There\u2019s an old chestnut in our community that goes something like this: If Christians are \u201cpeople of the book,\u201d<\/a> then Pagans are people of the library<\/a>. In short, we love books; reading them, writing them, arguing about them, and listing them (we\u2019re a highly educated and literate bunch<\/a>). Recently the Huffington Post posted a reader-recommended list of 27 essential Pagan texts<\/a> which almost instantly set off a chain-reaction within our online communities. I saw several complaints as to what was\u00a0omitted, links to the piece from authors who were included, and alternate lists from folks like Star Foster<\/a> and P.\u00a0Sufenas Virius Lupus<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, of course, I\u2019m very willing to say and am totally non-self-deluded about the fact that the list of thirty-one books to follow here is very subjective, and quite biased as well because it has four books that I wrote solely, and at least one other that I contributed to in some fashion. What can you do? The books I\u2019ve written have been books I rather wish existed when I got into this\u2013now they do exist, and they\u2019re meant to help people who want to pursue Antinoan devotion, so I challenge anyone who thinks they should not be included to suggest something that will do the job equally well, if not better, at this point. Plus, some books by friends and\/or co-religionists of mine also make the list because they\u2019re just that damn good, in my opinion.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Anyone who\u2019s known Pagans for any length of time shouldn\u2019t be surprised by this. An integral part of just about every Pagan website in the early days was the recommended reading list. Everyone had additions, or personal tweaks, or newer works, or what they felt was an exhaustive overview of their particular area of expertise. You could say that recommended reading lists are an integral part of how we came to be. In his history of modern Paganism in America, \u201cHer Hidden Children,\u201d<\/a> Chas Clifton spends quite a bit of time explaining how important reading books has been to our development.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the 1970s, in her list of reasons why\u00a0respondents\u00a0to her Green Egg questionnaire became Pagans, Margot Adler lists seeking beauty and imagination, personal growth, the freedom of \u2018religion without the middleman,\u2019 and environmental and feminist concerns, but also bookishness: \u201cIn particular, most of the Midwesterners said flatly that the wide dissemination of strange and fascinating books had been the main factor in creating a Neo-Pagan resurgence \u2026 almost all [Neo-Pagans regardless of educational level] are avid readers.\u201d Adler\u2019s research was conducted in the late 1970s, but her conclusion remains appropriate.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, in short, books are important to us. Our mutual love of books may be one of the few things that we all mostly agree on, even if we can\u2019t all agree on the various titles. Anyone who wants to understand modern Pagans, and modern Paganism as a religious movement, will need to spend a lot of time reading what we read (and what we write). Having said all that, I now feel almost contractually obligated to provide you with a list of my own. Since I don\u2019t really feel like trying to present a \u201ctop ten most important books all Pagans should read\u201d kind of list, I thought I\u2019d provide you with something more personal.<\/p>\n Jason\u2019s Ten Favorite Fiction Titles that Have Pagan Themes and He Found Personally Inspiring.<\/strong><\/p>\n One current that I don\u2019t think gets addressed enough in our history is how much fiction titles played a role in our development. There are obvious instances like Robert Heinlein\u2019s\u00a0\u201cStranger in a Strange Land\u201d<\/a> and the Church of All Worlds<\/a>, or Starhawk\u2019s\u00a0\u201cThe Fifth Sacred Thing,\u201d<\/a> and the inspirational role it played within Reclaiming<\/a> and Paganism as a whole in the mid-1990s, but it goes far deeper than that. Paganism, at some level, has always relied on story. From Homer\u2019s epics to Lucius Apuleius\u2019\u00a0\u201cThe Golden Asse\u201d<\/a> to Margaret St. Clair\u2019s\u00a0\u201cSign of the Labrys\u201d<\/a> (a novel that ended up with her being initiated by Raymond Buckland<\/a>). So here are ten novels that struck a chord with me, and maybe some of them struck a chord with you as well.<\/p>\n An early alternate history novel, first published in 1983, it supposes a world where\u00a0Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus<\/a> (aka \u201cJulian the Apostate\u201d) did not fail in turning the Christian tide, creating a world where paganism is the norm, and Christianity an extremist sect existing on the margins. However, instead of making this shift the focus on the novel, Ford tells the tale of a group of\u00a0adventurers\u00a0who get caught up in saving Richard III\u2019s throne in England. The characters don\u2019t self-consciously comment on how different things are, instead they live and breath in a very pagan England, one where the Roman Empire never fell. It\u2019s the little details that stick with you.\n<\/p> That\u2019s ten! As a bonus, let me endorse the entire\u00a0oeuvre\u00a0of Charles de Lint<\/a>. If you\u2019ve never read anything by him, start with\u00a0\u201cThe Very Best of Charles de Lint\u201d<\/a> and work your way out from there. Also, I know I didn\u2019t recommend Gaiman\u2019s\u00a0\u201cAmerican Gods,\u201d<\/a> but I\u2019m sure someone else will bring it up in the comments. Feel free to share your favorite Pagan-themed or inspirational novels in the comments.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s an old chestnut in our community that goes something like this: If Christians are \u201cpeople of the book,\u201d then Pagans are people of the library. In short, we love books; reading them, writing them, arguing about them, and listing them (we\u2019re a highly educated and literate bunch). Recently the Huffington Post posted a reader-recommended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[285,400,761,1033,1713,3640,2107,2225,2380,2921],"class_list":["post-9735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paganism","category-religion","tag-books","tag-chas-clifton","tag-fantasy","tag-huffpost-religion","tag-p-sufenas-virius-lupus","tag-paganism","tag-science-fiction","tag-star-foster","tag-the-huffington-post","tag-urban-fantasy"],"yoast_head":"\n\n