⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂfaith & fantasy⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂ discussion

This is the thread to nominate books! Please follow the guidelines below when nominating.

1) You are allowed to nominate a maximum of 3 books for each month's BotM.

2) The book(s) you nominate must be in the fantasy genre (here at Faith & Fantasy, both scifi and fairy tales may be included) and be clean or relatively clean.

3) Try to nominate books from Christian authors as much as possible. It doesn't have to have obvious spiritual themes, but please don't ever nominate a book with themes that clash with biblical truth.

4) If someone has already nominated a book that you wanted to nominate, please do "second" it! I will only be picking the top 3-6 books to vote on in the final poll, but the more total "seconds" a book has, the more likely it will become the BotM.

5) You can "second" a total of 6 books or nominate a total of 3. If you're going to both nominate book(s) and second book(s), you just have to make sure you don't exceed 3 nominations and 6 in total (seconds + nominations) per month. Hope that makes sense!

Also, please do not nominate any books that we have already read in the past twelve months. You can view the books Faith & Fantasy has already read here.

I usually send out a poll for all of us to vote on based on this thread's nominations a week or so before the new month (July) begins.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask them below!

I nominate Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl, The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson, and Moonscript by by H.S.J. Williams!

I nominate the Endling by Katherine Applegate

I second Heartless.

I nominate Starlighter by Bryan Davis

I'll third Heartless

And I'll nominate The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin (this is considered the first fantasy novel to be published)

I fifth Heartless

I second Moonscript!

I third Moonscript

Ellie ~ The Elliephant ~ :D wrote: "I third Moonscript"

I fourth Moonscript

Planning on buddy-reading this end of June, but if it gets voted in for July's BotM, the more the merrier. :D

I think part 2 of Faust has some sexual scenes that wouldn’t be appropriate for some of the younger members to read, but part 1 is fine, if I’m not mistaken. Though idk how people here feel about reading a play about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil. The beginning is reminiscent of Job, though. The play is also not contrary to Christian faith and morals.

I’ll second your nomination of Faust. :)

I hesitate to recommend Faust, though, for everyone to read, cause I’m not sure how much catechism everyone here has or how much they know about the sacred doctrines of our Christian religion. For example, how many could explain why this excerpt from Faust is contrary to Christian faith?

Margaret Promise me, Heinrich!
Faust If I can!

Margaret: Say, as regards religion, how you feel.
I know that you are a dear, good man,
Yet, for you, it seems, it has no appeal.

Faust: Leave that alone, child! You feel I’m kind to you:
For Love I’d give my blood, my life too.
I’ll rob no man of his church and faith.

Margaret: That’s not right, we must have faith.
Faust: Must we?

Margaret: Ah, if in this I was only fluent!
You don’t respect the Holy Sacrament.

Faust: I respect it.

Margaret: Without wanting it, though. You’ve passed
So many years without confession, or mass.
Do you believe in God?

Faust: My darling, who dare say:
‘I believe in God’?
Choose priest to ask, or sage,
The answer would seem a joke, would it not,
Played on whoever asks?

Margaret: So, you don’t believe?

Faust: Sweetest being, don’t misunderstand me!
Who dares name the nameless?
Or who dares to confess:
‘I believe in him’?
Yet who, in feeling,
Self-revealing,
Says: ‘I don’t believe’?
The all-clasping,
The all-upholding,
Does it not clasp, uphold,
You: me, itself?
Don’t the heavens arch above us?
Doesn’t earth lie here under our feet?
And don’t the eternal stars, rising,
Look down on us in friendship?
Are not my eyes reflected in yours?
And don’t all things press
On your head and heart,
And weave, in eternal mystery,
Visibly: invisibly, around you?
Fill your heart from it: it is so vast,
And when you are blessed by the deepest feeling,
Call it then what you wish,
Joy! Heart! Love! God!
I have no name
For it! Feeling is all:
Names are sound and smoke,
Veiling Heaven’s bright glow.

Elijah wrote: "Thank you, Stephen! Upon reading your explanation and the excerpt you provided, I also hesitate to nominate this play. I haven't read the play in its entirety, and the only thing I know about it is..."

I have a few books I want to finish reading, but feel free to dm me in the near future. I'd love to read this play with someone :) Also, I highly recommend checking out the podcast Sacred & Profane Love. The hostess (who is a practicing Catholic and a philosophy professor) has an episode on Faust.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Elijah wrote: "(Does anyone know if such classic books as Beowulf, Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Goethe's Faust, Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and Shelly's Frankenstein would fit into the criteria of clean, ..."

There is definitely room for debate and interpretation here! I would be open to allowing Beowulf, Le Morte d'Arthur, and Frankenstein, although I know that the last of those ends very negatively.

