Does anyone read Amish Fiction? I see several of them in the stores all the time. Receommendations?

I haven't read them but several people at church like the following:

Beverly Lewis
Wanda Brunstetter
Cindy Woodsmall

We have several of their books in our library.

If you like cozy mysteries,  Tamar Myers has an Amish bed and breakfast type storyline.    Jodi Picoult wrote a book called "Plain Truth".

Anything by Beverly Lewis is great. I also enjoyed Rachel's Secret by B.J. Hoff, which is an Amish book set during the Civil War.

I read Beth Wiseman's PLAIN PERFECT a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. And I agree with the authors already mentioned too.

Beverly Lewis is my favorite author who writes about the Amish.

Wanda Brunstetter is also really good.

I have Cindy Woodsmall's series but have yet to read it. My grandmother loved it though and said she cried lots.

I personally dislike Jodi Picoult's books. They are not exactly Christian friendly. I haven't read Plain Truth though. Maybe it's different.

(Edited for clarity)

This website focuses on Harvest House's Amish authors, including Mindy Starns Clark and BJ Hoff

http://www.amishreader.com/

Amee,

I agree with your statement about Jodi Picoult, and Plain Truth is the only book by her that I have read. If I wanted graphic descriptions, I'd be reading secular romances. I have the same problem with Deeanne Gist's Bride Most Begrudging.

I too love Lewis and Brunstetter's books. I only recently got to read Woodsmall's first series. I'm looking forward to reading more from her!! I did like Waiting for Summer's Return by Kim Vogel Sawyer. It was set in a Mennonite community in Kansas, so I tend to thik of it more as a Prairie story, which I also love!

All of my family has also loved the Ellie's People series by Mary Christner Borntrager. They may be considered YA or older children, but they deal with life in a real way. It looks like I need to pull our set out and add some pics and descriptions to the database here.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/author/Mary+Christner+Borntrager

I have also been tagging all that I find as Amish fiction or Amish kids. There are over 200 books with the Amish fiction tag. There are some that were also tagged with a small A on Amish, but I prefer to show respect by capitalizing people groups.

Has anyone read Coleen Cobble's or Carol Duerksen's  Amish books? What about Mindy Starns Clark?? She has out at least one that is labeled a Christian Mystery. And this one sounds like a Fiction title to me!! The House That Cleans Itself: Creative Solutions for a Clean and Orderly House in Less Time Than You Can Imagine

I'm looking forward to seeing more here about the other authors in this genre!

I like Cindy Woodsmall. 

Anyone read A Gift of Grace by Amy Clipston? It's Amish fiction and the first in the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series. I haven't read it yet but thought about trying a new author.

I've never read anything by her but sounds interesting. All my favorite authors were already mentioned but I don't think Jodi is a true Christian author. I have read some of most all the authors mentioned above and my favorites are Beverly Lewis, Cindy Woodsmall, Wanda Brunstetter, Beth Wiseman, I love Coleen Coble Books. I have a new series of hers to read (there not Amish) but she is a great author. Karen Kingsbury is an excellant author but she doesn't write Amish but they are great Christian books.

NOW READING BY KAREN KINGSBURY, TAKE ONE The FIRST BOOK IN HER LATEST SERIES ABOVE THE LINE.

OOPS, my mistake Colleen Coble does right some Amish fiction.

Chandra,

I actually really loved A Bride Most Begrudging. I agree it is more graphic than most Christian fiction but her books are considered "edgy Christian fiction." I suppose having that in mind helped. I did warn my grandmother when lending her the books though! She enjoyed A Bride Most Begrudging as well. :)

I just finished The Measure of a Lady and I would not recommend it if A Bride Most Begrudging was too graphic. I was actually surprised with how far she took it since I found A Bride Most Begrudging not to be as "edgy" as I'd anticipated after hearing it given that label. So Deeanne Gist's books are something to be wary of if someone is looking for traditional Christian fiction novels.

I only recently discovered Cindy Woodsmall's first series of books, and I flew through them!  They had so much more depth than say, books I've read by Wanda Brunstetter.  I cannot wait for Woodsmall's next book!

Amee,

A friend of ours wanted her very young teen to get more into reading and bought her The Measure of a Lady not too long after we had read Begrudging. It looked like a nice old-fashioned story, right? After we shared our concerns, she asked my 20-something daughter to check it over first. My daughter only read part of it, told me it was more graphic than Begrudging, so I didn't bother, and we recommended several more appropiate authors to our friend.

I'm not condemning the author, or anyone who chooses to read these. I just don't care to, so I'm very careful when picking up a new author. I'll usually wait until I can borrow from one the library or a friend, or get a review from someone that I know will make the distinction.

Tagging or reviewing the books that are "edgy" here would be a wonderful help to all of us here. Those that like edgy would have an easier time finding them, and those who don't prefer them could save their credits for the ones that they will enjoy.

I have ready 9 of the books by Wanda E. Brunstetter and 3 by Cindy Woodsmall. I think both are wonderful writers. It only takes me a couple of days to read one. After I complete the writers books, I plan on going to Beberly Lewis.

