Faith 'n Fiction Saturdays ~ Christy Nominees

This week for Faith 'n Fiction Saturdays we're talking book awards! Here's what it says:


Did you know that Christian fiction has their own award? It's called the Christy Award. Here's some information about The Christy Award from the website:

The Christy Award is designed to:

* Nurture and encourage creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview.
* Bring a new awareness of the breadth and depth of fiction choices available, helping to broaden the readership.
* Provide opportunity to recognize novelists whose work may not have reached bestseller status


The 2009 Christy Award Nominees were recently announced. Today's assignment is to look at the list of nominees and share with us whether or not you have read any of them. If you haven't read that particular novel, have you read anything by that author? Have you read all of the books in any category? What are your favorite books on the list? Are there any books you haven't heard of?

And, I'm just throwing this out there, but I think one year there was a Christy challenge. A reading challenge is basically when you choose books off a pre-set list or around a theme to read within a certain time frame. Does anyone know if this is still going on? If it's not, would anyone be interested in joining in on one? I'd be willing to host it. And lastly, I'm working on Faith 'n Fiction Saturday having our own awards for books!


The Christy Nominees:
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group
Finding Stefanie by Susan May Warren • Tyndale House Publishers
Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White by Claudia Mair Burney • David C. Cook

CONTEMPORARY SERIES, SEQUELS, AND NOVELLAS
Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group
Summer Snow by Nicole Baart • Tyndale House Publishers
You Had Me at Good-bye by Tracey Bateman • FaithWords

CONTEMPORARY STANDALONE
Dogwood by Chris Fabry • Tyndale House Publishers
Embrace Me by Lisa Samson • Thomas Nelson
Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon by Debbie Fuller Thomas • Moody Publishers

FIRST NOVEL
Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake • David C. Cook
Rain Song by Alice J. Wisler • Bethany House Publishers
Safe at Home by Richard Doster • David C. Cook

HISTORICAL
Shadow of Colossus by T.L. Higley • B&H Publishing Group
Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin • Bethany House Publishers
Washington’s Lady by Nancy Moser • Bethany House Publishers

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Calico Canyon by Mary Connealy • Barbour Publishers
From a Distance by Tamera Alexander • Bethany House Publishers
The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen • B&H Publishing Group

SUSPENSE
By Reason of Insanity by Randy Singer • Tyndale House Publishers
The Rook by Steven James • Revell
Winter Haven by Athol Dickson • Bethany House Publishers

VISIONARY
The Battle for Vast Dominion by George Bryan Polivka • Harvest House Publishers
Shade by John B. Olson • B&H Publishing Group
Vanish by Tom Pawlik • Tyndale House Publishers

YOUNG ADULT
The Fruit of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina • FaithWords
I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires by Cathy Gohlke • Moody Publishers
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group


(The blue ones I've read and the red ones are on my shelf waiting to be read.)

Ok, so I haven't read very many of these! But I'm looking forward to reading the ones I have on the shelf.

Finding Stephanie - I was leery about it from the description but once I started reading I loved it and can't wait to read the rest of the series. (Of course it was nice that it was set in Montana!) I've loved everything I've read from Susan May Warren. Terrific author!

Until We Reach Home - Wonderful book and very eye-opening to life back then. Will definitely read more from Lynn Austin.

Calico Canyon - I laughed a lot in this book...especially the last half of it. I really enjoyed it and have been wanting to read the other books in the series. It's the first book I've read from Mary Connealy and I'd love to read more from her.

I've recently gotten into the suspense category and am hooked (as you can tell from my current reads in my sidebar...btw, you've GOT to read Deadlock! Wow!). The Rook and the rest of that series has been on my list and I've heard great things about it. Amy, I also have no idea what "Visionary" means. ??? I've also recently started reading the Young Adult category and have enjoyed several of them so far.

Looking forward to see what everyone else has to say about this list! But I'll have to do it later...got a toddler pulling on my arm right now saying "c'mon!"