There’s lots of focus on the next and best read, and I get that. You know me – love the excitement and anticipation of a new author and/or a new story. But there’s something to be said of searching back through your book treasures and rediscovering some books you adored some ten or twenty years ago! ย When I think of some beloved reads of many years past, here are some that come to mind for me:
- Bodie Thoene’s Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicles series
- Francine Rivers’ The Atonement Child
- Linda Wichman’s Legend of the Emerald Rose
- Karen Hancock’s Legends of the Guardian King series
- Lisa Bergren’s Full Circle series
- Lori Wick’s Pretense
- Kristen Heitzmann’s Freefall
- Linda Windsor’s Fires of Gleannmara series
- Carol Umberger’s Scottish Crown series
- Kathleen Morgan’s Embrace the Dawn
- Jon Henderson’s Tormaline, Tigers & Dragons, and Nightwatch
- Brandilyn Collins’ Color the Sidewalk For Me
Well, I suppose I should stop there. I have first editions of all these novels of my shelves (don’t you just love some of those covers?!). It’s a real trip down memory lane.
What are some of your favourite CF reads from around 10 years ago, or further back?
April 27, 2015 at 11:49 pm
I still love the old Janette Oke books. All her original series – Love Comes Softly, Canadian West, Seasons of the Heart and the Women of the West series. The newer stuff is ….ok but her old classics? Still wonderful to this day.
April 27, 2015 at 11:50 pm
Love you, Deborah – it always makes me smile BIG when you drop by xo
April 28, 2015 at 12:06 am
I love several of the ones you mentioned. I also like to go back to Catherine Palmer’s Miss Pickworth series, Lori Wick’s Kensington Chronicles and I always revisit Frank Peretti’s Piercing the Darkness.
April 28, 2015 at 9:07 pm
Loved Frank’s early books, too, Brittaney ๐
April 28, 2015 at 12:23 am
Fun blasts from the past! I still count Francine Rivers’s Mark of the Lion Series as one of my top 10 lifetime reads…
April 28, 2015 at 9:07 pm
Oh, definitely. My list was getting too long ๐ I have all your original Full Circle series books, Lisa – gotta love those covers!!
April 28, 2015 at 3:56 am
Mark of the Lion and Redeeming Love are ones I still re-read and I love them just as much each time! Lynn Austin’s Fire By Night is still a favorite too (I realize that isn’t too “old” in CBA, but I was late to the game :).
April 28, 2015 at 9:08 pm
I hear you, my YOUNG friend!!!! All fabulous choices, I agree!
April 28, 2015 at 5:06 am
Since the books I read ten years ago are drastically different from what I read now {since ten years ago I was 11}, I don’t have a history with an older genre of Christian fiction. Though I was first introduced to Lori Wick about 4 years ago, and I devoured quite a few of her books for a while. I have an older set of her English Garden series, the ones with the deep colors and beautiful garden scenery on them, and I think there’s just something so charming about those covers. While I generally prefer newer books as of late, I know I should expand back into some older gems. I read Maire awhile ago, and though I never read Embrace the Dawn, I loved Kathleen Morgan’s These Highland Hills! And Redeeming Love may be one of my favorite books, even though I read it a year ago and it’s a newer edition {it still counts as an older one, right?}
Do you have any other suggestions from an older genre? I get so sad finding a little used bookstore every now and then but never finding any titles I know!
Thanks for this discussion, Rel! I love using this as an outlet to talk books unashamedly!
April 28, 2015 at 9:14 pm
Oh, Marie!! You’re a baby ๐ Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I hope you can get your hands on Embrace the Dawn and the sequel, Consuming Fire.
Redeeming Love certainly counts as an older one. Mmmm…as for other recommendations, try to find the backlists of Kathleen Morgan, Angela Hunt (writing as Angela Elwell Hunt), Lisa Bergren, Linda Windsor, Francine Rivers, Bodie Thoene, and Sharon Gillenwater also wrote a Scottish series, The Highlander Series which you can get as ebooks now.
I could go on!!
April 28, 2015 at 7:12 pm
Janette Okes Canadian west series. Gilbert Morris’s Attopottomax (sp) series and the House of Winslow series even if I haven’t finished it. Also the series he did with your friend Aaron (who’s last name escapes me right now) and the liberty bell series.
Lori Wicks California series. A couple of Simply Mayla by Virginia Smith just to name a few.
April 28, 2015 at 9:15 pm
Aaron McCarver, Jenny!
April 29, 2015 at 7:19 am
Yes that’s him Im in the city so couldn’t go grab the book to check and didn’t want to get it wrong. But I loved that series too.
April 28, 2015 at 8:13 pm
Quickly coming to mind are:
Zion Chronicles and Zion Convenant Series by Brock and Bodie Thoene
Frank Peretti – Piercing the Darkness
Liz Curtis Higgs – Lowlands of Scotland Series
Francine Rivers – Redeeming Love
Grace Livingston Hill
April 28, 2015 at 9:16 pm
Hey Staci – I never got into Grace Livingston Hill’s books but all they others, yes!
April 29, 2015 at 12:30 am
Let’s see, ten years ago . . . well, I was past Peretti’s Cooper Kids novels (which were wonderfully frightening fifteen years ago), so I must have been reading Janette Oke’s stand alones (A Gown of Sspanish Lace, Heart of the Wilderness, Roses for Mama). Oh, and Arleta Richardson’s Grandma’s Attic novels, which follow Mabel and Sara Jane (from her Grandma’s Attic story collections for kids) as they grow up, get married, and still find themselves in misadventures. I love to reread those–they always make me laugh. Absolute treasures.
April 29, 2015 at 1:30 pm
A few of my ten year or so favorites include:
All Lori Wick
The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers
Stranded in Paradise by Lori Copeland
April 29, 2015 at 1:32 pm
I was also going to add The Shepherd’s Voice and Loving Libby by Robin Lee Hatcher
April 30, 2015 at 3:37 am
my favourite CBA classic novels are Christy and Vienna Prelude.
I love Francine Rivers’ Mark of the Lion books a lot!
A few books I think are classics and worth visiting or re-visiting (any maybe devoid of the attention deserved) are Dale Cramer’s first for Bethany House: Bad Ground and Sutter’s Cross. I remember when I first discovered him being blown away by how fresh he was and how talented that voice was!