Friday, April 24, 2015

Blockbuster

Dear Readers,

I have been thinking a lot about the state of Christian fiction.  Mostly because it is my job to, but also because I just finished reading a book that actually kept me up at night.  I can't tell you the last time that happened to me.  I mean a book that I kept reading long after my eyes are tired and you really should go to bed because you have work the next day.  When I was a kid, it was a book that you read under the covers with a flashlight so your mom didn't yell at you to turn the lights off. 

Each book is different and there are many really good books out there on the shelves, but one that kept me up at night... no so much.  Why is that?  Is it because I read so much of it I have just become used to storylines and it would take a really great book to get my attention?  Or is it because fiction seems to have gotten comfortable with where they are? 

Someone very recently asked me "where is that blockbusting book that everyone is talking about?  Not the book that everyone is reading because of a controversy, but the one that the author is a favorite and we all want to read it before anyone else?"  That got me wondering. 

So am I missing something?  Where is that one huge release that sets the Christian fiction market on its ear?  Is this one of those things that e-readers has changed?  Will we ever have a time again where people race each other to a bookstore to be one of the first reader to get the book?  If not that makes me sad.  (Okay I am going to sound old here) I remember those days where people would line up before the bookstore opened so that they would get the book before it even hit the shelves.  *Sigh* I do miss that as it was a time of talking, visiting and recalling our favorite parts of past books.  Maybe even a chance to learn about a new author we hadn't read yet. 

So what do you think?  Are those days behind us?  What book are you looking forward to this year?

Happy Reading,

No comments: