Those who read what is often known as "genre" fiction are often familiar with the term "Christian fiction". In short, "Christian fiction" books are those which, while they try to tell a good story, also try to promote Christian values, attitudes and beliefs. Different authors and publishers have different leanings. Some books seem like little more that sermons dressed up as stories. Others deal in a very real way with the spiritual struggles faced by believers. Some seem to be more about Christians than about Christianity. Still, the overwhelming majority of those books are written by, for and about Evangelical Protestants. References to Catholic beliefs and practices are often critical where they exist, or in error. As a Catholic who reads a lot of Christian fiction I've often said that I wished a similar genre existed for Catholics, but few Catholic publishers will consider fiction. This leaves the Catholic author who is writing a faith-based book with few options when it comes time to find a publisher.
As a Catholic book blogger I seek out books that seem to be the Catholic version of Christian fiction. This means I've read a bunch of self-published books of varying degrees of quality. My Top 10 this week is 10 Catholic novels--books which in a rather obvious way promote Catholic beliefs, traditions or practices. Links to my reviews follow the book covers.
Check out Amanda's Blog for other people's Top 10 Lists.
Ahh some of these books look very good! Thanks for the list.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Catholic but still very interested.
I'm glad you've found some good ones. Sounds like it's a growing genre.
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point. I read christian fiction regularly and now that you've highlighted it, there is an obvious tilt towards protestant views
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