Vickie

Chandra,

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend Deeanne Gist's books to young teens. Any of the authors mentioned here would be great. My grandma gave me A Gown of Spanish Lace by Janette Oke when I was 10. I loved it so much. It was what introduced me to Christian fiction and I haven't stopped since! Janette has some really great books. I would definitely recommend her Women of the West series (which includes the one I just mentioned) to someone just getting started in Christian fiction. They were my introduction and I don't think I could have asked for a better one!

That's a good idea about tagging Deeanne's books as edgy. I think I'll do that if someone hasn't already! Thanks for the great idea. :)

Here's a few more:

Shelley Shepard Gray Sister's of the Heart Series

Kathleen Fuller Hearts of Middleford Series

Marta Perry Pleasant Valley Series & Three Sister's Inn Series (Love Inspired Suspense)

Ann H. Gabhart Shaker Series

I think Deanne Gist's books are edgy also, and loaned Measure of a Lady to my parents. They didn't like it for that reason. I started reading Janette Oke as a preteen and Amee is right, it was a great introduction to Christian fiction.

Carla,

Have you read any of the ones you mentioned?

If anyone has read them, please let us know what you think.

Thanks

I read The Outsider by Ann Gabhart (Shaker series #1) and thought it was good. Story of a Shaker girl who falls in love with an "outsider". Looking forward to The Believer, coming out this summer.

FYI Shakers are different from the Amish, the Ann Gabhart series is actually historical fiction. just so you don't get the two groups confused

Chandra - I have read the Marta Perry Three Sisters Inn series  in the Love Inspired Suspense line.  I like to read the Love Inspired books when not alot of concentration is needed.  Reading in the doctor office, at the pool/beach, outside at Park while kids play, etc.   I feel like the Love Inspired books don't really get deep and are just a nice enjoyable read.

Deborah-  I thought Shakers were a branch or sect of Amish?  Shaker furniture is sold at the Amish community near my parents, that lead me to believe it was a shared community.  What are the differences?  I couldn't find a link. 

The shakers were a group that had their biggest fame in the late 1700s early 1800s. they're biggest claim was that they didn't believe in procreation, so men and women were kept separted. children could be brought into the community but the members didn't make kids, so pretty much it died out.

From Wikipedia:

The Shakers did not believe in procreation so therefore had to adopt a child if they wanted one. Another way they could expand their community's population was to allow converts into the Shaker society to live and function as one. When Shaker boys reached the age of twenty-one, they were given the choice to leave the Shaker religion and go their own separate way or to continue on as a Shaker. The Shakers lived in "families" sharing a large house with separate entrances for each family within the "family"; thus the families were exclusively male or female — the sexes were segregated into separate living areas.

The nature of the Shaker religion set men and women equal to one another in religious leadership. All authority in the church was hierarchical, but at each level men and women shared equal responsibility in equal numbers. This is especially evident in the fact that women have served as supreme head of the Shaker society throughout its existence, and in the fact that God was perceived by the Shakers to express both male and female characteristics. However, outside of the church, Shakers strictly adhered to traditional gender roles. As their homes were segregated by sex, so were men and women’s work spheres. Women worked almost exclusively indoors cooking, sewing, cleaning and washing, whereas men worked in the fields or shops. ^[3] Shakers thus simultaneously elevated women’s status in society and reinforced the stereotypical vision of the weaker sex whose job lay in the home. Some have also argued that the very roots of celibacy are themselves misogynistic, in that men were abstaining from sex in order to dissociate themselves from woman’s original sin. ^[4]

[edit] Revelations and visions

A peculiar, intense kind of spirituality began to develop under this unique arrangement. A period of spiritual manifestations among the Believers began in 1837 and lasted through 1847. Children told of visits to cities in the spirit realm and brought messages to the community which they received from Mother Ann. In 1838 the gift of tongues was manifested and sacred places were set aside in each community, with names like Holy Mount; but in 1847 the spirits, after warning, left the Believers. The theology of the denomination is based on the idea of the dualism of God: the creation of man as male and female "in our image" showing the dual sexuality of the Creator; in Jesus, born of a woman, the son of a Jewish carpenter, was the male manifestation of Christ and the first Christian Church; and in Mother Ann, daughter of an English blacksmith, was the female manifestation of Christ and the second Christian Church — she was the Bride ready for the Bridegroom, and in her the promises of the Second Coming were fulfilled. Adam's sin was in sexual impurity; marriage is done away with in the body of the Believers in the Second Appearance, who must pattern after the Kingdom in which there is no marriage or giving in marriage. The four virtues are virgin purity; Christian communism; confession of sin, without which none can become Believers; and separation from the world. Their insistence on the dual sexuality of God and their reverence for Mother Ann have made them advocates of sex equality. Their spiritual directors are elders and "eldresses", and their temporal guides are deacons and deaconesses in equal numbers.

Thanks for posting the information Deborah. 

So there are no more Shaker communities?  I wonder where the term Shaker style furniture comes from? 

well there is still one community, it's very small and up in Maine I believe

www.maineshakers.com/default.html

The original Shakers did use to make furniture, and I believe their style now has just been passed down and used