Since You Asked....

Because it was my blog buddy Lisa who asked in the comments to the last post(hi, Lisa!), today I am going to go out on a little bit of a limb and mention some fiction books I have liked recently, and some not so recently. I don’t often do that on the blog, in fact I am a little hesitant to do this, simply because we all have different views about what is good or even proper to read and I am sure there will be people who don’t approve of some of the books or authors I list. While reading around Christian blogs I have at times seen it blow up on bloggers sometimes when they mention a book or movie that other bloggers don’t think is a good or proper one to read or see. I guess my advice on that topic, if asked, would be to keep in mind that your reading choices are a matter of conscience, don’t violate your own conscience, but also, be careful about being too quick about judging others based solely on their book choices, too.

I try to exercise some discernment when choosing fiction to read, but that doesn’t mean I only read ‘Christian’ fiction, either. I try to stay away from books with lots of filthy language or occult and/or horror or goriness. I have been known to put down a book that has a very intriguing story if the language is so horrible or if there is such objectionable content that it bothers my conscience to keep reading. That’s a shame, too, because the story usually would have benefited greatly not to have so much of the stuff I found objectionable. Basically, if it bothers my conscience to read it or if it makes it difficult for me to have clean thoughts, I stay away. And, truth be told, I am much more bothered by a book that purports to be Christian fiction but subtly espouses bad theology than I am by a secular fiction book that may have a few bad words in it. I can read over the bad words, but bad theology can shape my thinking in ways I don't want it to. Best advice, be discerning. You know where your own stumbling blocks are. Most likely, not everyone will agree with the suggestions I have below.

I have always found that I can learn a lot from stories even when they are not written from a Christian view. I, the reader, do bring a Christian view as I read and filter the characters and situations and story through that worldview, and it is often interesting to look at characters and think about how their worldview (and the worldview of the author) shapes the directions they take and the decisions they make, but the characters don’t have to be people I would necessarily want to be anything like for me to enjoy a book or be able to take away something valuable from reading it, but sometimes whatever value might have been is too obscured by what is objectionable, too, so I try to be careful about what I read.

Okay, with that caveat in mind, I’m wading into the pool with some suggestions of books or authors I have enjoyed. Keep in mind, please, that these are secular books, read for entertainment, so I’m not saying I’ve always agreed with everything in them or that they are perfectly clear of all material that everyone might find objectionable or that every single one is recommended free of any caution, just that I enjoyed reading them. This is also not an exhaustive list nor are they in any particular order. Take it for what it’s worth.

Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series. This is about a family of Egyptologists in the late 1800’s/ early 1900’s. They are kind of wacky, fun adventure/mystery stories. They are best read in order.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. These are about a woman detective in Botswana. I have not read all of them, but the ones I read were interesting in a gentle sort of way and I really liked them and would like to read more from the series.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. I really, really liked this one. I found out about it from Lisa Writes.

David Baldacci. I pretty much like everything I’ve read by him.

Sharyn McCrumb. She has some eerie Appalachian ghost stories that were intriguing, though I typically don’t really like ghost story type books. Though eerie, they were not nightmare inducing, if that makes sense. She also has a mystery series, the name of the heroine is escaping me at the moment, but I liked it fairly well, too.

Fiona Buckley has a series about a woman named Ursula Blanchard in Queen Elizabeth I’s court. They are sort of Elizabethan era mysteries. I can’t remember the names of the books at the moment, sorry…

Tony Hillerman’s books about Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Navajo policemen on the Navajo reservation.

Ruth Rendell – also writes as Barbara Vine. She tends to deal with kind of the darker side of people’s psyche. She writes a lot about characters who are alienated from others for one reason or another and many of her characters are on the verge of madness. But I have found her stories intriguing and quite insightful about fallen human nature.

I also really liked Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley books, but caution that her villains are sometimes involved in quite awful things. But I liked following the story of Lynley and his friends. I guess I would put a fairly strong caution on this series, but her writing is very well-crafted and I did like the depth of the characterization of the main characters, and these are also best read in order.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I read this when I was a teenager, and read it several times. It’s a coming of age kind of novel, but be warned that it does not have a happy ending.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This was the first time I ever had a school assigned book that I absolutely could not put down. I loved this book, and have read it again since that assigned reading in ninth grade.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein. Need I say more?

A few children’s books I remember really liking were Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink, A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.


Oh, and Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss, which has a beautiful Christian worldview and is a very good book. I've read it several times, and would like to read it again.

I also like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen (though it has been a long time since I’ve read anything by her and I want to read Pride and Prejudice again now that I’m older), Thomas Hardy, Agatha Christie and the Sherlock Holmes books.

There are plenty of other books I’ve liked, too, but I’ll stop for now. Oh, and if anyone has some good suggestions for books I could read aloud to the boys, please feel free to share them in the comments.