This postAfter the priesthood session of general conference, I walked over to the library and went down to the religion section to browse the shelves. Came out with two novels: Gerald Lund’s Jenny Haller (which I mainly checked out because part of the book takes place in the BYU library) and Jack Weyland’s The Understudy (because I’ve never read any of Weyland’s works, but I did like the movie version of Charly).
As I left the library, I realized that I haven’t really read much Mormon lit at all. When I was younger I read the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series and some Clair Poulson novels, but that was about it, and since then I’ve hardly touched it (with the only real exception of Orson Scott Card’s work). And no, I haven’t read The Work and the Glory. ~blush~ (By “Mormon lit” I mean “literary writings by and about Mormons,” I should say, quoting from the Mormon Literature Database.)
That’s going to change. As a Mormon writer (in embryo, but due any day now :)), I really ought to be widely read in this area. My preconceived notion is that much of the fiction is going to be cheesy, like Saturday’s Warrior or Baptists at Our Barbecue. I hope I’m wrong.
So, any recommendations? Must-reads? Must-avoids? Who’s good? Who’s not? (And I might add that I’m primarily interested in literature that doesn’t seek to undermine one’s faith. No apostate authors, please.)
