Saturday, January 31, 2009

Faith 'n Fiction - More Recommendations

My friend Amy is the host for Faith 'n Fiction Saturday. She poses the questions and we try to answer them. If you're interested, check it out here.

Today's question is:
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?


My Answer:
The reason I first began reviewing everything I read is for this very reason. I often have people ask me to suggest reading material for them or for those they want to gift a book. Since I don't care for "preachy and unrealistic" reading material myself, I would automatically turn to my favorite authors for recommendations.

For the first person, I might suggest The Elevator by Angela Hunt. During a hurricane, three diverse women: a betrayed wife, seeking revenge, a mistress with a secret, and a cleaning lady, afraid of having a horrible secret revealed are trapped in an elevator. They soon discover that the one thing they have in common is--a man! This is a suspense story that kept my interest, and I suspect it would be a perfect fit for my friend--whether or not she is a Christian.

For the second person, I might suggest Mixed Signals by Liz Curtis Higgs. Small town radio personality, Belle O’Brien, finds her stale career renewed with a move. She also finds someone new to bring into her life. I read this one awhile back and remember that it has plenty for the lover of romance novels.

At the bottom of my blog, I've posted my bookshelf from Shelfari. Each book is rated and has at least a small snippet of information about it. I would advise both friends to take a look at the books with five stars. There are many choices.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

These sound like excellent books, and your reasons for recommending them are well put. I have my answers up at Free Spirit also-

http://tinyurl.com/by9guy

Anonymous said...

These sound interesting!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Lynn Squire said...

okay, to me, unrealistic fiction usually comes side by side with straight romance. I guess that is why I don't read them much - boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl - or something like that. But that's just me. I'll read the occasional one when I need something really light to read.

However, I think you make some excellent choices.

Anonymous said...

I laughed out loud at your comment...that sounds like a plan! I love Liz Curtis Higgs...her books Mixed Signals and Bookends are both on my keeper shelf...I love that they are longer books too :)

Robin M said...

great recommendations! I still need to check out angela hunt. I like dee henderson and I would have to say cathy hake or tracie peterson would be good ones to recommend. Maybe I should write up a post and answer the question myself. :)

Hoarders Extraordinaire said...

These books all sound great! I can see my list growing longer and longer...:)

martasmeander

ings.blogspot.com

Mimi N said...

Ugh, I have Angie's "The Elevator" on my bookshelf still calling out to me to be read! Angie gave it to me at the ACFW conference this past Sept!

Can you believe I haven't read a single Liz Curtis Higgs book? In all my years reading Christian fiction, haven't had a chance to pick up one of her books!

~Mimi B @ Woven by Words

Amy said...

I haven't read either of these books, but they do seem like good ones to recommend.

Nise' said...

Good recommendations. Liz Curtis Higgs is "new to me" and I have her Scotland series on my stack of TBR books.

Rel said...

Bookends and Mixed Signals are fabulous. I laughed and laughed - Liz does humour really well :)