It's the first of the month, which means it's time for another first chapter of a new fiction book. Another first -- I was home long enough to receive the book and read it <though I didn't technically read it while at home, rather in Vegas with the new nephew>.
Anyway, Hollywood Nobody is by Lisa Samson and you can read the first chapter here. As I said, I did read the book. It wasn't really my cup of tea -- but I'm not really the target audience. It's a young adult novel, which is a stage I've long since past. ;)
What can I say about it now that I've prefaced with the reiteration that I'm not a tween so it probably didn't speak to me? :p I would recommend it if you have a tween for a couple reasons:
Other than that...yeah, it didn't speak to me. It did, however, bring to the forefront an issue I've been thinking through: just what makes something Christian fiction? I picked up a load of books at the International Christian Retail Show this summer and a couple of the chick-lit ones I've read so far have given me pause.
Both the ones that spring immediately to mind were published by NavPress <which, interestingly enough, I just checked and they also published Hollywood Nobody>. Neither had a heroine I much admired, or even liked to be honest. And God was sort of tacked in there, both in the book and in the lives of the heroines.
Have you ever seen Anne of Avonlea? Anne Shirley submits one of her ludicrous stories to a bunch of magazines and gets turned down because they're too silly. Her bff Diana Barry decides to submit the story to the Rollings Reliable Baking Powder contest without her knowledge, and lo and behold Anne wins. However, she's very confused as there was nothing about RRBP in the story. Diana says oh that was just easy as can be, I just jammed in a reference here and there.
Maybe that will only make sense to lovers of Anne... ;) But that's what those books reminded me of -- God was sorta crammed in to make them fit the "Christian fiction" category.
Does a book have to give a sermon or quote extensive Bible verses to be considered Christian fiction -- certainly not! In fact, that really bugs me in a novel. I've long thought Christian fiction needed a serious dose of reality and a great expansion from the historical romance rut we've been stuck in. Not that historical romances are bad!
Should something be categorized Christian fiction if there's no real spiritual message at all...just because there's no swearing nor sex scenes? I'm all for clean entertainment...and maybe the simple fact is you can't hardly get a clean book published in the secular market. I don't know.
Should something still be considered Christian fiction if it includes a little swearing and reference to, but not graphic description of, immoral sexual behavior? What if there's a clear redemptive message and you're uplifted by the end?
Aha! After months of pondering, while writing this I've finally come to the root of what bothers me about those books. They were blah spiritually and I felt ripped off by the Christian fiction categorization. They reminded me of our American version of Churchianity -- neither hot, nor cold, just blah. It was a chore to finish them because they didn't challenge me to be better spiritually, nor did they offend me enough to stand up against them.
I find, once again, that I'm a flaming hypocrite at heart. I whine about the unreality of standard Christian fiction and complain that I can't find enough clean books to read -- and then I'm dissatisfied with the new offerings that are a little closer to real life with all its compromise and lack of passion; books that are possibly just trying to put themselves out as alternatives to the often smutty chick-lit market.
What is Christian fiction? I don't have the answer to that, but I'm pretty glad I'm not in charge of deciding. ;)
Support your local Christian fiction author! :)
This month's offering from F.I.R.S.T. is Demon: A Memoir, by Tosca Lee. Click here if you'd like to read the first chapter.
On a positive note, now that I'm home again I've started receiving the books...so I might actually be able to read them and give a review, rather than just linking to the first chapter. ;)
I recently joined a group dedicated to promoting Christian fiction -- Fiction In Rather Short Takes. On the first day of each month, everyone in the group posts the first chapter of a novel. Sounds right up my alley, dontcha think? ;)
This month it's Prints Charming by Rebeca Seitz. Click here to read the first chapter.
