Saturday, October 18, 2008

Saturday Christian Fiction Carnival Week 1: Why Christian Fiction?

Why do I read and review Christian fiction?

Well the first and obvious answer is that I'm a Christian. I enjoy reading stories with characters that identify with my faith and values. I also like the relief of knowing a book will not have an overwhelming amount of sexual content or foul language. I am often challenged by Christian fiction in specific ways in regards to my personal faith.

I review Christian fiction because I find a lot of it to be fantastic. So many of my "heart" books are Christian fiction. (Daughters of Boston, Mark of the Lion, the Josey series) Yet, even though I know that there's a lot of excellent, edgy Christian fiction out there, it seems that message has not been delivered to everyone else. So by reviewing it I hope to attract other Christians to the genre so they can discover books that share their values but are still excellent challenging literature and also people who don't share my faith but might still enjoy good story-telling.

I do not exclusively read Christian fiction as readers of this blog know. I read general market books as well because even though someone doesn't share my faith it doesn't mean they don't have something to teach me. I have been profoundly challenged (in a good way) by some general market books I read this year. I read just about everything in truth, though I don't think I've ever read a proper western.

The simple truth is that I love to read. Read everyone else's answers here.

(I'm participating in the 24 read-a-thon at The Friendly Book Nook, so if I don't visit your blog today I'll definitely visit it tomorrow! Thanks!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that many people don't know there is some really great "edgy" Christian fiction out there and it's not boring.

You should read Lonesome Dove as your first "proper western"! ;o)

M. C. Pearson said...

Thanks for organizing this, Amy!

Stormi said...

This is a great idea, thanks for putting it together. It is very fun to read what others have to say.

Wendi said...

Hi Amy - I agree with what you have posted. :) Thanks for sharing!

Wendi here's my post: http://wendisbookcorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/saturday-christian-fiction-carnival.html

kalea_kane said...

Thank you for organizing this, Amy. It was very nice of you. I read Christian fiction and general. It all depends on the story. If I read the back cover and it appeals to me, I will probably get it. That is the thing I like about blog reviews...I do not always have the time to hit the bookstore and browse all the aisles. I can browse the blogs a lot easier. I have discovered some of my favorite authors this way! :)

Lindsey said...

I'm glad there are so many people out there reviewing Christian fiction because that's how I come across a lot of good ones I hadn't heard of before.

Oh, and I love The Mark of the Lion series, too!

Anonymous said...

Mark of the Lion is one of my favourites...!

Thanks for organizing this!

I was wondering if you could add the new Christian Book Carnival to the BBAW list of events/memes? Are you submitting today? ;)

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