One of the best ways to learn about the type of person someone is is by looking at the books that populate their bookshelves. Books, I've found, play a large role in shaping how any of us understand and inhabit our worlds--so naturally they are a good place to go when seeking to understand a subculture. For example, the following is a list of the types of books that define the Christian hipster subculture.
How many of these 50 books have you read? If you've read more than 20 of them, there is a good chance that you are a Christian with artistic or intellectual tendencies. If you've read more than 30 of them, you are most likely a Christian hipster. If you've read more than 40 of them, let me know. You could probably write the sequel to Hipster Christianity.
Augustine - Confessions C.S. Lewis - Till We Have Faces Walker Percy - The Moviegoer Dorothy Sayers - The Mind of the Maker G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy George MacDonald - Phantastes Evelyn Underhill - Mysticism Terry Eagleton - After Theory Jean-Paul Sarte - Being and Nothingness Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings Annie Dillard - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Donald Miller - Blue Like Jazz Kathleen Norris - Acedia & Me Marilynne Robinson - Gilead Shushako Endo- Silence George Steiner - Real Presences William Shakespeare- King Lear Anne Lamott - Traveling Mercies Plato - The Republic Jacques Ellul - The Technological Society Flannery O'Connor - Wise Blood Chuck Klosterman - Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs Dave Eggers - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Martin Buber - I and Thou Neil Postman - Amusing Ourselves to Death Lauren Winner - Real Sex Douglas Coupland - Life After God Tim Keller - The Reason For God N.T. Wright - Surprised by Hope Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment A.W. Tozer - The Knowledge of the Holy Henri Nouwen - The Return of the Prodigal Son Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship Jack Kerouac - On the Road John Steinbeck - East of Eden Jean Baudrillard - Simulacra and Simulation Rob Bell - Velvet Elvis William P. Young - The Shack Shane Claiborne - The Irresistible Revolution Thomas a Kempis - The Imitation of Christ Dallas Willard - The Divine Conspiracy Eugene Peterson - The Message Paul Tillich - The Courage To Be Francis Collins - The Language of God J.I. Packer - Knowing God Andy Crouch - Culture Making Madeline L’Engle - Walking on Water Mark Noll - The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind Jim Wallis - God’s Politics William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying