Literature That Lifts our Lives Quiz

Answer: The Celestine Prophecy

This 1993 novel is written as an adventure story with the protagonist, John Woodson, traveling to Peru in an attempt to find an ancient manuscript which is said to have nine insights that lead to spiritual awakening.

The manuscript has only just been translated and both the Church and the Government are eager to stop the document from surfacing to the general public, so they are in physical pursuit of John as he travels the country while in spiritual pursuit of each of the insights, which are only revealed to him one at a time. He must understand and learn the message of each of these life lessons before the next is revealed.

These insights are based on both psychology and numerous traditions and different spiritual beliefs systems. They teach lessons in both learning how to achieve personal growth and how to interact with other people and situations in everyday life.

Redfield originally had to publish and sell the book himself before a publishing company finally realised its potential. It has now been translated into 34 languages and has sold millions of copies throughout the world.

He has since published 3 sequels:
The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision (1996)
The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight (1999)
The Twelfth Insight: The Hour of Decision (2011)

Answer: Tuesdays With Morrie

"Tuesdays with Morrie", published in 1995, was the first novel for Mitch Albom who has since become famous for his inspirational fiction. This first book is a memoir about the visits he had with a former college professor who was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Morrie Schwartz worked for many years in a mental hospital researching psychiatric illnesses. He credits this time with teaching him all about love, empathy and compassion. He later became a sociology professor so he could impart knowledge to as many people as possible about these beliefs and other life lessons he had learned

Albom saw Schwartz on a television program and got in contact and arranged to visit him at home. After spending the afternoon talking he realised how much Schwartz still had to teach and how much he still had to learn so he began visiting every Tuesday afternoon. The memoir chronicles these 14 visits and all the topics that were discussed and the knowledge shared.

Answer: Jonathon Livingston Seagull

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull" is a fable about a seagull who wants to fly for the sheer joy of it instead of just as a means to an end to catch food. His passion leads to him learning new ways to soar and dive, but also to his ostracism from his flock for refusing to conform.

He then meets other gulls who take him to a 'higher plane' where he meets a wise gull named Chiang who shows him the way to spiritual enlightenment. Rather than staying, he returns to earth to find and teach other outcasts all that he has learned.

The book was published in 1970 and sold over a million copies in its first couple of years. It also led to a movie in 1973 with a bestselling soundtrack by Neil Diamond.

The novel is separated into three parts delineating each stage of his journey. In 2012 Bach had a near death experience post a serious plane crash and this led to him writing a fourth part to the story which is set hundreds of years later when the Flock reveres the teachings but no longer practices them.

Answer: Who Moved My Cheese?

"Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life" is a motivational business fable published in 1998. It has sold 30 million copies, been published in 37 languages and spent 5 years on the New York Times bestseller list.

The book tells the story of two mice called Sniff and Scurry and two 'littlepeople' named Hem and Haw who live in a maze and have to look for cheese. Both groups search and eventually they both find the same corridor filled with cheese so they stay and become more and more complacent until one day when there is no cheese left.

The mice are not surprised - they have noticed that the cheese supply is getting low and have been preparing themselves to go and look for more, so they leave immediately. The littlepeople however have not - when they see the corridor empty they are angry and annoyed and just complain about how unfair it is.

Haw then suggests that maybe they should go looking for more cheese but Hem just wants to know who moved his. Haw eventually leaves on his own and finds all sorts of messages on the walls of the maze that teach him many important things and then he finds another source of cheese. Being a compassionate littleperson he takes some back to Hem but Hem refuses to eat it, so Haw finally has to leave and go back to the new cheese supply on his own.

Answer: The Princess Who Believed In Fairy Tales

"The Princess Who Believed in Fairy Tales" is an inspiring story written for girls and women that deals with the reality of not just missing the expected happy-ever-after, but the stark reality of being hurt by the people they love.

The novel is written entirely as a fairy-tale, but its allegorical meaning is extremely clever. The tale revolves around Princess Victoria, who learns as a child that her invisible friend 'Vicky', who is full of fun and joy, always manages to get her into trouble so she shuts her in the closet and covers her up so she can't hear her any more. The King and Queen openly adore Victoria but only when she is being 'good', so she is understandably ecstatic when she is rescued by her prince and they get married and start to live happily ever after - until they don't and Victoria finds out that her Prince isn't so charming after all.

The bulk of the novel chronicles her journey of self-discovery as she starts along the Path of Truth. She meets people and magical animals who help her along her way but she must travel the path alone. The novel leads her through the Sea of Emotion, the Campsite for Lost Travellers, the Land of Illusion, The Land of Is and finally the Temple of Truth and the Sacred Scroll where she finds her own happy ending.

This novel was written in 1995 and the author finally released a similar book for males "The Dragon Slayer with a Heavy Heart" in 2003.

