Faith 'n Fiction Saturday: Favorite Books This Year

Amy posted this question this week:

So today's topic, to wrap up the year...what are your favorite Christian fiction books that you read this year? You can compile your list anyway you like, by genre, ranking, or a favorite book of each month. Be as creative as you like the only requirements are that you read the books this year and that they are Christian fiction.

I decided to look over my blog posts for the year and see which ones, judging by the title, made me smile or remember a really good read. Here were my choices (in the order of the tabs I have open across the top of my screen--in other words in no particular order (with links to my review):

Katherine Valentine's Dorsetville series. As I said in the original post, great literature these are not, but it is nice to read about Catholics for a change.

Leota's Garden It is about a little old lady who is estranged from her family and waiting to die until her granddaughter breaks away from her mother and tries to get to know her. It is not one of Francine River's most famous books, but I think it is one of her best.

Devil's Advocate: I don't think the term "Christian Fiction" had been invented when Morris West wrote this book in the late 1950's. It is about is about a priest who is dying of a carcinoma of the stomach who is assigned to be the devil's advocate (one who tried to find reasons a person should not be canonized) to study a man who was executed in a small Italian village during WWII. The story was written in 1959 and appears to have been set in about that time as well. He goes to the villiage, meets people who knew the man he was investigating and becomes involved in their lives. This priest has spent his life as a Vatican bureaucrat rather than as a pastor and finds more relationship with these people in his dying days than he has ever had.

Voice in the Wind: Great Book about a Christian in the days of the Roman Empire.

She Always Wore Red: The second book in the Fairlawn trilogy, which is about a recent widow who inherits a funeral parlor.

Beyond the Night Awesome book about a young woman who is losing her sight. The ending was a total surprise, and great.

Rachel Hauck's Love Starts with Elle was a little more than the standard romance novel, and I enjoyed it enough to start looking for her other books, including Georgia on Her Mind.

Beth Patillo's Sweetgum Knit-Lit Society reminded my of Debbie Macomber's Yarn Shop Books.

I liked Coming Unglued by Rachel Seitz and am eagerly awaiting the next book about these scrapbooking sisters.

Every now and then you get one of those books that because of the subject matter touches you in a special way. From a literary standpoint My Sister Dilly is probably pretty average, but I'm the mother of a special needs child and for that reason this book really hit me.

The Shape of Mercy was far more complex than most books on this list. Without giving too much away, I found the ending morally,hmm...let's just say "interesting" and I'd love to discuss it with someone who read it.

Have you reviewed any of these book? Drop me a note with a link to your review and I'll put it up.