Recommended Reading List: Fiction

I was brought up “in the fear and admonition of the Lord" in an area of Missouri known as “the "golden belt buckle" of the Bible Belt. My folks instilled a love of reading in me, and my library included Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, the encyclopedia, Reader’s Digest, the Bible, Danny Orlis, and other primarily Christian titles.

As a child, books occupied my free time. In grade three, my teacher, dear Miss Snyder, sponsored a contest to see who could read the most books throughout the school year. I won the award but was somewhat non-plussed when my prize was… wait for it… another book. Even then, I felt reading had to be for some ultimate purpose beyond just the love of reading.

I read ravenously as a teen, chewing through mysteries and “Christian romance” novels, until I entered university. The academic research and reading load was so great, I simply burned out on reading as entertainment and set it aside. As an adult, reading became utilitarian. I focused on self-help and how-to, but hardly any fiction, with the notable exception of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, of course. As my own child grew, my desire was to cultivate a love of reading in him also. We read together, I read to him, and my library expanded to include children’s classics, youth, comedy, graphic novels and YA books. Other than that, my exploration into the fiction genre has been quite limited and unfulfilling. Something was missing. I decided in retirement, it was time to change that.

So, I asked my Facebook friend, John D Blase, for a favor in compiling a recommended reading list of Fiction titles. As an author, poet and editor, John seemed the most credible literary candidate within my circle to help with this. Being the thoughtful and approachable gentleman he is, John responded in fairly short time, recruiting input from his own Facebook friends and followers.

Here was the criteria:

What are the top seven fiction titles you believe every person of faith should read? These would be titles to stretch your mind, challenge your worldview, crack you open with beauty, inspire you, bring you to tears or belly laughter or both. If you can't conjure up seven, at least try for four. And remember - fiction.

John started with his top titles and many of his friends responded. You can read the raw data on Facebook here. I collected and sorted those recommendations, which initially included 153 titles but I excluded a few nonfiction that snuck in and where a recommended book was part of a collection, I combined them. What follows is the list of books that received nods, sorted by number of mentions, then by author. I have included the title, author, year originally published and, in some cases, the sub-genre. At the end, I include the list of books only recommended by one person, sorted by Title.

Disclaimer: This list is not a personal endorsement of any title. If you'd like this list in an Excel spreadsheet to sort and expand on yourself, click here to access a copy in Dropbox. Typographical errors may exist.

Enjoy, and happy reading.

11 Recommended

Peace Like a River, Leif Enger, 2001

Gilead Triology, Marilynne Robinson, 2004

8 Recommended

All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, 2014

The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1880, classic

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving, 1989

7 Recommended

Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis, 1956

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell, 1994, scifi (has a sequel)

5 Recommended

Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis, 1949, fantasy

East of Eden, John Steinbeck, 1952

Les Miserables, Victor Hugo, 1862, classic

4 Recommended

Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis, 1943, scifi

Godric, Frederick Buechner, 1981

Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954, fantasy

A Ring of Endless Light, Madeleine L'Engle, 1980

Silence, Shusaku Endo, 1966

Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry, 2000

3 Recommended

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver, 1998

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith, 1943

The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay, 1989

My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok , 1972

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, 1945

Harry Potter Series, JK Rowling, 1997

The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, 1985

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd, 2001

The Confessions of X: A Novel, Suzanne M. Wolfe, 2016

2 Recommended

Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton, 1948

The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas, 1844

Selected Stories, Andre Dubus, 1995

The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas, 2017

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943

The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis, 1945

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk, 1996

Hyperion, Dan Simmons, 1989

The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor, 1971

The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O’Connor, 1960

Son of Laughter, Frederick Buechner, 1993

Lilith, George MacDonald, 1895, fantasy

Phantastes, George MacDonald, 1858, fantasy

Robert Falconer, George MacDonald, 1870

Tenth of December, George Saunders, 2013

Returning to Earth, Jim Harrison, 2007

Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamilo, 2006

Girl Who Drank the Moon, Kelly Barnhill, 2016

Benediction, Kent Haruf, 2013

Eventide, Kent Haruf, 2004

Plainsong, Kent Haruf, 1999

Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery, 1908

The Giver, Lois Lowry, 1993

Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich, 1984

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle, 1962

Don Quixote, Saavedra, 1615

Anything by PG Wodehouse, P.G. Wodehouse, 1900-1970s, humour

The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck, 1931

Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1987

Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner, 1987

Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner, 1971

Book of the Dun Cow, Walter Wangerin Jr., 1978

Anything by Wendell Berry, Wendell Berry, 2000

Hannah Coulter, Wendell Berry, 2004
Life of Pi, Yann Martel, 2001

Books Mentioned only once, sorted by title:

A River Runs Through It, Norman McLean

A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams

Abide with Me, Elizabeth Strout

Anything by Elizabeth Goudge, Elizabeth Goudge

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

Atticus, Ron Hansen

Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson

Between Noon and Three, Robert Farrar Capon

Bless me Ultima, Rudolpho Anaya

Breath Eyes Memory, Edwidge Danticat

Broken for You, Stephanie Kallos

Byzantium, Stephen R. Lawhead

Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood

Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, Louise Penny

Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez

Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier

Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra

Dear and Glorious Physician, Taylor Caldwell

Descent into Hell, Charles Williams

Dream of Scipio, Iain Pears

Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie, Jordan Sonnenblick

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Glittering Images, Susan Howatch

Hard Times, Charles Dickens

Havah, Tosca Lee

Here I Am, Jonathan Safran 

Hershey Herself, Cecelia Galante

Holy the Firm , Annie Dillard

Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson

In This Sign, Joanne Greenberg

Keys of the Kingdom, A. J. Cronin

Kimchi and Calamari, Rose Kent

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christopher Moore

Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis

Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

Make Lemonade, Viginia Euwer Wolff

Millicent Min Girl Genius, Lisa Yee

Needful things, Stephen King

Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Mark Twain

Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers

Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Something Wicked This Way Comes  , Ray Bradbury

Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, Lisa Yee

Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli

Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L'Engle 

Tandia, Bryce Courtenay

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

The Bards of Bone Plain   , Patricia A. McKillip

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty , Eudora Welty 

The Day the Angels Fell, Shawn Smucker

The Dog Stars, Peter Heller

The End of the Affair, Graham Greene

The Fishermen, Chigozie Obioma

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

The Hawk and the Dove, Penelope Wilcock

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin

The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers

The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman

The Red Tent, Anita Diamant

The Road, Cormac McCarthy

The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis

The Second Coming, Walker Percy

The Shack, William P. Young

The Shipping News, Annie Proulx

The Stand, Stephen King

The Stone and the Flute, Hans Bemmann

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

The Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

The United Tates of America, Paula Dazinger

The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett

Thin Blue Smoke, Doug Worgul

Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

When Mockingbirds Sing, Billy Coffey
Where Angels Fear to Tread, E.M. Forster