How do you like sci-fi/fantasy? I find a good page-tuning sci-fi fantasy series has always been the thing to get me reading again. Some recommendations:

Hyperion Cantos

A Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones)

The Expanse series

Just a thought, I binged all these series when I read them and they all really keep the action going throughout.

Well sure it would be pretty offense to have a white Nelson Mandela, but people seemed cool with a black Alexander Hamilton. Turns out, context matters.

In any case if you believe Jesus is literally God incarnate his race is probably not that important, even if historical Jesus (which even secular scholars generally agree existed) was obviously a middle eastern jew.

It's typical for Jesus/Mary/biblical scenes to be portrayed in different styles based on the culture of the group. "White Jesus" (or Mary) is just a reflection of European culture. My understanding (raised Catholic) is that it's perfectly acceptable to make them whatever race, whatever style clothing, time period, etc. if done in a respectful matter. Advisable even, if it benefits the faith.

That would be mainstream churches that allow image veneration though. Some smaller sects are of the "plain cross" types where images are frowned upon. There was a giant conflict about images in the Byzantine Empire and the image venerators won out, only to have some protestants revisit the issue much later.

> I wouldn't have classed Fountains of Paradise as a true masterpiece but it is >30 years

I enjoyed it but it has been ~10 years for me so perhaps I am also due for a re-read.

Clarke has a novel of this name. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hammer_of_God_(Clarke_novel)

The collabs with other authors I enjoyed less. Rendezvous with Rama? Excellent! Rama II? Ok...ish... The other two books (with names that escape me)? Didn't enjoy them. But they were basically not written by him. Likewise, I wasn't a huge fan of the series he did with Stephen Baxter either.

Any stand alone work he has done that I have read has been good though. Ranging from "a solid novel" (i.e. The Hammer of God) to "true masterpiece" (Childhood's End, Songs of Distant Earth, Fountains of Paradise, etc.). The entire Odyssey series is also worth reading, although IMO 2001 and 2010 are heads and shoulders better than 2061 and 3001. .

I think though as time goes on and I reflect on these books I read first as a teenager, Childhood's End increasingly stands out as something unique even amongst his other excellent works.

Dune

1984

Slaughterhouse Five

The Road

A number of stories from Ted Chiang's two short story collections, Stories of Your Life and Others and Exhalations

There's probably more but that's what came to mind initially. Plenty of other good books but in terms of what permanently changed my way of seeing the world I think those examples all definitely did.