Redeeming Love – Francine Rivers

I am not in the habit of crying over books.  I am a big boy.

But this one did inspire a bit of moisture when I read it.  Just a little bit.

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is an awesome book.  It is a re-telling of the story of Hosea, which in turn is an allegory for the Redeeming Love shown by God in reaching out to his church.  Farmer Michael Hosea hears the voice of God telling him to take a wife.  (As did Hosea the prophet)  In both instances they are told to take an unfaithful prostitute as their wife.  Michael hears and obeys, however his chosen wife, the prostitute known only as Angel, is less convinced of his intentions.  So begins a long journey of discovery for both of them.

It is beautiful, and beautifully written.  I many have teared up a little on occasion.

I remember reading an interview with Francine Rivers about how her publishers tried to get her to publish this book under a pseudonym.  It was her first book published after becoming a Christian, and they were afraid of it being tainted by association with her secular romances.  (Which were a little more… explicit.)

She said however that the story was about redemption, and the power of a changed life, and so it was published as the first of many Christian novels under her name, a testimony to how her writing had been redeemed as she had been.

FISH in the Reads/Reeds

I love to read. 

On a good day, I can devour an entire fiction novel in one sitting, maybe over a weekend for larger books.

Yet I have never really spent a lot of time reading Christian fiction.  That’s right, I still consider Frank Peretti to be the cutting edge of edgy spiritual fiction, and that nobody can top C.S. Lewis for some good fantasy.

But I am aware of the fact that there is an entire world of inspirational Christian Fiction out there.  I even aspire to write it one day.  So I suppose it was about time that I learned to appreciate it.

So it is probably a good thing that my girlfriend, Dori, is quite an expert on Christian Fiction.  She has been introducing me to works by Ted Dekker, Adam Blumer and others.

(She also likes Twilight, but nobody’s perfect.)

So while up until now I have been reviewing Christian Non-Fiction books on this blog, I will now be starting a new series called FISH in the Reads (Fish in the Reeds.  Get it?)  If I am going to be a FISH (Faithful in Serving HIM) then I need to be soaking myself in good, Christian Fiction as well as the secular fiction I read.  So I will be looking (possibly with some help) at how we can serve God in our reading patterns.

Do you read Christian Fiction?  Can you recommend anything/anyone?
Do you think it matter whether we read Christian fiction or not?