I like reading lists of great books in hopes of discovering one I had missed or had not considered reading before. About ten days ago Josh Katzowitz had an article on Newmax listing the top ten most popular Christian novels of all time. Click through to see his comments on each title. Below are his top ten:

1. A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
2. Christy – Catherine Marshall
3. The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
4. Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
5. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis
6. Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien
7. Love Comes Softly – Janette Oke
8. The Man Who Was Thursday – G. K. Chesterton
9. Wise Blood – Flannery O’ Connor
10. This Present Darkness – Frank Peretti

There is no doubt each has its merit. The title of the article did not say “the best” but instead “most popular” and yet, prior to the list, he identified the ten books as “examples of the most famous works of Christian fiction.” If that was the intended criteria he missed Left Behind or The Shack! However, if you have not read one on that list, make reading it a part of your New Year’s resolutions…meanwhile I think the list could be expanded by another ten. In your comments below, please agree or disagree and add any that you think have been missed.

1. Redeeming Love – Francine Rivers (1997)
2. Barabbas – Par Lagerkvist (won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951)
3. The Singer – Calvin Miller (1975)
4. War in Heaven – Charles Williams (1930)
5. Hind’s Feet on High Places – Hannah Hurnard (1955)
6. Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis (1942)
7. Silence – Shusaku Endo (1966)
8. The Moviegoer – Walter Percy (1961)
9. Peace Like a River – Leif Enger (2001)
10. Shunning – Beverly Lewis (the book that started a new genre in fiction – 1997)

Other possible additions:

At Home at Mitford – Jan Karon
Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
Mariette in Ecstasy – Ron Hansen
The Diary of a Country Priest –  George Bernanos
Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather
Kristin Lavransdatter – Sigrid Undset (won the Nobel Prize in 1928)
The Testament – John Grisham
The Paradise War (book one of the Song of Albion trilogy) – Stephen Lawhead
A Skeleton in God’s Closet – Paul Maier (It was #1 on the CBA bestseller list)
Julie – Catherine Marshall
Dinner with a Perfect Stranger – David Gregory
Black (book one of the Circle series) – Ted Dekker
Firebird – Kathy Tyers

Classics include:

Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
Divine Comedy – Dante
Paradise Lost – John Milton

Now it is your turn!