For Really Good Christian Fiction, Go 19th Century

I started the year with a rather ascetic reading plan, which really meant that whenever I was not reading scripture (which is to say, most of the time) my restless mind, deprived of reading, just filled itself with noise.  I needed a book.  A fiction book.  But one I could feel good about.  You know, something without a disembodied petticoat on the cover.


So when the kids went down for their nap one day a few weeks ago, I started cooking a batch of yogurt and flung myself down in a sun puddle on the floor with Les Misérables.  I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never read it, but  my college major burned me out on 19th century literature.  Bottom line, I had not picked up a book featuring anyone named Mr. M____ (or a town named M_____, for that matter) since graduation.

Ah, but Les Misérables is astonishing me and thriling me to my toes!  I'm staying up past midnight to read it, carrying all 1400 pages of it in hardcover with me on standing-room-only BART trains, and talking about it to anyone who will listen.  The whole of the Christian conversation--the whole of human morality--is contained in this story. 

And needless to say, as Christian fiction goes, it's just that little bit more worked-out than the inspirationals published by, say, Bethany House.


Next up, The Brothers Karamazov!