In the comments on an earlier post about a very average book, the topic of great Christian authors came up. Which got me thinking...great open thread topic. I'd love to hear your nominations in this category. A few rules:
1. Keep the authors fairly recent. Not necessarily living, but mid-late 20th century if possible.
2. Avoid pulpy thrillers or romances...unless you really think they transcended their genre. :)
3. Think "Christian" in the worldview sense, not necessarily in the explicit, 
have-conversations-about-Jesus
sense.
Anyone coming to mind yet? Here are a few of my favorites to kick things off. Consider it a given that each of these authors deal with sin and redemption--but in eloquent and compelling ways.
Walker Percy: A phenomenal writer--expect gritty, often-graphic modern novels that wrestle with human depravity (not for the faint of heart).
Frederick Buechner: Poetic and riveting, with a knack for transforming "historical fiction" in
beautifully mythic epics. Godric is one of my favorite books ever.
Bret Lott: An any-genre author (murder/suspense: The Hunt Club, prose novel: A Song I Knew By Heart...) with a great knack for setting and characters.
Others: Marilynne Robinson, Graham Greene, Robert Morgan, Leif Enger. And don't forget P.D. James, my favorite mystery writer. Just thinking about these books makes me want to go read for a week... [Note: I've reviewed books by some of the above authors, so if you want to learn more, you could do a quick blogsearch.]
So which great "Christian" fiction authors would you mention?
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Great "Christian" Fiction Authors
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11 comments:
I'm reading Peace Like A River right now; what an awesome book! Best I've read in a long, long while.
Sharon Ewell Foster's Passing Samaria and her latest Abraham's Well are very good.
Dale Cramer's Hard Ground is good also.
Lisa Samson's Embrace Me, which hasn't been released yet is very good.
Flannery O'Connor (latter half of the 20th century).
Why oh Why do I read this blog it makes me go out and buy too many books......Great information there AJ!!
Okay, so far, we've got Donna, Dee, John, and John. Now I'm posting and we'll need a Regan or Rebecca, or something like that, after me. ;p
Well, I listed my fave, before, and I do love CS Lewis and Tolkein, along with Bodie Theone. I haven't read enough (this is really sad), to speak too intelligently on the matter.
I do have to say that Godric sounds very interesting.
John, I mentioned going to the bookstore a few minutes ago and my husband said, "Bookstore?!" I mean, I did come home the other night with about 12 lbs of books.
Regi G
Hey Dee, those are totally new authors to me...I'll take a look.
Flannery O'Connor (latter half of the 20th century).
I don't know how I forgot O'Connor!
And someone else came to mind: Larry Woiwode. I really enjoyed his autobio, What I Think I Said.
Why oh Why do I read this blog it makes me go out and buy too many books.
A little advice on book acquisition: get 'em used. That's the key. Now just suck it up and go upgrade your library. ;)
Physically walking through a bookstore is aesthetically great...buying used books off Amazon is financially great. Best of both worlds? Browse through Borders or Barnes & Noble, then take your list home and place an order online.
I do love CS Lewis and Tolkein
Hmmm...yeah, I guess they're good enough to make the list. :)
I was wondering whether you'd consider Cormac McCarthy a "Christian" writer. Perhaps in a Kierkegaardian sense?
I was wondering whether you'd consider Cormac McCarthy a "Christian" writer. Perhaps in a Kierkegaardian sense?
Funny that you should ask, John. Cormac McCarthy came to mind when I wrote the post, but I left him out for simplicity's sake. But since you mention it, yes, I would shoehorn him in under the Kierkegaardian clause. :) Great minds...
Athol Dickson
Madeleine L'Engle
Jamie Langston Turner
Elizabeth Moon
Athol Dickson
Madeleine L'Engle
Jamie Langston Turner
Elizabeth Moon
All new names, except for L'Engle. Thanks, Sherry! This bears looking into.
I remembered someone else I should've included in my original list: Walter Wangerin. His Book of the Dun Cow is a classic.
David Maine writes novels that are fictionalized versions of biblical stories, and they're awesome.
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