I have been asked to give some suggestions for readers coming to my books for the first time. It’s hard to know where to tell people to begin because our reading interests and levels are different. Some people only read fiction, others never read fiction. Among fiction readers, some prefer historical fiction, others contemporary.
It’s relatively easy when I’m asked about non-fiction. “If you want to understand Michael Phillips the devotional writer,” I answer, “read The Commands of Jesus and Make Me Like Jesus. You will know me very well after those two books.”
If it’s fiction someone is interested in, I often suggest My Father’s World, The Eleventh Hour, Angels Watching Over Me, or Rift in Time.
But there is much variety in these titles.
Written in a somewhat simpler style, and with teens as their main characters, young readers often begin with My Father’s World and Angels Watching Over Me. Yet men and women of all ages love these books too. They are perfect for anyone who likes a fun and easy read.
Sometimes I am asked about my own personal favorites of my novels. Angels Watching Over Me is always at the top of the list with the other two I mentioned—Rift in Time and The Eleventh Hour.
With a male leading character, and an action-packed story many have compared to The DaVinci Code, Rift in Time is a great favorite with men, as is The Eleventh Hour, set in Nazi Germany during World War II. That said, when women are polled about their favorite of my books, The Eleventh Hour probably tops their list too.
Both these books are written at a somewhat higher level, and with deeper spiritual themes, than the other two. They are not difficult books, just not necessarily the place for a ten or twelve year old to begin unless he or she is used to meaty fare.
A comparison of page length reveals this difference:
My Father’s World (286), Angels Watching Over Me (316), Rift in Time (595 in cloth, 480 in paper), The Eleventh Hour (505).
Two more (both with female protagonists) at a similar level and style, and with probing spiritual themes weaving through the stories, are Angel Harp (440 pages) and The Inheritance (428 pages). Both are set in Scotland and are special favorites for Judy and me. Angel Harp is written in the first-person voice of a forty-something woman, widowed, her life in a rut, who decides to have an adventure and take a trip to Scotland. There she winds up in the middle of a mystery, and discovers romance in the bargain.
That I wrote it for Judy, my wife and my own personal harpist, makes it even more personal for us. The Inheritance features a twenty-something high-flying career woman who hates Scotland, but who then discovers she has inherited a cottage in the Shetland Islands. What she discovers there changes her life.
Three others are equally good (if I do say so myself!)—Murder By Quill, for fans of whodunits, Legend of the Celtic Stone, an epic of ancient Scotland in the style of James Michener, and Dream of Freedom, the first of the “American Dreams” trilogy which follows the history of the United States from the 1600s to the Civil War. I love these titles as much as any of the others I have mentioned. I would rank the last two as the best novels I have ever written. This is obviously my own subjective opinion. Some disagree with that assessment, however. Including my wife!