone and is available in several places on the web. It might be a good place to start, or at least review for possible works to include.

This is especially true because the lists above are only recent works (last 20 years).

Personally, I think that books like Lucy Smith's "Biographical Sketches," Pratt's "Autobiography," Nephi Anderson's "Added Upon," Maurine Whipple's "The Giant Joshua," Levi Peterson's "The Backslider," and the "Lectures on Faith" should all be considered.

Of course, ten books is a very short list, IMO.

You should not forget Virginia Sorensen!
Her published works for adults were:
A Little Lower than the Angels – 1942, Knopf
On the Star – 1946, Reynal & Hitchcock
The Neighbors – 1947, Reynal & Hitchcock
The Evening and The Morning – 1949, Harcourt, Brace and Co.
The Proper Gods – 1952, Harcourt, Brace & Co.
Many Heavens – 1954, Harcourt & Brace
Kingdom Come – 1960, Harcourt & Brace
Where Nothing is Long Ago – 1963, Harcourt & Brace
The Man with the Key – 1974, Harcourt Brace & Co. Jovanovich

Also Grant Hardy's Understanding the Book of Mormon, as well as Terryl Givens' By the Hand of Mormon.

Lucy Mack's Smith biography of Joseph Smith?

I'm going to add Terryl & Fiona Givens's recent book The God Who Weeps.

I really enjoyed S. Michael Wilcox's book 10 Great Souls I want to Meet in Heaven. It compares our search for truth to a drawing compass in which we have one foot planted in the gospel, but with the searching foot, we are seeking for truth from people in history, other religions, science and literature. Several women are included such as Joan of Arc, Emily Barrett Browning and Muhammad's wives. The book encompasses my idea of the gospel and finding truth wherever it is.

On a side note, has anyone read A Peculiar People: Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Religion in Nineteenth-Century America by J. Spencer Fluhman?

I second Terryl and Fiona Given's book: The God Who Weeps. It's excellent

The Backslider by Levi Peterson is maybe my all-time favorite Mormon book.