What's Your Take on Christian/Inspirational Fiction?
Hello! Thanks for stopping by.
As you can see from my blog postings, I'm a Christian author. I am also an avid reader of romance novels and cozy mysteries. Here lately, my reading has been limited to romance novels. When I was reading cozy mysteries, I enjoyed M. C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth Mysteries and one or two other authors.
For years, I only read secular novels. To be honest, I was ignorant of the availability of Christian romance novels. There are tons of novels out there! So, I started to read those. For the most part, the books were well-written and the messages were in line with the bible.
I read some that I liked, and I bought new releases as they hit the shelves. Two of the authors that come to mind are Lori Wick and Lori Copeland (historical novels).
But then there were others. They were totally alien to my life experiences. I couldn't relate. Life is full of struggles, adversity, disappointments, and temptations for everybody, but the characters in those novels seemed to float above it all. Where were those failing human qualities--anger, bad attitudes, the burning desire for revenge, sexual temptation, jealousy, etc? Oops, I think I'm revealing too much. LOL! Yes, Christians struggle in these areas. Sometimes, we overcome. Sometimes, they overcome us. We are striving for perfection. We have not obtained it. Thank God for His mercy, grace, and forgiveness!
What I'm trying to say is that the characters and stories weren't real to me. They were tepid and whitewashed. I'd get halfway through the books--if that far--and toss them or give them away. I had spent my hard-earned money to buy these books, and to be completely honest, I felt cheated. So, I went back to reading secular novels. After skipping over the pornographic bedroom scenes, the books were pretty good. Truer to life. Oh no, someone is going to read this and condemn me to Hell! LOL! I'm not alone. Many Christian readers have confessed to doing the same thing. Guess I'll have company. LOL!
I am well aware that the enjoyment of the written word is subjective. I'm curious about your reading experiences with Christian fiction.
When you post, please keep the following in mind:
As you can see from my blog postings, I'm a Christian author. I am also an avid reader of romance novels and cozy mysteries. Here lately, my reading has been limited to romance novels. When I was reading cozy mysteries, I enjoyed M. C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth Mysteries and one or two other authors.
For years, I only read secular novels. To be honest, I was ignorant of the availability of Christian romance novels. There are tons of novels out there! So, I started to read those. For the most part, the books were well-written and the messages were in line with the bible.
I read some that I liked, and I bought new releases as they hit the shelves. Two of the authors that come to mind are Lori Wick and Lori Copeland (historical novels).
But then there were others. They were totally alien to my life experiences. I couldn't relate. Life is full of struggles, adversity, disappointments, and temptations for everybody, but the characters in those novels seemed to float above it all. Where were those failing human qualities--anger, bad attitudes, the burning desire for revenge, sexual temptation, jealousy, etc? Oops, I think I'm revealing too much. LOL! Yes, Christians struggle in these areas. Sometimes, we overcome. Sometimes, they overcome us. We are striving for perfection. We have not obtained it. Thank God for His mercy, grace, and forgiveness!
What I'm trying to say is that the characters and stories weren't real to me. They were tepid and whitewashed. I'd get halfway through the books--if that far--and toss them or give them away. I had spent my hard-earned money to buy these books, and to be completely honest, I felt cheated. So, I went back to reading secular novels. After skipping over the pornographic bedroom scenes, the books were pretty good. Truer to life. Oh no, someone is going to read this and condemn me to Hell! LOL! I'm not alone. Many Christian readers have confessed to doing the same thing. Guess I'll have company. LOL!
I am well aware that the enjoyment of the written word is subjective. I'm curious about your reading experiences with Christian fiction.
- Do you read Christian fiction at all? If not, why not?
- Have you read any good books--real page turners?
- Have you read any books that you think do an adequate job of mirroring real life?
- Have you read any books that you really disliked? If so, what didn't you like about the story or characters? It's not necessary to list titles or authors to express your point. I know from personal experience that writing a novel is not easy, so please respect the fact that authors have put in a lot of hard work to produce these books.
When you post, please keep the following in mind:
- There are readers out there who are genuinely interested in this topic. Please don't use this as a promotional opportunity.
- I'm looking for respectful discussion, not bashing.
- Some of my readers are young. Please keep your posts Rated G.
I look forward to hearing from you. Let's get this discussion rolling!
I forgot to mention a very enjoyable series in my earlier post. Kristen Billerbeck's Ashley Stockingdale Series. A lot of giggles there. That series sent me on the hunt for more Christian fiction novels.
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