After four years of get our bearings as a publication, the time seems ripe to re-engage with our readers, and get to know them a little better. So, over the next several weeks, we’ll be asking some questions to learn more about the reading habits of those who read either the online edition or the print edition of the ERB… or both.
We’d appreciate if you would share your thoughts in the comments below and they will be helpful to us in shaping our content in the future.
We begin with the question:
Do you read “Christian Fiction” ?
(and yes, that’s a term whose meaning is much-disputed, but here I mean fiction that is published by a publisher that works primarily within the Christian market.)
If not, why not?
If so, what are a few of your favorite authors and why do you like their work?
[ You may have noticed that we don’t review much Christian fiction — as defined above — in the ERB. My experience has been that most of it is not edifying in any way to the life of discipleship that we are called to in Jesus. There are a handful of exceptions, and I’m open to the possibility that 1) I might be wrong or 2) I might generally be right, but there may be exceptions to my rule with which I am not familiar. So please help me out here… ]
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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Understanding Christian Nationalism [A Reading Guide] |
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I do. I don’t read much fiction though, so when I do, it’s a treat. My favorite author has been Chris Fabry. I have read 3 of 4 of his books and so far Dogwood is my favorite.
I do! Some of it can be a little on the cheesy side , but when it’s good, it is really good. The good stuff engages the imagination and reaches the heart in a way that nonfiction just can’t.
I certainly agree that good fiction “engages the imagination”!
Can you give me 2-3 examples of good Christian fiction that engages your imagination?
Sorry I’m so slow to reply. I’ve been reading the Defiance trilogy by Mary DeMuth lately(still need to review it on my blog), and her books are really making me think. The characters are vividly drawn and she writes about difficult situations in a way that makes one think about them more deeply. It’s hard to be a mere spectator with those books. Christa Parrish has a very similar strength in her books as well. And then, from the classics, we have books like the Chronicales of Narnia series that take readers into another world and in the context of that world, really teach them about God through the use of allegory. I reread those recently, and they’re not just a fun story; they really are powerful books.
No, I don’t. I don’t enjoy the stories or the quality of writing.
Rarely. I don’t read a lot of fiction as a whole. What I do read tends to be young adult, fantasy/science fiction or classics. Honestly can’t think of any Christian fiction that I have read recently that was exceptional.
Adam,
Do you ever read any of the free Christian ebooks you share on http://bookwi.se/ ?
If so, have you read any good ones recently?
Some, but not much of the fiction. I share my kindle account with my mom and some others that read a lot of fiction. So they read a lot of it.
I love reading great fiction– it’s one of life’s dear pleasures, and the more I read, the snobbier I am about what I want to read next.
I read plenty of terrific authors who are also practicing Christians– but I don’t read fiction which is specifically formulated to suit Christians. Ever. I’m more likely to read Flannery O’Connor, whose work is formulated to explode what Molly Ivan’s called “the veneer of religiosity.”
I DO read nonfiction produced by Christian presses. Somehow this doesn’t feel contradictory at all.
I don’t read much fiction, period, but especially “Christian” fiction. I’ve steered clear because of the overall sappiness detected in my wife’s xian fiction.
No. I do read fiction with Christian themes- Marilynne Robinson is one of my favorites- but “Christian fiction” tends to be simplistic, preachy, and clumsily written. I’m sure there are some exceptions to this, and perhaps things have changed in the 10+ years since I’ve read it, but I haven’t felt the need to revisit.
I read some Christan fiction. I’m more likely to pick it up when I need some light reading. As with anything the quality varies quite a bit between books that are light wholesome books with Christian themes, books that are preachy and force the Christian message too much, and those that wrestle with world issues from a Christian worldview. I enjoy Ted Dekker’s books and they are likely to appeal to non-believers as well as they frequently have fantasy elements. I have found T. Davis Bunn to write books that are very engaging. Francine Rivers has also written some works that are quite good. As I think of other favorite authors, I’ll let you know.
No, because it seems like 90% of the fiction that I see in Christian bookstores or on Christian publishing sites seem to be romance stories with Amish people on the cover. I just don’t get the appeal, it seems very odd to me.
I vastly prefer mysteries–when I was a kid, I loved the Mandie [Mandy?] stories, which I found out later were Christian. Or the brilliant fiction of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I recently began the Space Trilogy and LOVED the first two books (though I’m still barely in the third.) And Harry Potter with its subtler Christian themes, I found very enjoyable.
I suppose I like fiction that doesn’t try to beat you over the head with Christian themes or an explicit “Gospel” message, but talks about the workings of God in all of life. And it has to be well-written.
Last time I looked ChristianBook.com had an Amish Fiction section with over 300 titles.
