Faith 'n Fiction Saturday

My Friend Amy, who brought us Book Blogger Appreciation Week has a new carnival in the works, the Faith 'n Fiction Saturday.

Each week she will post a blogging prompt, which participating bloggers will answer on their own blogs. Then they head back to the original post and sign Mister Linky! This way we can all come to know each other more closely.

Today's Question

Do you recommend or lend your Christian fiction books to people who don't share your faith? If you do, do you tell them in advance that the book is Christian fiction? Why do you or don't you tell them?

My Answer:

Do I lend? No. I don't lend my books to out to people. I sound like a horrible person. Unless I really trust and know you, I don't lend out anything at all. I just worry that I won't get it back and that I have to keep asking for it and that ruins the friendship. But that's a WHOLE 'nother topic for another day.

Do I recommend? Yes. If I really enjoyed a book and someone asks me what was a good read then I will recommend a book, any book that I have read. BUT I do think of who is asking me. If the person normally reads Christian fiction, then I have no problems recommending anything Christian fiction I've read. If the person DOESN'T read Christian fiction and/or is not a Christian, I try to recommend titles that aren't preachy and don't slam the faith down your throat.

Christian fiction books are like the deadly plague. Once people find out they have been reading one, even if they have been enjoying it, they are horrified and stop reading it and post nasty reviews. Ok I'm exaggerating, but like Amy said, it is a bit frustrating to read reviews on Amazon where people complain that it would have been a good book if it hadn't been Christian fiction even though the book wasn't preachy at all.

For example one of my favorite books of 2008, was The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner. I recommend that book to anyone, regardless of what they normally read, or what their faith is. Is it a good book? YES. Is it a Christian book? Yes. Does it preach at you? No. Does it have Christian faith values in it? Yes. Does the story affect the reader? Yes. So will it is a Christian book, the story is so good that I think that is part of the story and that the reader can accept it and not feel like they are reading a sermon.

I don't "warn" people if it's a Christian fiction book. The books on my blog, people should know by now will mostly be Christian fiction. Only unless I feel the book is really preachy, that will be my warning. I do this because I feel by now, readers of my blog should know that I mainly review Christian fiction on my blog and that is my niche. In fact I used to have a warning on my blog everytime I reviewed a general market book.

We brought up this subject I think last year, but I still think to make everyone happy, any book that's Christian fiction needs to have a Jesus sticker on it. That way no one can say "I got tricked into reading this book!"