Answer: A Child Called 'It'

David James Pelzer published this memoir of his childhood abuse in 1995. It chronicles the abuse, both physical and emotional, he suffered at the hands of his mother from the age of 4 until he was removed from the home at 12. His father, although not participating in the actual abuse, ignored it and did nothing to help his son.

Dave was the second son of five boys and the only one that was abused while he lived there (his younger brother Richard would later claim that he became the victim after Dave left the house).

Dave was beaten, burnt, stabbed, starved and psychologically abused. His mother used to come up with new 'games' she liked to play, like locking him in a bathroom with a bucket of pure bleach. His teachers finally stepped in and he was placed in foster care until he was 18.

Pelzer wrote two other novels about his life:
"The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family" and "A Man Named Dave: A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness"

You may well be wondering why I would include this under the heading of 'inspirational' as it appears anything but, until you take a look at the man he became and the way he chose to live a life of forgiveness and integrity. It is a shining example of a testament to the triumph of the human spirit.

Answer: The Alchemist

"The Alchemist" was the first of many inspirational novels by Paulo Coelho. Written in Portuguese it remains (as of 2021) the best-selling book by a Brazilian author, with over 150 million copies in print.

Santiago, the young shepherd boy, has a recurring dream that leads him to see a Gypsy fortune teller. She tells him that it is a prophecy he must fulfil, and that he has to go to Egypt, where he will find treasure at the pyramids.

The story follows his epic journey from Spain and his adventures along the way both alone and with others also in search of something. He then meets the wise alchemist who encourages him to find his true self and teaches him that "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true".

As with many inspirational stories there is the physical trek and tasks he must complete to find the worldly goods that is juxtapositioned with a spiritual quest to find the real treasure within himself.

Answer: Six Hours One Friday

Max Lucado is a pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonia, Texas and also the author of over 100 books centred around Christianity. He has more than 145 million books in print and is thus the bestselling inspirational author in the USA.

He has a way of bringing the messages and teachings of the Bible to the everyday person and has many examples and explanations that are relevant in today's world. Unlike many inspirational writers who belong to the 'New Age' philosophy of life and Christianity, Lucado believes in the infallibility of the Bible and is simply trying to reach a wider congregation.

"Six Hours One Friday", his fourth book, refers to the six hours Jesus spent on the Cross on Good Friday. Lucado himself writes "It was all done during six hours one Friday. Those six hours were no normal six hours. They were the most critical hours in history. For during those six hours on that Friday, God made it possible for you to know that: Your life is not futile. Your failures are not fatal. Your death is not final. Travel back to the foot of the cross and learn how to live in the power of the cross"

Answer: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis' much loved novel was published in 1950 as the first of the seven novels in the Chronicles of Narnia. "The Magician's Nephew" is actually a prequel but was published sixth.

The story has the Pevensie siblings - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - being evacuated to the country in 1940 to escape the Blitz in London. They find a doorway in the back of an old wardrobe that leads them into the strange land of Narnia which is full of mythical beings and talking animals and is ruled by the Evil White Witch.

The children are drawn into an adventure where they must save Narnia and defeat the White Witch to save their own lives and fulfil a prophecy.

The lion, of course, is Aslan who gives his own life to save Edmunds even though he was deemed a traitor and condemned to death. Aslan is resurrected at the end of the novel and vanquishes the White Witch.

Whilst I, and many before me, refer to it as an allegorical novel, Lewis himself denied that it was his original intent to make it a theological tale. In a 1962 letter he stated, "The Narnian books are not as much allegory as supposal. Suppose there were a Narnian world and it, like ours, needed redemption. What kind of incarnation and Passion might Christ be supposed to undergo there?"

In the same letter he states that Aslan was not even in his original draft - that 'He' appeared in the story on His own and only later did Lewis remember the 'Lion of Judah' (another name used for Jesus in the Bible) so it appears he himself received inspiration for this work.

Answer: Expecting Adam

Martha Beck and her husband John were both fully immersed in academic life at Harvard University in the 1980s. Martha had her BA and MA and was working on her PhD. She taught at both Harvard and the American Graduate School of International Management and had published books and papers about business and the social sciences.

In short their lives were orderly, cerebral and well planned for the imminent future and then Martha has an unplanned pregnancy. As if that wasn't disruption enough, she then finds out that their unborn son has Downs Syndrome.

Against the advice of medical personnel and their academic friends who told them it would be impossible to achieve their goals Martha and John make the decision to continue the pregnancy and give birth to their son - "Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth and Everyday Magic" is about this journey.

The book is a confronting, funny, heartbreaking and magical tale of this time in their lives when they thought they knew what they wanted and what success was, and how they had to learn to redefine everything in their lives. To go from a perfectly planned life to taking a giant leap of faith into the unknown and learning to trust in miracles.

The end of the book shows their life a few years later. They have moved back to Utah to be closer to family, they have three children and Martha is now a life coach but most of all it explains the absolute joy that Adam has brought into their lives and the more important learning experiences that he has provided them with.