Tag: Joni Eareckson

What's the first Christian novel you remember reading?

Bookish Question #333 | What’s the first Christian novel you remember reading?

I read all the Narnia books as a child, but they were never specifically written or marketed as Christian fiction, so I don’t think they count.

I also read and enjoyed Joni by Joni Eareckson in my early teens (so only a few years after it was first published in 1976). That’s definitely Christian, but is nonfiction so definitely doesn’t count.

The first overtly Christian novel I remember reading was This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti, which I read when I was about eighteen. My aunt bought it and loaned it to my mother (who never read it). I read it and the sequel, Piercing the Darkness, and the duology got me started on many happy years reading Christian fiction.

What about you? What’s the first Christian novel you remember reading?

What's the best Christian nonfiction book you have ever read?

Bookish Question #321 | What is the best Christian nonfiction book you have ever read?

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction (Christian or otherwise). In theory, that should make this an easier question than my favourite novel because I don’t have as many books to choose from. In practice, it’s harder … because I don’t have as many books to choose from.

The obvious answer is the Bible, but I suspect that isn’t the meaning of the question.

If I try to recall the Christian nonfiction books I’ve read, the two that come to mind are both autobiographies. You’ve probably heard of (and perhaps read) them both.

The first is Joni by Joni Eareckson, which made a huge impression on me as a child and teenager, about how she was able to live and thrive despite her circumstances, and how she came back to God.

The second is the Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, sharing her story of living the Netherlands during World War II, helping and hiding Jews, and her time in a concentration camp, and how God used her then and afterwards.

Both are encouraging true stories of regular Christian women faced with huge challenges, and the way they were able to cling to God despite their troubles.

Neither were “superwomen” or super Christians.
And that’s the beauty of their stories.

What about you? What is the best Christian nonfiction book you have ever read?