Faith 'n Fiction Saturday

Today's Question from My Friend Amy's Blog:

You have a good friend who is a devoted Christian and voracious reader. He or she, however, tried to read a Christian fiction book in the past and found it to be too preachy and unrealistic. Your friend wants to try it again and has asked you for a recommendation. Their favorite genre of book is what is considered literary fiction. What book would you recommend to them?

You also have a friend who is not a Christian but wants to read fiction that is considered clean without being too Christian. They have asked you if there are Christian fiction books that might meet their reading needs. They are interested in romance and novels. What book would you recommend to them?

OOOOh, picture me clapping with glee! I can't wait to read everyone's recommendations for the 2nd question. I thought I'd turn my mom onto Christian literature several years ago. Can you say, "bomb"? I gave her Karen Kingsbury's One Tuesday Morning & Beyond Tuesday Morning. I also gave her Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I believe she said, "They have too much about God in them." HELLO... they're Christian novels! And besides, what's so bad about having God in a book?! My mom is a huge Nora Roberts & Fern Nichols reader. I don't believe she ever read Francine's book. Sigh...


I guess I don't know what's meant by "literary fiction". I guess I would start with Dee Henderson's O'Malley series. There's a little something for everyone; intrigue, action, and romance. She doesn't pour on the liturgy and bible verbiage, but she is clearly writing Christian Fiction. I also like Susan May Warren's Noble Legacy series. She's got strong characters and fantastic storylines that are easy to get lost in.




As for person #2 I also thought about the Daughter's of Boston series. My concern was the overtly Christian character of Faith, who I love! This is the book that I've been thinking of sending to my mom since she is a romance genre kind of lady. Unfortunately, I think Faith's faith would turn my mom off! Ugh, what a terrible thing to know - adding a helping of God to a story could turn my mom off of a book! I understand it, but I don't. Then again, my mom doesn't believe the same way I do, so I guess she wouldn't fit into this #2 person category. For someone who isn't so into romance, I'd say James Scott Bell is a great read! His "Try" series is fantastic and could lead to more of his traditional Christian books. For sci-fi buffs, who can better exemplify this group except Sharon Hinck?! Love her. You get sucked into the Sword of Lyric series.