I actually just finished reading Frankenstein a few minutes ago, and I have to admit that I would personally have loved to have someone to discuss it with.

I can send out a poll if you'd like, though, to ask for the general opinion of the group.

Elijah wrote: "Thank you, Stephen! Upon reading your explanation and the excerpt you provided, I also hesitate to nominate this play. I haven't read the play in its entirety, and the only thing I know about it is..."

(This has nothing to do with this conversation, but I wanted to welcome you back, Elijah! I've missed you!)

I second Mistborn!

Sharon wrote: "Elijah wrote: "Thank you, Stephen! Upon reading your explanation and the excerpt you provided, I also hesitate to nominate this play. I haven't read the play in its entirety, and the only thing I k..."

I second this!

Lily - Books by Starlight wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Elijah wrote: "Thank you, Stephen! Upon reading your explanation and the excerpt you provided, I also hesitate to nominate this play. I haven't read the play in its entirety, and the..."

Right?! Now we have another intellectual male who can counter-balance Stephen's --eh-- idiosyncrasies....? 😂

Sharon 😂 I think I do a good job of restraining my oddness here hehe

Can we nominate nonfiction Christian books as well? As much as I love fantasy, I’d love for us to balance fiction with nonfiction. Just as we need a balanced diet with food, so, too, do we need a balanced diet for our ‘brain food.’ :)

I’ll nominate A Severe Mercy: A Story of Faith, Tragedy, and Triumph

Stephen wrote: "Sharon 😂 I think I do a good job of restraining my oddness here hehe"

That's just scary, Stephen. Scary.😯

Stephen wrote: "Can we nominate nonfiction Christian books as well? As much as I love fantasy, I’d love for us to balance fiction with nonfiction. Just as we need a balanced diet with food, so, too, do we need a b..."

Not that I disagree with you on needing a balanced diet, but I personally am thinking that this group is more focused on our faith being encouraged through reading fantasy specifically. Maybe you could request a buddy read for something non-fiction?? It is a valid point that non-fiction is good, but to have it split our BotMs into only 6 fantasy choices per year, I think it dilutes the meaning of the group. But that's my opinion.🤷‍♀️

We do have two books of the month atm. :)
So, perhaps we could do that? We vote on one nonfiction book and one fiction book. It does, of course, depend on what people here would like, as well as the will of our UltraLord, Lily.

Stephen wrote: "We do have two books of the month atm. :)
So, perhaps we could do that? We vote on one nonfiction book and one fiction book. It does, of course, depend on what people here would like, as well as t..."

Of course.🙂

I agree with Sharon. People join this group because they like fantasy.

But we can have both :) I’m thinking of mostly reading a book of the Bible, but other spiritual books work, too. That way it’s truly Faith AND Fantasy.

Stephen wrote: "We do have two books of the month atm. :)
So, perhaps we could do that? We vote on one nonfiction book and one fiction book. It does, of course, depend on what people here would like, as well as t..."

Hi Stephen!

I would be happy to accommodate nonfiction nominations and/or Bible books, but they will have to be separated from the fantasy nominations. Would you like me to make a separate thread for them? I'm also going to send out a quick poll just to get people's opinions on the idea. :)

I would like to add my vote for Moonscript, but I'm not sure whether I'm the fourth or fifth person :)

M.H. wrote: "I would like to add my vote for Moonscript, but I'm not sure whether I'm the fourth or fifth person :)"

Awesome, no problem!

I second Tress of the Emerald Sea

I think Keeper of the Lost Cities would be good book to read! It’s clean and a great book! :)

I nominate mark of the raven

I also second the final empire (mistborn)

I second Mark of the Raven.

All right, since we're running short on time this month, I'll send out the July BotM poll based on the votes we have so far. :)

Heartless +4
Moonscript +4
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) +2
The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin +1
Tress of the Emerald Sea +1
Mark of the Raven +1
The Last (Endling #1) by Katherine Applegate
Starlighter by Bryan Davis
Frankenstein
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Redwall
Chosen
Keeper of the Lost Cities

Here's the BotM poll! https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Elijah wrote: "Lily - Books by Starlight wrote: "Here's the BotM poll! https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2..."

Thank you for your hard work, Lily! I've voted on the ..."

Thank you for voting, Elijah!

All right, I do have a plan for the nonfiction idea. I don't want to scramble to get nominations this month, but I am going to try out a poll for a BIBLE book for July's nonfiction BotM. After that, I'll open up two threads for August, one for speculative fiction and the other for Bible-based nonfiction. :) Would that sound good to you?

Of course! Any Bible books you'd like to recommend to be included in the poll?

Here's the Bible poll, y'all! I apologize for not being to include all of the books that you two mentioned, but I hope you'll still be able to find one you'd like to vote for. :)

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Of course!