I had a similar experience with Lewis’ Space Trilogy. The first two are so absorbing and then the third is just blah. What a let down. Two out of three ain’t bad though.
yes! that third book was off-putting – and surprisingly misogynistic, too! made me very confused about my feelings for cs lewis…
I love CS Lewis, but he’s a flawed human being just like the rest of us. I love his works and they have helped me to grown in the faith, even if he sometimes wrote something that may have hurt my feelings as a woman.
Oh, and how could I have forgotten Madeleine L’Engle. Anything by her or Lewis or Tolkien is fiction well worth reading. I loved her speech on “Fantasy as Truth” (that I’m pretty sure I found originally on this website. Thanks, @twitter-39241726:disqus!)
Interesting piece on the genre from Library Journal: http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/02/collection-development/genre-spotlight-christian-fiction-a-born-again-genre/
HT: Leslie Starasta
I love the Christian novels of Australian author Trudy Adams. Her books are geared to a teenage audience. Her writing is beautiful and her ideas are original and authentic. I don’t read other Christian novels.
I don’t at all. It’s just too contrived for my taste.
i read the “left behind” books and several frank peretti novels in my early teen years. moving into my later teen years (around the time of 9/11) i realized how politically motivated and theologically tenuous these books were. I felt manipulated and betrayed by the christian culture that pushed the messages of these books. plus, i realized just how poorly written they were…so, i don’t really invest time in christian fiction any more, because i don’t want to get beat over the head by hidden agendas and easy, unimaginative answers to complex questions.
I used to read “Christian fiction”, but have since found very few new Christian fiction titles that are of literary quality and not on-the-nose preachy. The last novel I read that gets my thumbs up in this category (though the author is not a Christian) is “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell.
The term “Christian fiction” is a misnomer. Fiction, or story, or narrative, is an art form that may be practiced by Christians, atheists, or crystal gazers. I would say there are Christians (of all stripes) who write fiction. But for purposes of your query, here are a few writers whom I would put in that camp (including some who may not be confessing Christians in the conventional sense but whose world views are deeply informed by biblical and/or Christian ideas):
Graham Greene
George MacDonald
Charles Williams
C. S. Lewis
John Steinbeck
Walker Percy
J. R. R. Tolkien
Dorothy Sayers
Harper Lee
Eudora Welty
Flannery O’Connor
Every now and then, I will read fiction written as an imagination around a biblical story (particularly the stories in the Old Testament). As a preacher who likes to write narrative sermons, it helps me imagine around the text. Plus, those books have the potential to give voices to the female characters (and imagine the world of the female characters), which is vastly omitted in Scripture. That said, here are a couple authors or books I’ve found helpful:
The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
Naomi and Her Daughters (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)
I’m sure there are more, but I am quite hesitant when it comes to this genre (if you can call it that). If this type of fiction isn’t done well, it is, as others mentioned, trite and filled with easy answers to complicated lives.
We need a new name. “Christian fiction” does conjures up images of novels written under the artistic restraints of the Christian publishing industry (no swear words, no homosexual lead characters unless they’re “redeemed,” etc.). But writers such as Bret Lott and Annie Dillard and Flannery O’Connor writer/wrote fiction that is deeply Christian once you “scratch the surface,” (as Lott has said). So the question is . . . what do we call THAT kind of Christian fiction? I have started calling it “literary Christian fiction,” for my own purposes, though I’m open for other suggestions. I’m hungry to read a wider variety of literary Christian fiction — from humor to tragedy. What a great witness to the world we could have with more writing like this.
agree 100%! well put.
Yes, I do read Christian fiction. I read and re-read C.S. Lewis, especially “Till We Have Faces.” Since I have kids, I have read (and enjoyed) Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather series. But I have to agree with Jamie that not much new Christian fiction is really worth reading. The classics, though–like “Pilgrim’s Progress” or “The Brothers Karamazov” (hey, it’s fiction and it’s Christian!)–still hold up well. I frankly prefer fiction to non-fiction. I get more easily caught up in characters and stories than in arguments and data.
i’m so glad you mentioned “till we have faces.” so many people don’t recognize/respect the fact that lewis wrote this beautiful piece of true literary fiction (we seem to prefer his works of allegory, which is apparently a more favorable art form – ??). “till we have faces” introduced me to the possibilities that can inform the work of christian artists! thanks for the reminder.
I also love Till We Have Faces. I get more out of it every time I read it. Familiarize yourself with the myth of Cupid and Pysche first, and keep in mind that it is about sacred and profane love.
I like Christian classics, but the few contemporary Christian fiction books I’ve read seem preachy and heavy handed about modern US Christian topics.